Coffee Fundamentals

Few coffee brewing methods are as established as the French press is. Although a basic brewing method, the press offers a combination of simplicity and quality that have made it a favorite of many for more than 90 years. Whether you’re new to the brewing method or are looking to further hone a long-practiced skill, here’s what to know about a French press and how to brew excellent coffee with one.

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The cafe macchiato is one of the first Italian espresso beverages. Although it’s somewhat fallen out of favor today, the drink is well worth trying if you like strong espresso with just a dash of milk. Here’s a look at the traditional macchiato to the modern one — and how Starbucks has confused almost everyone.

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The cappuccino is unsurpassed in its recognition and considered a standard staple of cafe menus. Despite the beverage’s prevalence and perceived consistency, though, there’s a surprising amount of variation in what exactly a cappuccino is. From 19th Century Vienna coffee houses to today’s third-wave cafes, here’s a guide to the cappuccino’s history and what exactly one is.

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Espresso occupies a defined place within the diverse and complex world of coffee, but even within this comparatively small space there is still great diversity. The standard shot of espresso is just one way to drink this concentrated coffee. One of the most popular other ways to enjoy espresso is as a ristretto shot of coffee.

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Although espresso has a narrow place within the coffee world, narrowness shouldn’t be confused for uniform. There are multiple ways to pull an espresso shot, with the standard shot merely being the most common. One other alternative is the lungo.

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Coffee is delicious on its own, but it can often taste even better when paired with the right food. A good pairing can bring out aspects of the coffee that otherwise are understated, and it’ll also highlight desirable flavors in the food. The result is a richer combination of flavors that results in greater enjoyment.

If you aren’t confident in pairing coffee with food, here’s how to go about finding successful pairings and several suggestions to get you started. Hopefully, both the common and the less conventional pairings mentioned below will open up another world of coffee for you.

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Coffee cuppings are used throughout the coffee industry to identify the qualities and characteristics of different coffees, and they’re also able to be set up at home. If you’d like to taste coffee like a professional, here’s how to set up a home cupping.

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Coffee has over a thousand different compounds in it, the most well-known of which is caffeine. While many consider caffeine a desirable stimulant (and sometimes the only reason to drink coffee), a significant number of people can’t have or don’t want to have caffeine. That’s where decaffeinated coffee comes in, of course.

Here’s a look at what qualifies coffee as decaffeinated, how decaffeinated coffee is made and perhaps the most important question of all — do you really want to drink the stuff?

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We all have our preferences when it comes to coffee. Some of us love our single-origin coffees meticulously brewed with a pour-over, while others prefer a classic milk-based espresso drink such as a cappuccino or latte. But there’s one thing that has a huge impact on the flavor of our favorite coffee before it ever hits our cup: roasting.

Before it’s roasted, coffee doesn’t look, smell, or taste anything like the coffee that we drink. After it’s picked from the fruit (yes, coffee is a fruit) and processed, coffee starts as a green bean that is soft, spongey, and smells a bit like grass. It’s the heat introduced during the roasting process that causes chemical changes within the beans and ultimately creates the coffee that we know and love.

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