What is Good Espresso and Can You Make it at Home? Over the last few weeks or so I’ve been giving some serious thought to purchasing a semi automatic espresso machine.  My rationale for buying a home machine (including a burr grinder) includes two premises: 1. it’s very hard to find quality espresso at cafes (even in major cities like […]

(Photo: Espresso machine meets Battlestar Galactica) I was a big fan of the Sci-Fi series Battlestar Galactica.  Battlestar, as it was known to series insiders, was serious science fiction that was elegantly produced with big ideas, a great script, and blissful (almost film noir) type visuals.  The central plot of Battlestar centered on man made machines called Cylons that evolved […]

Chemex Coffee Maker I was flipping through the latest issue of the New Yorker and an article by Malcom Gladwell caught my eye, as it usually does whenever I see his name in the table of contents.  Gladwell writes clearly and as deeply as a popularizer of big ideas can so I look forward to his articles (you’ll never get all the […]

The Aerobie AeroPress Coffee and Espresso Maker produces the best American/drip style coffee I’ve ever tasted.  There, I’ve said it and I mean it!  I’ve come out and made the aforementioned claim because the AeroPress looks more like a high school chemistry prop than a world class coffee maker and looks can indeed be deceiving when it comes to making excellent […]

How to Make Great StoveTop Espresso or Moka at Home Like an Italian In my view, espresso is the greatest representation of coffee on the planet.  I do enjoy a cup of French Press coffee each and every day but when I crave pure coffee taste, I brew up a batch of stovetop espresso or at times referred to as Moka […]

The French Press coffee brewing method produces some of the best coffee on the planet via a very simple, non electric, process.   High quality coffee is a staple of my Italian life and, in moderation, the golden liquid has proven to have some excellent health benefits, including: Coffee seems to protect men from Parkinson’s disease Coffee drinkers may be […]