coffee roast

Inside a coffee roast

Dr. Monika Fekete explores the evolution of a coffee bean under an electron microscope and uncovers how roast levels affect grinding. Watching green beans turn into aromatic roasted coffee is something of a magical experience. 
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opening a café

The dos and don’ts of opening a café

Mocopan Coffee’s Kyle Rutten on opening a café, and why it’s more important than ever to understand your market and stand out from the crowd. The modern café market is a very dynamic one. While there are many simple yet successful cafés operating today, it’s not as easy as it once was to get people through the door. Once upon a time a simple window sign that read “coffee” with a large lurking coffee machine in the background was all you needed to attract a crowd. Today it’s about more than just the caffeine kick. Customers want the story, the flavour, and the trust that the person making their coffee is excellent at it, and a great environment to experience it in. We want it all. 
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bitterness in coffee

Bitter sweet symphony: What causes bitterness in coffee and how to avoid it

Mocopan Coffee’s Babin Gurung on what causes bitterness in coffee and how to avoid it. As a barista, one of the most common complaints you get from customers is that their coffee tastes bitter or burnt. As happy as you are to remake the coffee, you need to know what’s causing the problem, otherwise you’ll be serving the same bad-tasting coffee. 
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DIY

To DIY or not to DIY

After seeing too many backyard repairs performed incorrectly or dangerously, Maurizio Marcocci of Service Sphere stresses when do-it-yourself maintenance is acceptable and when it’s not.  With the rise in popularity of commercial and home coffee machines, the team at Service Sphere has seen an immense spike in backyarders attempting repairs and end users having a go themselves. 
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temperature coffee machine performance

How temperature effects coffee machine performance

Dr Monika Fekete looks at temperature-dependent variables and their consequences on grinder and espresso machine performance. On a chilly winter morning, hot cup of coffee in hand, I’m once again thinking about the many ways temperature has influenced the liquid I’m drinking.
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strong coffee

What makes a coffee strong?

Mocopan Coffee’s Babin Gurung on what coffee strength means and how to achieve it.  During my barista hustling days, customers often told me they liked their coffee strong. I had no problem adjusting to customers’ needs, but found many people had different ideas of what “strong” meant. Some of the things strength commonly referred to was more caffeine, darker roast, or sometimes, just bitter coffee. These ideas aren’t necessarily wrong, but here in the coffee world, when we say “strong”, we mean the strength of flavours contained in an espresso. 
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coffee group heads

Coffee group heads 101

Maurizio Marcocci of Service Sphere discusses the role of coffee group heads, common espresso machine parts that serve a huge purpose. To pull the best shots possible, baristas need to learn everything they can about coffee extraction. From grind adjustment to water temperature, these factors can all influence the flavour of coffee in the cup. However, while trying to grasp these complex concepts, many baristas can skip over a key component of espresso extraction. 
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