Espresso News and Reviews – TheShot.coffeeratings.com

In the headlines today, Consumer Reports continues to explore the merits of ghetto coffee: Lack of excellent coffee blends: Consumer Reports | Reuters. Whereas before they chimed in on the McDonald’s vs. Starbucks debate — something we’ve always likened to a beauty contest between Courtney Love and Joan Rivers — this time their “expert” taste [...]

Tags: barefoot_roasters, coffee_blends, coffee_quality, consumer_reports, press_releases, single_origin_espresso

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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 [...]

Tags: caffe_artigiano, coffee_brewing, coffee_innovation, coffee_tech, cup_of_excellence, david_schomer, fair_trade, kyle_glanville, la_marzocco, pid, single_origin_espresso, siphon_bars, slayer_espresso_machine, third_wave, usbc

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The Mission is one of SF’s best neighborhoods. We don’t necessarily mean Mission Street, however: home to BART’s Plasticuffs Station and a decent assortment of angry heroin addicts. We’re talking about 24th Street — a working class neighborhood with a strong immigrant community, but without many of Mission Street’s rougher edges. Decent coffee is now [...]

Tags: brightness_bomb, de_la_paz, espresso_brightness, espresso_review, espresso_sameness, la_marzocco, mission, nuova_point, ritual_roasters, single_origin_espresso

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Opening just a week ago — in the space previously occupied by the Illy shop, Caffé Il Latte — this tiny café is the first in San Francisco to use beans from Santa Cruz-based Verve Coffee Roasters. The tiny space relies on mirrored walls to add depth, and there is a little bit of a [...]

Tags: acf_cups, coffee_roasters, espresso_review, la_marzocco, single_origin_espresso, union_square, verve

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Australians are no slouches when it comes to appreciating good coffee. But last month, an opinion piece in The Australian highlighted what the author, John Lethlean, felt was a lot of misplaced fuss, pomp, and circumstance going into coffee origins these days: Just a strong one, thanks | The Australian. A self-described “coffee-geek groupie,” Mr. [...]

Tags: australia_coffee, Barista, coffee_cupping, coffee_marketing, coffee_origin, single_origin_espresso, wine_analogy

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Yesterday’s Chicago Tribune reported on a curious coffee bar concept planned for Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea‘s latest location, currently under construction in Los Angeles’ Venice Beach. The concept includes featuring five different stations where five separate baristas personally attend to each customer, individually catering to their unique coffee whims: Intelligentsia plans a groundbreaking coffee bar [...]

Tags: Barista, barista_bias, coffee_cupping, consumer_marketing, cup_of_excellence, intelligentsia, la_cafes, single_origin_espresso, Starbucks, wine_analogy

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While revisiting Dynamo Donuts earlier this month, we quickly noted the bags of Four Barrel Coffee in the back. Like the Four Barrel Coffee mothership, Dynamo had been using Stumptown Hairbender to date — with rumors that they would switch over to Four Barrel once they got their roasting operations going. Four Barrel commenced their [...]

Tags: coffee_blends, coffee_cupping, coffee_roasters, espresso_review, four_barrel, single_origin_espresso, stumptown

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It’s not often that a lone double shot of espresso warrants a post here. But last month (hey — we got lazy) we had a rather rare espresso experience. We alluded to this espresso shot in a previous post, and it was among the best we’ve had in the Bay Area. (And we’re including the [...]

Tags: blue_bottle, bosco, espresso_machines, four_barrel, james_freeman, mistral, single_origin_espresso, soma

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Today the SF Chronicle posted an impressively long article on the state of quality coffee roasting in the Bay Area: ROAST WITH THE MOST / A new generation of Bay Area coffee roasters pushes the perfect cup to the next level. It’s a remarkable piece, given its breadth. It lightly touches on everything from the [...]

Tags: alfred_peet, blue_bottle, clover_brewer, coffee_roasters, coffee_roasting, four_barrel, peets_coffee, probat, ritual_roasters, single_origin_espresso, stumptown, third_wave

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Today Blue Bottle Coffee Co. opened up their long-anticipated Mint Plaza café — their first true space (besides kiosks and outdoor carts at the Ferry Building and in the East Bay) to showcase James Freeman’s commitment to freshness. The café is located at a bend in Jesse St. in the Mint Plaza alleyway — in [...]

Tags: acf_cups, blue_bottle, coffee_posers, cold_press_coffee, espresso_review, la_marzocco, la_san_marco, nuova_point, single_origin_espresso, siphon_bars, soma, vac_pot

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