The Reading Room

http://www.galesgifts.com/images/_products/galesgifts/PBB-16_La_Pavoni_Professional_Black_Base_16_Cup.jpg" width="384" height="400" />  My La Pavoni Profesional lever espresso machine right now is carefully packed away in a box. I'm thinking of putting this machine on Ebay because simply it is not being used enough and quiet frankly, I...

There are a lot of selling points to the Gaggia Classic espresso machine, but one of the big ones is being able to adjust the pressure at which the espresso is brewed at. That is a big deal because most...

After a trip down to Disneyland over the past week it was nice to come back home to this coffee sitting at my door step along with Belle Espresso blend by them as well. This is my first experience with...

/files/u2500/comm_vets_day.jpg" alt="photo by KFOR-14 on Flickr" title="photo by KFOR-14 on Flickr" height="159" width="240" /> A Civil War Coffee Story Did you know that there are more than 23 million veterans in the US? This Friday we commemorate their service to...

Our neighbors in the Caribbean are wrestling with a gamble regarding coffee. On the one hand, it grows well there and farmers need crops, and on the other, the years required before planting and harvesting are still years in which...

http://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/lamarzoccomanual.jpg" width="700" height="654" /> If money was no object the espresso machine I would get would be the La Marzocco GS3. Although it came out several years ago, it still is pretty much the state of the art espresso machine...

The twist – how does it taste? This was the burning question in my mind when I got it in my hands.  I took a bite and it tasted rather like metal.  Okay just kidding I was really interested in...

Kettle consultations I can’t help but notice the super cool long necked kettles such as the Hario Bouno V60 drip kettle.  I’ve had my finger on the mouse button to purchase it as a “gift for my wife” so many...

Today I break out the French Press and use it to make a cup of coffee with it. I have not used it in a long time (may be one and a half month) since the time that I got...

I found myself very obsessive about coffee! No, I'm not talking about my particularities when it comes to preparing my coffee, like I have to weight out the exact mass of bean I'm going to use. My most worisome obsession...

So after a series of disapointment with the espresso that I pulled with lightly roasted washed coffees (although they did make delicious aeropress and french press coffee!), I switching to something a bit more exciting. I have been saving some...

The mypressi twist is a portable espresso machine that is perfect for travel because it is so small and easy to tote with you (if you can find a hand grinder or convenient sized grinder for travel, too.) The twist...

Let’s do the twist… A friend is lending me her Mypressi Twist.  I picked it up this morning and wanted to check it out.  I had heard from people even more over the top in the coffee obsession than me...

One distribution technique that I never posted about when I was doing a series on distributions should be included even though it is not one with which I have much experience.  I do not have much experience with it for...

/files/u13866/UncommonGrounds_000.jpg" style="padding-right: 10px" height="500" width="329" align="left" border="10" />On my recent trip I pick up the book, "Uncommon Grounds" by Mark Pendergrast. It offers a complete history of coffee from the beginning and while only a little over a hundred pages...

If you’ve ever eaten an MRE, then you know how appetizing army meals for on-the-go soldiers are. Standing for “meals ready to eat”, MREs are packaged to keep three years without refrigeration so soldiers can eat them out in the...

Pour some sugar on me... I read a post by Chris Tacy (who writes the blog godshot) where he commented that he and some friends who were also coffee enthusiasts had pulled a shot of Dolce, created a macchiato, and...

/files/u5804/277173_256680737701199_431605258_n.jpg" width="180" height="171" /> On Saturday (11/5), Counter Culture (CC) is offering Chicagoland coffee lovers a unique opportunity to get their gear on. This is one of those times that I wish I still lived in the Windy City. Details...

I bought a Bodum double wall travel coffee press a few months ago to use with my Hario mini mill for travelling or for making coffee at school.I have access to a Bunn drip machine with a hot water tap...

This is the last(?) in my series on why I love HX machines. Now that we know the basics of espresso machines it seems pretty clear that a double boiler is better than a heat exchanger, right?  Not necessarily.  This...

Bean poles aren’t just for holding up bean plants anymore, especially when spelled poll. This coffee bean poll is the kind of poll that we read about all election season. However, it’s much more fun because it measures popularity with...