MYTHBUSTERS: JUDGING A COFFEE BY ITS CREMA

Do I start this off my saying that yes this is a myth up front or leave it as a big reveal at the end? I’ll leave it to the end. Build up the suspense first. Thick, golden crema is the stuff of magic. Wrong! Wait, I’m leaving judgement till later. No, it really is […]

DO YOU HAVE AN ALTITUDE PROBLEM

I once had a customer who would come in, talk shop for an hour or so, tell me what coffee he’d been drinking lately, tell me about the best coffee he’d ever had (made it himself), would ask me if I had any beans available that were grown 2000 masl or higher, and would get […]

HOW DOES WATER PRESSURE AFFECT ESPRESSOS?

Did you know that pressure does things to other things? It does! It turns coal into diamonds. It turns beers with friends into tequila shots. And it turns coffee into espressos! Pressure is great! We are constantly exerting and experiencing some form of force. We are at the same time being pulled down by gravity, […]

IS COFFEE AN ART OR SCIENCE?

As a barista, I’ve often been asked, ‘So what do you reckon? Is making coffee an art or science?’. And I don’t like it. It’s often asked with a supercilious arch of the eyebrow, a smirk in the corner of the mouth, and I know they’re leading me into a coffee knowledge death trap. What’s […]

ON THE NOSE

Play a game of hypotheticals with me. If you had to lose one of your five senses, or else be slapped across the face with a fish, which one would you choose? The wet fish probably, I’m no good at hypotheticals. But let’s say one of those senses had to go, or something very unpleasant […]

Everything you know about taste is wrong!

EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT TASTE IS WRONG Just kidding. You probably know quite a bit, but the title ‘Making Sense of Coffee’ wasn’t working. I’m not a dad and have no place making puns like that.   I’m currently reading Bill Bryson’s ‘The Body’. It dives into the pop science of all our bits and pieces, […]

How coffee can help your brain

Coffee is good for you, then it’s bad for you. This opinion will always fluctuate in the media. In general, we discovered that drinking coffee has numerous health benefits. So what about when it comes to your brain? As a stimulant, the immediate effects of drinking coffee include increased alertness, energy and mood. It can […]