When I started getting into specialty coffee, one “rule” I heard a lot was that you do not need an “espresso” blend to make espresso. This is true. I’ve had some amazing espresso shots pulled from single-origin coffees, and I’ve had terrific drip coffee made from beans marketed for espresso. However, not all beans are […]
Espresso
Review: Intelligentsia Coffee Black Cat Analog Espresso (Chicago, Illinois)

The first time I tried Intelligentsia’s Black Cat Analog Espresso was in a coffee shop. I was in Northern California for work back in 2015 and had a beautifully pulled shot at Vero’s Coffee Bar in San Jose. I enjoyed it so much, I use the photo of it that I took as an example […]
Review: 2% Jazz Coffee Espresso Blend (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada)

When I started this blog back in 2015, my intent was for it to simply be my coffee diary. I never expected anyone else to be interested in what I had to say, so it was flattering when I started getting traffic to this site from people other than my friends and family, and it […]
Review: Intelligentsia Coffee Honey Badger Espresso (Chicago, Illinois)

During my short visit to Chicago in February, I popped into Intelligentsia Coffee’s Monadnock location and picked up this bag of their Honey Badger Espresso. They had lots of really fresh beans that day, but I was curious to see if I would like this better than their Black Cat Classic. Whole bean: Fresh, fruity, […]
Review: Ipsento Coffee Roasters Wildfire Espresso, now known as Cascade Espresso (Chicago, Illinois)

Ipsento Coffee Roasters is another Chicago-area coffee roaster I wanted to visit on my trip, but when I discovered I could order fresh beans from Ipsento via Javaya, it was a no-brainer. Since I purchased this bag of Ipsento’s Wildfire Espresso, they’ve apparently renamed the blend and are now calling it their Cascade Espresso. As […]
Review: Cuvée Coffee Stella Cometa Espresso Blend (Austin, Texas)

This bag came from a trip to our local Whole Foods. I continue to be really grateful that they feature freshly roasted beans from local and local-ish roasters like Cuvée. Whole bean: These beans were roasted very evenly and I’d classify it as a light-to-medium roast. I sometimes get questions regarding espresso roasts, as if […]
Review: Klatch Coffee FTO House Espresso (Upland, California)

I’ve had pretty good luck trying Klatch Coffee’s espressos in the past (I liked their Belle Espresso pretty well, and I LOVED their Golden Bean Espresso of 2015), so I was excited to try another one of their blends. This time around, I opted for their FTO (Fair Trade Organic) House Espresso. Since it was […]
Review: Sensory Lab Steadfast Blend (Melbourne, Australia)

My second stop on my Australia coffee tour was to Sensory Lab on Bourke Street in Melbourne. This was like no other coffee shop I’d ever seen; it shared space with a David Jones retailer (looked to me like a department store?) and the space really did feel more like I had walked into some […]
Review: Square Mile Coffee Roasters Red Brick Espresso (London, England)

The final bag of coffee that I bought on my July 2018 trip to the United Kingdom was this bag of Square Mile Coffee Roasters’ Red Brick Espresso Blend. I picked this up in York, at Spring Espresso. I don’t usually drink milk drinks, and I really don’t usually buy a coffee drink made with […]
Review: LAMILL Coffee Bliss Espresso (Alhambra, California)

For anyone that read about my incredible water drama with LAMILL’s Ethiopia Wote Konga beans, rest assured that for espresso tastings, I only use bottled water with a maximum of 3 grains hardness… this water has never seen a cremini mushroom. 😉 As I noted in my previous LAMILL review, these beans were not freshly […]