The Reading Room

Among the many fantastic coffee shops in San Francisco’s North Beach one that I think often goes overlooked is Café Roma. Café Roma was pretty much across the street from where I used to live, so it was definitely a...

The single best shot of espresso I’ve had in my life is at Café Vittoria in Boston’s North End. Bold statement, I know. Yes, Café Fixe in Boston is terrific, they have a spectacular espresso machine and grinder and their...

Irony: just a day or two ago I was saying “oh, I miss the fall in Boston, it’s so warm and sunny here in Oklahoma City…” Like hell! I’m freezing here! I miss the warmth! Since its cold and rainy...

I admit it: once upon a time I worked at 7-Eleven. This was back in college and I’m not ashamed to say that I needed the money. In fact, at one point I was going to graduate school and still...

Deep Cello's founders engaged in a lot of debate about whether to offer a dark roast. To modern coffee lovers, it seems that dark roasts are seen in a negative light.  In a dark roast - in our definition a...

One critical element that I think is often overlooked when making espresso at home is the cup and I am not immune from this slight either. When drinking espresso or any other coffee beverage it is in my opinion that...

If you’re like me you tend to order your coffee almost exclusively online at this point which, while far superior based on where I live, also gives you a whole new set of complications.  One of the biggest issues for...

Seattle Coffee Gear posted a review some time ago about this little-known coffee-maker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLLCgSc1Tgo I only know of a couple of companies that import this: SCG and Heart Roasters of Portland. I've had coffee from the machine and have used it...

One of the keys to being able to pull great shots of espresso is consistency on the part of the barista.  The idea is that if you want to pull great shots, you need to control the environment.  You need...

I am continuing my series on why I think Heat Exchangers are such a great deal in spite of being absurdly expensive, but we have had enough talk about heat exchangers without talking about what the various types of machines...

I am a little sad that I am getting towards the end of my time with the pair of Deep Cello coffees that I ordered, Black Tie and Bossa espresso. I like them both very much and have already talked...

I have received my Hario Mini Mill Slim model from UPS almost a week ago and have been using it almost daily to make coffee with my aeropress. I will share my usage experience latter, but now I just want...

Most of us don’t think much about that paper filter we pop into our coffee makers every day. Coffee pros suggest that the paper filter and how it is employed are critical to cup quality. We decided to dig in...

As the weather gets colder and colder, I notice that I’m not transitioning from iced coffee as quick as I would think. I hadn’t really drank iced coffee too much before this summer and I developed a taste for it...

So it looks like my blog posts generally fall into three categories: nostalgic coffee shop reviews, reviews of my equipment for grinding/brewing coffee, and reviews of all kinds of instant single-serving coffee drinks. What I haven’t addressed yet is what...

Café Greco is a very Old School kind of coffee shop right on Columbus Ave in San Francisco’s North Beach. North Beach is the Italian neighborhood in San Francisco, and there are a number of great cafes, bakeries, restaurants and...

It’s about time that I review probably the first place where I had really, really good coffee. I don’t want to say that this was my first “serious coffee experience” because there was nothing serious about it. Maybe I had...

This was an interesting morning of coffee consumption.  The main event was Klatch’s World’s best espresso being pulled on my pump machine.  It is just entering its window for peak of flavor and I have more or less held off...

Here’s a question for you: Everything I know about Fair Trade I learned from Kindergarten Third world farmer Seattle coffee company that changed coffee culture while burning the beans Fair trade USA website CoffeeKind.com. In case you didn’t select choice...

The other day I decided to brew a cup of Counter Culture’s Finca Mauritania using my Clever dripper. I did all of my usual prep., including rinsing the paper filter, but when it came time to grind my beans I...

This is the second in a series of blog posts about heat exchanger machines.  This post, however, is really about why it is hard to build a good but also cheap machine. (And therefore why what at first seems like...