Best Christmas coffee gifts, quick picks by budget: Under $25 / £20: Freshly roasted specialty bag (Atlas, Pact, Campos) or Swift Cup specialty instant. Available in every local store and online. Under $50 / £40: Fellow Atmos vacuum canister (~$35) or Atlas Coffee Club 3-month subscription (~$45). Most impactful gifts at this price. Under $100 … Read more
Best coffee gifts for him, quick picks by budget: Under $25 / £20: Freshly roasted specialty bag (Atlas, Pact) or Cometeer 8-pack sampler. Used this week, zero risk. Under $50 / £40: Fellow Atmos vacuum canister (~$35) or AeroPress Go (~$45). Most impactful gifts at this price for any drinker type. Under $100 / £80: … Read more
Best coffee gifts for her, quick picks by budget: Under $25 / £20: Freshly roasted specialty bag (Atlas, Pact) or Swift Cup specialty instant set. Used immediately, zero risk, works for any drinker. Under $50 / £40: Fellow Atmos canister (~$35, sage green) or Atlas 3-month subscription (~$45). Most impactful gifts at this price for … Read more
Best coffee gifts for dad, quick picks by budget: Under $25 / £20: Specialty coffee bag (Atlas, Pact) or Spirit Animal Coffee Honduran Trio. James Hoffmann World Atlas book if he wants to learn. Under $50 / £40: Fellow Atmos canister (~$35) or Atlas Coffee Club 3-month subscription (~$45). AeroPress Go for the outdoor or … Read more
Quick answer: A flat white is a small espresso-based drink made with two ristretto shots and velvety steamed microfoam milk, served in a 150 to 180ml cup. It has a higher coffee-to-milk ratio than a latte, less foam than a cappuccino, and a stronger, more intense coffee flavour per sip. It originated in Australia and … Read more
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. Fire Dept Coffee’s affiliate programme runs through AvantLink at 6 to 10% commission. If you purchase through our links we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. See our Affiliate Disclosure for full details. This does not affect our review. Quick verdict: Fire Dept Coffee is … Read more
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. Bulletproof’s affiliate programme runs through Impact. If you purchase through our links we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. See our Affiliate Disclosure for full details. This does not affect our review. Quick verdict: Bulletproof Coffee is good quality 100% Arabica with a genuine health-product … Read more
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. Volcanica Coffee’s affiliate programme runs through Impact at 10% commission with a 45-day cookie. If you purchase through our links we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. See our Affiliate Disclosure for full details. This does not affect our review. Quick verdict: Volcanica Coffee is … Read more
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. Koa Coffee’s affiliate programme runs through Awin (merchant number 88019) at 15 to 20% commission. If you purchase through our links we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. See our Affiliate Disclosure for full details. This does not affect our review. Genuine 100% Hawaiian Kona … Read more
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you subscribe through our links we may earn a 10% commission at no extra cost to you. Lifeboost’s affiliate program runs through Impact. See our Affiliate Disclosure for full details. This does not affect our assessment. Quick verdict: Lifeboost Coffee is a genuinely low-acid, third-party tested, single-origin Nicaraguan … Read more
Disclosure: Some links in this article are affiliate links. If you buy through our links we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. See our Affiliate Disclosure for full details. The AeroPress and the French press are the two most popular manual coffee makers in the world. Both are affordable, require … Read more
Disclosure: Some links in this article are affiliate links. If you buy through our links we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. See our Affiliate Disclosure for full details. This does not affect our recommendations. Most coffee packaging uses roast level as its primary identity. But the terms light, medium, … Read more
You can buy the best specialty coffee beans in the world and ruin them in a week through poor storage. The flavour compounds that make a fresh Ethiopian Yirgacheffe taste like blueberry and jasmine are volatile they evaporate, oxidise, and absorb moisture at room temperature if not properly protected. Most people store coffee incorrectly without … Read more
Coffee grown in Ethiopia tastes different from coffee grown in Colombia. Coffee from the Yirgacheffe region of Ethiopia tastes different from coffee grown in the Harrar region of the same country. These differences are not subtle. A trained palate can identify a Kenyan coffee from a Colombian one in a blind tasting almost every time. … Read more
If you need the bathroom within 20 minutes of your morning coffee, you are not imagining it and you are not alone. A 1990 study published in the medical journal Gut surveyed 99 healthy volunteers and found that 29% reported an urge to defecate after drinking coffee. The same study measured actual colon activity and … Read more
The word specialty is used freely in coffee marketing. Almost every bag on a supermarket shelf claims some form of premium quality. But specialty coffee has a precise definition, set by the Specialty Coffee Association, and it is more specific than most buyers realise. Specialty coffee is coffee that scores 80 points or more out … Read more
The coffee to water ratio is the single most controllable variable in home coffee brewing. Grind size requires a quality grinder. Water temperature requires a thermometer or a smart kettle. Bean freshness depends on your supplier. But the ratio between coffee and water requires nothing more than a kitchen scale and consistent measurement. ☕ Skip … Read more
Most people significantly underestimate the caffeine in their cold brew and overestimate the caffeine in their espresso. A single espresso shot contains 63 mg of caffeine. A standard 12oz glass of cold brew contains 150 to 250 mg. If you have been choosing espresso over drip coffee to reduce your caffeine intake, you have been … Read more
If you live in London, the South East, East Anglia, or the East Midlands, the water coming out of your tap is some of the hardest in Europe, with mineral levels regularly exceeding 300 mg per litre. This hard water affects your coffee in two distinct ways: it changes how your coffee tastes, and over … Read more
Sour espresso is the most common problem home baristas encounter and it has one root cause in almost every case: under-extraction. Understanding what under-extraction is, why it happens, and which specific variable in your setup is causing it turns this from a frustrating mystery into a solvable problem. This guide covers the seven most common … Read more