CupO'Joe Online

Cups galore

calvin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:02:26 +0000

It is fun to review high end products. The have sizzle. They have glamour, but what they do not have going for them is economy, of course. In fact they often do not perform any better than their lower priced brethren. With espresso machines that is sort of true. I would far rather have a drink made by someone with the talent of James Hoffman on a Quickmill Anita combined with a Baratza Vario than a drink made by someone with my talent level or below on a Mazzer Robur combined with a Speedster. That is assuming they have comparable level coffee to use since no equipment can make b

Innovative Coffee Aroma Ad Falls Flat

calvin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:02:24 +0000

Imagine the expectation: An Indian marketing firm spent some time working on devising a technique that would enable newspaper copy to smell like the featured item. Last weekend they debuted their beautiful ad for Bru Gold coffee in the Sunday Times. The images in the ad show people sniffing the aroma in the air with another image of the coffee itself. The marketing company was excited that newspaper readers on Sunday morning would “wake up and smell the coffee” and be ready to buy it.

ebeans = Vibiemme Junior HX

calvin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:02:23 +0000

After a little over a week and saving a lot of ebeans over the months it has finally arrived, a Vibiemme Junior HX

I gotta say that I am almost rather embarrassed by receiving this wonderful machine in return for writing these blogs, comments and reviews of some of the coffee/equipment on this site that I have a little bit of knowledge about. However, I am not going to give it back and many thanks to Roaste.

Finally a mistake I do not regret.

calvin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:02:21 +0000

Finally a mistake I do not regret.

It seems like most of my posts these days are about mistakes I have made – you know the kind where you blow up a table saw while making a stand for your espresso set up. Okay well to be fair to myself that one mistake was probably not my fault. I still cannot think of anything I could have done to cause that problem, but spilling milk over the surge protector that was all me.

What Coffee Inspires

calvin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:02:17 +0000

Back in December, there was the guy who completed a mural using a million coffee beans. Last month, the artsy-crafty blogs were all talking about "coffee cup art" — filling Dixie cups with various shades of coffee, arranging them in various ways and photographing the result from above. This morning, the coffee art buzz is about a Malaysian artist who used coffee in an unusual, artistic way:

The Iroast home roaster

calvin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:02:10 +0000

This is a quick review of the iroast II roaster. I got it a number of years ago from my wife as a present. As such I have very carefully never found out what it costs, but my impression is that relative to most roasters (that are designed for home roasting – I’ll post about a few cheap options that were not intended for home roasting originally) it is fairly reasonable. I was given it before I had discovered things like Roaste.com and other mail order ways of buying coffee – this is a very important detail since the truth is the coffee from pro roasters when bought fresh is defin

On Coffee Scores

calvin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:11:03 +0000

There seems to be some sort of background discussion on coffee scores happening this week, with Mark Prince weighing in, as well as a few other bloggers and reviewers. Some are saying "simplify the system," others are saying "be more critical." I thought I’d just add my thoughts to the conversation.

Metrics

The coffee cart has come to a screeching halt!

calvin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:11:02 +0000

The coffee cart has come to a screeching halt! I am so close to done and yet I can proceed no further. I have completed all of the hard wood working. I finished the finger joints that hold the drawers together this morning. They fit well – perhaps slightly tighter than I would like in one or two cases, but over all I am fairly happy with them. I had only two sets of cuts left to do.

Weigh In on the Babycino Controversy

calvin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:50:30 +0000

Is one ever too young to enjoy the coffee shop environment? Do kids belong in the café? Is the babycino too cute? Whatever you might think of kids in the coffee shop, a controversy of sorts developed recently in Australia when a mom designed a babycino fundraiser.

Bring back the holidays – aka What I am drinking now – Velton’s Holiday Blend

calvin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:50:29 +0000

Bring back the holidays.

What I am drinking now is Velton’s holiday blend from Velton’s Coffee Roasting Company. You may find this odd since the “holidays” does not usually mean Valentine’s day together with President’s day. You may also find it odd since it is not available on Roaste.com any more.