Tag: Baristas & Coffee Shops

Exploring Coffee and Cafe Culture in Portugal

Coffee culture is ingrained in the everyday life, culture and history of Portugal. The Portuguese were crucial actors in expanding the coffee industry into what it is today with Portuguese colonists introducing the coffee plant to Brazil. There isn’t space here to explore the rich history of Portuguese coffee culture, but I will write about this more at some point soon.

Drinking coffee in Portugal is an everyday part of life, with cafés found almost on every street, and espresso being the most common drink. Coffee is significantly cheaper to drink out of the home, than it is in the UK. An espresso wouldn’t usually cost you more than € 1 and in most cases is closer to € 0.50. If you ask for a coffee (um café) an espresso is what you’d be served, although there are regional variations for different coffees too. If you were in Porto and wanted an espresso you’d order um bica, while in Lisbon you’d order um cimbalino (named after the La Cimbali espresso machines). [Sign in to continue]

Neighborhood and Coffee: Starbucks in Japan

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Starbucks, the global coffee chain company is starting to try and do things a little differently. Famous for introducing its stores with their similar style and operations across the globe, with increasing competition, the company has had to think about how it can move with the times and have a wider offering of store types. In some markets the company

The Language of Coffee: Latte Art

I found out recently thanks to a tweet from Bex, author of the coffee blog Double Skinny Macchiato, that ‘Latte Art’ is one of the new entries to the Oxford English Dictionary: “latte art: pictures of patterns made by skilfully pouring steamed milk onto the surface of a latte or similar coffee drink” It’s a sign that something which was

How New Technologies Impact Coffee Equipment? (Part 3)

Refractometers and the “Perfect Cup”
For the last episode of this small review of new techs related to coffee, I will try to consider the use of refractometers for the “Perfect Cup” preparation. Barista’s refractometers such as the VST and Atago are the most popular on the market. I will propose in a future post a scientific and statistical comparison between VST, Atago and the RE40D from Mettler-Toledo (professional laboratory refractometer).

Coffee Shop Culture in Australia

‘In Australia, coffee isn’t fuel for work – it’s a way of life’. Milkman (2016).

While coffee may be a global commodity, and coffee shop cultures have emerged across the world, each country tends to have its own flavour of coffee shop culture, each with their own histories, influenced by the movement of people and commodities around the globe. A particularly interesting case is Australia, described as the world’s ‘coffee capital’ by Perfect Daily Grind, which has a well-established coffee shop culture where the independent coffee shop dominates the landscape. It has been argued that Australian coffee culture has now achieved an important status representing “time out” warmth, intimacy and sophistication, with baristas representing cultural icons [Sign in to continue]

How New Technologies Impact Coffee Equipments? (Part 2)

Barista Drive System (BDS) from La Cimbali – Bluetooth communication This tool implemented by La Cimbali in some of their machines and grinders allows facilitating the non-experimented barista work. Using Bluetooth connection, the professional espresso machine and the grinder(s) are able to modify the grinder(s) parameters in order to keep the initial settings for the “perfect cup”, let say 25ml

Exploring Coffee Shop Culture in Russia

Russia is a country more frequently associated with a tea drinking culture which dates back hundreds of years. While the hot drinks market in Russia is still dominated by tea, the consumption of coffee is one the rise, with the consumption of fresh coffee being the main driver (ICO, 2015). The coffee market was valued at around $2.5 billion in 2014 compared to around $4 billion for tea (USDA 2014).

‘Specialty coffee is new in Russia; until just 20 years ago, any form of coffee had been considered a luxury reserved for the elite and was far beyond the reach of average consumers. Today, half of all coffee consumed is still soluble (instant) coffee, making it one of the biggest markets for Nescafe in the world. The other half of is a hodgepodge of commodity and specialty coffee’ [Sign in to continue]

How New Technologies Impact Coffee Equipments? (Part 1)

I am not a «geek» or maybe a « coffeegeek » interested on coffee and how to prepare the best final product based on coffee. As an AST (Authorized SCAE Trainer) for Brewing, Barista and soon Roasting modules, I am very interested on how will new technologies impact the Barista or Roaster work. Let have a look to some of the innovations

Some Coffee Festivals in 2017

Coffee lovers will be delighted this year, as there are many coffee festivals and exhibitions coming up in 2017. In the infographic created by Market Inspector, you can a list of coffee festivals happening all over the world, so there’s something for everyone. Some of these fests are open to the coffee and tea industry professionals. The other festivals also

Why the Wait…

Having a queue in your coffee shop or café is a beautiful thing to behold, but according to the latest research, if you have more than six guests waiting, then people are deterred from standing in line. There is another six that matters, and that’s waiting more than six minutes, where you perceive the queue is too slow. When you