The Reading Room

Starbuck’s sustainability guru, Jim Hanna, is talking these days about the future of coffee, which he fears has no future. He’s afraid that in a few decades, the earth will be too warm to grow coffee. Proof is offered by...

When I was looking for an apartment in Pittsburgh I focused in on an area near campus called Shadyside. I decided to stop by this café on a whim; it was grey and raining and cold and I was just...

We are excited to introduce to our ROASTe audience, our amazing light roast, High Jump!   With our signature chocolate and carmel base, lemony citrus, and rich coffee flavor, it's a guaranteed winning shot of espresso or pour over.   In...

If you’ve read any of my blog posts you can probably figure out that I’m a “hands on” kind of guy. I like to use a manual grinder to grind my beans and I like using the French press (and...

No gimmicks here. No roasting their own beans out in the open (a la Elemental Coffee), or selling brewing equipment. No, what you’ll find here is absolutely spectacular espresso, espresso based drinks, pour over coffee, chai, tea, funky baked goods...

If you’re like me and try to stick to a regular workout program, you’ll probably at some point want to incorporate whey protein powder into it. If you’re still like me, you’ll not care at all for artificial sugar substitutes...

Product review – Solis Maestro Classic. This was the first grinder I ever owned that I tried to use for espresso.  Sure I had a series of cheap blade grinders, but when I got my first real espresso machine I...

ROASTe has been offering the Aerobie AeroPress espresso and coffee maker for a while now. I really enjoy this method of making a delicious cup of coffee. I can not help but notice the attention this prep method has been...

/files/u2252/Wall_171_350.jpg" align="right" height="350" width="235" /> I do love hand powered coffee grinders. My favorite ones are from Germany, Holland, and Italy and come from manufacturers that unfortunately are, for the most part, no longer in business. Of the few old...

There’s just no understanding some people. Every day it seems the news comes out about another health benefit of coffee. But even so, there are the occasional writers who either ignore those announcements or discount them, and then offer the...

I’m someone who constantly likes to try to find better ways of doing things. When I first got the Aeropress I followed the default directions to the letter. They’re easily found online or at this Roaste blog post. But one...

/files/u13866/100_2001.jpg" width="300" height="225" align="left" />There literally are coffee shops popping up everywhere, and even though I had this blog post working in the back of my head, it appears I was beat to the punch by this article. The article...

Harsh or delicious –who is to say?  I have a coffee problem.  The problem is that I like lots of kinds of coffee and my wife does not.  She loves dark roasts including the ones from a very large coffee...

As the old saying goes, "Necessity is the Mother of all invention." I started using this not so clever dripper after I found myself alone on a Saturday without wife or child and my glass carafe broke from a bad...

Why does a challenged economy lead to more coffee shops? The example of New York City may provide some answers. As the economy slows, it seems that every small chain, plus new ones, are opening outlets in Manhattan. Though Starbucks...

This is the first (in hopefully a series) of posts on the coffees I'm working my way through. I'm the kind of guy that seldom orders the same thing twice, so I should have new ones  every couple of weeks....

Underextracted also known as my failure at hitting a moving target until I grabbed victory from the jaws of defeat. This is a two part blog post because I started typing about my failure pulling a very nice shot and...

Underextracted also known as my failure at hitting a moving target until I grabbed victory from the jaws of defeat. This is a two part blog post because I started typing about my failure pulling a very nice shot and...

Today I had a cup of aeropress coffee made from stale ground coffee, and it was not all that bad! Before anyone accuse me, please let me explain my situation. Yesterday, I was bringing the aropress to school so that...

If want to get into espresso you should take a hard look at the Gaggia Classic.I've had this machine now for well over six months and feel like I can give a good take on what the strengths and weaknesses...

Here's a followup to my at-home expense calculations. Regarding a couple of things I didn't mention in the previous post (that jbviau and intrepid510 pointed out). 1) Shipping - Yes you have to pay shipping on Roaste. $5.95 per shipment,...