Espresso News and Reviews – TheShot.coffeeratings.com

Yesterday’s Sydney Morning Herald published a curious fad-contrarian article under the subhed of “Espresso lovers are fighting the siphon and filter revolution”: Shots fired in retaliation. Now the idea of a “siphon and filter revolution” is still a bit silly to us, given that siphon brewing has been around since the 1830s and filter coffee [...]

Tags: chemex, coffee_fads, filter_coffee, london_cafes, penny_university, square_mile_roasters, vac_pot

9 Comments »

Among coffee aficionados in town, quality artisan coffee originates with Origin. Opening in 2006 in a more modest space, this place changed the face of coffee in Cape Town if not South Africa. Since its expansion, it is now three transparent levels of coffee, café, roasting, regional Synesso distributor, and barista training labs. If that [...]

Tags: barista_championships, barista_training, cape_town_cafes, coffee_roasters, cup_of_excellence, espresso_review, espresso_training, fair_trade, hario, hario_v60_dripper, la_marzocco, moka_pot, organic_coffee, south_africa_coffee, synesso, vac_pot

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What is it about coffee today that makes it such a lightning rod for consumer indignation and class warfare? Nobody expresses outrage over a $400 bottle of wine, a $110,000 MSRP Mercedes-Benz, or even a $300,000 diamond-encrusted smart phone. But should someone dare sell a cup of coffee for $12, the world is coming to [...]

Tags: 4_dollar_coffee_myth, cafe_customers, coffee_prices, fair_trade, french_laundry, hario_v60_dripper, media, nyc_coffee, vac_pot

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Publications frequently run out of ideas, which is why the Wall Street Journal seems to be jacked on coffee articles of late. (But don’t worry — we have no plans to tell you what investments to have in your portfolio.) Just two days after making the ridiculous assertion that Illy is taking on Starbucks, the [...]

Tags: coffee_culture, japan_coffee, malaysia_coffee, salt_coffee, siphon_bars, taiwan_coffee, vac_pot, vietnam_coffee

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The year 2008 wasn’t about to end without a couple of newsworthy coffee notes. First, we have Chicago’s Intelligentsia banning coffee urns at their Broadway St. mothership: Intelligentsia on Broadway banishes urn coffee | The Stew – A taste of Chicago’s food, wine and dining scene. Earlier this year, we reported on how they killed [...]

Tags: clover_brewer, coca-cola, intelligentsia, vac_pot

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In a red-painted colonial village center, Parker Square, next to the Waimea General Store, this café offers coffee and lunch items with an exceedingly laid-back, friendly staff. They have a few outdoor café tables for two in front and several indoor tables. And like any good coffee place on the Big Island, they offer French [...]

Tags: big_island_cafes, big_island_coffee, espresso_review, hawaii_cafes, hawaii_coffee, vac_pot

2 Comments »

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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Walking in to a Peet’s Coffee & Tea last week, I noticed they are once again offering their supply of Panama Esmeralda Geisha as a roast-dated “Reserve” coffee. We wrote about this coffee varietal last month (and also in 2006). It has consistently sold at record auction prices, and it has won numerous awards for [...]

Tags: coffee_beans, coffee_prices, coffee_roasting, panama_coffee, panama_esmeralda, peets_coffee, vac_pot

5 Comments »

Alvin Azadkhanian is something of an SF institution amidst the ever industrialized approach of coffee roasting and serving. This unassuming storefront/café has a few plastic sidewalk tables & chairs out front under awnings and a few simple diner tables inside. They sell everything from Bodum Santos vac pots, La Pavoni Europiccola machines, many organic roasts [...]

Tags: coffee_beans, coffee_roasters, espresso_review, futurmat, kopi_luwak, organic_coffee, outer_sunset, vac_pot

1 Comment »

If it weren’t for its own BART station, even fewer SF residents would know where Glen Park is. But a local neighborhood coffee shop, Cafe Bello, has quietly been making its mark as one of the premiere coffee destinations in the city. It’s just that few locals know it — let alone do they know [...]

Tags: Barista, cafe_bello, coffee_roasters, espresso_review, glen_park, ipa_cups, latte_art, mr-espresso, nuova_point, rancilio, vac_pot

3 Comments »