- 2012.01“... ...”
- the worst of coffee in 2011
Lists are great. There should be more lists. Here's one with a negative tone: 1. The sile ...
1 Jan 2012
- 2011.12“... ...”
- burrs again
Grinding coffee for non-espresso brewing at home is a pain in the tits. Short of finding s ...
22 Dec 2011
- 2011.11“... ...”
- confounding variables
Observation 1. Batch brewing is often associated with bad tasting coffee. Observation 2. ...
28 Nov 2011
- speciality
speciality or chiefly ( US and Canadian ) specialty — n , pl -ties 1.a special interest ...
18 Nov 2011
- 2011.08“... ...”
- batch brewing
Disclaimer: Though this pertains to a product category manufactured by my employer, Marco, ...
29 Aug 2011
1 Aug 2011
- 2011.07“... ...”
- Iced Coffee
It's a bit shit. Discuss...
29 Jul 2011
- Paper
Gonna keep this one short. Can we do filter papers better please? Rinsing paper filters ...
1 Jul 2011
- 2011.06“... ...”
- ethiopia
I recently met Joseph Brodsky of Ninety Plus Coffees and spoke to him about the work he do ...
12 Jun 2011
- Bogotá In Review
Writing this now (or at least beginning it), I'm about 7 hours from home. My hopes of a bl ...
8 Jun 2011
- Bogotá Day Two - Mini Update
After not a whole lot of sleep, I'm up and sort of awake in Bogotá. I'm a bit breathless a ...
1 Jun 2011
- Bogotá Day 1 & Overdue Thoughts
Barack may have come and gone amidst a touchy-feely fuzzy whirlwind tour, but I guess he d ...
1 Jun 2011
- 2011.04“... ...”
- Shocking Espresso
Some things inherently sound like bollox. That espresso can be "shocked" is one of those t ...
23 Apr 2011
- 2011.03“... ...”
- ETCC 2011 in review: Day Four & Conclusion
Day Four On the final day the final journey to the PSKK was spiced up for Karl and I, h ...
23 Mar 2011
- ETCC 2011 in review: Days Two and Three
Day Two With mistakes made over the breakfast buffet, terrible haunting mistakes that no ...
22 Mar 2011
- ETCC 2011 in review: Intro & Day One
The purpose of these posts is to honestly recount my experience during the four days I spe ...
21 Mar 2011
- 2011.02“... ...”
- the dark age of grinding
The topology of the coffee extraction and strength landscape remains rather poorly charted ...
16 Feb 2011
- in all seriousness
It has been quite a couple of days. I thought I was done with the saccharin thank-yous and ...
12 Feb 2011
- severance
Dear Marie, Fergus and Paul: It is without sincere regret that I must inform you that you ...
11 Feb 2011
- 2011.01“... ...”
- coava disk & aeropress = ghetto trifecta & weirdness
I've found the Coava Disk filter for the Aeropress to be a very impressive piece of work. ...
25 Jan 2011
- we welcome our new coffee overlords...
So, next Sunday, the WCE descends on Dublin for meetings about the WBC and other prestigio ...
11 Jan 2011
- 2010.12“... ...”
- What's Next
As many who read this and who know me personally will be aware, I am a scientist. I have s ...
23 Dec 2010
20 Dec 2010
- 2010: A Personal Coffee Year in Review
Writing this now, without a clear grasp on its final direction, I fear I may stray into se ...
16 Dec 2010
- 2010.11“... ...”
- Joy
I've asked myself this question a couple of times over the last week or so. It concerns my ...
24 Nov 2010
- Gee In Review
I was going to start off this review with some bad vague allusions to the unfortunate nami ...
12 Nov 2010
- 2010.10“... ...”
- fillet steak with everything
I love steak. I’m pretty sure if I had to restrict myself to one food for the rest of my l ...
30 Oct 2010
- A Blog Post Ostensibly About Blending
It is now an old adage I suppose, though not so long ago it seemed like a bleeding edge de ...
7 Oct 2010
- 2010.09“It was AWESOME!”
- The Death of Coffee: Kenya
This is at least the third time I've tried writing this blog post. For as long as I've w ...
27 Sep 2010
- 2010.08“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
- Enough already
Everyone has an opinion. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Lately it seems the opinio ...
26 Aug 2010
- a cleaner french press method?
Ok, so I was messing about with my french press. Check out the video below. I will say, nu ...
10 Aug 2010
- 2010.07“... ...”
- at odds with unevenness
I very recently acquired Scott Rao’s new book, Everything But Espresso, and having turned ...
26 Jul 2010
- Passed It On
A little over a month ago, on a Friday evening, nursing a bottle of wine, and feeling rath ...
20 Jul 2010
- 2010.06“... ...”
- London In Review
It was an odd few days, a very different WBC to last year's. The atmosphere at the show wa ...
27 Jun 2010
- Passing It On
One of the great things I enjoy about coffee, is sharing a coffee I love with someone. Rec ...
11 Jun 2010
- the 90 point roast
You may have seen the poll I recently posted to the blog asking you to make a choice betwe ...
7 Jun 2010
- 2010.05“... ...”
- A quick question
Putting aside the merits of the 100 point scale, not getting hung up on semantics if you w ...
31 May 2010
- When Paul met... The Xpress Cup
During some recent shenanigans at Marco HQ, Paul Stack (El Grande Uber himself) whipped ou ...
27 May 2010
- latte art
What does it say about speciality coffee that the SCAE has a very well supported annual la ...
23 May 2010
- Bruperstitions: In defense of omni-grind
One of the first "truths" I learned as I became exposed to the world of better coffee was ...
8 May 2010
- 2010.04“... ...”
- can my coffee be better?
This post is actually somewhat inspired by a recent rant. I do like a good rant, and Karl ...
21 Apr 2010
- Baratza Grinders
I have spent hundreds, nay thousands of euros on coffee equipment. I did not start that wa ...
15 Apr 2010
- Post-Mortem
I'm writing this now, reflecting at home after the semi finals of the Irish Barista Champi ...
8 Apr 2010
- MoJoToGo
I've posted at some length previously regarding extraction, TDS, meters and all that. I da ...
1 Apr 2010
- 2010.03“... ...”
- Consistency Vs Craft
Craft, for me, has become a bit of a dirty word. It should be a positive word. It should i ...
22 Mar 2010
- 2010.02“... ...”
- and now for something completely different
For the last 12-18 months, it seems there has been a steady succession of challenges and a ...
24 Feb 2010
- Caption Competition
Ok, so I got a gift of an aeropress at Christmas, something which I already own. I can no ...
18 Feb 2010
- 2010.01“... ...”
- Stats of Excellence 2: The Restatening
I'm giving up predicting things. My predictions for the Brazil CoE, frankly, did not cor ...
29 Jan 2010
- Stats of Excellence
Lies, damned lies, and statistics. The Cup of Excellence is now in its third decade of e ...
14 Jan 2010
- 2009.12“... ...”
- Bacchi to the Future
This is a ropey video I threw together. Apologies in advance. Stovetop espresso is no l ...
24 Dec 2009
- Challenging Flavours
Amaro, a word literally meaning bitter in Italian, is also the name of a digestif that pro ...
22 Dec 2009
- Gifts for Coffee Geeks
Some lighter blog fair this time. As the annual gift giving orgy is a mere days away, the ...
1 Dec 2009
- 2009.11“... ...”
- Arguing and Criticism
Oh dear. I was involved in a bit of a Twitter kerfuffle over the last week. I think the ...
19 Nov 2009
- London 2009: 200 Channels and Nothing But Cat
About a year ago I went to London, primarily to attend a Square Mile "Taste of ..." event, ...
6 Nov 2009
- London: UBF Video
I went to London. They have strange people there, with strange customs. As always b ...
3 Nov 2009
- 2009.10“... ...”
- Tedious Meters
There persists a deluded, quasi-philosophical resistance to the use of electronic devices, ...
19 Oct 2009
- The Leading Cause of Tooth Decay
I guess this isn't going to be news to many, as it has already been tweeted, sprudged, ...
1 Oct 2009
- 2009.09“... ...”
- Into The Breach: Preground Supermarket Offerings
I remember when I started blogging, the idea was to be very Irish consumer-centric, to ...
16 Sep 2009
- 2009.07“... ...”
- Further Ruminations on Filter Grind
This is a heady time for filter brewing. I don't think at any time in recent memory has th ...
14 Jul 2009
- 2009.06“... ...”
- Gold Cup / Pyrite Grinder
I was really lucky to be able to attend the SCAE Brewmaster course held at Marco H ...
25 Jun 2009
- Abid Clever Coffee Dripper
I'm going to be honest here, though I've had long-standing love affairs with the French ...
8 Jun 2009
- 2009.05“... ...”
- Suckin' on Robusta (and two others from Paradise)
Here's the hypothesis: Robusta isn't inherently crap. If grown and processed with the sa ...
12 May 2009
- 2009.04“... ...”
- Drawing a Line Under Atlanta
I met Colin Harmon through this thread on Boards.ie. A group of us were buying some Intell ...
28 Apr 2009
- Video From Octane ft Steve, Ben, Colin
Great video from Steve Leighton. I was too hung over to form sentences, so I am joyously a ...
22 Apr 2009
- Colin Harmon - WBC Last 6
What can I say? Congratulations to Colin. He knocked it out of the park today. Everyone ...
19 Apr 2009
- Dear God Not Another Post About the Mahlkönig Vario or Why t ...
I'm gonna keep this one short. I've seen the good and bad the Vario has to offer, and as m ...
1 Apr 2009
- 2009.03“... ...”
- Video: Mahlkönig Vario - Some Observations
*Can be watched in HD on Vimeo* Mahlkönig Vario: Some Observations from The Other Bla ...
12 Mar 2009
- Review: Mahlkonig Vario Grinder
I first heard about the Vario grinder back in May of last year. Coffeegeek had some ph ...
10 Mar 2009
- 2009.02“... ...”
- Snow, Rome, and a bitter aftertaste.
February was not a good month for flying in or out of Dublin airport. My planned two l ...
25 Feb 2009
- The 2009 Irish Barista Championship
Well the main course of this post is the video below. It's sloppily edited and compose ...
16 Feb 2009
- 2009.01“... ...”
- Bean Review: James Gourmet Coffee Selection
I've been meaning to order coffee from James Gourmet Coffee (from hereon JGC) for some t ...
26 Jan 2009
- Coffees of 2008
What a year for coffee 2008 was! I've had stunning cups throughout the year, and could ...
12 Jan 2009
- Machine Review: Behmor 1600
Home roasting of coffee beans is a funny business. Indeed there are many reasons why p ...
5 Jan 2009
- 2008.12“... ...”
- Behmor Video Clip
Hope to have a review of the Behmor up by the end of the week, but in the meantime... ...
17 Dec 2008
- Machine Review: Anfim Haus Self
Every grinder involves a set of compromises. The general trend is that these compromis ...
8 Dec 2008
- 2008.11“... ...”
- A Matagalpan pictorial hodgepodge – Views of Nicaragua’s cof ...
Sitting in a lounge at Atlanta airport on my way home from Nicaragua, I take some time to ...
25 Nov 2008
- London: Café crawl and Square Mile Tasting
While improvements in the Dublin coffee scene over the past couple of years are plain ...
20 Nov 2008
- New Toys
After a month of hiatus on the site, which entailed creating the new look and format, here ...
15 Nov 2008
- 2008.10“... ...”
- Bean Review: Supreme Roastworks Selection
I guess the website, and my ramblings on various forums give away the fact that I li ...
17 Oct 2008
- Videos from SHOP
...
4 Oct 2008
- 2008.09“... ...”
- Bean Review: Ristretto Espresso Blend
I feel like I’m going to develop a music analogy theme on these bean reviews that I ...
29 Sep 2008
- Machine Review: Bodum Antigua Grinder
Surely Bodum are the Apple of the kitchenware world. The Danish company seems to have ...
18 Sep 2008
- New York: Some disjointed thoughts
Having recently returned from New York I thought it might be a nice idea to write a fe ...
11 Sep 2008
- 2008.08“... ...”
- Bean Review: Square Mile WBC Espresso
Not since members of Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds and The Hollies came together ha ...
29 Aug 2008
- Bean Review: M&D Java
I wasn’t sure if I’d write this review. In fact, I had completely scrapped it. In th ...
8 Aug 2008
- Espresso: Anticipation
Espresso: Anticipation from The Other Black Stuff on Vimeo. Anticipation Espresso V ...
3 Aug 2008
- 2008.07“... ...”
- Introducing: The Other Black Stuff
Sitting in a courtyard in Covent Garden, drinking a cappuccino, this is where coffee c ...
11 Jul 2008