The Reading Room

Aeropress coffee Vs. Espresso
Aeropress coffee Vs. Espresso To continue my rant with the aeropress, I'm going to compare it to my favorite coffee brewing method which is espresso. In contrary to what aeropress advertising, which they claim that the aeropress can make espresso;...
Aeropress using Aerobie's recommended method
Here is instruction for using Aeropress using the manufacturere recommended method which is a good place to start with using the aeropress. -Heat water until boiling I use the mirowave in a glass container. Aerobie recommend using 175F water which I...
Affordable Espresso Equipment: 5 Smart Buying Tips

Building an espresso setup does not always require premium prices. Learn five practical ways to find capable equipment without overspending.

 

Aeropress, the inverted Method
So I have been playing with for a little since I got it and toying around with some of the different method for using it. One of the thing I tried with it was the inverted method.Basically, you are inverting...
how to make a bottomless portafilter
This is intended as a tutorial for those who want to make themselves a bottomless portafilter out of a spare portafilter that they have lying around.  My earlier entry on them prompted a question about how to do it, so...
Leftover Coffee
We make a full pot of coffee every morning and have found that we don't always use it all. I hate to be wasteful, so I save our leftover coffee in the fridge to make iced coffee later that day...
Cup Summit #3 – Coffee Competitors Meet To Solve Cup Dilemma
It seems the fast food and takeout food industries are serious about solving the problem of billions of cups ending up in landfills. So serious are they that they just concluded Cup Summit #3, during which leading industry competitors met...
The first time...
I still remember the first time I'd pulled a shot of espresso at home.  The whole point of having an espresso machine to begin with was to recreate a caramel macchiato from Starbucks. My friend, who was a Starbucks employee at the time, had...
Aeropress first impression
So today I just got the much hyped aeropress and I'm excited about trying it out and compare it to other brewing methods. I got the aeropress from Amazon for pretty much nothing due to having point awards for Amazon...
A Coffee Voyage: 5 Lessons From Exploring Coffee Shops

A coffee voyage can reveal more than great drinks. Explore five lessons about freshness, brewing methods, espresso, and the experience of visiting coffee shops.

 

chopped portafilters
What is a chopped or bottomless portafilter?  It is one where someone quite literally cuts out the bottom of the portafilter so that the coffee comes out of the basket and falls straight down into the cup.  This may seem...
Coffee Subscription: How It Works and What to Look For

A coffee subscription delivers fresh-roasted whole bean coffee to your door on a schedule you control. The key difference from grocery store coffee is freshness , subscription coffee ships within days of roasting, while grocery beans can sit in a warehouse for months before you open them. This guide covers how coffee subscriptions work, what separates good ones from bad ones, and what the freshness math actually looks like.

Another great coffee - Blue Jaguar
Today I am drinking Blue Jaguar from Red Bird espresso in Montana.  It is a great blend.  It is a blend built around Brazil Daterra Sweet Blue beans. My very first shot of it was quite good and I figured...
Kenyan Coffee Losing Out to Developers
Coffee production in Kenya is facing a major challenge brought on by increase in prosperity in this African nation. As citizens become upwardly mobile, they have more money for housing and are pushing a demand for urban homes. Though coffee...
tampers - how important are they?
When looking at espresso gear it makes sense to ask where money spent contributes to better espresso and when it does not.  The tamper is a place where many people focus too much of the energy and money.  There are...
My fantastic coffee voyage (part 1)...
I took a trip up to New York over this past weekend to experience all of its coffee splendor.  I should rephrase- I went to Manhattan to experience all of its coffee splendor.  As much as I would have liked...
Distribution is one of the keys to great espresso
One of the easiest things to overlook for a new barista is the importance of the distribution of the coffee.  It is essential for great espresso to have the coffee in the portafilter basket fairly evenly distributed.  When you think...
Coffee In, Dairy Out, Per Harvard
Nutrition guides, they are a changing, and for the new school year, a Canadian news-site has published a comparison of leading guidelines. The guide from Harvard School of Public Health, released Wednesday, started it all, and it was quickly vetted...
What is espresso and what to shoot for when you first start pulling shots
I suppose any primer on making espresso should start at the beginning with the question – “what is espresso?”  The question seems like it should be uncontroversial and easy to answer, but like anything it does have shades of grey....
The cheapest way into espresso – the machine continued
One comment asked if I was opposed to used machines in my last post and I realized that my reply to that was too long to fin in as a comment, so it turned into a second blog post. When...
temperature control and taste
Coffee should never be made at the temperature of boiling water (212) – it is best at lower temperatures.  This turns out to be a very important variable in making coffee.   If espresso is brewed at too high a temperature...