Espresso News and Reviews – TheShot.coffeeratings.com

If you were to read it in the current Roast magazine article (from the Jan-Feb 2012 issue), India is a coffee consumer desert. This week TIME magazine wrote about the entrance of Starbucks in the Indian market almost as if to dismiss any prior coffee consumption there. But after spending three weeks in South India’s [...]

Tags: cafe_coffee_day, caffe_pascucci, coffee_growers, coffee_origin, cortado, espressamente, india_cafes, india_coffee, latte_art, la_marzocco, peets_coffee, south_india_filter_coffee, Starbucks, third_place, third_wave

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Yesterday morning, KQED radio aired an hour-long Forum segment featuring a small round-table of SF coffee “luminaries”: SF’s Coffee Innovators: Forum | KQED Public Media for Northern CA. The panel included James Freeman, of Blue Bottle Coffee, Eileen Hassi, of Ritual Coffee Roasters, and an unusually quiet Jeremy Tooker, of Four Barrel Coffee. Much like [...]

Tags: blue_bottle, caffe_mediterraneum, cortado, eileen_hassi, four_barrel, gibraltar, grinders, home_roasting, india_coffee, james_freeman, jeremy_tooker, laptop_zombies, latte_art, peets_coffee, ritual_roasters, Starbucks, third_wave

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Many in the coffee industry speak volumes about wanting to market themselves to the public as the “new wine.” But if we examine the practices the industry has taken on to accomplish any of this, it has failed miserably on nearly all fronts. What becomes all too clear is that the coffee industry either doesn’t [...]

Tags: barista_championships, barista_magazine, brewers_cup, coffee_cupping, coffee_marketing, consumer_marketing, cup_of_excellence, event_marketing, latte_art, wine_analogy

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Call it coffee’s version of Hubble’s Law: the rate at which a local coffee scene evolves is inversely proportional to its maturity. What?!? Let us explain. Seattle and San Francisco are examples of well-established coffee cultures, and the rate of evolution and improvement we see in the coffee there tends to nudge along at a [...]

Tags: americano, Barista, barista_championships, cape_town_cafes, coffee_choices, compak, crema, cup_of_excellence, deconstructionism, espresso_choices, four_barrel, latte_art, la_marzocco, origin_coffee_roasting, quality_standards, ritual_roasters, single_origin_espresso, specialty_drinks, synesso, truth

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This breakfast spot near the Parliament is often frequented by well-heeled, manicured parliamentarians — and for good reason. They have excellent baked goods and very good coffee. Very, very good coffee — at least when it comes to blending with steamed milk. Out front they have a few wooden sidewalk café tables under parasols advertising [...]

Tags: cape_town_cafes, cappuccino, cortado, espresso_review, flat_white, latte_art, milk_frothing, origin_coffee_roasting, south_africa_coffee, world_cup

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Coffee talk in the mainstream press these days looks a bit like the telenovela: short-lived serials from specific writers with an individual point of view. One of said serials comes from Giorgio Milos of illycaffè in The Atlantic, and his installment today is on milk frothing: All You Need to Know About Steaming Milk – [...]

Tags: Barista, barista_training, cappuccino, giorgio_milos, home_espresso, illy, latte_art, milk_frothing, north_beach, south_africa_coffee, world_cup

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For a few years now, we had an idea for a post that sat in our unpublished queue: how can you tell a good espresso shop from a bad one? (At least before sampling it.) Given the thousands of good, bad, and mediocre espresso shots we’ve reviewed over the years, we have definitely noticed some [...]

Tags: americas_best_coffee, Barista, cafe_cleanliness, cleaning, coffee_quality, coffee_roasters, illy, latte_art, la_marzocco, la_spaziale, paper_cups, peerless_coffee, quality_standards, Starbucks, superautomatic_espresso_machines

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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 [...]

Tags: africano, blue_bottle, cappuccino, coffee_sizes, cortado, gibraltar, latte, latte_art, quality_standards, ritual_roasters

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Today the Daily Herald (Chicago suburbs) republished a Wall Street Journal story (no subscription required!) covering the growing consumer interest in home latte art: Daily Herald | Coffee drinkers show their latte love with artistic creations. The article notably takes a San Francisco bias in its choices for interviewees. However, it properly cites the founder [...]

Tags: chris_baca, david_schomer, espresso_machines, home_espresso, latte_art, ritual_roasters

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The truth is out. What do die hard coffee drinkers in coffee-obsessed Australia really order?: Caffeine connoisseurs say lattes are the cream of the crop | Herald Sun. Yes, it’s the boorish latte. (And written by a boorish reporter: “Caffeine connoisseurs”?!? It’s been a while since we’ve seen the tiresome caffeine riff.) Of course we’re [...]

Tags: australia, australia_coffee, caffeine_riff, counter_culture_coffee, flat_white, latte, latte_art, melbourne_cafes, milk_frothing, wine_analogy

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