Category: Coffee Articles

(ADVANCED) Aeropress Championship Recipes – deconstructed and explained

by liza maksimova

Who has ever looked for winning aeropress recipes and tried to repeat them at home? I am guilty, I’ve tried. And I am almost sure that if you are here, reading this – you have done it as well.

How were the results?

Mine… Were controversial. I mean, those are the winning recipes, they must taste very good – that’s the point, no? But they kinda were tasting just ok. Just fine. In the beginning. And when the coffee cooled down – they were not tasty anymore.
Who has ever looked for winning aeropress recipes and tried to repeat them at home? I am guilty, I’ve tried. And I am almost sure that if you are here, reading this – you have done it as well.

How were the results?

Mine… Were controversial. I mean, those are the winning recipes, they must taste very good – that’s the point, no? But they kinda were tasting just ok. Just fine. In the beginning. And when the coffee cooled down – they were not tasty anymore. Surprise!…

Roasting Coffee or “You can’t always get what you want”

by liza maksimova

Back in 2015 Rob Hoos published a book that, I like to think, changed the perspective of the roasters who read it about how to roast coffee in order to taste in a specific way. How to add sweetness, what to do to increase the perception of the body, how to mitigate or accentuate the … Continue reading Roasting Coffee or “You can’t always get what you want”

Learning the Latte Art – how much time you really need

by liza maksimova

Milk. An ingredient so common, so usual, so simple (or at least it seems to be). A perfect match for coffee, the best possible companion. Just hear me whispering to you ear “cappuccino”, “flat white” – and you are already imagining you morning treat. Silky shiny foam, undisturbed surface, rosetta on top. Something so simple – and so hard to achieve. Let’s talk milk?

SWEET, SOUR, SALTY, BITTER, UMAMI – flavour interaction experiment

by liza maksimova

Hypothesis: the sequence in which you experiment basic solutions makes a difference in how intense is the flavour that you experience of the solution you try the last. Equipment: digital scales (0,01 g) spoon 5 glass/ceramic cups/bowls/glasses spit cup glass for fresh water Materials: clean water with no strong taste (2 ltr) – I used … Continue reading SWEET, SOUR, SALTY, BITTER, UMAMI – flavour interaction experiment

HOW WE TASTE – MULTISENSORY EXPERIENCE OF TASTING, AND BASICS OF FOOD PAIRING

by liza maksimova

Has it ever happened to you: you are enjoying a really really good cup of coffee, incredibly sweet, delicious. And then you comment with your friend about it, who’s having the same coffee right next to you. Bland, sour, empty, he says. Who is right? Who is wrong?

WHY COFFEE BLENDS WILL FLOURISH BECAUSE OF COVID-19

by liza maksimova

COVID-19 is currently making some changes in how coffee roasters and coffee shops are operating – and among other things it means that we will see a lot of blends in the next year. Coffee blends can be made with different goals in mind – in order to move the stock of the green coffee, to present your clients with a more budget option, to create a sum of parts (blend components) that is tastier than simply each of the origins separately. Blending can be taken very seriously, to maintain the same taste throughout the year, or can be done to simply sell the coffee that is sitting in the warehouse. Let’s dive deeper into what are the coffee blends, and if there is a place for the in specialty segment.