Espresso News and Reviews – TheShot.coffeeratings.com

Copy-editors are strange beasts. They can take a perfectly valid story, dress it up with titles and subheds, and transform it into something that sounds completely irrelevant to the contents within. Take yesterday’s Wall Street Journal piece on efforts seeking the genetic diversification of consumable coffee: The Indiana Jones of Coffee – WSJ.com (subhed: “Companies [...]

Lately we’ve been thinking about quality coffee’s current obsession with all-things-technology. While there’s arguably more science than art to making good coffee, the current climate seems to have pushed any art aside. It reminds us of civilization at the turn of the 20th century, when society held a common belief that technology was going to [...]

Recently I was approached by a writer exploring ideas for an article to be published by Wired in the UK. (This wouldn’t be the first time.) The subject line of his e-mail? “The Future of Coffee.” His goal was to put together a piece about the “vanguard of the coffee industry,” featuring “new and disruptive [...]

Last week we came across an interesting article in an unusual place: Barista judge calls for clarification of espresso techno-babble – 30 April 2009 – CatererSearch. A World Barista Championship judge has expressed concern over espresso machine manufacturers’ escalating war of technology — or at least the validity of their claims. David Cooper, of Cooper’s [...]

This week we came across a curious video published by Voice of America: VOA News – Seattle: Capital of Coffee Houses. If you wonder why something called “Voice of America” produces video, you’ll question that even more after viewing this parody of a 1980′s corporate training video. But the video is essentially a review of [...]

In case liquid coffee extracts didn’t whet your coffee appetite, maybe instant self-heating coffee in a can will: Self-heating coffee launched in Australia > FOODweek Online > Main Features Page. Per the product description: To heat the coffee, the canister is tipped upside down and the tamper-proof seal is removed. An activation button is found [...]

Not all public relations professionals are brain-dead. Really. Unfortunately, there are armies of brain-dead PR zombies that routinely clog the media firehose with inane chatter. One of their favorite zombie techniques? Take a rather inane topic that seems trendy in the media — say, oh, blogging. Then take whatever tired idea you have in front [...]

Last week, JL Hufford Coffee and Tea of Indiana announced a patent for a super-automated home espresso machine that would use artificial intelligence (i.e., pattern-learning technology) to anticipate the espresso beverage needs of its owner: Presenting the Coffee Machine That Reads Minds. Artificial intelligence technologies have long suffered a reputation for being “a solution in [...]

In today’s news, Australian inventors secured an international licensing agreement that stands to revolutionize one of my least favorite subjects: to-go coffee (Aussie Invention Ready to ‘Wow’ U.S. Coffee Drinkers – QSR Magazine). With the introduction of new, temperature-sensitive coffee lids, apparently McDonald’s customers can now be entertained by a show of colors before they [...]

It’s no secret that I generally disdain superautomated espresso machines (myself and Howard Schultz apparently included) and the convenience-step-forward/quality-step-backwards home pod machines. So you may get the (false) impression that, when it comes to coffee, I am an anti-technology Luddite. While I have never placed PID temperature controllers on the group of my home machine [...]