Espresso News and Reviews – TheShot.coffeeratings.com

Back in July we reported on Illy‘s strategy for opening licensed Illy Espressamente cafés across Europe. During my travels in Portugal last month, I had the pleasure of encountering my first one in the unlikeliest of places. In the perimeter wall of the recently remodelled Praça de Touros do Campo Pequeno bullfighting arena, this fully [...]

This is as good as a General Douglas MacArthur impersionation as you’ll ever get from me. After three weeks of touring most of central and northern Portugal, I’ve finally returned to the Bay Area. The good news? I have many stories and photos to convey on the status and quality of espresso in Portugal as [...]

From the print edition of The Economist, an article on Andrea Illy of Illycaffè: Face value | Head barista | Economist.com. Andrea Illy is the head of Trieste-based Illycaffè. And despite the standards gap between Italian espresso and the chain that made the most riches exporting their own version of it, Mr. Illy has only [...]

New York City — that backwater of quality espresso that has long proven, if I may paraphrase Frank Sinatra, “If you can make decent espresso there, you can make it anywhere” — has reportedly been hit by a “wave” (here we go again) of better coffee. Or so says today’s New York Times: Espresso’s New [...]

In the August 7 issue of BusinessWeek, there’s an article titled “Basta With The Venti Frappuccinos.” According to this article, Andrea Illy, the head of Illycaffè, is out to show the Starbucks of this world how espresso should be done. They have started rolling out hundreds of licensed cafés under the brand name Espressamente. Espressawhat?, [...]

So how’s your Norwegian? A press release published today on Norwegian air travel site, Boarding.no, announced the availability of “true Italian espresso” on the central European discount airline, SkyEurope: Boarding.no : SkyEurope introduces Illy espresso on board. And to help seal the deal, the press release pulls out a photo op with their favorite Slavic [...]

Yes, this one is one of the classics. It’s a bright North Beach café that’s been open since 1988. They have many small indoor café tables with a lot of that “Cinzano”-like print art, clean surfaces, and East-facing glass windows. They also have an adjoining room that’s available for a lot of overflow on popular [...]

A popular, often crowded, slow, and somewhat under-tabled and under-staffed Parisian-styled café that strongly emphasizes French details. (It changed owners in March 2004.) A somewhat confused system for getting a table when they are busy — you’re not sure whether to grab a table yourself, to ask to be seated, etc. Black & white photographs [...]

This cafeteria-like spot opened along Trinity Place in late 2005. Heavy Illy branding, some Italian staff, and italianate sandwiches. This is the first location this small chain brought west of NYC. It has a massive amount of metal outdoor seating along Trinity Place and a long indoor space with window counter and booths. Why there [...]

Since everything I learned about coffee I learned by watching NBC’s Today show, I had to share an article that came across my desk today highlighting some of their top picks for home coffee and espresso machines: Make a great cup of joe with the latest makers – Today: Food – MSNBC.com. The article was [...]