NightOwl

Eric and Joe give themselves an NPR coffee quiz to test their coffee culture knowledge base. Adn in review, the guys taste test Madcap’s Galeras coffee, freshly roasted for the show.

Eric and Joe discuss the 1,000 plus chemicals that make up a coffee beverage, and review McDonald’s McCafé regular coffee.

Eric and Joe tackle three important topics: the secret origins of Mama Darnell’s banana pudding, balancing Joe’s caffeine headaches with sleep deprivation, and review of Chick-fil-A’s regular cup of joe.

Eric and Joe answer a listener message for how to roast coffee beans at home on the cheap with a popcorn popper, Joe describes the coffee situation at the county courthouse, and they share their general impressions of the reknown moka pot coffee maker (which is often mistakenly called an espresso maker).

Eric and Joe answer listeners messages, involving burr grinders, the Chemex coffee maker, and banana pudding. Then, in discussion, the guys share their first impressions of Starbucks’ all-new piping-hot Latte Macchiato. “It’s a latte made using ‘the inverted method’.”

For episode #50, Joe is joined by special guest Myke Hurley of the Relay.FM podcast network. They discuss how Myke, a British chap that prefers craft coffee over hot tea, enjoys his fussy coffee brew ritual. They also talk about how they started drinking coffee thanks to sweet beverages at Starbucks, how caffeine affects them, and where they get their fresh coffee beans in the United States and back home in England.

Joe and Eric discuss the worldwide coffee shortage, coffeeshop productivity, Bodum’s awesome commercial, and the first complete year of Top Brew.

Eric and Joe discuss French presses, what makes them special, why we use them, and why you may want to up your coffee brewing game with one. We consider the coarseness of the grind, water temperature and more in our subjective examination.

Is there a tangible difference in craft coffee and what people typically call commodity coffee? Joe and Eric cypher the what’s noticeably different from the roaster’s and enthusiast’s perspectives, because you shouldn’t believe everything written on a bag of GlaDOS’ coffee. Commodity and craft coffee look the same in your cup, but came about completely differently. At the end of the show, the guys recommend some craft roasters that you should check out.

Hand grinders are often preferred over powerful electric countertop grinders, but why? Joe and Eric uncover the usefulness of their portability, durability, and other reasons you might want to add a manual grinder to your kitchen. And Joe makes shopping recommendations for those in the market for such a coffee accessory.