Seattle Coffee Gear Blog » Videos

Crew Review: Technivorm CDGT

Kat — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:09:33 +0000

With its classy cylindrical lines now complemented with an industrial, corrugated metal look and a mid-brew interrupt feature, Technivorm’s new CDGT still offers some of the best drip coffee we’ve ever had the pleasure to sip.

Watch as Gail runs through the features and functionality, then brews up a pot on the CDGT.

Crew Review: Turkish Coffee Equipment

Kat — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:14:35 +0000

Rade takes it to the streets and shows Gail how it’s done! Finally. In this video, he tries out a few different Turkish coffee-related apparatus to help us determine what to bring in. Watch as he demonstrates the hand grinder and then teaches Gail how to make Turkish coffee, Serbian-style.

Brewin’ with Brandi: Smashing Sunset

Kat — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:26:47 +0000

If we leave Brandi to her own devices, she just causes trouble for everyone. And, in this case, that trouble is in the format of a ridiculously delicious vodka cocktail that is perfectly refreshing and the best choice for your breakfast, lunch or dinner beverage all summer long. While she used Monin’s Blackberry syrup, we’re pretty sure this will go great with any of their berry syrups — strawberry, raspberry, blueberry … heck, we’ll even give a nod to mango.

Ingredients

3/4 oz Monin Blackberry syrup
1 1/2 oz vodka
ice
lemonade

Directions

Fill a tall glass with ice and then pour the syrup and vodka over it. Fill with lemonade, give it a stir and enjoy.

Crew Review: Rocket Espresso R58 Dual Boiler

Kat — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:33:09 +0000

Our long love affair with Rocket Espresso has been taken to a higher level with their newest addition, the R58 dual boiler espresso machine. Featuring separate, insulated copper steam & brew boilers and a removable PID interface to control the steam boiler on/off, brew boiler temperature and the water source (either the internal water reservoir or plumbed-in), the R58 also has a dashing case design and a beautiful stainless steel cup surround.

Seriously, we’re not sure if it can get much better. We need a moment. While we collect ourselves, check out Gail’s from box-to-cappuccino introduction to the R58.

Crew Review: Breville BES840XL

Kat — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:17:27 +0000

While we loved several of the features on Breville’s BES830XL, the temperature consistency did leave a bit to be desired. So imagine our tearful joy when we learned that Breville was implementing an upgrade to the internals of this machine and releasing a new model!

You can check out the differences between the older heating tech and the new heating tech (if you’re into that kind of thing) in this video. Then watch Gail take us through the BES840XL’s features and demonstrate functionality. The BES840XL will be available in mid-June 2012.

Crew Review: Hario Clear Water Dripper

Kat — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:02:50 +0000

If patience is a virtue you’ve already acquired, Hario’s beautiful Clear Water Dripper might produce the cold cup of coffee to reward you. Watch as Gail takes this gear-fit-for-a-laboratory out for a test drive.

As you can see, we didn’t have great results, but we wont give up. Have you tried this prep method, or something like it? Please share your technique with the class!

Brewin’ with Brandi: Mocha Smoothie

Kat — Thu, 10 May 2012 18:40:56 +0000

If you take dark chocolate, coffee ice cubes and milk, throw it into a Vita-Mix and hit ‘high,’ is there any possible way that you can go wrong? If so, we don’t want to know.

Watch Brandi combine all this rightness into a delicious smoothie and then treat herself to a smoothie + Espresso Chocolate Cake Truffle breakfast.

Ingredients

1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup powdered milk
1 oz Monin Dark Chocolate sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon Monin Vanilla syrup
2 cups coffee ice cubes (we used Velton’s Twlight Blend — claro!)

Directions

Coffee ice cubes: Brew a pot of your favorite coffee and pour into an ice cube tray, freeze until frozen solid.
Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend about 30 seconds, or until 4 peaks appear in the blender. Be careful not to over blend.

Crew Review: Capresso Burr Coffee Grinder #559

Kat — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:09:13 +0000

In our search for entry level grinders that still get the job done, we tested out this model from Capresso. While it doesn’t grind fine enough for traditional espresso extraction, it was fairly consistent and worked well for pressurized extractions to pour over to drip to press pot.

Watch as Gail tests out this grinder, discusses its features, pros and cons and then demonstrates its grind quality.

What is a Thermoblock?

Kat — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:20:39 +0000

A thermoblock or thermocoil takes water from the reservoir in an espresso machine and heats it on the fly, versus heating up a full boiler of water. This technology is commonly seen on home espresso machines, where it manages either the brew function, steam function or both. The benefit of a thermoblock is that it doesn’t take as long for your machine to heat up for either brew or steam; however, the drawback can be that your temperature for brew or steam is not quite as consistent as you might like.

Gail introduces us to a few different varieties of thermoblocks/thermocoils and shows how they compare to a standard boiler (specifically, the internals of the Breville Dual Boiler).

Special thanks to Breville for providing the sample internals for this video!

Crew Review: La Marzocco Stainless Steel Portafilter

Kat — Fri, 04 May 2012 16:45:36 +0000

Portafilter cleanliness is one of our favorite subjects around here, but we have noticed that the regular soaking and scrubbing of the chrome-plated brass versions adversely affects their finish over time. What was once shiny and beautiful becomes dark black and the chrome plating can even begin to wear down.

For heavy use environments, like cafes, this means that portafilter replacement is a standard cost of doing business, so La Marzocco created a stainless steel model aimed at decreasing that cost.

Watch Gail demonstrate this stainless steel portafilter with breakaway spouts and show us how it holds up over several weeks of use without cleaning. She also compares it to a standard chrome-plated brass version, as well. These do cost a pretty penny, but could definitely be worth it for folks that do need to regularly replace their portafilters.