Posts by Amanda

When we first heard about the Mypressi Twist , we were honestly a bit skeptical. How could you possibly make good espresso with a handheld device? After it was named best product of 2009 by the Specialty Coffee Association of America, we decided to give it a shot (no pun intended), and we were definitely impressed.

The Mypressi Twist uses a N20 canister to pressurize the portafilter to the recommended 9 bars of pressure. It doesn’t require a pump or electricity, just hot water, freshly ground espresso, and the canisters. To use it, just load the portafilter basket, screw the chamber together, and pour hot water into the top chamber. Put one of the included N20 canisters in the handle and pull the trigger.

If you’re the sort of person who likes to camp out but doesn’t want to live without your morning shot, the Mypressi is the perfect device for you! Check out Mypressi’s demonstration video on YouTube.

Have you ever had a cup of coffee that tasted weak and sour? How about overly strong and sharp? Those unappealing flavors are a result of either under-extracting or over-extracting coffee grounds during the brewing process.

When you brew coffee, you are extracting the soluble solids from the coffee grounds. According to the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s Gold Cup Standards, to get a good cup of coffee you should extract about 20% of the soluble solids.

There are a number of different variables that can cause your coffee to under or over-extract. The most common variable is an improper grind setting. When you grind coffee beans, you’re exposing surface area from which to extract soluble solids. If your grind is too coarse, there isn’t enough surface area exposed, so your coffee will come out weak. If your grind is too fine, too much area is exposed, so your coffee will come out sharp and bitter.

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We at Clive Coffee are always on the lookout for new equipment that delivers style and performance. We’ve just added the Ascaso Dream Espresso Machine to our lineup, since it fits those criteria perfectly.

These powerful little Spanish-made machines feature a sleek design and quality components. We always recommend using freshly roasted, freshly ground coffee for a good shot of espresso, but if you’re into pods the Dream can handle those too.

With a heavy brass boiler, brass grouphead, and chrome-plated brass portafilters, the Dream offers excellent temperature stability. It’s easy to use, too: just flip the toggle switches to engage the pump or turn on the steam wand. Dual thermometers for the grouphead and steam wand ensure that you’ve got the right temperature to make perfect drinks.

If you’re looking for sleek, retro styling and performance in your home espresso machine, the Ascaso Dream can’t be beat.

We just received a shipment of the new Hario V60 Glass Coffee Dripper. In Japanese, Hario means “the King of Glass,” and Hario has earned that reputation by manufacturing high-quality glassware since 1921.

The V60 Coffee Dripper features spiral ridges on the interior to give the coffee grounds more space to “bloom.” Since the glass is transparent, it’s easy to see what is going on during the brewing process. A large hole at the bottom allows you to control the speed of extraction better than coffee drippers with small holes.

If you’ve got a pour-over bar, the plastic base on the V60 is easily popped off so you can nest the bottom of the cone in the stand. If you don’t have a pour-over bar, the V60 rests stably on a mug so you can just brew a nice, quick cup for yourself.

Paper filters are not only wasteful, but they also alter the flavor of your coffee. Instead of allowing the lipids and oils in the coffee to filter through, the paper filters absorb them, leaving you with a less flavorful and thinner cup. Since paper isn’t an inert material, you end up extracting the flavor of the paper, too.

The Swiss Gold Filter is engineered to hold back large particles, while allowing the flavorful elements of the coffee to come through. You’ll end up with a richer, more full-bodied cup of coffee without any sludge at the bottom.

Unlike less expensive “gold tone” filters, which are usually golden-colored stainless steel, the Swiss Gold coffee filter is made of real 23-carat gold foil. Lower quality reusable coffee filters can give coffee a metallic taste, but with the Swiss Gold filter all you taste is delicious coffee.

You can use this filter in all models of Technivorm Moccamaster coffee brewer, as well as any brewing device that holds a # 4 filter.

We just got some really exciting news from Baratza! They’ve upgraded the already excellent Vario Coffee Grinder with a new display board. This new board has a “sleep” feature that turns off the lights and LED display to conserve electricity when it’s not in use. More importantly, this new board has enough memory to retain your grind settings, even after a power outage or the machine is unplugged.

No need for customers with the older model Vario to get jealous; the new display board is available separately as an easily installed upgrade. According to Baratza, the new board only takes 3 minutes to install with a Phillips screwdriver.

Look for the new and improved Baratza Vario and the Display Board upgrade on our site in March.

Not exciting enough for you? Baratza will be introducing their Virtuoso Preciso with 11-step micro-adjustment this summer.

Decaf drinkers rejoice! Clive has a great new coffee for you! The Swiss Water Decaf Ethiopian Sidamo offers a lemony aroma, with a lightly herbal, citric and floral flavor.

The Sidamo region in Southern Ethiopia produces some of the most beloved coffees available. Using both washed and natural (or dry) processing, Sidamo grows coffees that run the flavor gamut from bright citrus to deep red wine and berries.

We hope you enjoy this great decaffeinated coffee!

We just received something we’re thrilled to offer: the Breville Variable Temperature Kettle! This clever device has 5 pre-set temperatures for brewing the perfect French Press, pour over pot, or cup of tea (if you’re into that sort of thing). It holds a healthy 1.8 liters of water, so you can easily fill the largest French Press.

The feature we’re most excited about is the Hold Temp button, which maintains your selected water temperature for 20 minutes! Pretty cool, huh?

Clive coffee is excited to present to you the attractive and accurate Tabla Digital Scale from Escali!

A good scale that can measure small increments of weight (in grams or to the 10^th of an ounce) is a necessary tool for ensuring proper coffee portioning.

Our coffee is roasted to a profile that suits the innate characteristics of the green coffee bean. Different coffee beans have different densities to begin with. When you factor in the roasting process, there is a significant difference in the density of an individual French Roasted Brazilian verses a medium-roasted Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. So, if you measure by volume, with a scoop for example, you’re really not measuring consistently.

The coffee geeks at Clive love accuracy, so we always measure our whole beans before grinding and brewing our coffee, whether we’re using the Technivorm, French Press, or Siphon Pot.

“Acidity” in coffee refers to a flavor component, not to the PH scale or any acids that will upset your digestive system.

When we talk about acidity in our coffee descriptions, we’re referring to the pleasant brightness you experience when you take a drink. You’re more likely to find acidity/brightness in African and Central American coffees, or in lighter roasts. Dark roasted coffee will be lower in acidity, since the flavor components that are experienced as brightness get roasted out of the bean.

While you are unlikely to get a stomachache from bright coffees, coffee oils may be a little hard on your system.  So, if you’re having trouble with drinking coffee, try a lighter, freshly roasted coffee.