Introduction to Caffe Ladro Coffee
Back in the wild-n-wooly late ’90s, when we were cutting our teeth in the broadband services industry, we swung by our local Caffe Ladro to pick up our first Americano of the day. Especially during the cool winter days, that delicious brew was an essential element of our early morning bus commute — a treasured companion that helped keep the damp at bay. It’s the kind of nostalgic association that imbues us with a deep and abiding love for this chain of locally-owned Seattle cafes … so you can imagine how thrilled we were when they started roasting their own coffee and gave us the opportunity to help share their coffee with the rest of the US.
There’s no better way to learn about Ladro than from their Director of Coffee, Jared Linzmeier, who spent an afternoon with us talking about Ladro and handcrafting
who gave us some background on the company and held a handcrafted tasting of each of Ladro’s current blends. In this first installment, we learn about Ladro’s history, what is involved with a direct sourcing trip to Central America and what Jared loves most about being in the specialty coffee industry.
SCG Crew’s Favorite Gear: Kettles, Pour Overs, Press Pots, Coffee Makers, Oh My!
You know that we play with a lot of different types of coffee equipment here at SCG and the crew definitely has their faves! We asked for volunteers to share which gear they dig in different product categories. Watch as Brendan, Kaylie, Shiami, Sam, Gail, Bunny, Dori, Teri and Miranda talk to us about their favorite kettles, pour overs, immersion / press pots and drip coffee brewers.
How Much Should You Invest in Your Commercial Espresso Machine?
If you’re in the process of considering which espresso machine to purchase for your business, the price tags can sometimes seem a bit overwhelming. It’s beneficial, however, to view this as an investment on which you’ll see a return — after all, you will be using it to run your business! We asked our commercial sales manager, Brandon, to talk us through what to expect in terms of return on this investment.
Because overhead such as utilities, space rental or labor are all over the board, we concentrated on gross profit alone. It’s a great place to start when working out the numbers for your business.
Want to take this info on the road with you? Check out this handy infographic.
Compare: Baratza Vario vs. Rancilio Rocky
A toe-to-toe, or, rather, a burr-to-burr grudge match is always fun, right? We must think so — we do them often enough!
Due to popular request, we decided to match up the Baratza Vario and the Rancilio Rocky coffee grinders. While these are in similar price ranges, they both have different pros and cons and folks are often torn on which to choose.
If you’re not sure which might best suit your needs, watch as we go through features, compare burr sets and then demonstrate their grind quality.
Java on the Go – 2013 Edition!
It’s spring! Time to hit the trail and perhaps also start planning your summer sojourn, eh? And since we know there’s no way you can enjoy time on the road without making coffee you love, we asked Bunny and Coach to give us their suggestions for great options on the go.
Watch to find out what they love in 2013.
SCG Experiments: How Much Time to Make 4 Lattes on the QM67?
To answer the question posed by multiple YouTube viewers, we put Bunny behind the dual boiler QM67 espresso machine, enlisted Shiami to track time and taste, then took it away! Watch how quickly she was able to whip up four lattes.
Tech Tips: Brew Head Gaskets & Portafilter Aging
Ever wonder why your portafilter isn’t fitting right, even after you’ve replaced the brew head gasket? In the final installment of our series with Bill Crossland, he explains why this might happen and how you can resolve it.
Tech Tips: What is Pre-Infusion?
To pre-infuse or not to pre-infuse? If Shakespeare had an espresso machine a few hundred years ago, Hamlet would have most certainly been pondering just such a question. But maybe you’re not really sure what exactly pre-infusion is, or how it works, or why one might want to consider it?
The third video in our series with Bill Crossland covers all of this — and more! Learn about pre-infusion from a mechanical perspective, including how it even came to be to begin with.
Tech Tips: Espresso Machine Pressure Release Valves
Next up in our mechanically-focused series with Bill Crossland is a discussion of the different types of pressure release valves — where they are, what they do and how they work. If you’ve ever been curious about over pressure, brew pressure or solenoid valves, this video is right up your alley.
Tech Tips: Internals of an E61 Brew Head
Ever wondered how an E61 brew head works? What makes it different from other brew heads? How it maintains temperature consistently or releases pressure at the brew head? Or maybe you just want to know what the heck an E61 even is! Well, your questions are about to be answered, darling, with help of our good friend Bill Crossland.
Not only is Bill a talented and knowledgeable mechanical engineer in his own right, he’s also been working on developing a wide array of espresso machines for both the commercial and home markets for the past twenty-odd years. So when it comes to breaking down how the mechanics of an espresso machine work, we were lucky enough that he provided us this lovely tutorial!
Using an E61 from a Rocket Espresso machine that has been cross-sectioned to show its internals, Bill walks us through the different components and functionality of this brew head. Watch to learn everything you wanted to know about E61′s — and possibly more! — in this mechanically-focused video.