The Reading Room

Several days ago, I decided to fire up the La Marzocco Linea three groupo some of the lightly roasted beans that I have. I have wired my Marzocco so that by turning the switch to position number 1, it would...

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...

Gaggia Classic machines ship set to 12 bar or higher. Adjusting the over pressure valve to 9 bar produces better espresso and reduces channeling. Here is how to do it step by step.

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...

How you heat water for coffee shapes the cup. Compare kettles, stovetop, and microwave, learn the right temperature, and match the method to your brew.

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...

A manual espresso maker pulls a shot with hand power, no pricey machine needed. How they work, the pros and cons, and who they suit best.

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...

None of these 5 upgrades cost more than $50. All of them produce immediate, noticeable results. Here is the fastest path to better coffee at home.

You can make great coffee without a machine. Learn the easiest ways to brew with just hot water and grounds, plus how to keep your cup clean.

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...