intrepid510's Coffee Blog

Coffee in general is a pretty subjective, mainly because it's food so some people are going to like different flavors than others. There are some types of flavors in coffee that are generally liked by all people who drink like a low level of bitters and those sweet chocolate and carmel flavors, however there are a lot of people that like a little acidy in their coffee as well. Another one of those areas that I think can be at times somewhat subjective is roast level.

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I have been pulling this espresso since Monday of this week and I have not been disappointed even when the shots didn't go exactly right.

First, no I do not have this piece of espresso gadgetry, however it was pretty interesting and thought that I would share it with you all.

As you can see from the photo below, the Attento is a thermometer for steaming milk. What makes this little thing interesting is that they use color changing crystals to track the raise in temperature all the while keeping the device out of the milk for easy clean-up and not being distracting sitting in the pitcher.

I got a lot of nice accessories for coffee making over the holidays and one of those items that I was least expecting was this Airscape Coffee Canister. This was a very welcomed surprise because I had just been leaving my coffee in the bag for the most part.

There are some things that once you get them you cannot live without them. One of those things for me was about a year and half ago when I got an electric kettle. Prior to that I was using a stove top kettle for most of my hot water needs, but once it started falling apart, I picked up an electric kettle.(the Martha Stewart line at Macy's is trash everything my wife and I got has fallen apart)

I am not totally sure on the merits of the tamper outside of doing the basics, compacting the coffee evenly and reasonably fitting inside of your basket. After it does that not sure if anything more than that especially in the home setting where egronomics are not going to be that important, it seems like it's just all eye candy.

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Over the past few weeks I have been making my way through a few bags of dark roasts between D'Arte's Natalazia, Velton's Twilight Blend and Mr Espresso Organic Neopolitan. I have been picking these because I have been getting coffees that I thought that other people would like and to be honest it has been a nice little departure from the typical medium and light roasts that I have grown use to. I have been happy that people the people coming in out of my home have liked these coffees.

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While sometimes you may have to look high and low for your cleaning brush, especially if you have little children that think everything is made for them, there are probably winners and losers among brushes for cleaning your espresso machine. One of those clear winners I can say with just using it a few times this afternoon is the Pallo Espresso Machine Brush.

I really enjoy seasonal blends, and no I am not talking about the latest seasonal blend made with beans that are being currently harvested. I am talking about blends that are made to be festive for the season, they just help me in one other part of my life get ready for big holiday, and Christmas is big bad vodoo Daddy of them all so here I find Nataliza roasted by Caffe D'arte.

I came across a comment written by Jon Danzig on a previous post about coffee prices and a little bit on how increased prices can help a coffee farmer, as seen here. What Mr Danzig left in the comment portion of my post was a link to youtube video about a movement in the United Kingdom in the 1970's called Campaign Coffee.

If you read some of my previous blogs or that of others you are well aware that there are a lot of things that you can buy to go along with your espresso machine, one of the things that I over looked when I first got my machine was cups. So all I had for the first month besides these espresso cups were various coffee mugs. Coffee mugs I found work fine for making an americano, but not so much when making a latte or cappucino. Luckily however I was able to stumble across a pair of these cups by Konitz.

It can be funny that when you purchase a espresso machine that cost hundreds of dollars there are a lot of little things that you need to buy to go with it and some it is not merely just for keeping your machine clean, which is important.

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I figured the economy is still tight, and we still want to give the people we love Christmas gifts. So what better way then to give them some coffee gear that won't break the bank, but they can really enjoy. This list is just as much list of what I think people would like and stuff that I wouldn't mind getting my hands on as well.

It's the Holidays and we all want to buy something for someone that they will really love and use for ages to come. One those things that you might be looking at is a shiny new espresso machine, perhaps the one you saw at Williams and Sonoma or any one of the machines here on Roaste. If you already have an espresso machine or read a lot about coffee you probably know a lot of the things I am about to say, but it would be good for those that are just trying to spread the holiday cheer.

This evening while trolling the worlds of the internet I found an interesting tid bit on Google plus, posted by Coffeegeek. It was a post about how the makers of the Espro Press want to make a large version of their innovative french press like device, but are doing it through Kickstart.

Local 1,2,3

Okay so while I do enjoy visiting coffee shops that are off the beaten path a little bit, however I do live in a area with an abundance of good coffee and this where I found myself late Friday afternoon.