Author's posts

From Farm to Cup: The Art of the Coffee Bean Process

That bag of roasted coffee in your kitchen has already completed an extraordinary journey. Before coffee reaches a grinder, brewer, or espresso machine, it begins as the seed of a fruit growing on a tropical plant. The fruit must ripen, be harvested, processed, dried, milled, sorted, transported, roasted, and packaged before you ever scoop the …

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How to Choose a Coffee Grinder: Burr vs. Blade, Grind Size & Buying Guide

A great coffee grinder may not look as exciting as a gleaming espresso machine or a beautifully designed pour-over brewer, but it can have just as much influence on what ends up in your cup. Grinding coffee does much more than make whole beans small enough to brew. Grind size determines how quickly water can …

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Espresso Beans vs. Coffee Beans: What’s the Difference?

Walk through the coffee aisle and you will probably see bags labeled espresso beans, espresso roast, coffee beans, breakfast blend, French roast, and dozens of other variations. That makes it easy to assume espresso beans are a completely different kind of coffee bean. They aren’t. Espresso beans and regular coffee beans come from the same …

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Best Arabica Coffee Brands: Top Coffees, Origins & Buying Guide

If you have spent any time browsing coffee bags, you have probably noticed one phrase appearing again and again: 100% Arabica coffee. Arabica is prized for its aromatic complexity, sweetness, acidity, and wide range of flavors. Depending on where it is grown and how it is processed and roasted, Arabica coffee can taste like chocolate, …

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Air-Roasted Coffee: What It Is, Benefits, Flavor & How It Compares

Coffee roasting can dramatically change what you taste in the cup. A green coffee bean may begin with the potential for fruit, florals, chocolate, nuts, caramel, spice, or citrus, but the way a roaster applies heat helps determine which of those qualities ultimately become most noticeable. Most commercial coffee has traditionally been roasted in a …

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Best Vietnamese Coffee Beans: Robusta, Arabica, Brands & Buying Guide

Vietnamese coffee is easy to recognize when it arrives at the table: dark, concentrated coffee slowly dripping through a metal phin filter, often followed by a generous spoonful of sweetened condensed milk and a glass packed with ice. But the distinctive character of Vietnamese coffee begins long before the condensed milk. It begins with the …

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Best Coffee Beans for Pour-Over: Roasts, Origins & Buying Guide

Pour-over coffee has a way of revealing things about coffee beans that other brewing methods can sometimes hide. A bright Ethiopian coffee may suddenly taste like berries, jasmine, and citrus. A Guatemalan bean can reveal chocolate, spice, and orange. A carefully roasted Colombian coffee might balance caramel sweetness with red fruit and gentle acidity. That …

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Coffee Klatch: Meaning, History, Traditions & How to Host One

Coffee has always been about more than caffeine. For centuries, people have gathered around coffee to trade news, catch up with friends, discuss ideas, celebrate milestones, and simply enjoy one another’s company. One of the most charming names for that tradition is the coffee klatch. At its simplest, a coffee klatch is an informal social …

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Coffee Roasting Explained: Process, Roast Levels, Temperature & Flavor

Coffee roasting is the transformation that turns a dense, green coffee seed into the fragrant brown bean we recognize and brew. Before roasting, green coffee smells more grassy or vegetal than like your morning cup. Heat changes everything. As the beans roast, they lose moisture, expand, become increasingly porous, change from green to yellow to …

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Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte Recipe: Easy Homemade Fall Coffee

Pumpkin spice season does not have to wait for sweater weather. This iced pumpkin spice latte combines bold espresso, real pumpkin purée, cold creamy milk, maple syrup, vanilla, and warm fall spices over plenty of ice. Finish it with a generous swirl of whipped cream and a dusting of pumpkin pie spice, and you have …

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