The Coffee Compass

Four New Books That Should Be In Every Barista’s Library

November 26, 2021 By Michael Leave a Comment

We have to admit, 2021 was the best year for books about coffee we’ve seen in a long time. (Admittedly, some of these books were published in 2020, but like Kendrick, we were busy ducking the pandemic and only picked them up this year.) Whether you’re looking to better educate yourself or shopping for that special barista in your life, these are the books that would be on our syllabus if we were teaching a graduate seminar on coffee.

Coffeeland by Augustine Sedgewick

How did a working-class man from Manchester, England create one of Central America’s largest coffee empires? The answer is a riveting story that has much to say about ongoing inequality in the coffee supply chain today. History professor Augustine Sedgewick situates the creation of the world’s largest coffee monoculture in the context of the industrial revolution, the spread of American imperialism, and the rise of Marxist revolutionaries. Coffeeland is unlike any coffee book we’ve read, but we dare say it should be mandatory reading for anyone who wants to better understand the coffee industry. …

Four French Press Mistakes You Might Be Making

November 9, 2021 By Michael Leave a Comment

Love it or hate it, you’ll probably need to make coffee with a French press at some point in your life. And while we admit to preferring filter coffee, the French press is capable of making a delicious cup of coffee when used correctly. To get the most out of your French press, avoid these five common brewing mistakes.

1. Grinding too Coarse

Yes, the French press’s metal filter calls for a coarser grind setting to avoid too many particles passing through the mesh into your cup, but that doesn’t mean you should use the coarsest grind setting possible. …

Coffee Compass Founder Launches New Company, Kickstarter Campaign

October 27, 2021 By Guest Leave a Comment

Coffee Compass cofounder Michael Butterworth is launching a new company. Etkin Design is a new Istanbul-based firm designing and manufacturing porcelain coffee makers and accessories. Its first product is the Etkin Dripper– a large format coffee dripper optimized to make up to a liter of coffee. The dripper is a collaboration with Selim Caner Eldeniz of the Istanbul design studio Modesign.

The product is now live on Kickstarter, where the start-up is trying to raise $10,000 to help cover the initial production run of Etkin Drippers. Backers will be amongst the first in the world to receive the new brewing device. The product recently debuted at the SCA Expo in New Orleans to an enthusiastic reception.

“Most pour-over drippers tend to clog at larger brew volumes, causing brew times to go too long. This produces more bitterness in the cup. Our design produces a sweeter cup with less bitterness,” says Butterworth.

The dripper is made from the highest quality Turkish porcelain in Kütahya— Turkey’s porcelain capital. The inspiration for the Etkin Dripper was born out of sheltering in-place during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Like most of us, I spent much of 2020 lock-downed at home. More than ever, brewing coffee by hand became an important ritual each day. But since my wife and I can drink a lot of coffee I often was brewing 3-4 pour-overs a day,” says Butterworth. “I looked for a larger format coffee dripper, but was disappointed I couldn’t find a flat-bottom one.”

The Etkin dripper is compatible with 8-12 cup basket filters, though the company is also developing their own custom filters, along with mugs and a carafe.

A Look Inside Orchard Coffee in Waynesville, NC

October 8, 2021 By Michael Leave a Comment

Nestled in the Smoky Mountains, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more idyllic mountain town than Waynesville, NC. But what’s a quaint, mountain town without a community gathering place? It turns out Waynesville is not only blessed with incredible natural beauty but an exceptional café: Orchard Coffee, serving locally-roasted coffee from its sister company Steamline Coffee. Behind both companies is a man who needs no introduction to long-time readers of thecoffeecompasss.com, Cabell Tice. …

New Merch: Coffee Compass Logo T-Shirt

August 30, 2021 By Michael Leave a Comment

The perfect cup of coffee may not exist, but we’re pretty sure the perfect t-shirt does: the American Apparel gray track shirt. We’ve long dreamed of slapping our logo on one is these cozy beauties, and that dream has finally become reality. We mostly made these for our team, but we have a limited number of Medium and Large t-shirts up in our webstore while supplies last. This shirt is not guaranteed to repel coffee stains, but it is guaranteed to make your morning coffee taste better. Ours does anyway.

Cultivator Coffee Puts Down Roots in New Albany, Indiana

August 23, 2021 By Michael Leave a Comment

Cultivator Coffee Coffee is a fruit. Or, to be a little more precise, coffee is the seed of a fruit. Like any other fruit, the cultivar, or variety, of a given coffee has a tremendous impact on its flavor profile. I’m not sure if coffee cultivars were the inspiration behind Cultivator Coffee & Other Plants but it certainly seems an appropriate name for the New Albany, Indiana café….

Osito Coffee Launches Fundraiser for Colombian Farmers

August 19, 2021 By Michael Leave a Comment

Colombia-based coffee exporters Osito Coffee has launched a fundraiser for Colombian farmers on Gofundme.com. Between the COVID-19 pandemic and a national strike, Osito explains many of their producers are facing a dire situation.

In our network of coffee farmers, we’ve seen folks struggle mightily with cash flow. With a delayed harvest and limited access to town centers because of the widespread roadblocks, farmers still have to lay out money to maintain their farms and families with little money coming in at this time.

The company has pledged to match the first $4,000 of donations. The money will be used to provide farmers with essential tools like GrainPro bags for storing coffee. A smaller number of farmers will be gifted new drying equipment.

Peixoto Coffee Redefines Direct Trade in Chandler, Arizona

July 26, 2021 By Michael Leave a Comment

The specialty coffee community often celebrates direct trade: when coffee roasters buy their coffee directly from farmers without utilizing a trader. In theory, the practice ensures more of the profits go to the people who grew the coffee.

But Peixoto Coffee in Chandler, Arizona takes direct trade one step further: the vertically integrated coffee roaster sources most of their coffees from their family estate in Minas Gerais, Brazil. …

A Look Inside Liturgy Beverage Company in Durham, NC

June 17, 2021 By Michael Leave a Comment

Liturgy Beverage Company More than a year after opening Litugry Beverage Company, Tim and TiLissa Jones can finally welcome dine-in guests to their café. It was a long time coming. It’s been over two years since we published this interview, when Liturgy was a pop up kiosk in a YMCA waiting for their space at the Durham Food Hall to be ready. Construction delays bled into a statewide lockdown, forcing Liturgy to navigate a pandemic in addition to new business struggles.

But they soldiered through and when I visited their café earlier this month, things were humming.

…

Now Brewing: Peru Baltazar Guerrero from Brandywine Coffee Roasters

May 31, 2021 By Michael 1 Comment

When I started this coffee blog 9 years ago with two friends, I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to write about.

First and foremost, I wanted to write about cafés. I fell in love with coffee shops before I started drinking black coffee. I had a personal blog where I talked about the coffee shops I went to and those posts would get the most traffic. It seemed like a natural progression to start a website that would guide people to the best coffee shops, and thecoffeecompass.com was born.

What I didn’t want to write were coffee reviews. At the time there was a glut of coffee blogs focusing on coffee reviews, assigning points or stars, quibbling over tasting notes. It felt tedious to me. So I made a decision: no coffee reviews. In the early days, we received almost weekly inquiries from roasters that offered to send us coffee, and though we happily received any free coffee a roaster wanted to send us, we made it clear we weren’t going to review it on this website….