COFFEE CRAFTBETAJOURNAL
Coffee Stories
Pull up a stool. These are the long reads — the kind of thing a barista tells you at 3 p.m. on a slow Tuesday, when the espresso machine has finally stopped hissing and there's time for the real conversation. Every article has cited sources at the bottom and links to wherever you want to go next.
THE BEAN
What's in your bag
The Four Coffees: Arabica, Robusta, Liberica & Excelsa
A slow tour of the four species the world actually drinks — what they taste like, where they grow, and why one of them is suddenly cool again.
9 min read →
Bourbon, Typica, Gesha — A Family Tree You Can Taste
Inside the Arabica family. The old Yemeni mothers, the showy Panamanian star, and the everyday workhorses that fill most of your bag.
10 min read →
Light, Medium, Dark: What Roast Actually Does to Your Cup
First crack, second crack, and the colors in between. How a roaster's twelve quiet minutes change everything you taste.
8 min read →
THE BREW
How to actually make it
Pour-Over Coffee: The Quiet Science of a Slow Kettle
Melitta Bentz, the Hario V60, the Chemex in MoMA — and a recipe that nails the SCA's ideal extraction window.
9 min read →
Espresso: Nine Bars of Pressure and a Hundred Years of Italy
Bezzera, Gaggia, the E61, and what crema actually is. Plus a home-friendly recipe that hits like a proper Italian bar shot.
10 min read →
French Press: The Honest Brewer Everyone Underrates
It's actually Italian. Why immersion tastes the way it does, and Hoffmann's trick for fixing the muddy-cup problem for good.
8 min read →
AeroPress: The Plastic Tube That Conquered the Coffee World
Invented by a Stanford engineer in 2005. Now the subject of an annual world championship. The inverted method, the standard method, the espresso-style shot.
8 min read →
Moka Pot: The Octagonal Italian Stovetop That Refuses to Die
In 90% of Italian kitchens. Born in Crusinallo, 1933. The physics of why it works — and the small mistake that makes most home Moka coffee taste burned.
8 min read →
Cold Brew: The Slow, Sweet Coffee That's Older Than You Think
Kyoto-style slow drip, the chemistry of low-temperature extraction, and a foolproof 16-hour recipe that lives in a jar in your fridge.
8 min read →
ICONIC CAFÉS
Rooms that reshaped coffee
Six cafés, each at least twenty years old, that didn't just serve coffee — they changed what a café is. From a Venetian arcade in 1720 to an Oakland potting shed in 2002.
Caffè Florian: The Café That Has Been Open Since 1720
Three centuries on Piazza San Marco. The Venetian room that helped invent the idea of a café anyone could enter — and never closed.
7 min read →
Café Procope: Where the French Revolution Was Brewed
Paris, 1686. Voltaire's marble table, Diderot's editorial meetings, and Napoleon's hat left as collateral for an unpaid bill.
7 min read →
Café Central: Vienna's Marble Cathedral of Coffee and Talk
Opened 1876. The chess tables of Trotsky and Freud — and the UNESCO-listed idea of a coffeehouse where one melange buys an afternoon.
7 min read →
Caffè Sant'Eustachio: The Roman Bar With the Secret Espresso
Since 1938, one of Europe's last wood-fired roasters — and a crema so famously good the baristas pull every shot behind a metal shield.
7 min read →
Peet's Coffee: The Berkeley Shop That Started the Specialty Movement
1966, Vine Street. The Dutch immigrant who taught a generation of American roasters — including the three founders of Starbucks — how to do it properly.
8 min read →
Blue Bottle Coffee: The Oakland Kiosk That Built the Third Wave
Founded 2002 in a potting shed. The 48-hour freshness rule, the slow bar, and the visual grammar copied by thousands of cafés worldwide.
8 min read →
COMPETITIONS
The world championships and their 2025 winners
Six major coffee competitions — from the espresso-stage WBC to the farm-side Cup of Excellence — and the people who took the trophies home in 2025.
World Barista Championship: Jack Simpson's 15 Minutes in Milan
The Olympics of espresso. 2025 winner: Jack Simpson (Australia, Axil Coffee), 643 points, HostMilano, October 2025.
7 min read →
World Brewers Cup: George Jinyang Peng's Quiet Title
Filter coffee's world championship — one barista, one kettle, one dripper. 2025: George Jinyang Peng (China), Jakarta.
6 min read →
World AeroPress Championship: Némo Pop and the Ecuador Sidra
Coffee's most fun competition. 2025: Némo Pop (Australia), Seoul — 18g upright on a flow-control cap.
6 min read →
World Latte Art Championship: Chen Zhuohao's Dots and Lines
Steamed-milk geometry judged from a printed pattern card. 2025: Chen Zhuohao (China), Geneva.
6 min read →
World Coffee Roasting Championship: Mikaël Portannier in Houston
Green grading, profile design, production roast, blind cupping. 2025: Mikaël Portannier (France, Texture Coffee).
6 min read →
Cup of Excellence: The Auction That Pays the Farmer
Origin-side competition since 1999 — top 30 lots per country, five blind cuppings each, sold at global auction.
7 min read →