Proper Aroma/Flavor profiling is all too often neglected in Coffee. Coffee Aromas/Flavors are essential to understanding and appreciating coffee. As in wine, coffee gets its aromas or flavors from the soil and the climatic environment in which the coffee plant grows. The coffee variety (genetic) and the method in which the green coffee was processed [...]
Coffee Review Blogs
We are pleased to provide news and commentary from some of the most respected leaders in the specialty coffee industry. We encourage you to share your thoughts and comments in the blogs posting below. Please review our Terms of Use for guidelines regarding participation and common sense rules about posting content.
Featured PostsThe Aeropress Coffee MakerAbout five years ago or so Alan Adler, the inventor of the Aerobie Flying Disk, created the Aeropress because he wanted a cup of coffee was full and rich, similar to the results from a French press but with cleaner, less acidy attributes. After some experiments and prototyping, Alder solicited feedback about his creation from [...] |
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Kenneth Davids' BlogKenneth co-founded the Coffee Review with Ron Walters in 1997. Since then, Kenneth’s articles and reviews have appeared monthly on CoffeeReview.com. He has written for most major industry print magazines, including an ongoing column in Roast Magazine. In 1996 he was awarded a Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Contributions to Coffee Literature by the Specialty Coffee Association of America. Justin Johnson is the former green coffee buyer and head roaster of World Cup Roasters in Portland, Oregon and is currently assistant editor of Coffee Review. He is actively involved with planning of Northwest Roasters Group educational courses and consults with Kenneth Davids Consulting. He is a contributing writer to Roast Magazine. Regardless of Size, Only the Passionate RuleThe challenge: The highest quality coffee is produced by large, technically sophisticated companies which do a much better job at delivering fresh, consistent, good-value coffees than do most of today’s smaller specialty roasting companies. Neither size nor technical sophistication assures quality. Only the obsessive and unrelenting commitment of a company’s leadership assures a steady output [...] Making Coffee Travel RelevantThe Challenge: Coffee buyers for roasting companies should be doing much less travel and much more cupping, quality control and customer education. Kenneth Davids writes: I guess my reservation with the challenge statement is the repetition of the “much” word. If the thrust of the challenge statement is to argue that coffee buyers should focus [...] Ken Davids and Kevin Knox exchange views on the microlot trend.Whether a roaster is obligated by industry tradition and consumer expectation to also offer a familiar lineup of fine coffee standards, i.e. a Kenya AA, a Sumatra Mandheling, a high-grown Central America, etc. is of no consequence to me. I think consumers speak for themselves through their patronage, and if a successful business can be built on nothing but fine microlots that take advantage of seasonal opportunities[...] |
Coffee Review Blog ContributorsKenneth Davids - Kenneth has published three books on coffee, including Coffee: A Guide To Buying, Brewing & Enjoying, which has sold more the 250,000 copies. (bio) (posts) Ted Stachura - Ted Stachura has over twenty years experience in the coffee, tea and food service industries. In addition to managing the coffee program at Equator Coffees and Teas, Ted is also co-owner of RoastLog , an online data management system designed for coffee roasters. (bio) (posts) Instaurator - Instaurator is a coffee and business consultant with a world renowned reputation for his coffee tasting and management expertise. (bio) (posts) R. Miguel Meza - Miguel lives on the Big Island of Hawaii, where he works for Hula Daddy Kona Coffee, roasting coffee and striving to improve quality at the farm level. (bio) (posts) Kevin Sinnott - Kevin, host of consumer DVD “Coffee Brewing Secrets” instructional video, and coffeecompanion.com website, is one of America’s foremost consumer coffee authorities. (bio) (posts) Daniele Giovannucci - Daniele is the co-founder of the Committee on Sustainability Assessment - www.thecosa.org He has received several international awards for his pioneering work in coffee and sustainability. (bio) (posts) Kevin Knox Specialty coffee and tea industry veteran Kevin Knox has worked in the coffee and tea industries since 1980 as a hands-on roaster, buyer, taster, trainer, writer and educator for Starbucks Coffee during its first decade of rapid growth, as well as for organic and small farm oriented Allegro Coffee Company (now owned by Whole Foods). (bio) (posts) Justin Johnson Justin Johnson is the former green coffee buyer and head roaster of World Cup Roasters in Portland, Oregon and is currently assistant editor of Coffee Review. He is actively involved with planning of Northwest Roasters Group educational courses and consults with Kenneth Davids Consulting. He is a contributing writer to Roast Magazine. (bio) (posts) Sébastien Gavillet Sébastien Gavillet is a nose-for-hire and wine consultant/educator/profiler with over 10 years’ experience working with some of the biggest names in the wine industry. He is the Chief Wine Officer of Wine Aromas Inc., distributor of Le Nez du Vin and Le Nez du Café in the United States, and the man behind www.WineVibe.com, the multilingual wine blog read in over 180 countries. (bio) (posts) |
Industry Issues and NewsIndustry events, news, trends. Opinions, controversies, new products, and more.The Complexity of Coffee: Aroma Profiling Isn’t Just for WineProper Aroma/Flavor profiling is all too often neglected in Coffee. Coffee Aromas/Flavors are essential to understanding and appreciating coffee. As in wine, coffee gets its aromas or flavors from the soil and the climatic environment in which the coffee plant grows. The coffee variety (genetic) and the method in which the green coffee was processed [...] Quality: Passion, Process or Both?The challenge: The highest quality coffee is produced by large, technically sophisticated companies which do a much better job at delivering fresh, consistent, good-value coffees than do most of today’s smaller specialty roasting companies. I find I need to parse this lengthy and loaded sentence in order to comment on it. Quality in coffee is [...] |
EspressoEspresso brewing, blending, roasting, equipment, styles, drinks, issues, controversies.The Presso Non-Electric Home Espresso MachineIf you frequent any one of the high end specialty coffee shops around the country these days you have observed the popular revival of manual, hands-on brewing. The movement has spawned books and blogs and even contests world-wide, but I think that the most beneficial thing to come out of it all is the [...] What’s a Cortado?Recently a Coffee Review reader sent in a request that we post information on our website about cortado, a relatively obscure coffee beverage in North American cafés. I searched the reference pages, thinking some mention of it had to be buried in the “espresso cuisine” section. But no, no cortado was to be found. Most [...] |
Green Coffee Origins and IssuesTrends, trips, processing, varieties, discoveries. Cupping room reports, green coffee competitions and issues.Travel Less and Cup MoreThe Challenge: Coffee buyers for roasting companies should be doing much less travel and much more cupping, quality control and customer education. Kevin Knox writes: I’d put this another way. The most important tools for buying great coffee are a well-trained palate, a well-equipped cupping room, relationships with the best importers and – last not [...] Making Coffee Travel RelevantThe Challenge: Coffee buyers for roasting companies should be doing much less travel and much more cupping, quality control and customer education. Kenneth Davids writes: I guess my reservation with the challenge statement is the repetition of the “much” word. If the thrust of the challenge statement is to argue that coffee buyers should focus [...] |
Coffee at HomeBuying, brewing, grinding, roasting, equipment, recipes, food pairing, and more.The Aeropress Coffee MakerAbout five years ago or so Alan Adler, the inventor of the Aerobie Flying Disk, created the Aeropress because he wanted a cup of coffee was full and rich, similar to the results from a French press but with cleaner, less acidy attributes. After some experiments and prototyping, Alder solicited feedback about his creation from [...] The Presso Non-Electric Home Espresso MachineIf you frequent any one of the high end specialty coffee shops around the country these days you have observed the popular revival of manual, hands-on brewing. The movement has spawned books and blogs and even contests world-wide, but I think that the most beneficial thing to come out of it all is the [...] |
Coffee Business: Roasting and RetailingRoasting issues, strategies, equipment. Reports from coffee roasting companies, cafes, coffeehouses.The Complexity of Coffee: Aroma Profiling Isn’t Just for WineProper Aroma/Flavor profiling is all too often neglected in Coffee. Coffee Aromas/Flavors are essential to understanding and appreciating coffee. As in wine, coffee gets its aromas or flavors from the soil and the climatic environment in which the coffee plant grows. The coffee variety (genetic) and the method in which the green coffee was processed [...] Quality: Passion, Process or Both?The challenge: The highest quality coffee is produced by large, technically sophisticated companies which do a much better job at delivering fresh, consistent, good-value coffees than do most of today’s smaller specialty roasting companies. I find I need to parse this lengthy and loaded sentence in order to comment on it. Quality in coffee is [...] |
Sustainability and Coffee CausesSustainability, Fair Trade, organic farming, eco and green practices, social causes.Old Farmers, Migration, and the Decline of Agriculture as We Know ItNo one is talking about what happens at home as young men increasingly migrate to urban and cross-border jobs – and it’s not just in Mexico. Census studies in many countries indicate that there is an increasing proportion of people over 50 in rural areas. In fact one study suggests that the average age of [...] World Coffee Conference – New twists at a global meeting of coffee and government leadersDemand has been increasing faster than supply for a number of years now. This is a typical cycle after a disastrous and widely felt historic low. But it seems that this may not be an ordinary cycle and most producers may not be able to recover to meet the rising demand as new and powerful [...] |