Baratza Preciso Conical Burr Coffee Grinder If I’ve learned anything about making good coffee is that technique and ingredients are paramount.  For example, if you buy your coffee pre-ground and in bulk your morning cup will most likely be mediocre.  Moreover, if you utilize a traditional drip machine or Keurig style brewer you’re making coffee with the incorrect water temperature […]

How to Make Great Coffee at Home: 5 Tips Writing about Italian food we get plenty of questions on topics such as “my favorite Italian food or recipe” (answer: too many to choose just one) or my favorite Italian restaurant (answer: cook Italian food at home).   On occasion, we also recieve questions having to do with coffee, in general, and […]

I’m a big fan of the AeroPress single cup coffee maker, but one minor drawback of their simple system is that there are quite a few parts to assemble and clean (the inexpensive AeroPress still, however, brews a great cup of coffee).  Recently, I was given a nifty single cup coffee maker (by way of Dr. K, a dedicated Scordo.com […]

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 […]

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 […]

I recently read an interesting introduction to espresso in Mary Palmer’s cookbook in which she talks about the origins of coffee in Ethiopia. Palmer states that in the 15th century coffee was introduced to the Europeans by way of the Venetians. In 1855, a Frenchman thought up the idea of making quick coffee to be served aboard trains. But the […]