Coffee Blogs To Follow This Holiday Season: Part One

Earlier in the year, I found a new interest in blogs. Blogs are a home where the author controls both the content they create and the medium through which their content is served. It is this premise which inspired me to create this blog about coffee. I like writing about coffee and I find that a blog is a good place to share my thoughts on coffee. I write about the interesting observations I make as well as what I am learning.

The existence of this blog can be in part attributed to all of the many coffee bloggers who reminded me that blogging about my passion is a worthy pursuit of my time. I slowly discovered blogs like The Coffee Life and Brian's Coffee Spot which both educated me on coffee and showed how interesting it can be to read about coffee. I hope that my readers get something out of what I write, but even then, I write to help reinforce what I learn.

Below, I list some of the coffee blogs I actively follow or come across often as I read about coffee on the internet. I have found books to be immensely helpful when it comes to learning about coffee but books have their limits: they are longer and they are usually more formal. I find that reading books and blogs is a good balance. I learn from both.

Over the holiday season, if you find yourself at a loose end—or if you want to devote some of your holidays to coffee—then I would recommend checking out some of the below blogs.

The Coffee Life

www.thecoffeelife.co.uk

The Coffee Life, written by Jass Goodman, was one of the first, if not the first, coffee blog I encountered. The Coffee Life is devoted to reviews of coffee, lifestyle, mental health, and various other coffee-related posts. Blogging since 2017, Jass has amassed a large library of interesting posts. I admit I've read quite a few but there are still so many I have not yet read.

On the Coffee Life, you will find a lot of blog posts reviewing coffee and subscription boxes. I do not read many blogs where the author reviews coffee bags (not cafes) or subscription boxes and so this blog has been a worthy addition to my list of blogs I read. What I like most about The Coffee Life is the down-to-Earth tone. Posts are interesting and detailed but are light and easy to read.

Brian's Coffee Spot

brain-coffee-spot.com

I cannot do a better job of explaining the premise behind Brian's Coffee Spot as he does on the blog. "Brian's Coffee Spot exists to share my love of all things coffee." Brian's bread-and-butter is writing reviews of cafes around the world—largely in the United Kingdom—but his content is far-reaching.

I have read features on individual roasters, cafe reviews, posts on coffee cuppings and "experiences," and more which I cannot presently recall. This year, he wrote a Coffee at Home series where he discusses the origins of coffee and w hat you need to know if you are getting started as a home brewer. This series helpfully contains advice on popular brewing devices. I read the post on the Aeropress, my go-to home brewing device, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Double Skinny Macchiato

doubleskinnymacchiato.com

Double Skinny Macchiato is one of my go-to reads for speciality coffee shop reviews. This blog, maintained by Bex, posts coffee guides, book reviews, travel guides, and film reviews, although I've mainly read the content on coffee. So far, I've read a few coffee shop reviews, each of which has been balanced and an interesting read.

I like Double Skinny Macchiato's concise approach to reviewing cafes. Each review is balanced well with images of the cafe and comes with concise commentary on Bex' experience at a particular shop. I often find myself at Double Skinny Macchiato after reading Brian's Coffee Spot, who links to the blog often.

BeanThere.at

beanthere.at

While some of the other coffee blogs I read do review equipment, BeanThere posts more equipment reviews than any other site I actively follow. I recently read their post on coffee advent calendars that lists a few of the many advent calendars devoted to coffee for sale. I do not buy equipment often but when I do I can see myself searching this site for reviews.

BeanThere is not only devoted to equipment reviews. The site has a range of interesting and short reviews of cafes. Like Double Skinny Macchiato, BeanThere has a good balance between photos of cafes and text. Each shop review only contains a few paragraphs of text which means I can digest them quickly.

SOLO Coffee

solocoffee.org

I discovered SOLO Coffee, "a blog about exploring the world through specialty coffee shops", through Instagram. The lovely photography by Eline, the owner of SOLO, caught my eye, and encouraged me to view her blog. I cannot resist checking out a new coffee blog when I find one.

SOLO Coffee has less content than many of the other blogs I've read but quantity is not as important as quality. I have read almost every one of the thirteen posts on SOLO Coffee, each of which I have enjoyed. The post on Ukiyo Coffee got me thinking about what it would be like to own an Aeropress bike. Her reviews of Cult Espresso and Central General Store have made these two spots high on my list of places to go after lockdown.

I do spend some time each week reading coffee blogs but it really depends on what my plans are. If I'm looking for a short read to fill some time, I like to read blogs. If I have a specific need, like if I want to learn about a particular coffee concept, I usually search it up on blogs. But, I find myself increasingly reading books over blogs. I've read at least a few posts on all of the blogs above and consider all of these blogs go-to places if I ever want to read a blog about coffee.