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Welcome to what we hope is a regular feature on CoffeeGeek – a twice monthly news and events update from around the world of coffee and espresso. The goal with these updates is to find some interesting, helpful and yes, sometimes downright bad news articles from around the Internet to share with our readers. We’ll also talk about new trends and happenings in the world of coffee and espresso, and feature some recent and upcoming content on CoffeeGeek.
World Pandemic
The number one thing on pretty much everyone’s mind on the entire planet is the COVID-19 pandemic. It is literally affecting every aspect of our lives these days, and the specialty coffee business is no exception. The pandemic and the #stayathome mitigation efforts have severely damaged some aspects of the specialty coffee industry, most notably cafes and specialty roasters. In North America, the vast majority of coffee houses are closed to all but take out orders. Specialty coffee roasters have seen their business plummet by as much as 75% or more, with those servicing the commercial industry being hardest hit, as the entire commercial specialty coffee market has almost evaporated.
Early on in this pandemic, we started up the Specialty Coffee Roasters Resource on CoffeeGeek, listing roaster-retailers from around the world who are still operating, and still delivering specialty coffee. The list features 10 countries on every continent, and over 150 roasters and growing. Any specialty coffee roaster operating and delivering coffee can get added; the instructions are on the resource page. We also decided to waive the cost of one of our advertising platforms — our SponsorAds — for coffee roasters looking to reach a broader market with their wares. That offer is still valid, saving $55 a month, so if you are a specialty coffee roaster and want to take advantage of this support, email us at roastersopen@coffeegeek.com and we’ll get you set up.
Recent and Forthcoming Content on CoffeeGeek
It’s been several months in the making, but we finally published our six page guide, the CoffeeGeek Espresso Compendium a few weeks back. This is an exhaustive look at how to make great espresso in the home, and how to build sixteen different drinks with an espresso base, from the ristretto to the iced espresso, from the cappuccino to the cafe cubano. This guide will be regularly updated too, thanks to the support of its main sponsor, Breville.
CoffeeGeek’s Pour Over Event and Contest!
Which leads us to the next huge “event” publication we have planned for CoffeeGeek, one starting very soon. We’re doing a Pour Over Event on CoffeeGeek, with five new How Tos, interviews with some of the world’s leading pour over champions, and wrapping it all up with a Master Class on Pour Over Coffee, which will be published in mid May. A launch article will be coming next week, with regular postings every few days after.
We have several people working feverishly on this project right now, and have partnered up with Bonavita and Baratza to make the content as good as possible and have a big contest with multiple prizes. All of this is coming in a matter of weeks, so stay tuned.
Future Reviews Planned
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We also have some new equipment in the house: the very portable and very well made Lido E-T grinder, and a piece of equipment that looks like a hand grinder that’s entered beast mode, the Apex Grinder, both from Orphan Espresso. We’ll be doing the full review treatment on these in the next few months, starting with First Looks, and continuing with QuickShot Reviews for both grinders.
I bought one of the original Lido Grinders from OE many years back at an SCA Trade Show, and I loved it for it’s quality grind and versatility, even if it did weigh a lot (with travel considered). So the new Lido E-T model, which stands for “Espresso, Travel” answers a lot of “wants” on the original Lido; I can’t wait to put it through its paces, pairing it up with unpowered espresso devices like the Flair and the Cafelat Robot.
And the Apex. It’s a monster. It’s a beast. And the word around the Internet is, it rivals grinders like the EK43 on particle size ranges and lack of fines. One crank on it’s handle equals 4 turns of it’s “ghost burr”. And the burr works in both directions, spin it left handed or right handed, Apex don’t care. It does not do espresso grind, or even a super fine moka pot or aeropress grind, but everything above that, it handles with aplomb. Again, I can’t wait to test it and really put it to the test. It is coming soon.
News and Articles from Around The Internet
The number one news story regarding coffee and espresso seems to be the COVID-19 pandemic and how it is affecting the specialty coffee industry, but we thought we’d try to find other kinds of specialty coffee content for you to read and check out, with some of our own commentary included 🙂
The Good
Hong Kong’s The Tattler Details How to Make Barista Level Coffee at Home
This is a breath of fresh air article, much better than I expected it to be, from a HK Fashion, Food and Style webzine. So much good stuff in there, from the grinder recommendations, to sourcing great fresh roasted specialty coffee, to outlining really excellent steps to making pour over coffee, and snippets of commentary from local Hong Kong coffee experts. They cover little known, but important details like rinsing your paper filters and ensuring your water temperature is spot on.
The article does lose focus and some respect at the end though, when they start recommending canned pre-brewed coffee. It seems like such a harsh 180 from all the great advice that preceded it.
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Financial Post says we’re drinking so much coffee, there’s a mad scramble for beans
There’s been a lot of worry about the roaster / retailer market in specialty coffee, but it appears certain segments of the industry are not only doing well during the COVID-19 pandemic, but actually struggling to keep up stock in roasted coffee for sale. It seems consumers around the world, but especially in the USA, are drinking more coffee than ever right now. The problem (from a specialty coffee standpoint) is that they are buying out stock at grocery stores, Costco and other big box stores.
The article talks about big buyers, like Lavazza, and how they are struggling to keep up. It also covers the forthcoming season in Central America and how the output might not meet demand.
My hope is, if demand for coffee is this great during the pandemic, I hope, once people see the grocery store coffees are sold out, they start seeking out small scale specialty coffee roasters selling coffee online, and keep these vital businesses afloat.
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British Vogue teaches you to make your morning coffee an “event”
Another surprisingly good article from where you wouldn’t expect it, on specialty coffee and its preparation. British Vogue enlisted the aid of championship Welsh barista Theo Garcia to provide some tips and advice on making your morning coffee special.
Garcia promotes the importance of fresh grind, gives reasons why, and recommends a hand grinder like the Hario Skerton. Being a former Aeropress champion, he naturally talks up the Aeropress as a good choice for interesting coffee in the home, on the cheap and in the “easy to use” category. He also suggests exploring (or rediscovering) the stovetop moka pot.
The Meh, Okay
Chowhound says an espresso machine can save you $2,000 a year.
This is something we’ve been preaching at CoffeeGeek for decades (and have coveras recently as last year, but it’s good to see this kind of thing is covered on foodie websites too.
The article starts out with some obvious math, based around just purchasing one take out coffee beverage a day (a $5 latte with a $1 tip), and shows that costs over $2,100 a year. Then it breaks down buying coffee for home use (from a really great roaster – Metric, in Chicago!), and while the math on the coffee usage is a bit off (no calculations for waste, which is par for the course in home espresso), they calculate the coffee and milk costs for a year at home are around $584, or a “savings” of roughly $1,600 over the store bought lattes. So where did they get the $2,000 savings from (hint – they never explain that). And what about the machine costs!
Heh, they do get to machines, and their first recommendation is the same one we’d make: the Breville Barista Express with the built in grinder. But that’s $600-$700, so your savings are down to $900 for the first year (again, where’s the $2000 savings?). They then recommend the Rancilio Silvia, which is an okay rec too. And it goes downhill from there.
No grinder recommendations at all. The grinder is the heart and soul of home espresso. But there are three budget, craptastic espresso machines recommended. I won’t even name them.
The article starts off good, and just hits the roadblocks midway through. Maybe we’ll do a “Save $xxx a year” article that really does show you how you can save a specific amount with a good grinder, a good espresso machine and good coffee.
The Bad
Mansion Global (is this really a magazine for mansion owners?) has an article on High Tech Espresso Machines for your home and it’s pretty bad. The lead is this: “What if making an espresso was as easy as turning on a faucet in your kitchen?” And it goes on to talk about the TopBrewer, a $16,000 under counter super automatic espresso “faucet” that also has optional sparkling water and cold water functions. Oh, it’s controlled by a smartphone, so there’s that.
Then they go on to feature… more super automatics. Not even really good super automatics – mid field Gaggia and Saeco machines. I guess mansion dwellers just want something that requires a button touch, and the maid can clean up the spent pucks.