Back in January 2015, and after a long six year wait, I finally got around to putting together a coffee subscription package. Initially this was a three and six month subscription, which has proved to be a success (thanks to all our current subscribers!) I’ve spent a bit of time over the weekend in making…
“Dogma is a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true. It serves as part of the primary basis of an ideology or belief system, and it cannot be changed or discarded without affecting the very system’s paradigm, or the ideology itself.” I am often asked what recipes to use…
Collaboration with FRAYED Magazine and Thieving Harry’s A couple of months ago, Jack from Thieving Harry’s mentioned that FRAYED Magazine were interested in working together to produce a written and video piece on coffee in Hull. I was more than happy to take part in what was a fun interview by Luke Chambers and great…
Background to the Costa Rica coffee origin Costa Rica is a stable democracy and is a land that is as diverse as it beautiful. This little country has it all; from mountains and volcanoes to rainforests that buzz with life and coastlines with great beaches and surf. The nation is comparatively wealthy in Central America…
Background to the Honduras coffee origin It is not exactly known when coffee first reached Honduras, but it is believed that seeds may have arrived from Costa Rica between 1799 and 1804 amongst the goods brought by traveling merchants. Today, coffee plays an important role within the national economy – in 2011, Honduras produced more…
Espresso Fundamentals Espresso and espresso based drinks are notoriously difficult to get right. I see very often in commercial environments, baristas pulling shots that will never be reproducible. There is no weighing of the starting mass, end mass or timing of shot length. This is quite probably true of most home scenarios too. Therefore, I…
From time to time, roasters get invited to other roasteries for open cuppings, machine reviews or brand launches. Last night, I had the pleasure of attending the launch of Casa Espresso’s roasting facility that will complement their already strong Sanremo machine sales, service and roasted coffee. The owner, Nino and the roaster Jonnie visited Hull…
Today I took receipt of a Nuova Simonelli Mythos grinder, destined for Thieving Harry’s in Hull. The Mythos has become a bit of a big deal, some may say a game changer in the world of coffee. It most certainly has become a go-to grinder for any speciality coffee shop. We haven’t yet got the…
The Sanremo Verona RS was the 2014 UK Barista Championship machine used by all the competitors. The Sanremo Verona RS takes even bigger steps into temperature stability. Warm water feeds the larger, insulated PID controlled stainless steel boilers behind each group, plus the addition of PID controlled heaters in the group head metalwork. The result…
We decided to work with Sanremo a few years back as we were impressed with sponsorship of the UK Barista championship and level of technology available for their championship machine. Their range is extensive, incorporating espresso machines for start-up businesses and high end speciality coffee shops. Today I’ll focus on our most popular machine, the…
