Author's posts
Dec 10 2023
Victoria Arduino Espresso Machines: Models, Features, Pros, Cons & Buying Guide
Victoria Arduino is not a typical home espresso-machine brand. Founded in Italy in 1905, the company spent much of its history building dramatic professional machines for cafés and hospitality businesses. Its equipment has long combined espresso technology with unusually strong attention to industrial design. That heritage is still obvious today. A Victoria Arduino machine tends …
Dec 05 2023
Verve Coffee Roasters Review: Coffee, Subscriptions, Pros, Cons & What to Know
Verve Coffee Roasters has grown from a small Santa Cruz coffee company into one of the better-known names in American specialty coffee. Its colorful bags now reach far beyond its California cafés, with blends, single-origin coffees, espresso, decaf, instant coffee, and subscriptions available for home delivery. But Verve also sits in a crowded field. If …
Dec 01 2023
Kona Coffee: Flavor, History, Growing Region & What Makes It Special
Kona coffee has one of the most recognizable names in the coffee world. Grown on the western side of Hawaiʻi Island, it has developed a reputation for smooth flavor, careful cultivation, limited production, and a distinctive sense of place. But the words Kona coffee can also be confusing. Is all Hawaiian coffee Kona coffee? What …
Nov 30 2023
7 Easy Homemade Coffee Creamer Recipes: Vanilla, Caramel, Mocha & More
A splash of flavored creamer can turn an ordinary cup of coffee into something that feels much more like a coffeehouse treat. The good news is that you don’t have to buy a different bottle every time you’re craving vanilla, caramel, mocha, or a seasonal flavor. Homemade coffee creamer is surprisingly easy to make. Most …
Nov 27 2023
Ferrero Pocket Coffee: What It Is, Caffeine, Ingredients & Where to Buy
Imagine biting into a small piece of chocolate and discovering actual liquid coffee inside. That’s the basic idea behind Ferrero Pocket Coffee, an Italian confection that combines a chocolate shell with a sweetened liquid coffee center. It isn’t simply coffee-flavored chocolate, and it isn’t the same thing as a chocolate-covered espresso bean. There really is …
Nov 26 2023
How to Grow Coffee Plants at Home: From Seed to Harvest
You probably don’t have enough room in the backyard for a coffee plantation—but you may have enough room for a coffee plant. Coffee plants can be surprisingly attractive houseplants, with glossy dark-green leaves, an upright shrubby shape, fragrant white flowers, and, if conditions are right, clusters of colorful coffee cherries. Inside those cherries are the …
Nov 26 2023
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 …
Nov 26 2023
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 …
Nov 06 2023
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 …
Nov 06 2023
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, …