Roasting Coffee at Home Safely: Chaff, Smoke and Fire
Before anything else: home roasting has two hazards, and an earlier version of this page named neither. The first is chaff — the papery skin that comes off the bean …
How to Taste Coffee: Flavor Profiles and Cupping Basics
Tasting coffee properly means splitting the experience into named parts and describing what you perceive, separately from whether you liked it. The Specialty Coffee Association calls those two jobs descriptive …
Decaf Coffee Beans: Caffeine Levels and How It Is Made
Decaf coffee contains caffeine. Not much, but not none. The FDA’s consumer page on caffeine carries the heading “‘Decaffeinated’ Does Not Mean Caffeine-free” and states: “Decaffeinated coffees and teas have …
Coffea Stenophylla vs Arabica: What the Research Shows
Coffea stenophylla is a wild West African coffee species that tastes like high-quality arabica but grows in mean annual temperatures 6.2 to 6.8 °C hotter than arabica can tolerate. That …
Fair Trade vs Organic Coffee: What Each Label Guarantees
Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and organic certification are not three grades of the same thing. Fairtrade sets a price floor; Rainforest Alliance sets no price at all; organic is a rule …
Global Coffee Ceremonies: Six Documented Traditions
Three coffee traditions are inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity: Turkish coffee culture (Türkiye, 2013), Arabic coffee as a symbol of generosity (2015, extended …
Coffee Tools and Accessories: What You Really Need
Four things do almost all the work: a burr grinder, a digital scale, a way to heat and pour water, and a brewer. Everything else on the usual accessories list …
Cold Brew vs Nitro Coffee: Caffeine, Taste and Texture
Correction first, because the earlier version of this page got a safety point badly wrong. Its caffeine table gave cold brew as “200-300 mg” per 16 oz. In a later …
What Is French Roast Coffee? And Is It Darker Than Italian
French roast is a dark roast. It is a roast colour, not a bean variety, a growing region or anything to do with France. Any coffee can be sold as …
How Long After a Crown Is Cemented Can I Drink Coffee?
Correction first, because the real hazard on the day is not the cement — it is that your mouth is numb, and this page buried that in its FAQ. The …
Types of Coffee Pods: Which Fit Which Machines
There are two physical families of coffee pod, and then there are about eight incompatible systems inside them. The families are soft paper pods, brewed at low pressure, and sealed …
Coffee Filters: Paper vs Metal vs Cloth and Cholesterol
Almost everything written about coffee filters is a taste preference. One difference is not, and it is the reason to read this page: a paper filter holds back cafestol and …
The 4 Types of Cuban Coffee and How to Make Them
Safety correction first, because an earlier version of this page told you to do something that can burn you. Its recipe said to “take a tablespoon of the brewing coffee” …
What Is Turkish Coffee? Cezve, Grind and Foam
Turkish coffee is an unfiltered brew: coffee ground to a powder is heated with cold water in a long-handled pot called a cezve (also ibrik) until foam rises, then poured …
Why Almond Milk Curdles in Coffee (and When to Toss It)
There are two different kinds of curdling here, and only one of them is harmless. Fresh almond milk that splits in the cup when it meets hot coffee is a …
Why Does Coffee Make Me Nauseous? Causes and Red Flags
Coffee makes people feel sick mainly because it tells the stomach to make acid, not because the drink itself is acidic. A 2022 review of coffee and the digestive tract …
What Food Group Is Coffee? None, and Here Is Why
Coffee is not in a food group. It is a beverage, and no food-group system has a slot for it. The current federal guidance, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030, …
How Much Creamer in Coffee? (And Alternatives)
Start with 1 tablespoon of creamer in a 6 oz cup, taste, and go from there. There is no official standard for how much creamer belongs in coffee, and anyone …
What Is House Blend Coffee? Nobody Regulates the Term
A house blend is whatever a roaster or cafe has decided to call its everyday blend. That is the whole definition — nobody regulates the term. It usually means several …
Maca Coffee: Side Effects and What Evidence Shows
Maca coffee is ordinary coffee with powdered maca root stirred into it. An earlier version of this page told readers that maca can lead to “a reduced risk of chronic …
