coffeegeek

coffeegeek, 23 hours ago to Espresso

Here it is: our Blog Contributor Natia's take on going back to the Italian standard of 14g for espresso doses, and what effects it has on the cup, taste, and caffeine hit.

cc @espresso

#espresso #italiancoffee #coffee

https://coffeegeek.com/blog/techniques/maybe-the-italians-were-on-to-something-espresso-doses/

coffeegeek, 1 day ago to random

About to review the MHW-3Bomber Mini Cube 2 scale; I know a few folks think it's a clone of the Timemore Black Mirror scale, but it is not, other than being a similar size. LCD, controls, display, weighing pan mechanism are different.

It has a really cool feature too: auto on and tare when something 100g or more is placed on it. Great for measuring a portafilter's contents. It's also not much bigger than the Acaia Lunar (a $250 scale).

Cheap too, ⬇️
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C8HVQ65K?ref=t_ac_view_request_product_image&campaignId=amzn1.campaign.2MSD5VO0GU3JB&linkCode=tr1&tag=coffeekid-20&linkId=amzn1.campaign.2MSD5VO0GU3JB_1715207818273

coffeegeek, 3 days ago to coffee

From this morning...

The Melitta Senz V. The Pour Over Brewer No One's Talking About (and they should be).

cc @coffee

#pourover #melitta #melittasenz

https://coffeegeek.com/blog/new-products/melitta-senz-the-pour-over-no-one-is-talking-about/

coffeegeek, 3 days ago to Espresso

A reminder - just over a week left on the big sale Breville currently has on all their Barista line of espresso machines, and the Bambino Plus, with all at 20% off. It ends May 13.

I wrote up the sale, and which machines have the best features for the kind of espresso (and milk based drinks) you want in the home.

cc @espresso

#espresso #breville #espressomachines

https://coffeegeek.com/blog/deals/brevilles-biggest-sale-on-espresso-machines/

coffeegeek, 3 days ago to coffee

A post this morning on a very intriguing and feature-rich pour over system from Melitta that gets almost no mention at all in the usual influencer circles, for reasons you might not expect.

cc @coffee

#coffee #pourover #melitta

https://coffeegeek.com/blog/new-products/melitta-senz-the-pour-over-no-one-is-talking-about/

coffeegeek, 4 days ago to Nutanix

#NCP

How it started / how it's going.

From scratch pizza on my hacked backyard barbecue, firing about 700F for a 4.25 minute bake.

My only gripe, didn't get the oven spring I hoped for.

Pizza after the bake is done.

coffeegeek, 5 days ago to fediverse

A bit on the #fediverse, and why independent websites the create content really should be participating on this social media platform. Warning - this will be a long post.

Our website, CoffeeGeek.com has enjoyed a lot of traffic growth over the past six months. That growth has come from

• a large increase in our normal content production
• making our website much more mobile friendly with a big redesign, launched in March
• my participation in a very active way here in the fediverse.

The third one is no small deal either. I am a bit obsessed with metrics and such, and since we don’t really have much in the way of goog/meta trackers on CoffeeGeek, we put a few of our own metric-following bits and bobbles, and we get a noticeable visit count increase of real folks (not the infamous mastoddos everytime I post a url to our website), from fediverse-clicking people.

When I left the Tweeter platform last fall, a lot of thought went into where we would take our social media attention. We really looked at vastly increasing our Instagram use. At one point, I was ready to assign two of our blog contributors (who were gung ho for it) to take over the CoffeeGeek account there and post clickbaity type “you gotta see this” content, changing completely how I used to (and now continue to) post there.

But I didn’t want to be a slave to the algorithm. Plus there’s no sum gain for a creative content website like ours from Instagram, because we cannot post url links there easily.

I really like the core mission and ideals behind Mastodon and the fediverse, so I made the decision that a) all my attention would be on that platform (as far as social media involvement is concerned), b) I would post daily, and c) I would be very personal and hands on. No third party. Answer questions. Have polls, Interact. Do my best to be a good, active participant in the fediverse.

That’s what I’ve been doing for the last six months now. This account went from 300 followers when I started in earnest in October, to 3.6K followers, all organic. Way more important than follower count is the interaction. I love and thrive on it, and all of you with almost no exceptions have been super welcoming and inviting. Even when I post the occasional rant.

Behind the scenes, I’m doing my darndest to get other independent content creators in the specialty coffee sphere to come onto this platform. So far, they have not, because most of them still rely on third party “social media ‘experts’” to manage and chart their social media involvement. Tweeter / IG / FB / Tiktok is where they’re being told they should be (no so much Tweeter any longer), but if CoffeeGeek is any kind of set example, and the dividends we’ve enjoyed are a metric, they are getting very bad advice from those experts.

Our site traffic doesn’t lie. Fediverse traffic is in the healthy single digits for our website, and it is higher than our numbers from Youtube, Facebook, or Instagram. In fact, it is coming close to being higher than those three combined.

If I was a shrewd businessperson (I am not), maybe I shouldn’t even post this. If I were 1000% cut throat capitalist, maybe I don’t even want other specialty coffee content producers to enjoy this kind of organic success. But I guess I’m not. Because what’s more important to me is sharing the passion and cultural richness of the world’s most complex food item, getting more and more people to know it, enjoy it, discuss it, and debate it. All this participation has the benefit of making specialty coffee better.

That was the mission statement I had when I launched CoffeeGeek.com back in 2001. It remains today.

I hope more and more independent content creators make the jump to this social media sphere. Both in specialty coffee, and in other areas of interest. Maybe they’ll somehow find this long post, and it will inspire them to do so.

coffeegeek, 5 days ago to coffee

More on the #caffeine myths today. A popular Instagram account, called Cafeholic101 posted an infographic claiming a shot of espresso has only 27mg of caffeine.

I guess if it's in an infographic, it's gotta be true, right? :eyeroll: Sadly, this post has thousands of likes; another example of influencers providing false info.

Because it's utterly untrue. Well maybe the 5g coffee amounts in a nespresso pod, if brewed at very low temperatures, might be under 30mg in the cup.

Real espresso? A full double from 18.5g coffee will give 100-135mg caffeine, in the cup.

cc @espresso @coffee

Read more:

https://coffeegeek.com/blog/techniques/a-bit-about-caffeine/

coffeegeek, 5 days ago to coffee

More on the #caffeine mythis today. A popular Instagram account, called Cafeholic101 posted an infographic claiming a shot of espresso has only 27mg of caffeine.

I guess if it's in an infographic, it's gotta be true, right? :eyeroll: Sadly, this post has thousands of likes; another example of influencers providing false info.

Because it's utterly untrue. Well maybe the 5g coffee amounts in a nespresso pod, if brewed at very low temperatures, might be under 30mg in the cup.

Real espresso? A full double from 18.5g coffee will give 100-135mg caffeine, in the cup.

cc @espresso @coffee

Read more:

https://coffeegeek.com/blog/techniques/a-bit-about-caffeine/

coffeegeek, 5 days ago to random

I have some very simple influencer advice for you all.

If they start their Tiktok / IG videos with "HEY GUYS!", you should definitely not take any advice they offer.

https://www.motherjones.com/food/2024/05/raw-milk-influencers-h5n1-bird-flu-virus-social-media/

coffeegeek, 6 days ago to coffee

Mainly for #coffee folks in #canada ...

My twice-monthly subscription from Ontario's Social Coffee ( https://socialcoffee.com/ ) arrived today. One of the best decisions I've made with CoffeeGeek was switching from Pilot Coffee, who were declining in quality, to Social Coffee as the primary coffee we use at CoffeeGeek for all our product testing.

They provide consistency, at a very high sustained quality. Their People's Daily blend remains one of the best "this is what espresso should taste like" espresso blends I've enjoyed. More on how we test for espresso:

https://coffeegeek.com/opinions/history-technology/how-we-test-espresso-at-coffeegeek/

We do pay for this subscription - this is not a paid advertisement - but I wanted to share this with the fediverse coffee community in Canada, if you're looking for a roaster to try. Even their decaf is spot on (I get one bag a month of that - it's the blue one in the box).

cc @coffee

coffeegeek, 8 days ago to Nutanix

#NCP

For Canadians looking to take a stand against massive corporate greed. Hurt them where they hurt most: the bottom line. This boycott is for the month of May. It may inconvenience you, but your participation will yield results.

#loblaws #loblawsboycott #canada

011i, 8 days ago to coffee German

#kaffee1.0 #erstmalKaffee #butfirstcoffee #kaffee #kaffeetweet #coffee #coffeetweet #coffeeaddict #instacoffee #needcoffeenow

coffeegeek, 8 days ago to Espresso

Right now is one of the best times ever to buy a Breville espresso machine, as the entire Barista lineup, and the Bambino Plus, are all 20% off, factory authorized. Here's what's available, and thoughts on each machine.

cc @espresso

#breville #espresso #espressomachines

https://coffeegeek.com/blog/deals/brevilles-biggest-sale-on-espresso-machines/

coffeegeek, 9 days ago to Espresso

As for the Lelit Bianca being the Best Espresso Machine available today, I give my reasons.

#espresso #lelit #lelitbianca cc @espresso

https://coffeegeek.com/opinions/state-of-coffee/the-best-espresso-machine/

coffeegeek, 10 days ago to coffee

Our second Best of guide, the Best Budget Coffee Grinders for 2024, has had a good roll out. In 2 weeks, we've gone to the top 5 in search results (non sponsored, lol) on most search engines, and it's been read 140K.

I also heard back from one of the vendors we list (but make $0 from) and they noticed a real bump in sales. Good for them I suppose LOL! and good for the consumers who bought those grinders because they truly are fantastic machines.

cc @coffee @espresso

https://coffeegeek.com/guides/feature-guides/best-budget-coffee-grinders-for-2024/

coffeegeek, 10 days ago to Espresso

Due for an update soon, possibly in the next few weeks: CoffeeGeek's Best Budget Espresso Machines for 2024 Feature Guide. If you're looking for a tried and tested bargain in the espresso machine category, this is the only list you need.

cc @espresso

#espressomachine #budgetespresso #espresso

https://coffeegeek.com/guides/feature-guides/best-budget-espresso-machines-for-2024/

coffeegeek, 11 days ago to coffee

You know how Baratza products NEVER GO ON SALE? It's been the modus of Baratza for almost their entire existence.

Well, today, in a flash deal, Baratza's Encore ESP is ON SALE at Amazon, for $160. This literally never happens:

cc @coffee @espresso

https://amzn.to/3xPs2YA

coffeegeek, 11 days ago to coffee

This weekend, I managed to storyboard and flesh out the main content for our next major Feature Guide on CoffeeGeek.

What has me excited about this one is it is going to be VERY pretty but also extremely feature rich. No less than 22 different major pieces of content on our website will be referenced in this new guide. Very early stages still, but I think this is going to be a popular one, once published.

#coffee #espresso cc @espresso

List of all the referenced content for a future Feature Guide on CoffeeGeek

coffeegeek, 18 days ago to coffee

This is, officially, AWESOME

DiFluid lets you visually analyse and identify the micron size of coffee grinds, using it's app, your smartphone camera, and a printable disk. And they offer it more or less free of charge (you can download and use the app at no charge, but you really should also buy their scale).

Do you KNOW the work I go through now with a Kruve sifter to check grind sizes for our reviews? It is wasteful, it takes forever, and it isn't terribly accurate either. This cannot be any less accurate, and it's WAY easier.

#coffee #grindsize cc @coffee @espresso

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBFOpYwWNGQ