Journal

In 2013, Coffee Review hosted visitors from 223 countries and territories, including countless cities and town around the world.  Our readers hail from famous world capitals such as Rome, Italy and Nairobi, Kenya to lesser-known Nuuk, Greenland and Apia, Somoa.  However, some cities have more visitors than others and none of the above cities ranked near the top for Coffee Review readership or per

Last summer, we took a mid-year look at Coffee Review readership by U.S. city and state.  We normalized readership figures to account for population differences and produce a more accurate picture of each locale's interest in coffee, at least as measured by Coffee Review readers per capita.  We normalized for Internet access and literacy too, but frankly, it didn't change the results much at

At the beginning of each month, we publish a new feature article with reviews.  The planned cupping calendar for 2014 is shown below: January - Top 30 Coffees of 2013 February - Real Blend: Blends Produced from Three or More Origins March - Specialty Coffees of Brazil April - Specialty Coffees of Colombia May - Coffees of Central Africa: Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Congo June -

View list of Top 30 Coffees of 2013 Coffee Review introduced 100-point reviews to the specialty coffee industry in 1997.  Over the years since then we’ve cupped tens of thousands of samples and produced reviews for nearly 3,500 coffees. We are often asked, “What is the best coffee?”  To which we give the obvious answer: “There is no single ‘best’ coffee.”  Of course, visitors to our website

In the new world of high-end specialty coffee, botanical variety of the tree has become one of the main ways to differentiate and describe small lots of fine coffee. Grape variety has long been a differentiator in wine, of course, and increasingly dominates description and selling of certain fruits and vegetables. But botanical variety of coffee tree also has become an increasingly intensely

Many readers ask us about the best way to brew coffee, and the short answer is: whatever way is best for you and your tastes is the surest way. Although there are some worthwhile guidelines that can help even a first-time brewer prepare a good cup of coffee, I follow three fundamental rules: How-Hot, How-Much, and How-Long. Which can be elaborated to: What is your water temperature? What is your

Sneak peek from the lab... According to Kenneth: "We have cupped about twenty Guatemalas with about ten more to go. We've encountered a very wide and impressive range of cup profiles, particularly in the way they reflect the cup tendencies of various botanical varieties of Arabica, from deep, meaty Pacamaras to intense, high-toned, perfumy Geshas. Highest rating so far is 95; lowest is 85. The

Currently the predominant style in high-end, artisan roasting is certainly light roasting or medium-light roasting, which allows the roaster to highlight the character of the bean rather than the roast.  However, there is no question that many coffee lovers still prefer the bittersweet bite of dark roasts, even if the subtle varietal characteristics have been muted by darker roasting. In the

Based on reader feedback regarding last week's  "Who Cares About Coffee Anyway" blog post, it was clear that we needed to dig deeper than a top 10 list of coffee cities (based on per capita Coffee Review readership).  Numerous readers asked where their hometown ranked.  We decided that we needed to expand the list, perhaps to a top 100. But it occurred to us that readers not residing in the top

We haven't published an article about decaffeinated coffee since July 2010.  At the time, the samples we cupped "tested my optimism," to quote Kenneth Davids.  Only one of the 50 decafs we cupped earned a score of 90 points, namely Decaf South America Blend by Cafe Valverde. However, it appears that decaf drinkers in 2013 have reason to be more optimistic.  Over the past three years, we have