Fresh Ground is a blog for global nomads and kindred cosmopolitans. Plan your own trip, or follow along with my guides to cafes and reviews of the world's best coffee in Asia, Europe, North America, and beyond.

What's Your Music to Brew to? (M2B2)

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...
Blossa Glögg - 2011 Coffee Flavor Review

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...
Prufrock Coffee, London

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...
Searching for the Best Coffee in London (Part I): Notes Music & Coffee

Searching for the Best Coffee in London (Part I): Notes Music & Coffee

Earlier this summer I took a trip back to the US to visit family, having been abroad for the past year and a half. A stopover in London was the same price as a direct flight, making it a perfect opportunity to explore the Anglo coffee world and meet some...
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Emil Eriksson of Johan & Nyström, prepping for World Brewers Cup

Emil Eriksson of Johan & Nyström, prepping for World Brewers Cup

This marks the first year of the World Brewers Cup, a coffee competition similar to the World Barista Championship, though instead of espresso it’s focused solely on brewing coffee. The goal seems to be to do for manual brewing what the Barista Championships have done for espresso, pushing the leading edge of knowledge, technique, and...
Solde Kaffebar - Malmö, Sweden

Solde Kaffebar – Malmö, Sweden

This post is incredibly long overdue given that one of the first people to welcome me to Sweden was Dan Stenqvist, blogger, barista extraordinaire, and roaster for Solde Kaffebar in Malmö. It’s been about nine months since I arrived, and I think I’ve been to Solde more often than any other coffee bar in Malmö....
ChansBros Coffee - Seoul, Korea

ChansBros Coffee – Seoul, Korea

This is my girlfriend Claire’s debut post here – she’s also quite a coffee geek and still working in Korea for the next couple months. Look forward to a few more of her posts from Korea in the months ahead! Several months ago, I moved in with some friends in Itaewon, a diverse neighborhood in...
Cafe 14 - Malmö, Sweden

Cafe 14 – Malmö, Sweden

UPDATE: Sadly Luis has sold his shop, but I’m pretty sure we haven’t heard the last from him! Keep an eye out for future updates. When I heard from Oscar that Luis from Cafe 14 was competing in next week’s Swedish Barista Cup (the winner goes on to the World Barista Championship), I had to...
Brewing with Different Waters @ Lilla Kafferosteriet

Brewing with Different Waters @ Lilla Kafferosteriet

Lilla Kafferosteriet, a cafe and roastery in Malmö, hosts occasional cuppings on Sunday afternoons. I’m terrible at keeping up with the Swedish coffee scene (I don’t speak Swedish) and would never have known about these, but luckily Oscar from Portafilth.com keeps me in tune with where the coffee geek action is happening in Malmö. Last...
Espressamente Illy - Seoul, Korea

Espressamente Illy – Seoul, Korea

A lot of coffee drinkers stumble upon Illy in their initial quests for better coffee. It’s hard to miss their shiny silver and red packaging in the supermarket or at the cafes serving their coffee. Established in the 1930s, Illy is family owned and known for pursuing scientific coffee research, and creating standards for brewing...
Taste testing Coava's Aeropress filter

Taste testing Coava’s Aeropress filter

Portland based Coava Coffee Roasters must be making a killing with their new Kone and Disk metal filters for the Chemex and Aeropress. Both of them seem to be spreading around the world, judging by all the twitter reports and blog coverage. Last week I spent a morning over at Solde Kafferosteri with Dan and...
A trip to Paris, introducing Cafe Lomi & Frog Fights

A trip to Paris, introducing Cafe Lomi & Frog Fights

The French have, some would say deservedly, a terrible reputation in the specialty coffee community. I tried to find a few good cafes to review while I was in Paris over the holidays, a little ray of hope for the French coffee scene, but unfortunately most of the time they were closed due to special...
Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!

Wishing all of you readers a happy holiday season. I’m currently in snowy Paris with my girlfriend, enjoying the food and the sights. I’ve heard of two cafes worth visiting: Merce and the Muse, and La Cafeotheque. Any other recommendations? Pass them my way via comments!
Coffee Collective - Copenhagen

Coffee Collective – Copenhagen

Coffee Collective is a world renowned Danish cafe and roastery, part-owned by 2006 World Barista Champion Klaus Thomsen, along with Peter Dupont, Casper Rasmussen, and Linus Törsäter. Their coffee is highly regarded and I’ve seen their bags proudly displayed like trophies behind the bar or in the back rooms of specialty cafes around the world....
Coffee Gear Review: Aeropress

Coffee Gear Review: Aeropress

The Aerobie Aeropress ($26), coupled with the Hario Slim hand mill ($33), is my favorite coffee kit for traveling, and home use. (To save a couple bucks on both, buy them together here for $54, thanks to Steve in the comments). They’re both light weight, easy to keep clean, relatively self-contained, and cheap. Sure, if...
Bear Pond Espresso, Tokyo

Bear Pond Espresso, Tokyo

Bear Pond is one of the better known specialty coffee destinations in Tokyo, having made a good impression on a number of blogs, magazines, and newspaper articles over the past few years. Owner Katsu Tanaka lived in the US for many years and apparently worked as a trainer with well known specialty coffee purveyors Counter...