The perfect espresso brew pressure... doesn't exist. That's just the truth, but if you search for it that online, you'll quickly find a lot of opinions. Many of those opinions are based on the tradition of a 9 bar extraction, but the source of this number is widely debated. Some say it dates back to some...
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...
After four full weeks of in-depth... coffee content, reviews, and data I was in need of a reset. Plus, I haven't done coffee routine video featuring my morning workflow for some time now, so it felt like the perfect way to get me back into the mindset needed to delve into the last weeks of 2022....
If there’s one thing in coffee... I’m always impressed by its the ingenuity of manual espresso machine design. I’ve used the press, I’ve used the twist, and now with the Superkop, I’ve used the ratchet. And if your first thought during that last sentence was "superwhat?" I was right there with you just a few months ago. I...
After the latest espresso anatomy... episode featuring the Slayer shot there was quite a few comments asking for the next entry to be a deep dive into blooming espresso. So, ask and you shall receive. Of course, the concept of blooming coffee isn't brand new, but when it comes to doing it with espresso, that is...
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...
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...
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...
It's hot out there... and these late summer days tends to be the perfect opportunity to enjoy some iced coffee drinks, so I figured I'd share a few of my favorites. Of course they all feature my favorite form of coffee: espresso. Even though each recipe is intended to be used with espresso, those who don't...
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...
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...
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...
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...
It may sound intimidating... but the Slayer shot is actually surprisingly gentle since it utilizes a considerable amount of low-pressure pre-infusion, and when I say considerable I mean essentially half the shot time; but I'm getting ahead of myself. As you may already be aware there are many different forms of espresso, the classic double, the...
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...
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...
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...
Over my time as a home barista... there are a handful of machines that get brought up in nearly every espresso conversation, and one of them is the ECM Synchronika. This makes sense because on paper it's a needle in a haystack. It comes with dual boilers, PID for consistent temperature control, the legendary (but divisive)...
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...
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...
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...
When it comes to espresso... there is one variable that I think is undeniable in its importance, and that is an even distribution. Having a puck of coffee grinds that is not only uniform in depth but also in density ensures that when the water pressure is applied the flow rate is equal as it travels...
If this title looks familiar... its not just your imagination, its not deja vu, I did a video of the exact same title almost exactly three years ago. In that time not only has my espresso game evolved, but so has the whole industry along with most of baristas (home and cafe) use on a daily...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
On a cold January day in 2017... much like this one, I brought home my brand new La Marzocco Linea Mini. This was almost exactly five years ago, and at the time I was just a new coffee enthusiast looking to learn the craft, but little did I know that it would take me where I...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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...
For quite some time... beverage enthusiasts have been making and designing their own glasses to elevate their drinking experience, and the company Kruve has continued to try to innovate in the coffee vessel space. It all started with their award winning filter glasses, then the pro-swirl espresso versions, and now with the new Kruve Imagine line...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Thinking about espresso... is what I do with a good amount of my time, and if you're reading this its fair to say it may be something you spend time doing as well. There is a wide array of espresso options out there, and in my espresso anatomy series I've covered a lot of them. The...
When it comes to espresso... experimentation is half of the fun, at least to me it is, and since you're here reading about some seriously nerdy coffee stuff you likely feel the same way. So in the spirit of experimentation and my own personal curiosity I decided to test something I've been wondering about for awhile....
Dairy alternatives and I... have a bit of a contentious relationship, I've always wanted to like them, but I feel like they tend to fall short in one way or another. Whether it's how they taste, how they blend with coffee, their foamability or mouthfeel, they just don't check all the boxes. I'm clearly not the...
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...
The internet is full of... articles, blog posts and videos talking about all the espresso rules you should follow for the best possible shots, but I'm here to tell you; the rules were made to be broken. In the world of espresso, and all of specialty coffee for that matter, there are very few rules that...
As if there weren't... enough tools and accessories out there for pulling shots, it's time to look at yet another advertised as your fast pass to better extractions; the Bplus espresso puck screens. Of course, many of us espresso nerds have heard all of this before, many times over. So I'm sure you could understand my...
I'm a man of my word... and a couple month's ago while reviewing the Robot I said I would soon be releasing a head-to-head battle with the Cafelat Robot and the Flair, but what I didn't tell you was I was waiting for the new 58 to drop. In the world of hand pressed, fully manual...
It's far too easy... and also extremely common for folks in the specialty coffee scene to dunk on Starbucks, but today I want to give you some reasons why they actually deserve a little respect. Of course, this isn't a "we should all love them" kind of video, and they most definitely have their flaws. I...
Now well into the... fourth year of this humble coffee blog we're really starting to dig into the minutia of brewing, and in terms of espresso talking about shower screens is really getting into the weeds. Otherwise known as dispersion screens, these little discs of metal and mesh play a surprisingly vital role in the espresso...
For awhile now... I've been toying with aging coffee, both green and roasted, in my freezer at home. One particular package of coffee was roasted, vacuum sealed, and subsequently traveled from Japan to my freezer here in California. This coffee has sat patiently for almost exactly two years now. If you've been around for awhile this...
If there is one thing... I look forward to every day, its a quiet morning coffee and today I'm sharing that experience with you. There's clearly a group of folks out there who love these kinds of videos, and you may be asking what kind of video. Well, this is my first, and very possibly final,...
