After taking part in James Hoffmann's decaf tasting project I'd like to have another go to see if I get better results. Also I've recently got a fancy temperature controlled kettle and I'd like to perform some side by side testing of the same bean at different temperatures. I've already found one bean that tastes better at 85°C than 96°C.

So I'd like to get some cupping bowls, and it appears there are two main kinds: ceramic and HDPE. The sellers of HDPE claim it's better than ceramic, but I'd like to know if that's really the case or if it's just self-serving marketing guff.

Just wondering what others use and if there is a preference either way. I'll be tasting at home on the kitchen table so I don't need them to be particularly indestructible. And as per procedure they'll be spending some time cooling off so "heat retention" isn't really that important (I think).

Rage Coffee and Borecha kombucha (strawberry version) have Panax Ginseng and Gingko Biloba have in them. Are they safe?

I am not making this post to scare anyone. I just want to inform everyone so that they can take appropriate action depending on their circumstances.

The two brands I will talk about are Rage Coffee and Borecha kombucha from Latambarcem Brewers.

Rage Coffee was launched in 2018 and it became popular during the Covid lockdowns. A famous Indian cricketer became its brand ambassador. Advertisements appealed to the Gen Z demographic with visuals of heavily tattooed women enjoying their cup of Rage Coffee. I started drinking it as well, and loved it. Some flavours let you enjoy the same premium experience you get in a coffee shop. Today, Rage Coffee is even sold in Indian defence canteens.

However, there are some serious problems. If you go to Rage Coffee's Amazon page, it shows you that it contains "natural plant-based vitamins" but doesn't include their names in the t

A farm in East Ayrshire has launched the UK’s most expensive coffee to help fund a zero-waste dairy facility.

Mossgiel Farm announced the £272 flat white, which includes 34 shares in their business, will turn customers into investors in sustainable dairy farming.

The drink consists of espresso and steamed milk from Mossgiel Farm in Mauchline. It will be available at 13 Scottish cafes on November 23.

Mossgiel’s coffee is the most expensive in the UK, a title previously held by a flat white at Shot London in Mayfair, which cost £265 and was made with Japanese Typica beans.

It comes as part of Mossgiel Farm owner Bryce Cunningham’s drive to raise funds for a state-of-the-art, zero-waste dairy facility, which will give them the backing needed to “revolutionise” milk consumption.

I am in a high-end coffee shop in a tech-heavy area of San Francisco, staring suspiciously into a cup of espresso. This is no conventional coffee: it is made without using a single coffee bean.

It comes from Atomo, one of a band of alt-coffee start-ups hoping to revolutionise the world of brewed coffee.

“We take great offence when someone says that we're a coffee substitute,” says Andy Kleitsch, the chief executive of Seattle based start-up Atomo, from whose pure, beanless ground product my espresso has been made.

Traditional coffee substitutes have a reputation for not tasting much like coffee and are usually caffeine-free.

However, the newcomers intend to replicate one of the world’s most popular beverages from taste, to caffeine punch, to drinking experience – and the first of this nascent industry’s beanless concoctions have begun to appear.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/24844976

In the late 1600s, London coffeehouses were a preferred hangout for political men and writers.

“Unlike the tavern, the alehouse or the inn,” writes historian Brian Cowan, the coffeehouse “was a novel institution.” Although coffee-oriented gathering places had been common in the Arab world for hundreds of years, coffee was a new arrival to Britain in the 1600s. The first coffee-houses opened in the 1650s. By 1663, writes Matthew Green for The Telegraph, there were 82 coffeehouses in central London. Part of the reason, he writes, was their novelty. But with this rise came a backlash: In a hilarious pamphlet published in 1674, a group of women came out against the “newfangled, abominable, heathenish liquor called coffee.”

It’s difficult to tell if the writers of the The Women’s Petition Against Coffee were actually women, writes historian Steve Pincus, or if they were representing what women actually thought about coffeehouses. M

British shoppers may end up unknowingly buying products linked to the destruction of thousands of hectares of forests under post-Brexit environmental rules, i can reveal.

The UK Government is bringing in regulations it says will ensure supermarkets no longer stock products that have been produced on land linked to “illegal deforestation”.

But the measures, which have still not come into force more than two years after they were first announced, have been branded “weak” by conservation experts, with products including coffee, rubber and maize not included under the rules.

Goods linked to deforestation in countries where it is permitted will also be exempt.

An i analysis found that, even after the regulations take effect, British consumers will still be able to buy products responsible for the destruction of forests covering an area roughly 50 times the size of Hyde Park.

Daniela Montalto, Greenpeace UK senior forest campaigner, described the UK measures as “weak”,

I've had a lot of people ask about the Hames Joffmann channel, it's disappearance/deletion. It is a very stupid situation, more info here:

Edit: looks like it's back

cross-posted from: https://lazysoci.al/post/12988150

Keurig, the company that got us all hooked on single-serve coffee systems and has helped us churn through billions of plastic throwaway K-cups, just reinvented its single-serve system in what may be the most sustainable way: K-Rounds.

K-Rounds are plastic and aluminum-free, highly-compressed coffee ground pods held together by an ultra-thin layer of plant-based material (alginate). As one Keurig exec described it, "It’s just coffee in those pods."

...

If successful, K-Rounds could have a measurable impact on the environment. According to one report, we create approximately half a billion metric tons of coffee capsule waste each year.

Drinking coffee can reduce heart palpitations, according to recent research. Three cups a day can lower potentially deadly heart palpitations by up to 13 per cent, reducing the risk of a heart attack or stroke say scientists.

A study of more than 340,000 people found both tea or coffee protect against common heart rhythm disturbances. Healthy antioxidants in caffeine are probably behind the phenomenon, said cardiologist Professor Peter Kistler.

It's commonly assumed coffee can cause the heart to beat faster - potentially causing illness. Lead author Professor Kistler, director of electrophysiology at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, said: "There is a public perception - often based on anecdotal experience - that caffeine is a common acute trigger for heart rhythm problems.

"Our extensive review of the medical literature suggests this is not the case."

His team showed caffeine protected against both atrial fibrillation (AF) and ventricular arrythmia (VA). The life-thr

An artisan roastery based in the Finnish capital has introduced a coffee blend that has been developed by artificial intelligence in a trial in which it’s hoped that technology can ease the workload in a sector that traditionally prides itself on manual work.

It is only apt that the Helsinki-based Kaffa Roastery’s “AI-conic” blend was launched this week in Finland, a Nordic nation of 5.6 million that consumes the most coffee in the world at 12 kilograms per capita annually, according to the International Coffee Organization.

The blend — an AI-picked mixture with four types of beans dominated by Brazil’s velvety Fazenda Pinhal — is the end result of a joint project by Kaffa, Finland’s third-biggest coffee roastery, and local AI consultancy Elev.

“Leveraging models akin to ChatGPT and Copilot, the AI was tasked with crafting a blend that would ideally suit coffee enthusiasts’ tastes, pushing the boundaries of conventional flavor combinations,” Elev said.

...

Hampf

I update the logo and cover image last week. I like the logo (though could maybe do with more contrast) but the cover image is just some beans for wikipedia. Anyone got a better cover image we can use?

I make my coffee in a clever dripper, but looking for a clear that really works. What does everyone use?

My main machine had been working noticeably worse over the last few months.
It felt like the machine just wasn't making it though coffee at the correct grind size.

My sister wanted to change the pump.
Then I had a think: When was the last time I remember descaling?...and I couldn't remember.

Descaler in, shower screen off, brown sludge out.
Left it overnight, flushed it through in the morning and...wow, my coffee machine is working properly again.

And the tasty local Rwanda is drinking very nicely indeed.