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 […]

Review: Java Maestro Stainless Steel Pour Over Cone Dripper

My post regarding shopping for manual coffee brewers gets into this topic in a little more depth, but there are two basic styles of manual coffee makers: pourover and immersion. Both have their pros and cons. This dripper from Java Maestro is an attempt to combine the best of both worlds into one brewer. Disclaimer: […]

Review: Minipresso manual espresso maker

Note from Margaret: For my first guest post this year, I’m thrilled to feature an equipment review from my dear friend Rosalyn Story! As with most coffee lovers who came of age before the Starbucks revolution, my taste in coffee has evolved over time. From the tin of ground Folgers and Butternut in the kitchen cupboard of my childhood to […]

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 […]

Review: Bonavita Variable Temperature Electric Gooseneck Kettle

If you are interested in making pourover coffee at home using a Hario V60, Chemex, Kalita Wave, Bee House, etc., having a gooseneck kettle is a really nice tool – some would even say essential, for the increased control it gives you over the flow of the water. I’ve had this Bonavita kettle for 2.5 years […]