Coffee Review

The Complexity of Coffee: Aroma Profiling Isn’t Just for Wine

Sébastien Gavillet — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 22:29:52 +0000

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 Aeropress Coffee Maker

Justin Johnson — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 16:39:22 +0000

About 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

The Presso Non-Electric Home Espresso Machine

Justin Johnson — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 18:12:56 +0000

If 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

Quality: Passion, Process or Both?

Kevin Knox — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 20:28:18 +0000

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

Regardless of Size, Only the Passionate Rule

Kenneth Davids — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 20:24:44 +0000

Neither size nor technical sophistication assures quality. Only the obsessive and unrelenting commitment of a company’s

Travel Less and Cup More

Kevin Knox — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 18:20:08 +0000

The 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

Making Coffee Travel Relevant

Kenneth Davids — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 18:19:37 +0000

The 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

Ken Davids and Kevin Knox exchange views on the microlot trend.

Kenneth Davids — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 21:14:08 +0000

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[...]

Kevin Knox and KenDavids exchange views on the microlot trend.

Kevin Knox — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 21:13:48 +0000

I agree with the sentiment here but think one needs to define some of the terms in order to flesh it out and make it meaningful. Even among the purveyors of “microlots” there’s no consensus on what the term means. It’s rather like “roasted in small batches,” which has been used to refer to roasts ranging from a few ounces to a thousand pounds or more. A core lineup to me means excellent single origin coffees representing the four primary types of origin-derived (as opposed to roast-imparted) flavors:[...]

USDA 762

R. Miguel Meza — Thu, 26 May 2011 00:52:19 +0000

I first heard of USDA 762 from the newly formed Specialty Coffee Association of Indonesia in 2007 or 2008. On their website they discussed coffee varieties being grown in Indonesia and had a section discussing Ethiopian lines.

Mentioned are 3 varieties: Abbysinia, Rambung and USDA. The former two I