Crew Review: DEA Gourmet Cups
You don’t have to be completely avant-garde to show off a little bit of style when serving up your favorite espresso drinks. In fact, you can rely on the tasteful imaginings of DEA Gourmet’s Italian designers, who have conjured up the gorgeous Ninfea and GEO lines of cups.
While these two series offer an array of different kitchenware, we selected the demitasse and latte cups in the Ninfea design and the demitasse in the GEO design because we loved their unique lines and the cute little saucers that come with the demitasse!
Check ‘em all out in this overview video with Shiami and Jess.
Brewin’ with Brandi: Espresso Steak Rub
You know it’s summer when Brandi is breaking out the barbecue! We’ve had a wonderfully unseasonable warm front here in Seattle, and although we know that nature is teasing us and that we have a few months of rainy gray days until summer shows up for a couple of weeks in late September, we’re pretending it’s going to stick around.
Watch her whip up this delicious steak rub, grill on the ‘cue and then find out what one of SCG’s lovely carnivores thinks of the concoction.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 cup finely ground coffee — we chose Middle Fork’s Tough as Nails blend to give it maximum oomph!
Directions
Combine all ingredients together and mix until well incorporated. Thoroughly coat your steaks … you can either throw them right on the grill or let them hang out with the rub on them for awhile if you want a more powerful flavor. Cook to your desired temperature and enjoy!
Crew Review: Breville Barista Express BES870XL
When we heard that Breville was going to soup up one of their more popular — and unique — espresso machines, the Barista Express, we were a little bit excited. Some of the things we didn’t dig about its predecessor were going to be addressed, such as improved temperature control, an improved grinder and the addition of a hot water spigot. They even threw in some cool new toys (a Razor, anyone?), an improved hopper for easier bean feeding and the ability to tweak your brew temperature with a simple PID interface.
Enough talk — let’s show it off, eh? Watch Gail talk about the features of the new Barista Express BES870XL, give us a tour of all the goodies it comes with and then demonstrate making a latte.
Tasting: Lavazza Pre-Ground Coffee – Redux!
We started to offer several new pre-ground coffee options from Lavazza, so it was time for one of our legendary tastings!
Watch as Bunny brewed these up using a coffee press, to allow the folks to taste some of the differences between the Premium House, Qualita Oro, Qualita Rossa, Crema e Gusto, Tierra Intenso and Caffe Espresso blends.
Compare: Saeco Intelia Superautomatic Espresso Machines
With a slimmer profile than their Xelsis and Exprelia models but with more water, coffee bean and puck capacity than the Syntia series, Saeco’s Intelia line of machines offer a nice compromise, size-wise. They also feature a simple interface, a bit of programming and three different case styles. In this video, Gail shows off the Focus, SS and One-Touch models so you can see how they compare with each other.
Brew Tip: Saeco Intelia SS Panarello Sleeve Retrofit
While we love the gorgeous metallic finish on the Saeco Intelia SS, we’re not super in love with the cappuccinatore functionality that comes as stock. So when Gail came to us with the idea that we could retrofit the machine with the panarello sleeve from the Syntia series of machines, we were excited!
Watch as she shows how easy it is to swap this out and then demonstrates how it performs.
Crew Review: Saeco Intelia SS Superautomatic Espresso Machine
We’re definitely diggin’ on the new Intelia line of machines from Saeco, especially on the metallic finish for the new SS model! It’s some kind of gorgeous in the hue department, comes with cappuccinatore functionality and whips up delicious espresso shots. Watch Gail take us through its features and demonstrate its performance.
Caffe Ladro Coffee Tasting Part Four: Colombia La Cacica
In our final installment of Caffe Ladro coffee tastings, Jared brews up a beautiful single origin coffee from Colombia that is more lightly roasted. While we don’t offer this coffee directly, if you’re intrigued by our commentary and want to pick up a bag, you can do so here.
Brewin’ with Brandi: Sweet Lullaby
If you’re able to watch this recipe and not leave it with Sweet Caroline in your head, you’re a better person than we are!
Check out Brandi’s delicious hot milk recipe that will help you start your evening shift on the snooze patrol.
Ingredients
- 1/2 oz Monin Vanilla syrup
- 1/2 oz Monin Honey Sweetener
- 7 oz milk
- Ground cinnamon
Directions
Combine syrups with milk and heat / steam. Pour into your serving mug and sprinkle with cinnamon. Enjoy!
Caffe Ladro Coffee Tasting Part Three: Queen Anne & Fremont Blends
The third tasting in our series with Jared Linzmeier of Caffe Ladro covers two of their more lightly-roasted drip-oriented coffees: The Queen Anne and Fremont blends. Watch as he prepares these for us using a Chemex preparation, then the team tastes them side by side and gives their two cents.