Home espresso machines... are a growing market, and one of the newest additions is the chic and modern looking Kickstarter funded Xbar. As of this writing its campaign has been funded nearly twenty times over, and still has about a week left to pick up some early bird deals. Like most, if not all, espresso machines...
If you've worked in a cafe... you've likely heard the term "dying" or "dead shot" in reference to a pull of espresso that sits on the bar for a certain period of time. It's rumored that this trend came from Starbucks training, who gives a shot only 10 seconds after its completion before it's considered dead. Other...
With the ever growing popularity... around the world of specialty and third wave coffee, light roasts are becoming more and more common in cafes and kitchens. With lighter roasts come not only more unique flavors that can really showcase the coffee's origin and the roaster's skill, but they can also be somewhat tricky to brew well. Not...
When it comes to espresso... there is one brew type that tends to be forgotten. The lungo espresso garners very little interest over the standard shot, and the notorious ristretto. Personally I rarely if ever see it on a menu, and when I asked about them on an Instagram poll many people mentioned having never had...
The single shot of espresso is one of the rarest... if not the rarest espresso drink in all of modern coffee and cafe culture. Ever since I began learning about and working in the specialty coffee industry (which is a paltry five years) a single shot has been a split double. That basically means you're likely...
Dialing in is one of... the more challenging things about being a specialty coffee barista. We're dealing with a lot of factors, and it can be pretty frustrating chasing that perfect shot. Dialing in can even be more daunting as a home barista. We generally don't always have other professionals to bounce our ideas and questions...
Dialing in espresso... is a skill, but it's not rocket science. Once you figure out the basics on manipulating the time and output (basically just grind size) you can dig into flavor. Of course you'll never be able to change a coffee's overall flavor profile. If you have a darker roasted Colombian coffee, it'll never taste...
