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Tag: Coffee

Crossland CC1
GearReview
March 24, 2023 Post a Comment

Crossland CC1 – The Best Single Boiler You’ve Never Heard Of

I fancy myself a pretty experienced espresso guy... so you can imagine my surprise when a machine landed on my bar that had not once popped up on my radar. The Crossland CC1 is a home-focused, feature dense, and affordable prosumer espresso machine that at a glance looks like a lovechild of two of the biggest...

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Compound Chilling
EducationEspresso
March 10, 2023 Post a Comment

Coffee Science – Compound Chilling: Gimmick Or Genius?

I've seen a lot of espresso trends come and go... but one recent thing that seemed to make a quick re-emergence, and then subsequent disappearance, is the idea of compound chilling. The name itself may not ring a bell, but the image of syrupy espresso running over frozen steel whiskey ball seems to have made its...

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Dark Roast
CoffeeOpinion
February 24, 2023 Post a Comment

Coffee Opinion – In Defense Of The Dark Roast

There is one four letter word... that can get many modern-day, third wave baristas all up in their feelings, and that is dark. The lowly dark roast, although it has been the historical standard in coffee for decades, and considering there is a good chance it was the first kind of coffee you and most likely everyone...

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Baratza ESP
New ProductsReview
February 17, 2023 Post a Comment

Encore ESP – Baratza’s Entry Level Legend Upgraded

This one is a walk down memory lane... because the humble Baratza Encore was my very first home coffee grinder, and even as I progressed in my coffee career its blend of affordability and performance kept it at the top of my recommendation list. Literally anytime I was asked by someone considering taking the leap into...

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GS3MP Vs. Lelit Bianca
EspressoGear
February 10, 2023 Post a Comment

Side By Side – Lelit Bianca V3 Vs. La Marzocco GS3MP

Since the Lelit Bianca landed on my bar... I have had a lot of requests to put it up against my daily driver, the La Marzocco GS3MP.  On their face they appear to be two very different machines at two completely different price points; there's a $4,500 difference between them. But, going head-to-head, spec sheet to...

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Flat Bottom Brewers
CoffeeGear
January 27, 2023 Post a Comment

Showdown – Five Flat Bottom Brewers Compared

When it comes to pour over drippers... there are a lot of options ranging in size, material, and shape, but when I sat down to do a quick inventory of my collection I realized I had more flat bottom options than any other style. And looking back over the last year or so, I've found myself...

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Addressing The Drama
CoffeeVlog
December 30, 2022 Post a Comment

Coffee Time – Home Baristas Hurting Cafes, Addressing The Drama & More

As the year wraps up... it seems like a good time to do a good old fashioned 'ask me anything' video.  A lot has gone on since the last one, where I responded to many questions, and even talked about how angry my moka pot recipe has made many Italians. This year's topics appear to be...

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Lelit Bianca V3
EspressoNew Products
December 9, 2022 3 Comments

Lelit Bianca V3 – A Near Perfect Blend Of Technology & Tradition

After some time and a lot of requests... I finally got my hands on the Lelit Bianca. This popular prosumer espresso machine has been around for quite some time, and boasts a handful of features that puts it on the top many home barista's wishlists. Things like stainless steel dual boilers, PID temperature control, a rotary...

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Rancilio Stile
New ProductsReview
November 25, 2022 Post a Comment

Rancilio Stile – Can The Hopper Make A Comeback?

It's been a big year for grinders... and it's not over yet, because a brand new option just hit the market, the Rancilio Stile. Intended for both home and commercial applications, it appears to be made for some serious use. On the outside it shares their classic understated and straightforward design, and on the inside its sports...

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Roest
CoffeeNew Products
October 14, 2022 Post a Comment

Roest L100 – Is This The Future Of Roasting?

There are endless rabbit holes in coffee... and roasting is one that's been growing in popularity, especially in enthusiast circles. Over the last few years there have been a handful of coffee roasters hitting the market, like the humble Hive, and the mini workhouse the Aillio Bullet, but there's another option that has been finding its way...

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Barista Challenge
CoffeeVlog
October 7, 2022 Post a Comment

Barista Challenge – Roll The Dice, Pour The Art, Earn The Cash

On my journey to expand my coffee content... I'm once again trying something new that I lovingly call the Barista Challenge. The game is simple, roll the latte art dice, pour the design, and win some cash. Of course there are some additional multipliers in the mix. For example, if you roll a basic heart, that's...

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Lagom Mini
New ProductsReview
September 23, 2022 Post a Comment

Lagom Mini – Small Grinder, Big Expectations

Everyone loves an underdog... and living in the shadow of popular siblings can be a frustrating existence, but the Lagom Mini aims at bringing the premium feel and brewing experience of its bigger burred family members, the P64 and P100, to those not looking to drop a lot of money on a coffee grinder. But they still...

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Orea V3
CoffeeGear
September 16, 2022 1 Comment

Orea V3 – My Pour Over Daily Driver

A few keen observers... have been noticing a regular brewing cameo in some of my recent videos, so I figured now may be a good time to introduce my current daily driver pour over: the Orea V3. This incredibly simple and unassuming brewing device has been more or less the only one I reach for when...

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807 Lab Sweet
GearReview
September 9, 2022 Post a Comment

807 Lab Sweet – Is This The Key To Unlocking Sweeter Coffee?

Coffee people are a fickle bunch... when a hot new piece of gear drops everyone and their cousin's brother's uncle are going on and on about it, but as soon as something else hits the market it's gone as fast as it came. Yet, there's one piece of coffee gear that tends to always maintain a...

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Mazzer Omega
New ProductsReview
August 26, 2022 Post a Comment

Mazzer Omega – The Most Anticipated Hand Grinder Of 2022

There are few brand names in coffee... that carry as much history and respect as Mazzer. They've been in the coffee grinder and burr business for nearly 75 years and have built a positive reputation across the entire industry. Their burrs have become synonymous with quality, and many other grinder companies build their products around Mazzer's...

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Kazak Rota
EspressoNew Products
August 12, 2022 1 Comment

Kazak Rota – The Best Manual Machine You’ve Never Heard Of

As much as I love a classic... pump driven machine, there is nothing quite like the manual espresso maker experience. Each unit is unique in its design, method, and manufacture, but all of them aim for the same outcome: a proper shot of espresso. Over the last few years I've had my hands on quite a...

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Grinder Speed
CoffeeEducation
August 5, 2022 Post a Comment

Coffee Science – How Grinder Speed Effects Extraction & Taste

When it comes to brewing coffee... there are a handful of standard variables that all baristas spend their time working within, but one has been relatively untouchable until recently: grinder speed. Over the last few years more and more grinders have hit the market with adjustable speed capabilities. So when I was in the market for...

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Rancilio Silvia Pro X
New ProductsReview
July 29, 2022 1 Comment

Silvia Pro X – Rancilio’s New Generation Of Home Espresso

Rancilio is no stranger to espresso... they've been building machines for 95 years, and put them on home counters in 1997. Over that time the Silvia has become synonymous in home barista circles and is now in its sixth generation.  From the humble single boiler, to today's dual boiler with PID and "soft infusion" the Silvia...

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Grinder Go
GearReview
July 22, 2022 Post a Comment

Grinder Go – Timemore’s Hands-Free Hand Grinder

There must be something in the water... because powered hand grinders seem to be all the rage, or at least I'm getting them in waves. Regardless, here we are, and today we're with Timemore's Grinder Go Advanced. Unlike its close relatives the Slim and Chestnut X this grinder contains a unique twist for a piece of...

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Cafe Vlog
CoffeeVlog
July 15, 2022 Post a Comment

Cafe Vlog – Can I Survive This?

Do you remember... the days before? The days before March 2020? I do, and it's wild being nostalgic for a time just a few short years ago. Yet, as things began to open up again I wanted to relive one of my favorite experiences of the pre-pandemic days, a coffee crawl. By that I mean, grabbing...

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Goat Story ARCO
New ProductsReview
July 1, 2022 Post a Comment

Goat Story ARCO – Is It Worth The Wait?

Crowdfunded coffee gear and I have a rocky relationship... there's been ups, downs, and everything in between. That same attitude also translates to hand grinders, which as I've said before aren't really my thing. But the Goat Story ARCO is a little different. It's a hand grinder, but also an electric grinder. It appeals to those...

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Coffee Subscription
CoffeeOpinion
June 24, 2022 1 Comment

Coffee Opinion – Is It Time To Cancel Your Coffee Subscription?

We are in the golden age of the subscription... and you can get nearly any item you want on one. There's pet toys, beard oil, yoga pants, pickles and of course coffee. In theory the idea of  a coffee subscription is great. You can stay stocked without thinking about it and try quality roasters from all...

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Pure Over
GearReview
June 17, 2022 Post a Comment

Pure Over – All Glass, No Filter

A filterless coffee brewer isn't unheard of... but I don't recall any of them using that particular aspect as their main marketing point, and that is where the Pure Over comes into the picture. This relatively new pour over dripper designed by Portland based glass artist Etai Rahmil was originally a Kickstarter that was fully funded...

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Coffee Bar Tour
CoffeeVlog
June 10, 2022 1 Comment

The End Of An Era – Goodbye Linea Mini & Coffee Bar Tour

As you can see, its here! After about four months of waiting only somewhat patiently my new espresso machine has arrived, and it's taken it's rightful place on my home coffee bar! With this brand new addition and future heart of my espresso focused content I thought it would be a good time to not only...

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Coffee Time
CoffeeVlog
May 27, 2022 2 Comments

Coffee Time – I’m Banned From Italy, YouTube Put Me In Therapy, Best Roasters & More

Those ride or die followers may remember... that way back when when I hit the milestone of 100 YouTube videos I did a coffee time question and answer (Q&A) video.  Well, recently I hit 100,000 subscribers and I'm quite a bit over video number 200 so I think I'm a little overdue for another one. To...

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Osma Pro
New ProductsReview
May 20, 2022 Post a Comment

Osma Pro – The Cold Brewed Espresso Machine

When it comes to brew methods... you can't find two as massively different than espresso and cold brew. One takes 24 hours and the other, 24 seconds. So when I saw the Osma I couldn't help but be intrigued. If you aren't familiar, the Osma is essentially a combination of an espresso machine and a cold...

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NextLevel Brewer
CoffeeNew Products
May 6, 2022 Post a Comment

NextLevel Brewer – Is No Bypass The Future Of Brewing?

A humble hand brew... will teach you a lot about brewing good coffee; consistency, grind size, brew time, and how they all correlate, building a solid foundation of knowledge. But one factor still remains more or less a mystery when it comes to traditional pour over designs, and that is water bypass. The term bypass refers to the...

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Aillio Bullet
GearRoasting
April 29, 2022 1 Comment

Aillio Bullet – The Holy Grail Of Home Roasters

Specialty coffee is already a niche interest... but once you hit a certain level not one coffee enthusiast or hobbyist hasn’t considered roasting their own. Of course the options out there for home roasting are as broad as they are for everything else in coffee, and you can spend as much or as little as you’d...

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Grinder Seasoning
CoffeeEducation
April 22, 2022 2 Comments

Fact Or Fiction – Do New Burrs Need Seasoning?

Getting a new coffee grinder... is often a joyous and exciting experience for every coffee lover, but one thing tends to always hang over our heads as we prepare to grind our first batch; burr seasoning. If you haven't heard of seasoning your grinder burrs you wouldn't be alone, as its not something that everyone has...

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Gaggia Classic Pro
EspressoGear
April 15, 2022 Post a Comment

Gaggia Classic Pro – Small But Mighty Home Espresso

Getting into home espresso... can be an intimidating experience. There are thousands of options that range in everything from price to performance. Going online in search of answers can can only make the choice harder. Scrolling through forums and blog posts can give you an even mix of horror stories and happy endings, but there is...

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Side By Side
GearReview
March 18, 2022 2 Comments

Side By Side – $500 Gaggia Classic Vs. $5,000 Linea Mini

If there is one question... I get asked on a very regular basis it's why a relatively simple espresso machine like the La Marzocco Linea Mini is worth $5,000, and to be honest it's not an easy question to just answer off the cuff. The response I often use is related to cars, because you can...

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Tamping
EducationEspresso
March 4, 2022 Post a Comment

Espresso Anatomy – Does Tamping Matter?

In the world of espresso... there are very few things that the majority of baristas agree is a necessity, but one of those things I thought we could was tamping, or at the very least adding pressure to your grinds in one way or another. But after a short video of mine exploring one of the...

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Weber Key Unboxing
New ProductsReview
February 11, 2022 Post a Comment

Weber Key – Part I: Unboxing & First Impressions

This may surprise you... but I'm actually very risk adverse. So of course crowd funding isn't really my thing, it feels a bit like a gamble, and when I saw the Weber Workshops Indigogo campaign for the new Key grinder I was a little apprehensive. But I found myself powerless, I had no idea how much...

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Morning Machine
New ProductsReview
February 4, 2022 1 Comment

The Morning – This Ain’t Grandma’s Nespresso Machine

It may not come as a surprise... That capsule based coffee machines have never really been on my radar. That is until I heard of the Morning machine. It boasts some features that seem better suited to top of the line espresso machines. Things like pre-infusion, blooming, automatic volumetric, and three phase pressure control. So if...

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Mignon Single Dose
New ProductsReview
January 28, 2022 Post a Comment

Eureka Mignon Single Dose – The Real Niche Killer?

The home grinder market... has more or less exploded with options over the last couple years, many of them single dose, aimed at taking on the current king; the Niche Zero.  Some of them even touted as the "Niche killer", and now Eureka, a grinder company with over one hundred years experience, has entered the battle...

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Water For Espresso
EducationEspresso
January 21, 2022 Post a Comment

Coffee Science – The Best Water For Espresso

I'm sure you have heard... how important water quality can be to your coffee, and unless you're new here you've most likely you've heard it at least a few times from me. Now its something that I understood on a very surface level. For example, too many minerals can create a bitter cup, and too few...

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PorcuPress
EspressoNew Products
December 31, 2021 Post a Comment

PorcuPress – The Most Dangerous Espresso Tool

I've said it before... and I'm going to say it again; espresso is a finicky beast.  Anyone who's made it, even just once, has experienced how many variables are in play. Even though getting a tasty shot is based almost entirely on personal preferences, there are still some golden rules to process, and one of them...

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Moka Pot
CoffeeTutorial
December 17, 2021 1 Comment

The Moka Pot – The Perfect All-Round Brew Recipe

In a world full of drippers and espresso machines... the humble Moka pot feels like it's a forgotten brew method.  In the specialty coffee circles it's pretty much a four letter word, and you don't see it garnering lots of likes on Instagram or see coffee nerds debating bed preparation on the barista forums. Well, I...

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Airscape
GearReview
December 10, 2021 1 Comment

The Airscape – A Better Storage Solution For Coffee

Air is the enemy... of your coffee's freshness. There is no way to put a complete stop to oxidation that will eventually make your coffee go stale, but thankfully there are some containers out there aimed at helping slow the process down. Today's tester is for the Planetary Design Airscape. It's been on the market for...

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Americano
EspressoOpinion
December 3, 2021 Post a Comment

Coffee Opinion – The Americano Must Be Stopped

Espresso drinks aren't all that complicated... and even though there is so many you could fill a small book with them, they are made up of two ingredients, espresso and milk or water. In this case I'm talking about the latter, more specifically the Americano, and by association the long black. Now, these two have very...

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Instagram Coffee Trends
CoffeeOpinion
November 26, 2021 Post a Comment

Coffee Time – Testing Out Instagram Coffee Trends

Instagram and I have a love/hate relationship... Of course I see it as a great place to share my work, connect with viewers, and even find inspiration. Yet, on the flip side it has a lot of blatant attention grabs for likes and shares, and many things that are purely for the visual aesthetics and not...

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BoB Espresso Basket
EspressoNew Products
November 12, 2021 Post a Comment

BoB Espresso Basket – Can This Cheap Upgrade Make Sweeter Shots?

I think it's pretty clear... that there is no shortage of accessories on the espresso aftermarket. Each one claiming better taste here and more extraction there, and I've tried my fair share of these accessories and shared my tests and thoughts. It should be no surprise that not all of them can be winners, but that...

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Fellow Ode
GearReview
November 5, 2021 4 Comments

Fellow Ode – A Bargain Or A Bust?

I'll admit it, I'm late... to the Fellow Ode party, but its definitely not for lack a trying. I've been reaching out to Fellow on multiple avenues trying to get an Ode for review since late 2020. Unfortunately every lead led me to a non-response, a pass off, and one case being purely ignored (see the...

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Coffee Gifts
CoffeeGear
October 29, 2021 Post a Comment

Top Five – Affordable Coffee Gifts of 2021

The holiday season is fast approaching... and with all the delays in both manufacturing and shipping I figured I'd get this video out a little earlier than normal.  So for those looking for some affordable coffee gifts, or just wanting to know what coffee toys I've been loving through 2021 than this video is for you....

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staccato
EducationEspresso
October 22, 2021 Post a Comment

Espresso Anatomy – The Staccato Shot

Just when you thought espresso... can’t get any more intricate and labor intensive something else crawls out of the depths of coffee forums, so today let’s talk about the staccato shot. The word staccato translates from Italian to English as "detached". Which in this case means each grind size are detached, or in other words separated...

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CoffeeTutorial
October 15, 2021 Post a Comment

The Aeropress – The Perfect All-Round Brew Recipe

The Aeropress never goes out of style... for many reasons, its versatile, simple, and has more of an aftermarket than a Honda Civic. It's even got its own competition, the World Aeropress Championship (WAC). Yeah, it's a big deal. Personally, up until a year or so ago I had a rocky relationship with the Aeropress, but...

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Atomo Coffee
CoffeeOpinion
October 8, 2021 Post a Comment

Atomo Coffee – Has Science Engineered Better Coffee?

It's no secret that the future of coffee... as we know it is relatively uncertain, so it's important to do everything we can to preserve it. For many of us its become a hobby or a passion, and for some of us it's our livelihood. It pays our bills. So whenever I hear about someone trying...

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barista workflow
CoffeeVlog
September 24, 2021 2 Comments

Coffee Time – Home Barista Workflow

If there's one thing I always pair with my coffee... It's some good music.  It often flies under the radar, all but only one of the nearly 200 videos I've ever produced has had a musical track incorporated inside of it, and little does anyone know that I actually spend a good amount of time finding...

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No Bloom Pour Over
CoffeeEducation
September 17, 2021 Post a Comment

Pour Over – The No Bloom Method

If you’ve been making pour overs... in the last decade or so you’ve likely been trained, taught, or told that a bloom is an absolute necessity for a quality cup. The reasons for the process are sound, as it gives the coffee time to expel C02 built up in the roasted coffee’s cell structure, which can repel...

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Turbo Shot
EducationEspresso
September 10, 2021 Post a Comment

Espresso Anatomy – The Turbo Shot

As you may already know... espresso comes in many different shapes and sizes. Its an ever-changing, ever-evolving beverage, and now things that were once considered mistakes have become something we aim for. In the not so distant past a fifteen second shot of espresso would go right down the drain, but today we call it the...

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Picopresso
New ProductsReview
September 3, 2021 1 Comment

Picopresso – Handheld Espresso Upgraded

In the very recent past... handheld espresso was more or less a distant fantasy than it was a true reality. Even though there are multiple accessories and compact options on the market, most if not all fall kind of flat. The Joepresso, and the Fellow Prismo claimed real shots from your Aeropress, and that just isn't...

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Planning A Home Espresso Bar
EducationEspresso
August 27, 2021 Post a Comment

Top Three – Mistakes In Planning A Home Espresso Bar

Are you ready to take the plunge... into the world of espresso at home? Well, incase you haven't noticed I've done that myself, and I get a lot of questions from folks looking to do that exact same thing. I personally made some mistakes myself, and since then I've talked many friends and viewers through the...

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