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I'm the (self-proclaimed) "Espresso Guy." I created this website to educate the home espresso making newbie and to provide recipes, tips, and troubleshooting steps for those already pulling their own espresso shots. If you're having trouble deciding what to buy, there's guides on buying beans and equipment.

Latest news

Q&A site devoted to coffee

StackExchange now has a beta website devoted to asking and answering questions about coffee, espresso and related topics.

If you’re not familiar with StackExchange, it’s a crowd-based Q&A site with many different topics. Originally it was for technology, but they’ve branched out into a variety of other areas.

So far there’s some interesting content, including whether there’s a difference between Greek and Turkish-style coffee preparation, what’s the deal with bulletproof coffee (answer: it’s really gross) and even non-coffee things you can do with an espresso machine.

It’s certainly worth checking out if you have an esoteric coffee question burning in the back of your mind — perhaps someone out there has the answer.

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Video: International coffee-based drinks

Buzzfeed has a video (embedded above) that quickly demonstrates how various coffee-based drinks from around the world are prepared. While some of these beverages are clearly intended as deserts, others — like France’s cafe au lait or Greece’s frappe — are a daily regimen for millions of people.

If you’re interested in tasting coffee drinks from other cultures without an expensive plane ticket, check out the video and try them at home. Who knows, maybe you’ll decide espresso isn’t for you and it’s time to move to Vietnam and subsist on nothing but ca phe sua da.

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Brief video on making the perfect espresso shot

Coffee educator Allie Caran digs into the details in making a perfect espresso in this three minute video over at Business Insider.

The main takeaway from the video is that there’s a lot of variables involved, and if you want to get the best espresso possible you need to know how to control them. To some extent that’s the goal of this site as well, but Caran’s explanations are much more succinct than mine.

Another point she touches on is the relatively recent trend of drinking sparkling water with your espresso. Some cafes — notably Blue Bottle here in San Francisco — provide a shot glass filled with sparkling water along with your espresso. Time will tell whether this trend is here to stay or is just a passing fad. If nothing else, drinking water after your espresso will make your dentist happy.

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Handheld espresso machine

A company in Hong Kong is planning to release a handheld espresso machine called the Minipresso. It’s about the size of a small Thermos and has a built-in hand pump and a small cup. It’s sort of like a handheld version of a manual pump espresso machine.

But unlike most espresso machines the Minipresso has no water heater, so you’ll need an electric kettle or a stove top boiler.

At least in theory the Minipresso seems like it might be a good solution for traveling or camping without decaffeinating. Until the device is released and the reviews come in we won’t know for certain, but innovation in espresso technology is always welcome.

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Espresso… in space!

Until recently, getting a good shot of espresso wasn’t possible for astronauts. Now that’s changed — astronauts on the International Space Station will soon have a custom-made Lavazza “ISSpresso” machine.

It’s essentially your typical pod-based espresso machine, but with a key difference: it’s designed to work without gravity. Water is fed in from a special pouch, and the resulting espresso is squeezed into a different pouch. Astronauts drink it through a straw.

While this may not be the ideal espresso experience, it’s a step in the right direction for our poor uncaffeinated astronauts.

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