As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. If you only buy one accessory after the grinder, make it a scale. Espresso recipes are written in grams. A typical double is 18 g of ground coffee in and about 36 g of liquid out, a 1:2 ratio, in roughly 25 to 30 seconds. Without a scale you're guessing at two of those three numbers. Why not just watch the volume in the … [Read more...] about Espresso Scales: Why a Drip-Tray-Sized Scale With Auto-Start Beats a Kitchen Scale
Washed, Natural or Honey Coffee: How Processing Sets Acidity and Body Before the Roaster Starts
A coffee bean is the seed of a cherry. Before it can be roasted, the fruit has to come off and the seed has to dry, down to about 11% moisture. How a farm does that is called processing, and it changes the cup as much as the variety or the roast does. It's why two coffees from the same farm can taste like different drinks. Washed In the washed process, the skin and most of the … [Read more...] about Washed, Natural or Honey Coffee: How Processing Sets Acidity and Body Before the Roaster Starts
How to Order Coffee in France: Café, Noisette, Crème and Allongé
Ask for un café in France and you'll get an espresso, short and dark in a thick little cup, with a sugar cube or two on the saucer. Nobody asks what size you want. Anything else needs its own word, and the words aren't the ones that work in Madrid or Lisbon. If you drink cortados, the one to learn is noisette. It's the nearest thing France has to a cortado, with less milk than … [Read more...] about How to Order Coffee in France: Café, Noisette, Crème and Allongé
Bialetti Moka Express: The 1933 Stovetop Pot Brews at About 1.5 Bar, Not Espresso’s 9
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Alfonso Bialetti designed the Moka Express in 1933, an octagonal aluminium pot. The little moustached man on the side came later, in the 1950s. The pot has been on Italian stoves ever since. Ask an Italian how they make coffee at home and the answer, more often than not, is the moka. It's also the most misnamed coffee … [Read more...] about Bialetti Moka Express: The 1933 Stovetop Pot Brews at About 1.5 Bar, Not Espresso’s 9
Greek Freddo Espresso: How Iced Espresso Took Over From the 1957 Frappé
Walk past a café in Athens in July and the glasses on the tables are tall, iced and topped with foam. For decades that meant a frappé. These days it's more likely to be a freddo espresso, or a freddo cappuccino with a thick cap of cold milk foam. Few countries take iced coffee as seriously as Greece. The Frappé, an Accident at a Trade Fair The story goes that the frappé was … [Read more...] about Greek Freddo Espresso: How Iced Espresso Took Over From the 1957 Frappé
How to Order Coffee in Spain: Solo, Cortado, Manchado and the Canary Islands Barraquito
Spanish bars run on a short list of coffee words. Learn a handful and you can get exactly the cup you want in any bar from A Coruña to Cádiz. The cortado sits between the black coffee and the milky breakfast one, and it's what a lot of people order after lunch. The Basic Words Un solo: an espresso, black. Un cortado: an espresso cut with a little warm milk, in a small cup … [Read more...] about How to Order Coffee in Spain: Solo, Cortado, Manchado and the Canary Islands Barraquito
Milk Frothers Without a Steam Wand: Which Ones Make Microfoam Good Enough for a Cortado
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. A lot of good espresso gets made without a steam wand. Lever presses, moka pots, capsule machines and some compact machines have none. So the milk has to come from somewhere else. The good news for cortado drinkers: you need very little milk, and very little foam. That's the easiest job any frother can be given. The bad … [Read more...] about Milk Frothers Without a Steam Wand: Which Ones Make Microfoam Good Enough for a Cortado
Málaga Coffee Names: Nine Ways to Order Espresso and Milk, From Solo to Nube
You can order a cortado in Málaga and get one. Locals usually reach for their own words, though. The city has its own scale for coffee with milk, nine names that run from all coffee to barely any, and once you've learned it you can dial in the exact glass you want. The Scale Each name describes how much coffee goes into the glass, with milk making up the rest. The proportions … [Read more...] about Málaga Coffee Names: Nine Ways to Order Espresso and Milk, From Solo to Nube
Portuguese Coffee Orders: Bica, Pingado, Garoto and Galão at the Lisbon Counter
In Portugal the cortado mostly goes by other names. There's a whole ladder of small coffees with milk, each with its own word, and people use all of them. Learn the ladder and you can order the exact drink a cortado fan wants at any counter in Lisbon. Start With the Bica Ask for um café anywhere in Portugal and you'll get an espresso. In Lisbon people call it uma bica. In … [Read more...] about Portuguese Coffee Orders: Bica, Pingado, Garoto and Galão at the Lisbon Counter
Manual Espresso Makers: Flair, Cafelat Robot and Picopresso Pull Real Espresso Without a Pump
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. An espresso machine is mostly a pump and a heater. Take both away, supply the pressure with your arm and the heat with a kettle, and you have a manual espresso maker. They're cheaper than machines of the same shot quality, almost silent, and they fit in a drawer. The trade is a bit more work per cup. Unlike a moka pot, … [Read more...] about Manual Espresso Makers: Flair, Cafelat Robot and Picopresso Pull Real Espresso Without a Pump