Siphon

Gear Review: KitchenAid Siphon Coffee Brewer

November 17, 2015 By Michael 6 Comments

Among my home baker friends, there is no kitchen appliance more coveted than a KitchenAid Mixer. With ten speeds and planetary rotation, a KitchenAid Mixer has features normally only found on industrial mixers. Throw in a copy of Tartine Bread and a good starter and you’ve got a decent loaf going.

When we learned that KitchenAid was launching a new line of coffee makers, we were intrigued. Normally, we’re skeptical when big appliance companies try to break into the specialty coffee market, but given KitchenAids’s stellar reputation, we had high hopes when KitchenAid offered to send us their Siphon Coffee Brewer to review….

I Made Coffee With Todd Carmichael’s Dragon Brewer

August 27, 2014 By Michael 7 Comments

Enter The Dragon Brewer

I’m in my living room with a black plastic suitcase- the kind musicians use to transport expensive equipment and mobsters use to hold weapons and drugs. Inside is what Todd Carmichael has dubbed “The Assassin Kit”, which contains a first production run of his renowned brewer, The Dragon. It also includes an …

Travels of a Barista Dirt Bag, Part II – New Orleans

October 14, 2013 By Guest 5 Comments

Editor’s note: Travels of a Barista Dirt Bag is an ongoing series of dispatches from barista/ guest blogger Zach Hester. The search for a delicious cup of coffee is taking Zach from his native Kentucky bluegrass, down the Mississippi Delta, across the Southwest to the shining Pacific Ocean. In Part II Zach searches for the best Coffee in New Orleans. Get caught up on his previous travels here.

The Big Easy

I blinked and must have missed it. Sure, I’m a bit rough around the edges this morning, the two bottles of wine at dinner last night from our gracious hosts down here in New Orleans didn’t exactly set the mood for an early and productive morning in the Big Easy, but still, my nose is usually better than this. I find coffee shops. There it goes again, another strafe down the sidewalk, another miss. I see beautiful Live Oak and Weeping Willow, a Whole Foods, a parking lot set off the road a bit and tons of New Orleans character, but no coffee. Where is this Velvet Espresso Bar that serves up Stumptown and why can’t I find the shop?

Trying to sift through the groggy early morning cobwebs and sitting on the sidewalk, I hum along to Bob Dylan’s …

Watch This Hypnotic Video from Chapter One

October 1, 2012 By Michael 1 Comment

Chapter One worshipping coffee from Chapter One Coffee Berlin on Vimeo.

When I visited Berlin earlier this year I was lucky enough to get a tip from a barista at The Barn about Chapter One, a new cafe that had only been open for a couple of weeks. When I visited it was clear they were still setting up shop, but the quality of their coffee was already top notch. That has a lot to do with the fact one of the owners is Nora Šmahelová, a Czech expat who is a WBC judge and a former German Barista Champion.

In most places in Europe “coffee” and “espresso” are synonymous, but I was surprised to find Chapter One’s focus is filter coffees. …