The Reading Room

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...
Getting Espresso Equipment for CHEAP is Fun and Easy!
I should preface this post by stating that there is some work required and that it is not fun and easy.  Sorry about the misleading title.  That said, my current set-up cost me about $330 and it is easily worth...
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...
My fantastic coffee voyage (part 3)...
Apparently, I was incorrect in saying that my next stop was the Mainline Coffee Stand in my previous post (it's been edited out).  As it turns out, its called the High Line Coffee Stand located above Chelsea Market.  Which makes...
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...
My fantastic coffee voyage (part 2)...
The second stop on my tour of Manhattan was Ninth Street Espresso over in Chelsea Market.  In case you're wondering, yes, I enjoy Chelsea quite a bit.  I would have liked to have gone past the original Ninth Street, except...
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...
Costa Rican Coffee Solves Identity Crisis
Coffee from Costa Rica just received a self-identity seal that sets it apart from ordinary coffee, as it lifts it to the category of “prestige” coffee. The seal, in the form of a geographic identity, will certify that the coffee...