Archive of posts from 2021/02 📝

Whereas most coffee merchandise is focused on the barista and the final cup, there are few products that emphasise how coffee was produced, from so-called "seed to cup." Filtrew, a coffee merchandise company, is aiming to change this. Filtrew's prints caught my eye and I decided to reach out to them to learn a bit more about how they create products. My chat with the founder, Haydn, is below.

Credit: Lance Aikman Green

Over the last week or two, the weather has been steadily improving. The sunny weather inspired me to try making an iced coffee at home. I was able to make a few tasty iced coffees. Then, I thought about adding milk. My recent French press frothing technique came in handy and after some testing I made an iced latte with which I was happy.

Based in Glasgow, Dear Green has been roasting coffee in Glasgow for ten years. Lisa Lawson, the founder of Dear Green, takes on many roles to make sure that Dear Green delivers a consistent quality of coffee. I spoke with Lisa over email to learn more about how Dear Green roasts coffee. We discussed everything from equipment to what skills you need to be a successful coffee roaster. You can read our chat below.

I first learned about Full Court Press by reading Coffee: A Modern Field Guide, a pocket handbook written by the founder of Full Court Press. First a cafe, Full Court Press has expanded into roasting their beans, with a commitment to transparency that I have not seen from any other roaster to-date. I sent their team an email with some questions about their roastery and transparency policies. Over email, I had an interesting chat with Christopher, the roastery operations manager. Our interview is below.

My go-to drink at speciality coffee shops is the cappuccino. It has been months since I last had a cappuccino and I wondered to myself whether I could make one at home (without an espresso machine). After some research online and subsequent experimentation, I found a recipe for an at-home cappuccino which works for me.

Argyll Coffee Roasters is a one-person operation based in Tighnabruaich, Argyll, Scotland. Argyll Coffee offers a range of seasonally-rotating single origin coffees and two blends to their customers, who live all across Scotland. I wanted to learn more about Argyll Coffee so I reached out to the founder Eve. We spoke briefly over email about Argyll Coffee, how Eve decides the way in which a coffee is roasted, and more. Read the interview below.

When you read a coffee recipe—or hear someone talking about how they brew coffee—there are some common words that you are bound to hear at some point. But if you are a beginner, some of these terms of jargon may not be clear. That's why I decided to write a pour-over brewing glossary to help beginners to pour-over brewing learn the lingo.

Over the last few weeks, I have been cupping at home by myself to help me refine my palate. But, I have found myself thinking about how nice it would be to have someone else with whom to cup. I recently attended a Steampunk Coffee online cupping session which brought this idea to life. During the cupping, I learned a lot about how to taste coffee, how coffee is purchased and processed, and more.

Note: I wrote this blog post before Christmas 2020 and never got around to publishing it at the time.