Cup of Excellence Coffee Explained
Cup of Excellence, often abbreviated COE on menus, is something more consumers should know about. The video above was produced by Toby’s Estate and it does a great job explaining the competition, interviewing both judges & farmers, and showing what it all entails. In short, Cup of Excellence is a program active in several coffee...
Gregg Kallor – Espresso Nirvana (#M2B2)
This week’s music to brew to arrived in my inbox a few weeks ago, thanks to Gregg Kallor, a regular at Joe’s Coffee here in New York. But his music is far from regular – it’s pretty extraordinary. He composed the piece below prior to his debut at Carnegie Hall, as part of piano suite...
Best Cafes in Seoul, Korea: 2012 Updates
I moved from Korea to Sweden back in the summer of 2010, and that unfortunately marked the end of my coverage of Korea’s best cafes & roasters (and a few of its quirkiest). However, I get a lot of people asking for recommendations about where to visit in Korea. A number of interesting new cafes...
Music to Brew to – 2/12/12
Picking up from last week, a new feature at FRSHGRND highlighting some music to brew to every sunday. If you missed it, read here for the full story behind music to brew to. Thanks for this weeks inspiration, Candus! An ecclectic mix of ’70s and early ’80s goodness. May all your brews be groovy &...
1960s London Cafes & Thoughts About Cafe Design
I’m loving this old video, shot in documentary style, looking at the wide variety of cafes that had opened up in London in the 1950s and 1960s. Part of its charm lies in its anthropological gaze, spending most of the allotted time on the unglamorous and precarious economic end of the business, while highlighting the...
What’s Your Music to Brew to? (M2B2)
Music and coffee naturally complement each other – a play list can make or break a cafe’s ambience, barista competitions feature carefully constructed soundtracks, and if you’re making coffee for yourself at home, what better way is there to complement aroma & taste than letting your other senses be part of the moment as you...
Blossa Glögg – 2011 Coffee Flavor Review
One thing I picked up and really enjoyed in Sweden was the winter-time tradition of drinking Glögg, a mulled wine spiced with cloves, cinnamon, and other good things. There are many varieties, made with either red or white wine, sometimes flavored with other things like vanilla, or pumped up with the addition of cognac or...
Looking for Instagram Research Participants!
If you didn’t know, when I’m not obsessing over coffee I’m working on a masters in applied cultural analysis at Lund University. Lately I’ve been researching mobile photo sharing as a practice that is changing our relationship to ourselves, our surroundings, our daily lives, and more. While taking pictures of your dinner might seem trivial...
Video: “Shit Baristas Say”
Don’t take it personally, barista friends. :) At FRSHGRND.com we try to showcase companies and individuals that are passionate without undue pretense or unwanted judgment. Nevertheless, the stereotype is amusing and it’s always good to make sure you’re not crossing the line into self-caricature when you talk about coffee. Video by Sprudge.com, filmed at Four...
Coffee & Cream in High-speed Slow Motion
Modernist Cuisine has put up two videos of cream being poured into black coffee in high-speed slow motion. While most of us probably only combine milk with espresso, preferring to taste brewed coffee in all its unadulterated nuance, the video is pretty mesmerizing. If only they’d done the same thing with a barista pouring latte...
Prufrock Coffee, London
Prufrock Coffee is home to Gwilym Davies, 2009 World Barista Champion. The affable, scruffy bearded barista who lives on a boat has assembled a talented supporting cast at two locations in London. My favorite is Prufrock Cafe on Leather Lane, a large, airy and colorful space, inviting you to linger and enjoy one of the...
Moving To New York!
I’ll be moving from Sweden to New York in a week. I’m really going to miss Sweden; the people, the lifestyle, the scenery, the food, everything. But after living outside the US for more than three years, and away from my girlfriend off-and-on for the past year, it will be great to be back in...
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