As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. A Gibraltar is a double shot of espresso topped with warm, lightly steamed milk and served in one particular glass: the Libbey Gibraltar, a small, heavy-bottomed rocks tumbler that holds 4.5 ounces, about 130 ml. The name comes from the glass. Serve the same drink in a ceramic cup and most baristas would call it a … [Read more...] about Gibraltar Coffee: San Francisco’s Cortado, Named After a 4.5-Ounce Glass
Coffee History
Liberica and Excelsa: Why the Coffee Species That Failed a Century Ago Is Back
Almost all the world's coffee is arabica or robusta. A third species, Coffea liberica, makes up less than 1.5% of commercial production. It had its chance in the late 1800s and lost. Now researchers and roasters are looking at it again, mostly at one of its forms, excelsa. A Big Tree With Big Beans Liberica is native to western and central Africa, from Liberia to Uganda and … [Read more...] about Liberica and Excelsa: Why the Coffee Species That Failed a Century Ago Is Back
Why Your Espresso Comes With a Glass of Water or a Biscuit
In a Naples bar the glass of water often lands on the counter before the coffee does. In a Brussels café the extra is a biscuit in a red wrapper, sitting next to your cup. Neither one costs you anything, and neither one is an accident. What comes with a coffee is one of those small things that tells you where you are. Some of these extras are old habits of hospitality. Others … [Read more...] about Why Your Espresso Comes With a Glass of Water or a Biscuit
Turkish Coffee: Sugar Goes In Before Brewing, and the Grounds Tell Your Fortune
Forget the espresso machine. For this coffee, the beans are ground as fine as flour, heated slowly with water in a small pot and poured, grounds and all, into a small cup. You drink it slowly, stop before you reach the sludge, and in some homes someone then reads your future in what's left. UNESCO added Turkish coffee culture and tradition to its Representative List of the … [Read more...] about Turkish Coffee: Sugar Goes In Before Brewing, and the Grounds Tell Your Fortune
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
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
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
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
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
Kenya’s SL28 and SL34: How Two 1930s Selections Still Define Kenyan Coffee
Kenyan coffee has a reputation for bright, juicy acidity, and a big part of that comes from two varieties picked out in the 1930s at Scott Agricultural Laboratories, a research station in Kenya. SL28 and SL34 (the SL stands for Scott Labs) are still widely grown in Kenya nearly a century later. SL28: The Drought Survivor In 1931 A. D. Trench, a senior coffee officer, toured … [Read more...] about Kenya’s SL28 and SL34: How Two 1930s Selections Still Define Kenyan Coffee