As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. These two machines end up on the same shortlist again and again. Both are small, both cost a few hundred dollars, and both have a manual steam wand that can make real milk texture. Which one is better depends on one question first: how much counter space do you have? Side by Side Breville Bambino (BES450)De'Longhi … [Read more...] about Breville Bambino vs De’Longhi Dedica Arte: The Bambino Wins on Heat Control, the Dedica on Width
Coffee Break
% Arabica and Blue Bottle: How Minimalist Coffee Chains Went Global
From the door, the two chains could be one: white walls, pale wood, a long counter with the espresso machine up front and very few seats. Blue Bottle started with a coffee cart at an Oakland farmers market in 2002. % Arabica, the one with the percent-sign logo, opened its first café in Hong Kong in 2013 and made its name in Kyoto a year later. By September 2026 they'd gone in … [Read more...] about % Arabica and Blue Bottle: How Minimalist Coffee Chains Went Global
Vienna Coffee Houses: Why One Melange Buys You the Whole Afternoon
A Viennese coffee house sells time as much as coffee. You order one drink and the table is yours for as long as you want it. The waiter won't bring the bill until you ask for it, and nobody expects you to order a second cup. Your coffee arrives on a small silver tray with a glass of water, and the newspapers hang on wooden holders near the door. The city takes this seriously. … [Read more...] about Vienna Coffee Houses: Why One Melange Buys You the Whole Afternoon
De’Longhi Dedica Lineup: Six Inches Wide, 51mm Baskets and a Steam Wand That Changes by Model
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The De'Longhi Dedica's selling point fits in one number: about 15 cm, six inches wide. It slides into the gap between a kettle and a toaster in a galley kitchen where nothing else fits. That's why it's one of the best-selling espresso machines anywhere. There are several Dedicas now, and the names get confusing. … [Read more...] about De’Longhi Dedica Lineup: Six Inches Wide, 51mm Baskets and a Steam Wand That Changes by Model
Naples’ Caffè Sospeso: The Coffee You Pay For and Leave Behind for a Stranger
In some Naples bars, a customer will pay for two coffees and drink one. The second is a caffè sospeso, a suspended coffee. It waits on the bar's tab until someone who can't afford a coffee comes in and asks whether there's a sospeso. If there is, they get it free. Nobody knows who paid, and nobody asks. Where It Comes From The custom grew up in the working-class cafés of … [Read more...] about Naples’ Caffè Sospeso: The Coffee You Pay For and Leave Behind for a Stranger
Why Cafés Serve Coffee in Glass: From the Gibraltar Tumbler to the Galão
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Order a cortado in a Spanish bar and there's a fair chance it arrives in a small glass, too hot to hold anywhere but the rim. Order a galão in Lisbon and it always comes in a tall one. Glass is an odd choice for a hot drink when you think about it. It gets hot to hold and it shows every drip. Yet plenty of coffee cultures … [Read more...] about Why Cafés Serve Coffee in Glass: From the Gibraltar Tumbler to the Galão
Espresso Beans for Milk Drinks: Why Italian Blends With Robusta Taste Better in a Cortado
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Not every good coffee makes a good cortado. A bright, fruity light roast that tastes wonderful as a straight shot can disappear in milk, or turn sour. Milk fat and sugar mute acidity and fruit. What comes through is chocolate, caramel, nuts and body. That's why Italian bars have used the same kind of blend for decades, … [Read more...] about Espresso Beans for Milk Drinks: Why Italian Blends With Robusta Taste Better in a Cortado
Piccolo Latte vs Cortado: Australia’s Ristretto Drink Carries More Milk
A piccolo, or piccolo latte, is Australia's small milk coffee: a single ristretto shot topped up with steamed milk in a little glass. It gets compared to the cortado all the time. Both are short drinks served in glass, and both keep the coffee up front. They're built differently, though, and the piccolo is the milkier of the two. How a Piccolo Is Made The base is a ristretto, a … [Read more...] about Piccolo Latte vs Cortado: Australia’s Ristretto Drink Carries More Milk
Light vs Dark Roast: How Roasting Changes the Bean, and Which Roast Suits Milk Drinks
At a market stall that sells coffee by weight, two baskets sit side by side under handwritten signs: Colombia Light and Colombia Dark. The beans came from the same country, maybe from the same farm. The only difference is how long they spent in a roaster, and that's enough to make them taste like two different coffees. Roasting turns green coffee, which smells grassy and makes … [Read more...] about Light vs Dark Roast: How Roasting Changes the Bean, and Which Roast Suits Milk Drinks
Bourbon and Typica: The Two Arabica Lines Behind Most Latin American Coffee
Arabica coffee comes from the forests of southwestern Ethiopia, but most of the arabica planted across Latin America traces back to two old lines, Typica and Bourbon. Both reached the Americas from Yemen, by way of European colonies, and many of the varieties on Latin American farms today descend from them. Typica: Yemen, Java, Amsterdam, the Caribbean Typica's route reads like … [Read more...] about Bourbon and Typica: The Two Arabica Lines Behind Most Latin American Coffee