The Reading Room

Last week, the coffee world was buzzing about the Bonaverde, a coffee maker that will, according to company founders Felix and Hans, roast, grind and brew coffee to deliver the freshest cup of coffee possible. The Kickstarter-funded project has more than...

There’s more good news for coffee lovers who worry about their health. Two new reports highlight the health benefits of drinking coffee, which may be especially welcome after last summer’s news that young coffee drinkers have a greater risk of...

Every other week, we'll be highlighting one of our featured roasters on the blog. Check back to get to know the roasters behind that cup of coffee you're drinking! In Chicago, the scene is heating up with roasters and cafes. A...

If you're like most people, Thanksgiving morning is devoted to turkey dinner preparation. There's little time for a big breakfast in between stuffing the bird, chopping the veggies, laying out the crudités and whatever other delectable treats you have planned...

EDIT: This giveaway has ended and the winner has been announced. Thanks to everyone who participated and shared!   In celebration of our launch, we are giving away the highly valued Rancilio Silvia V3 home espresso machine to our fans!...

Recent news stories about the impending delivery of the new Blossom One coffee brewer may have sparked a feeling of déjà vu for folks who follow coffee tech closely. The Blossom One is a high-end luxury brewer that costs about...

We're excited to announce a new coffee column with The Manual, an online lifestyle guide for men that touches on style, living, food & drink, travel, and grooming! The coffee column, called "Unfiltered," is our owner's view on making coffee...

It’s autumn. You can tell it’s autumn because the trees are a blaze of color, the air is crisp with the promise of frost and your favorite coffee shop has broken out the pumpkin spice coffee. It’s a rite of...

Would you like to taste the best coffees that Brazil has to offer for the 2013 Early Harvest? Each year, Brazil holds two Cup of Excellence competitions, one each for the late harvest and the early harvest. The winning coffees...

Coffee has a long history, entrenched in many different cultures around the world. The drink has nursed many ideas, brewed revolutions, and inspired writers. For its inaugural event, "Coffee's Night Out" will be taking place in Greenpoint, a neighborhood of...

Alpha Dominche landed onto the specialty coffee scene last year and won the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) "Best New Product" award for their Steampunk 1.0, for its innovative use of brewing technology. The Steampunk allows baristas to set...

As we mentioned in a previous post, the Big Central Regional Barista and Brewer's Cup Competition took place in Minneapolis over the weekend. The Big Central is comprised of the North Central and South Central regions. For each region, there...

Yesterday was the beginning of a regional barista and brewer's competition weekend in Minneapolis. At first thought, many customers don't realize that coffee has competitions. Their next question is often, "So what do they do? Make coffee?" Yes. If you...

As the coffee industry continues to grow and the consumer becomes more informed, restaurants are taking note. Michelin-starred restaurants are at the top of the high-end food game and when news broke that 30% of the world's top-level restaurants use...

In this age of convenience and automation, with coffee machines increasing in sophistication, we’ve seen a real resurgence of interest in a countervailing approach, namely manual brewing. Handcrafted coffee satisfies on many levels and can be as simple or elaborately...

Fair warning. If you think that adding anything to your exquisitely brewed coffee is sacrilege, you might want to stop reading right here, because it’s about to get worse. Much worse – or better, depending on your point of view....

The release of the new DSM-5 – the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – has kicked up a firestorm of headlines and commentary online and elsewhere for its inclusion of a number of controversial “mental disorders,” which includes...

If your favorite coffees come from south of the border, you may be in trouble next year. The unusually wet rainy season and warmer average temperatures in Central America and the northern countries of South America have resulted in widespread...

Remember all the hoopla about a year back when a study seemed to show that green coffee bean extract really, truly does help people lose weight? Just to refresh the memory, the researchers theorized that the chlorogenic acid (CGA) in...

Cafe mocha, also known as the Starbucks’ caffe mocha, is actually an American drink with an Italian linguistic twist! The concoction is based on the smaller and lighter Italian moccaccino which is a cappuccino with a touch of chocolate and...

French coffee uses a light roast. Its color is called robe de moine because it resembles that of a monk’s robe. Here’s a simple recipe for brewing two traditional cups of French Cafe Au Lait: 1. Put about 2/3 ounce...