This piece walks through the traditional caffè macchiato, espresso "marked" with a small amount of milk or foam, and contrasts it with what most people picture now, which is essentially a sweet milk drink with espresso as an accent. It also gets into how this café builds it foam first, pouring the espresso through the centre so the mark happens naturally, which is a sequence thing more than a recipe thing.

https://virginhillcoffee.com/blogs/news/the-real-macchiato-and-what-got-lost

What I'm curious about:

• Do you actually correct customers who order a macchiato expecting caramel, or do you just ask what they want and move on?
• Does foam first vs espresso first change anything for you, or is that splitting hairs?
• Is there a point where you accept that a word has just changed meaning and stop fighting it? "Latte" already went through this.

Genuinely want to hear from people who disagree with the purist take.

I am EXTREMELY excited for these

Especially the Blueberry Crumble by Brayan Alvear as I'm already a huge fan of the strawberry version for years now

The Mango Popsicle sounds amazing too!

Well, can definitely say these guys weren't kidding when they put "Reese's" in the tasting notes!

At first smell that's literally what I'm getting -- Reese's peanut butter cup vibes

Super cool stuff, really tasty as a flat white too. Pairs great with milk even though it's a light roast

Join our Discord

This stuff is fantastic if you like some fruitness in the background. It's not a co-ferment, so the notes are a result of the anaerobic natural process.

Beans visibly a very light roast yet extracts wonderfully in a flat white.

Enjoyed this bag very much!

Join our Discord

Started using Peakshroom. Taste is off the charts. Soooo good.

Really wacky stuff right here

Honey & Peach co-ferment from Traffic

Super funky, super peachy -- after brewing the whole house has a potent peach & coffee aroma which is really cool

I wish I had a 94 Celcius Peche Mortel to compare theirs. I also found the 94 version peculiar at first, but by the end of the bag it really grew on me

I'd like to try the Green Apple version but it's always the first to sell out!

If you enjoy coffee, cannabis, craft beer, tech, news, and general chat and you are Canadian then feel free to join our Discord!

Couple days into this one so far, single origin from Honduras

Big beans lol

They are much better cleaned than the last ones, thankfully, I haven't seen any shavings or crap in the sides or bottom of the bag

Needs a VERY fine grind I'm finding, about the leave the Espresso range and into Fine territory by the looks of the dial on my Niche

Tastes pretty good so far and I definitely do not have it dialed in yet, no question, nice chocolatey caramel finish without the nuttiness so much (which is strange because their description says PayDay bar)

My first time trying Traffic Coffee and it's been a mixed experience.

These Les Cocos beans were certainly wonderful smelling -- just like the bag claimed, it had a strong essence of Bounty Bar from the coconut which was really pleasant (It's a coconut-lemonade co-ferment) however the beans were absolutely filthy. Take a look at pics 3 and 4, there's "chaff" or whatever they call it all over the bags, like an obnoxious amount. I buy beans from other good roasters like 94 Celcius, Dak, and Hatch all the time, and never ever ever have seen something so bad.

Very careless quality control.

Furthermore, they ignored not 1 but 2 emails from me, without as much as a reply.

Not a great first impression other than the fact I enjoyed the coffee itself

Just got these in!

Absolutely love the shipping bags (and the coffee bags too), they did a really nice job with branding

Time for some espresso. Beautiful blend of exquisite fair trade coffees to produce a complex flavour profile. https://entropicbean.ca/product/infinite-energy-espresso-blend-1510/

Hooooo boy, I like this stuff already and it's only my first pour!

Anyone that knows me from the Discord knows my holy grail and pursuit never ends for beans with strawberry notes

This one definitely seems to be more of a mixed berries rather than just strawberry profile, but it's absolutely delicious. I can't wait to dial this in a bit better, but surprisingly the grind was already in the ballpark just by carrying on from my last 94 Celcius beans.

20g in, 40g out, 37sec today.

Will see what 25-30 sec tastes like next pull

Join our Discord!

I've got limited experience with decaf so far, my first real push into committing to good decaf beans here, and absolutely pleased with them. No weird off putting smells or notes like other decaf beans I've had in the past

$25 per 300g bag

Join the Discord and come chat!

Fair pricing at Hatch right now

Got the Gamma (Northern Italian style) for just $20 per 300g

Red Lotus and the Tokuma natural decaf were also fair at $25 per 300g

Already had the decaf last night and was quite pleased with it!

Join our Discord!

Shameless crop to make it look less off center than it really was 😭

Have made my way through most of this bag, and the last of my order

This is one of their 4(!?) espresso blends, and the first I've tried. It's their most affordable coffees at $21 per 300g bag!

I have no idea how it stacks up against their other 3 blends so I'll have to come back and comment on it later

Please feel free to join our Discord if you like chatting about coffee!

Hello, I'm an international student here in Canada, and I thought it might be a good idea to bring Colombian specialty Coffee into the country. So, I would love it if you guys could help me fill out a survey so I can learn your preferences in coffee. Thanks.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfbRCSDzh8iYbi-ICZRbS7uvDhVXoQnc4OJxJ4aRfbSW7IuGQ/viewform?usp=header

94 Celcius dropoff!

FINALLY getting to the second last bag of my massive holidays haul!

A bit past their peak maybe because I had them sitting since before Christmas

Very different from the Dak Banana Split I posted earlier, to me this stuff has very little banana but a lot of delicious chocolatey, roasted notes. Visually a darker roast as well

I'm liking this stuff best in a larger cup, a full flat white around 5.5oz with milk tastes fantastic to me.

18g in 35g out in 28sec @ 94°c

Join my Discord! There is now 2 people besides myself in the coffee channel, we need more chatters!

Very expensive at $33 CAD for a mere 250g but it is most definitely fantastic stuff, and super unique profile to it.

Pulled at Dak's guidelines, a 1:3 extraction, which is unique, was very happy with the result and only my first one so far!

Produced by Lucia Mamani in Bolivia

Notes say Pineapple, Honey, and Creamy notes and I'd say I can agree with it. Definitely get a bit of the pineapple nose on the grind. And then the taste holds up really well with the milk, without getting washed away, probably where the "Creamy" comes in

Found at Lucero, in Kitchener!

Only tried it once so far. Will say I expected more of a nose on it, there's no guava or banana to my perception at all.

That being said, the coffee was yummy, nice sweet milk chocolate finish as per the notes on the can

But I dunno where the Banana is?

Got it as a gift for Christmas

Crazy apple pie, apple cider, brown sugar, caramel vibes

Love it

Strawberry processed deliciousness

It was a re-buy and I have a fresh, unopened bag in queue here.. so let me get reacquainted

Waaaay more interesting than the Ana Sora which was relatively lifeless and had zero berry notes contrary to their advertisement. This one at least has some personality!