When I started actively trying to learn more about third-wave coffee (around 2014-2015), I had the internet, but I didn’t really have anyone specific to ask for advice regarding what origins or roasters I should try. I did a lot of browsing on sites like CoffeeGeek and HomeBarista to educate myself, not only on coffee […]
Miscellaneous
The best of 2018
I always come to the last few weeks of the year unsure about if I’ve had enough “good” coffee to fill up a top 10 list… until I skim over all of the reviews I’ve written over the past 50+ weeks. Then, I’m always like “oh yeah!!!” It’s like looking at old photos and being […]
The best of 2017
It’s always nice to look back at the end of the year and to take stock of all the great coffees I got to try throughout the last twelve months. This was a good year – I was really pleased to discover quite a few new (to me) roasters that I enjoy very much! The […]
Review: Blue Bottle Perfectly Ground for Pour Over (Oakland, California)
When I bought Blue Bottle’s Kenya Embu Gikirima in whole bean format, I placed an order at the same time for the same coffee in Perfectly Ground, ground for pourover. Perfectly Ground is the name for Blue Bottle’s new line of coffee which has been ground and then directly sealed in individual oxygen-free bags so […]
The best of 2016
It’s that time again! I had fun recalling the last 12 months of coffee adventures, though I realized that my coffee consumption was down from this time last year. In 2015, I was generally aiming to write two bean reviews a week, but I found that schedule to be unsustainable; in 2016, I was pretty […]
The Best of 2015
This time of year, indie-music snobs the world over take great pleasure in making and criticizing each others’ year-end best-of lists. I didn’t make a list of my favorite albums because I really didn’t buy very many this year (though, I do have a favorite album – “Carrie and Lowell” by Sufjan Stevens. Devastating, beautiful, haunting, […]
Advice: Anatomy of a “good” espresso shot
A friend recently purchased an espresso machine and asked me to help teach him how to use it, as he does not know what “good” espresso is supposed to taste like. This got me thinking about how to describe the taste of a properly pulled shot of espresso to someone that has never had one. Let’s talk about orange […]
Advice: What should I order at a third-wave coffee shop?
Third-wave coffee shops are popping up everywhere. Walking into one is quite different from walking into a Starbucks; the menu is different, the equipment is different, and it can be a little intimidating if you don’t know what to expect. A quick history lesson for anyone that isn’t familiar with the coffee “waves”: First wave: […]
A general guide to single-origin coffees
One of the more fun but frustrating parts of getting into single-origin specialty coffee is trying to figure out where to start. Let’s say that you have resolved to start buying specialty coffee, and you pop into your local specialty coffee shop. You are overwhelmed by the array of bags on the shelf. What do you […]
How to host a coffee cupping at home
What is a coffee cupping? It’s like a wine tasting, but with coffee. Roasters will have cuppings regularly with their staff to analyze their product for consistency, defects, etc. Cafes will sometimes hold cuppings open to the public for people interested in learning more about coffee and about the differences possible between roasts, countries of […]