There’s no single secret to brewing great coffee, but there is an all-important concept: extraction. In fact, it’s the single most important concept to understand if you want to enjoy better coffee and get the most out of your brewing set-up. To start with, what exactly does extraction mean? Here’s what coffee extraction is Coffee…
It’s a common misconception that pour-over coffee is a lengthy process. In actuality, and especially for just one or two servings, it’s often at least as fast as a coffee maker. Brewing pour over coffee takes about 2 to 3 minutes from the first pour until the cup is ready to drink. That includes about…
Pour-over brewing is a fun and easy way to enjoy great coffee at home. But if you’re on the road much, then you know the difficulty of packing all that paraphernalia. Having spent several months on the road in recent years, I’ve tried almost everything under the sun. What follows are my two favorite ways…
For the longest time, I figured coffee roasting was some bizarre, complicated process that required thousands in equipment. Something only serious experts could even think about. But I discovered that’s not the case. Not only is it accessible to anybody, but it’s even easier than you’d think. Here’s why you ought to give it a…
The AeroPress is like nothing else on the market. It’s part immersion brewer, part French press, and–kinda sorta almost–part espresso-maker. It’s also the only device that’s so appealing to fellow coffee geeks and totally casual users at the same time. The AeroPress’s quirky design opens up all sorts of brewing possibilities, some of which are…
When you make pour-over coffee, you’re at the mercy of gravity. If grind size is a little off, then you’ll probably get a wasted cup of over- or under-extracted coffee. There’s just not much you can do about it. With the AeroPress, that’s not the case. It’s not just convenient, but an incredibly forgiving design….
If you’re wondering whether to take the plunge (pun totally intended) on an AeroPress, then this is for you. The AeroPress is similar in price to most manual brewing methods, but much cheaper than any good machine. It’s easier to use and clear than most brewing methods, too. The AeroPress brews as consistently as anything,…
If you’re newer to specialty coffee (“the good stuff”), it probably didn’t take long to realize that pour-over brewing is the method of choice. Compared to filling up the old Mr. Coffee, pour-over brewing is cumbersome and finicky. All the gadgets–scales, grinders, and such–can get a little expensive, too. Yet all of us coffee nerds…
Who doesn’t love having plenty of fresh-roasted coffee on hand? Even better is when it’s your own handiwork. Home coffee roasting is a fun and approachable hobby. It’s free or cheap to start, and can be extremely cost-effective in the long run. Think of it as a craft. You can make something right away, then…
The specialty coffee world is all about single-origin beans. Well, perhaps not all, but suffice to say that specific and far-flung origins are core to “third-wave” coffee culture. Some folks even make full-on careers of finding and promoting interesting coffee origins to their connoisseur clientele. It’s like wine or cigars, just less pretentious. Well, usually……