Posted by TheShot on 07 May 2008 | Tagged as: Barista, Consumer Trends, Local Brew, Quality Issues
We’re more than a bit late with the news here, but a hearty and well-deserved congratulations to Kyle Glanville of LA’s Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea for winning the 2008 U.S. Barista Championship (USBC): 2008 US Barista Champion « The Official 2008 SCAA Conference Blog.
Proving the West is Best, and giving us some minor trash-talking rights, [...]
Posted by TheShot on 17 Dec 2007 | Tagged as: Beans, Home Brew, Machine, Quality Issues
In the “unclear on the concept” department, this weekend’s Toronto Star published an article that, in its opening paragraph, mentioned “coffee’s elevated status as the new wine.” However, it then proceeded to discuss coffee-pod-based home espresso machines in the same context: TheStar.com | living | Specialty coffees become the new wine.
This is as incongruous as [...]
Posted by TheShot on 16 Dec 2007 | Tagged as: Consumer Trends, Home Brew, Machine
Today’s New York Times published a brief article on Francis Ford Coppola’s personal obsession with espresso machines, of which he’s apparently owned some 300 to date: The Epic in a Demitasse Cup - New York Times. Of particular note is a machine that is “an early favorite, a large, silvery old-fashioned machine for the first [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 04 Nov 2007 | Tagged as: Consumer Trends, Foreign Brew, Home Brew, Machine
Today’s New York Times Magazine published an article on the declining design aesthetic of the espresso machine: The Pod People - New York Times. As the author puts it, “Cape Canaveralesque control centers that have replaced those great machines.” And she blames the meteoric popularity of Starbucks, which inspired a great wave of ensuing greed [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 30 Oct 2007 | Tagged as: Beans, Foreign Brew
It’s been a long time coming. After three years of laziness, I found a clean way to add non-SF espresso bars to the online database without having them muck up the SF sorts and ratings. It’s not a lot, and there are still a few kinks to work out, but it’s progress.
And the timing may [...]
Posted by TheShot on 07 Oct 2007 | Tagged as: Beans, Fair Trade, Quality Issues, Roasting
The London Times today published a business section interview of Andrea Illy, the head of IllyCaffè: The original Mr Bean - Times Online.
More of a financial/business article, it discusses Illy’s role in the world of specialty coffee — touching on Illy’s technical innovations (some of them regrettable, IMO), brand positioning, and even Mr. Illy’s belief [...]
Posted by TheShot on 22 Sep 2007 | Tagged as: Beans, Local Brew, Restaurant Coffee, Roasting
La Colombe Torrefaction, a Philadelphia-based roaster that’s been something of an East Coast analog to Blue Bottle Coffee Company, has regularly received national recognition for the quality of their roasted coffee. But on the West Coast, La Colombe may as well be based out of Belgium; they’re largely unknown around these parts.
In an attempt to [...]
Posted by TheShot on 31 Aug 2007 | Tagged as: Beans, Home Brew, Machine
Today’s Wall Street Journal features an article on a new home espresso machine/system being introduced by Illycaffè next month: Re-Engineering Espresso - WSJ.com. Illy’s new coffee-pod-based machine/system is called Hyper Espresso — ‘hyper’ being a sort of European equivalent of ’super’ (as in hypermarket shopping). The system consists of a custom machine (produced by Illy [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 30 Aug 2007 | Tagged as: Café Society, Consumer Trends, Foreign Brew, Home Brew
Today Earthtimes.org published an article on the evolving consumer coffee market in Vienna, Austria: Vienna’s coffee makers take on the convenience cup : Health. While Vienna is steeped in a long tradition of contemplative coffee-drinking in elegant cafés, modern trends such as espresso drinks, big international coffee chains, “to go” coffee, and home espresso machines [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 05 Jun 2007 | Tagged as: Café Society, Consumer Trends, Local Brew, Restaurant Coffee
According to an article in today’s USA Today, hotels are still slowly catching up on the rest of society when it comes to serving better quality coffee: Upscale coffee selections brewing at more hotels - USATODAY.com. As the article opens, “Good coffee is the next big thing at hotels.” Business travelers, accustomed to better coffee [...]
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