What the heck is a varietal? Why is it on every decent bag of coffee: Heirloom Varietal, Caturra Varietal, Pacamara Varietal, Geisha Varietal… the list goes on (also sometimes called varieties). Do these names mean anything, or are they just a fancy words to make the label look better? Well, yes, they do mean quite a bit. There is information about our potential coffee purchases to be gained from these words, it’s just a matter of learning what they really mean, and discovering how this knowledge can affect our coffee choices.
.
Read the rest of this entry »
This Sunday saw the the Heston hats come out for Central London coffee shop Tapped & Packed at their latest project: The Sunday Club. Read the rest of this entry »
New coffee shop Notes (Music & Coffee) on St. Martin’s Lane in Central London is a welcome addition to the ever-increasing London coffee scene. Full of the latest must-have coffee gadgets, but situated in the oldest building in the street (previously MDC, a classical music shop) Notes seems to have struck the right chord. Read the rest of this entry »
Faced with living on a tour bus for the next week, stopping in many unknown European cities but sadly no time to explore these wondrous destinations, I realised all is not lost – it will actually be the perfect opportunity to let Aerobie’s Aeropress shine….
So here begins the journey, ’Robie will join forces with the junior divisions of Hario and Salter (ie. a Mini Mill and the trendy budget scales) taking HasBean, London’s finest Square Mile beans – plus any we find along the way – on the trip of a lifetime around Europe (well, Germany at least).
Watch this space for updates and join us for late night or early morning brews along the way….
Photo thanks to Marrow Mag (marrowmag.com)
Could this be the ultimate in brewing filters, or another gimmick with good intentions? Based on an attempt to provide the most effective water distribution for even extraction, this “Kone” filter for the Chemex pourover method is due to be released for retail later next month in the USA. Read the rest of this entry »
After visiting the new Nude Espresso roastery at it’s launch a few months back, anticipation for the day it would be open to the public and serving coffee was high. This day came just a week or so ago. In the midst of a frantic shopping week, we took some time out to check it out….
Read the rest of this entry »
London coffee shop Tapped and Packed recently adopted a Bunn Trifecta to play around with. I trundled over to test the results, and chose a coffee I am already familiar with through various brewing methods and very fond of: Square Mile’s Tegu AA from Kenya. For such an expensive (though quite ugly) gadget which has had it’s share of non-committal hype, my interest was piqued even if my expectations were on the wary side.
Read the rest of this entry »
Sister vs Brother,
Aeropress vs Pourover,
1 coffee, 2 methods,
One winner.
. . .
Read the rest of this entry »
With decent quality coffee ever increasingly accessible, it has long been time for the next movement (which thankfully is now already underway), for whilst the discerning among us will not always be impressed by a pretty rosetta or tulip on the top of our drink of choice, milk does hide a multitude of sins – and thus the quest for quality stops with the outside appearance for so many. But as a barista, to settle into serving mediocre coffee knowing that to the consumer it is merely a matter of style and status, is cheating the customer out of experiencing the full potential of coffee. The standards which so many have worked to raise, have begun to deteriorate in favour of feeding the masses. Read the rest of this entry »
