The Coffee Compass

Baratza Announces Acquisition by Breville Group

October 2, 2020 By Michael Leave a Comment

For years, when it’s come to consumer coffee grinders and espresso machines, we’ve had one recommendation in both categories: Baratza and Breville respectively. Perhaps it’s fitting that Baratza has announced its acquisition by Breville Group, a publically-traded Australian company that manufactures appliances like the Breville Precision Brewer. In a blog post, Baratza CEO and cofounder Kyra Kennedy announced Baratza will continue as its own brand with its existing West Coast-based team.

Baratza’s range of electric burr grinders have long filled a niche for specialty coffee lovers looking for café-quality coffee at home. Whether it’s their entry-level Encore or high-end Forté, we’ve used most of their grinders, bought them as presents, and tested them against their competitors. Does this new consolidation mean we’ll see an integrated Sette + BES870XL combo? A Precision Brewer that somehow synchronizes with the Baratza Vario’s grind-by-weight feature?

Time will only tell.

Should Coffee be Saved? An interview with Lucia Solis

August 27, 2020 By Michael Leave a Comment

Among the voices calling for change in the coffee industry, none ring clearer than Lucia Solis’s. As a trained oenologist who studied at UC Davis, Solis uses her expertise as a winemaker to help coffee farmers improve their fermentation techniques. In reality, the better part of a decade spent traveling to coffee mills has made Solis one of the industry’s leading coffee processing experts.

As someone who has spent most of my time in coffee on the consumer-facing side, I’ve learned a lot from Solis’s newsletter and podcast, Making Coffee with Lucia Solis. I’m grateful that Lucia made time for a call over WhatsApp, where we discussed her podcast, the devastating effects of COVID-19 for coffee farmers, and whether or not coffee should be saved.

We’ve really been enjoying, and learning a lot from your podcast. What inspired you to start it?

It was an idea I had for a few years before I got the courage to do it. In 2016 I even sketched out a few episode ideas and was trying to come up with a podcast title. When I gave my 2017 ReCo presentation I thought I had made a basic argument, I didn’t understand why people didn’t understand what I was talking about. It took me the better part of a year to understand where people’s deficiencies were. I didn’t understand why people didn’t understand me.

Eventually I realized that because I was coming from a different industry, we had very different references.

I wondered “Why are we talking about this and not that”? Consequently being an outsider gave a fresh perspective on many things the coffee industry took for granted….

Why Latte Art is Still Important

July 31, 2020 By Michael 1 Comment

Latte art used to be overrated.

When I first got into coffee culture, circa 2007, latte art was my sole metric for determining a good coffee shop.

Of course, at the time my favorite drink was a caramel latte in a serving size that would make European heads swim. (I had only recently been converted from iced mochas with extra chocolate, a drink I enjoyed because “it tastes like chocolate milk.”) I’m not sure what other metric I might have used to determine what constituted a good cup of coffee.

But my approach also reflected the values of the barista community at large.

At the time, netting the top prize at CoffeeFest’s World Latte Art Open Championship could actually lead to an endorsement deal. Even a top-three finish would earn a barista fame and recognition in the coffee community.

But pendulum swings are inevitable, and it’s never been less cool to care about latte art….

Iced Coffee: A User Guide

July 1, 2020 By Michael Leave a Comment

Every day for the last six years, the majority of traffic to this humble coffee website has come from a simple Google search: “how to make cold brew with a French press.” The data reveals a simple truth: people love iced coffee. But there’s perhaps never been more confusion surrounding a beverage.

Cold brew. Cold press. Slow drip. Flash chilled. The list goes on. But what do any of these terms even mean? Lucky for you we’ve compiled a handy guide to drinking iced coffee….

Coffee in a Time of Corona Virus: Cup of Joy Opens New Istanbul Café

June 11, 2020 By Michael Leave a Comment

Cup of Joy

Istanbul, like much of the world, has spent the last three months locked down due to COVID-19. Coffee shops, along with bars and gyms, were some of the first businesses to be shut down by the government. As such, I went the longest stint I’ve gone in my coffee-drinking life without having an espresso or cappuccino.

Of course, it’s hard to complain about missing such luxuries when so many have truly been forced to go without. Besides, if I’m being honest, it hasn’t been coffee I’ve missed as much as coffee shops. The human interaction. A space to be creative. Bumping into old friends and make new ones. Corona Virus might have called the economic viability of coffee shops into question, but we’ve never been in greater need of the holistic services a good coffee shop provides….

A Basic Guide to Coffee Varieties

May 19, 2020 By Michael Leave a Comment

Coffee drinkers have long selected their beans of choice based on roast degree or country of origin. Increasingly, some specialty coffee consumers are searching for certain processing methods. But the subject of coffee varieties, or cultivars, has yet to trickle down to a consumer level– which is a shame. Different coffee varieties have different cup characteristics, and identifying a coffee’s varietal characteristics can add to your appreciation of that morning cup.

What is a Cultivar?

You likely already know something about grape varieties, or in the very least apples. Even if you can’t tell the difference between Pinot noir or Syrah, you probably know Granny smith apples are tart and Red Delicious apples are anything but delicious. (I, for one, usually go for Fuji apples at the supermarket.) But what is a variety anyway?…

How to Make Cold Brew With a Chemex

April 27, 2020 By Michael Leave a Comment

how to make cold brew with a Chemex

One of the summer’s most popular coffee beverages is also the easiest to make, provided you have some time on your hands. Cafe-quality cold brew requires very little technique and can be made with just about anything, like a Mason jar or French press. In fact, you probably already own one of our favorite devices to make cold brew with: the Chemex.

Peter Schlumbohm’s iconic brewing device has been the go-to brewing device of aesthetically-minded coffee enthusiasts since the 1930s. It’s even featured in the MoMA’s permanent collection.

Although the device is designed for brewing hot filter coffee, the hourglass shape of the Chemex makes it a perfect vessel for steeping and decanting cold brew….

You Probably Need to Buy A Coffee Grinder

April 22, 2020 By Michael Leave a Comment

hand grinder

Coffee luminary Peter Giuliano dropped a bombshell on #coffeetwitter last week. According to Giuliano, of the staggering 14 billion dollars worth of coffee Americans brew at home each year, more than 90% is pre-ground.

This, of course, probably comes as no surprise to you, random reader of this coffee website. Why buy a coffee grinder when pre-ground coffee is the same price? If there’s a coffee grinder in your house, statistically it’s a blade grinder, which is perhaps slightly more consistent than repeatedly jumping up and down on your bag of whole bean coffee while wearing combat boots. …

What’s the Best Automatic Drip Coffee Maker?

April 8, 2020 By Michael 1 Comment

If you don’t have a good coffee maker, now is probably a good time to get one. As much as we love making a meticulously handcrafted pour-over, sometime we just want to press a button, hop in the shower, and come back to a perfect cup of coffee. Unfortunately, the large majority of consumer coffee makers out there are pretty terrible at making coffee….

Fundraiser: Travel Mug Proceeds to go to Laid-off Baristas

March 25, 2020 By Michael Leave a Comment

It’s hard to speak too hyperbolically about the cataclysmic effect Corona Virus is having on the specialty coffee community. Around the world, ten of thousands of coffee shops have been indefinitely shuttered; even more baristas have been laid off. To make matters worse, there’s no end in sight.

It’s been a while since any of us here at the Coffee Compass worked a bar shift, but we remember what it’s like, and we want to do what we can. Until the end of April, 100% of sales of our travel mugs will be donated to relief funds, especially those helping laid-off baristas.

While we certainly don’t recommend taking that travel mug out anytime soon, it will keep your coffee hot (or cold) for hours. And, of course, we recommend filling it with specialty coffee, bought directly from your favorite local roaster’s web store.

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