Espresso News and Reviews – TheShot.coffeeratings.com

Two articles in the news yesterday highlighted a bit of our thinking about a major divide in coffee formats: espresso and filter coffee. The Puget Sound Business Journal interviewed the sometimes-controversial Illy man, Giorgio Milos: Illy’s master barista challenges us to take a fresh look at Starbucks, Tully’s | Puget Sound Business Journal. The other [...]

Let’s hear it for counter-programming. Starbucks made good on last year’s Plenta threat this week, announcing a new beverage size that targets the gluttony market, called the Trenta. As in Godzilla vs. the Trenta. Taking advantage of a news lull, Starbucks’ press onslaught has the media lapping it up. So naturally, we’re going to talk [...]

The danger of April Fool’s jokes is that sometimes you don’t know when they’re actually joking. Take Starbucks‘ announcement today of their new 128-oz Plenta beverage size: Starbucks Listens to Customer Request for More Sizes | Starbucks Coffee Company. Either Starbucks has developed a seriously acerbic, cynical streak about their customers — or they are [...]

Today’s bit of European coffee controversy actually has nothing to do with the undropped espresso machine name from French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who recently demanded a decent espresso machine of his choice while visiting Columbia University: French President Nicolas Sarkozy demands special espresson machine during Columbia University visit – NYPOST.com. (Meanwhile, the French press made [...]

We’re rather shameless about our love for the espresso and cafés in Torino, Italy. So we could not pass on today’s travel article in The Guardian (UK): Lose the froth: Turin’s best cafes | Travel | The Guardian. So why do we love the espresso and cafés in Torino so much? To start with: grand [...]

When it comes to the size of the espresso pour in the Bay Area, what is the norm? We’ve been biased, like many others, to believe that it’s the long espresso: a watered-down brew topping off at 2 oz. or more. A reader recently posted a comment suggesting an alternative: that a ristretto was the [...]

We had originally posted this as an addendum to our recent review of the new, more permanent installment of the Blue Bottle Coffee Co. in the Ferry Building Marketplace. However, the strange phenomenon of the Gibraltar deserves its very own post. Originating here in San Francisco, the Gibraltar has since spread to Los Angeles (Intelligentsia [...]

Today’s Chicago Tribune reported on Intelligentia‘s plans to phase out the 20-ounce, venti-sized coffee beverage: Small. Medium. Gone. — chicagotribune.com. “Drinking our coffee is not like drinking jug wine,” the article quotes Intelligentsia founder and CEO, Doug Zell. Mr. Zell also goes on to compare the venti experience to “a watered-down, Big Gulpish version.” We’ve [...]

Today’s The Sydney Morning Herald ponders how Australia’s Italian immigrants could bring a culture of appreciation for some of the best espresso in the world, and yet New York City — no stranger to Italian immigrants — is such a puzzling espresso wasteland: Brew ha ha in city that falls short on espresso – Opinion [...]

Back in the 1980s, Wendy’s fast food restaurants sponsored a highly successful advertising campaign featuring a diminutive elderly Jewish woman (Clara Peller, she quickly became a cultural icon from these spots). When presented with the hamburgers of Wendy’s competitors, she famously asked, “Where’s the beef?!” These days, it seems like we need a similar campaign [...]