Coffee beans are seeds that grow inside of a coffee cherry. We usually only use beans from the cherry but actually a lot of the taste of the coffee comes from the fruit. During recent year or so, the coffee world has realized that we are able to use the fruit as well. I think we’re on a verge of a real game changer.
Pairing wine and food has been done for centuries. Fine dining restaurants have specific persons, usually called sommeliers, doing that job so why wouldn’t cafés do the same thing?
How to brew good coffee? This is the most common question that I get asked when I tell people what I do for living. So I decided to make a blog series where I go through different aspects of brewing good coffee. Let’s start with the fundamentals. These three things are always important when brewing good coffee, whether we are talking about filter coffee, espresso or traditional pot coffee.
Coffee beans from African countries are my favourite. What triggered me when I first tried African coffee beans, was that the coffee did not taste like coffee at all. Africa, more specifically East Africa, produces some of the world’s most distinctive coffees characterised by vivid floral, fruit, and wine tones with rich acidity. All in all, African coffee beans are packed with taste! I encourage everyone to start exploring and enjoying African coffees because of their wide taste profile.
Processing coffee so separating the coffee cherry’s fruit flesh and skin from the coffee beans is one of the most crucial aspects of farming coffee. How to coffee is processed can have a dramatic effect on the resulting cup and nowadays roasters and baristas are concentrating on coffee processing to describe the coffee. Also, lately it has become more and more popular that the farmers have started to experiment with new coffee processing methods such as anaerobic fermentation. Let’s go through the most common coffee processing methods.
I had the pleasure of chatting with The Barn Berlin’s roaster Jessica Greene. She has worked for 4.5 years at The Barn, which is regarded as one of the most advanced roasteries in the world.
Just a few months ago, I had one of the biggest highlights of my coffee career. Participating in the Lithuanian Barista championship I won the second place in the competition.
Six years ago London Coffee Festival was born, and today it's THE event to explore coffee culture, breathe barista lifestyle and find new trends. At the festival, you get to meet enthusiast roasters, product manufactures, baristas, and other industry professionals. It is so inspiring to see and feel their love and knowledge of this amazing beverage called coffee.
Helsinki’s speciality coffee scene has developed a lot during recent years and it has caught up Stockholm’s and Copenhagen’s vibrant coffee cultures. This Helsinki Café guide will help you to find good extractions in the capital of Finland. Note that this guide is focusing mainly on coffee :)
Have you ever wondered what happens in a barista course? Training Manager Ulla gives a sneak peak into her day when she organises a SCA Barista Skills Foundation course. So here you go: This is Barista Trainer's my day!
Matt Perger is probably the biggest barista star in the world right now. He has won so many competitions that I won't even bother listing them here. Now he's pushing the quality aspect of coffee with his company Barista Hustle with e.g. designing the best possible cupping cups, tampers and milk pitchers. I had the pleasure to work with Matt Perger in a secret project few weeks ago, so of course I took the opportunity to sat down with him for a cup of coffee. Here's our discussion about coffee and life.
Vilnius Coffee Festival was a long weekend packed with way too many cups of coffee, loads of cuppings, many good conversations about good coffee, new innovative machines and of course the excitement of Lithuanian Barista, Cup Tasting and Latte Art Championships! It was my first time in Vilnius Coffee Festival and my expectations were high but even still I was pleasantly surprised!
Is your friend or a loved one a coffee nerd and you would like to buy him/her something coffee related for a Christmas Gift but don’t know what to buy? Here is my guide for the best Christmas gifts for a coffee nerd!
Rosetta is probably the easiest and hardest latte art pattern to pour as it's easy to get started with but hard to master. Here is my guide how to pour a latte art rosetta pattern and what to consider when pouring the rosetta.
It's been 40 years since Paulig started coffee trainings for consumers and customers. Back in 1980 our coffee training department was established in Finland with the name of "Paulig Instituutti" so Paulig Institute with a purpose to train consumers how to brew better coffee. We wanted to share some stories from our previous trainers and see what is up in their lives nowadays!
Everyone wants to drink great coffee always everywhere, right? In cafés you can rely in the barista's expertise and proper equipment but how about better coffee at home also? Have you struggled to brew that delicious coffee at home? Want to know a secret tip which will definitely make your coffee at home taste better? Check out the tip from below!
There is a saying in Finnish “cleanliness is half of the meal”. I know it doesn’t make any sense in English but the message is important. Cleaning your espresso machine might the most boring part of being a barista but it is really important. You are not able to get great tasting espresso if you don't clean your espresso machine properly and daily! Let's check how to clean your espresso machine.
Are you new to milk steaming or are struggling with milk steaming to create the perfect micro foam? Steaming milk with seem hard at the start but milk steaming is easy and simple once you master few basic tips. Here are our tips how to steam the perfect milk and create microfoam.
Latte art most likely the most exciting thing to learn for a barista but on the other hand latte art isn't easy. We have made some latte art videos for you to check out and we hope these latte art videos help you to become better at pouring latte art.
In Lithuania, we can be proud to have many professional baristas. One of them, Laurynas Arlauskas, is the winner of 2016 and 2017 Lithuanian Barista Championship.
