Slashfood

• Tip of the Day: Grind your coffee to maximize its flavor
  

  Filed under: Coffee, How To, Tip of the Day

  Coffee usually tastes better with freshly ground beans. But, if it's not ground appropriately the coffee will taste off. The key to understanding how to grind coffee has to do with knowing how you're going to brew it. The grinding and brewing processes are connected.

  Continue reading Tip of the Day: Grind your coffee to maximize its flavor

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• Latte art: Is it the same if it comes from a machine?
  

  Filed under: Coffee

  
  The gorgeous, perfect swirls on top of a latte are an art form. It never ceases to amaze me what a good latte artist can make with the sinfully good coffee drink. But just like pretty much everything in history, a machine is here to up the ante.
  
  The Kitchn has posted a look at a latte printer, one that can give you pretty much whatever art you want on your latte -- from crisp lettering to winged horses. While it's certainly a neat idea, it just isn't the same. What's so wow-worthy about a machine that makes the art? The real jaw-dropping comes from the perfection...
  



• Where in the world is the most expensive cup of coffee?
  

  Filed under: Coffee

  The first year and a half I lived in Philadelphia, I worked as a staff assistant at a local non-profit. I was at the very bottom of the pecking order and earned a piddling salary to match my lowly position. I became adept at stretching my food budget, especially when it came to my morning meal. Monday through Friday, I would stop at the food cart outside the building and pick up a small coffee with cream and a soft pretzel from the sweet Greek couple who spent all day together in a small, metal box. It cost $.85. On the days when I...
  



• The New York Times Dining & Wine section in 60 seconds: Snobbery, specialty coffee, slow-cooked beans
  

  Filed under: Wine, Coffee, East Coast, Business, Vegetables, Recipes, Newspapers, America, in sixty seconds, Coffee shops, Celebrities

  
  Vanity Fair's Graydon Carter picks up his second restaurant, Monkey Bar. His first, the Waverly Inn, has been luring a high wattage crowd for two years, despite not being officially open.
  
  L.A.'s fast food moratorium raises questions about choice and personal responsibility.
  
  The Minimalist makes chapati, Indian flat bread.
  
  A recipe for slow-cooked green beans.
  
  Eric Asimov sips the crisp white...
  



• Slashfood Ate (8): Gourmet coffee at home
  

  Filed under: Teas, Coffee, Slashfood Ate

  
  This recent post about Starbucks - as with most posts about Starbucks - caused the typical coffee cacophony over price and quality. Although I happen to like Starbucks just fine, I certainly appreciate a good homemade cup. Unfortunately, quality espresso machines are pricey and people rarely use them enough to meet their ROI ('Fess up: How many of you have a schmancy DeLonghi at home, but still go to Starbucks every day?). As a veteran barista (of both indie and corporate coffeehouses), I've come up with a stock of supplies to help make gourmet coffee at home.
  
  Espresso drinks:



• Coffee: Suddenly, it's good for you!
  

  Filed under: Coffee, Science, Newspapers, America, Coffee shops, Health & Medical, Guilty Pleasures

  Over the years, I've had a love/hate relationship with coffee. On the one hand, when I worked in a cafe/bakery, the free, unlimited chocolate-covered espresso beans made it a lot easier to bake bread all night. On the other hand, when I developed acid reflux, coffee was the first thing that had to go. Over the years, I've repeatedly reunited with coffee, only to leave it again a few months later. Between warnings about digestion, blood pressure, and various other problems, I've learned to fight my deep love of the...
  



• Starbucks releases list of stores to close
  

  Filed under: Coffee, Coffee shops, Food News

  
  As Shayna (and every major media outlet) noted a couple weeks ago, Starbucks is going to be closing just over 600 stores (616 to be exact) over the next year. Yesterday, they announced which stores, across 44 states and the District of Columbia, are going to get the axe. California, Florida, New York and Texas are losing the highest number of stores. The list on the Huffington Post is searchable, which makes it easy for you to check out and see if your local store will be closing.

  Coffee, Juice, Raves & Reviews, New Products

  
  There are few corporations as polarizing as Starbucks. Even on this blog, it is the rare Slashbucks post that doesn't incite a ruthless comments war. Yet there is no denying that Starbucks is a fast food force and their products deserve coverage like everybody else, so simmer.
  
  Today Starbucks is introducing yet another beverage to their liquid arsenal. Though frozen and blended, the new Vivanno isn't another tired variation on the -ccino theme. Nope, this is Starbucks' answer to Jamba Juice: A protein-packed smoothie.
  
  Here's the scoop:
  

  • One whole - real!...
    
  
  
  
  • The world's smallest espresso maker
    

    Filed under: Coffee, Food Gadgets

    I've been drinking coffee since I was 13 years old. When I was 15, my parents succumbed to my wish for an espresso maker of my very own. These days I've got a red-handled Bialetti, two french presses, a Melitta single-cup filter, a glass Chemex set up and traditional drip machine to choose from when it comes time to make a cup of coffee. And even with all those toys, these days I've been going with the cold-brew method (it's a great summer time way to brew).
    
    There's a new kid on the caffeinated beverage block and it could potentially knock...
    
  
  
  
  • Slashfood Ate (8): Cooking with Coffee
    

    Filed under: Coffee, Slashfood Ate

    
    
    Man alive! I've been so busy drinking all of the coffee within a 10 block radius that I didn't even notice 2008's greatest trend: Cooking with coffee! Though long favored for desserts (such as the awe-inspiring, diabetic-coma-inducing Doughnuts and Coffee Cupcakes from Cupcakeblog.com, above), coffee had never really struck me as a viable ingredient for sauces, marinades, crusts and the like. But apparently, people are pilin' on the Columbian grounds like it's freakin' salt'n'pepper. Below, eight recipes I intend to take black:
    
    1. Doughnuts and Coffee Cupcakes
    2. Pork with Port and Coffee Sauce
    3. Ribeye...