Brew with Plunger or French Press

 Coffee character: A rich, medium bodied brew Good for: Its simplicity—it’s easy to use and can make up to six cups at a time, so it’s great for when you have people...

Brew Style - Ibrik

Coffee character: Rich, dark and intense, since this coffee isn’t filtered, its texture is a bit on the, well, muddy side Good for: Going back to the roots of coffee brewing...

Ibrik Coffee

Coffee character: Rich, dark and intense, since this coffee isn’t filtered, its texture is a bit on the, well, muddy side  Good for: Going back to the roots of coffee...

All in the Timing (and Weight)

 Coffee brewing is all about the coffee to water ratio. Too much water and the coffee will be weak and flavorless, too little and you get bitterness. You can play around with...

The Daily Grind

It takes two machines to make a great coffee: the coffeemaker and the grinder. Despite what the name suggests, the daily grind of coffee is anything but laborious; it’s here that...

TOOL UP

 Automated Roasters There are basically two types of automated home roasters around: air roasters and drum roasters. If you want to generalize about flavor, air roasters...

How to Become a Genuine, Certified Roaster!

A GOOD ROASTING You don’t have to be a roaster to be a great barista, but knowing a bit about how your coffee is roasted can give you a new understanding of the power of the...

Pick a Bean, Any Bean

If you’re feeling a bit lost as to where to find your beans, the best place to start is at your favorite café. Ask for advice from your local barista or roaster:   ...

So Where’s my coffee bean?

Knowing the origin of a coffee gives something of an (albeit, extremely broad) indication of what the flavor will be like, which is why most beans are sold with the beans’ origin...

Single Origins & Blends

 The term “single-origin coffee” might sound self explanatory, but the rules of what exactly defines a “single origin” are hazy and widely debated. Depending on who you’re...

Storing Your Coffee Beans

 Since coffee is a perishable food item, it is important to store your coffee beans properly before using them, if you want to make the best cup of coffee possible with the beans...

The Various Coffee Beans You Can Use

Before we start making drinks, we should learn a little bit about the various beans you can use, the type of equipment available for making coffee, and a few other useful tips that...

COFFEE ETHICS

America is just one of the countries with an industrialized economy that consumes coffee like . . . well, the delicious drug that it is. In the past ten years, our consumption of...

Is Specialty Coffee Worth It?

 Okay, so obviously engaging with the world of specialty coffee takes a bit of extra effort. You can’t just pick it up at the supermarket; you have to go to cafés or roasters,...

What’s So Special about Specialty Coffee?

 Specialty coffee is about honoring every one of the many stages coffee goes through, and all the people involved in its production. It’s about finding the very best beans...

From Cherry to Bean

Beans for Botanists Going back to the beginning, coffee beans are actually seeds found inside the bright red, cherry-like fruit of a coffea tree. There are different species...

Background to the Brew

It’s said that we’re in the third wave of coffee, so what were the first two waves? Well, the first wave didn’t come until the mid-twentieth century, but let’s not ignore the hundreds...