The coffee knowledge library
Clear, practical guides to beans, brewing, espresso and the science in your cup — for curious drinkers and home baristas alike.
Featured · Brewing Guides
Filter coffee wants 55–60 g of coffee per litre of water. Here is where that range came from, the arithmetic that tells you whether you hit it, and why the 2023 research says there is no single correct number.
9 min read
Coffee Drinks & Recipes
Egg yolk whisked with condensed milk into a thick, sweet foam and spooned over strong phin coffee. How to make Hanoi’s egg coffee, why the foam holds, and how to make it safely.
4 min read
Coffee Drinks & Recipes
A strong coffee-and-chicory decoction dripped through a steel filter, mixed with hot milk and sugar, and poured between tumbler and dabarah until frothy. How to make filter kaapi.
4 min read
Coffee Drinks & Recipes
Lightly roasted coffee boiled with cardamom, sometimes saffron, poured from a dallah into tiny cups with dates. How to make qahwa at home, and the etiquette of serving it.
4 min read
Coffee Drinks & Recipes
Coffee steeped in water simmered with cinnamon and piloncillo, traditionally in a clay pot. How to make café de olla, and why a clay pot must be lead-free.
4 min read
Coffee Drinks & Recipes
Brewed coffee and hot milk in equal parts: in a bowl in France, with chicory and beignets in New Orleans. How to make both, why to brew strong, and what chicory adds.
4 min read
Coffee Drinks & Recipes
Strong coffee and hot milk in roughly equal parts, the breakfast drink of Spain and Latin America. How to make it, how to order it, and the sugar-roasted torrefacto behind it.
3 min read
Coffee A–Z
Plain-English definitions for 59 words you meet on coffee bags and café menus — from bloom to TDS.