Industry News

Kyle, the owner of Baratza, dropped by with an early version of their new Forte grinder. Based on our initial experience with it, we think this will be a great option for those considering “small commercial espresso & brew grinders.”

A quick summary:

• Beautiful glass touch screen. We found it to be intuitive and very easy to use. You can grind by weight, then toggle over with one click to see the precise time it took to grind that weight of coffee. It’s lightning fast and the colors and layout are very pleasing. It felt expensive.
• Substantial solid zinc housing. This grinder is heavy, and the quality of the all metal housing gives it remarkable heft.
• Nice new hopper design. The rotating chute “stopper hopper” is strong enough to slice through any coffee beans that get in the way. It also scoops very closely to the actual burrs, leaving very few coffee beans left in the grinder.
• Improved portafilter holder. The new solid zinc portafilter holder is a major upgrade from the current models.

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The Rocket R58 espresso machine brought a lot of ooh’s and ah’s when it was announced last year. The joy was short-lived, as the first batch of machines had an extremely high damage rate in shipment. The problem was identified as weak welding joints on the front drip tray, causing the machine to buckle and warp when shipped via UPS ground. Rocket took the feedback and retooled the design of the drip tray, and I’m happy to report that the redesign has fixed these issues. The drip tray connection to the main housing is extremely rugged with no discernible flex.

A lot of prosumer espresso machine customers are carefully reading reviews of this machine and comparing it to the Izzo Duetto 3. These machines are very similar in features, quality, and price, and buyers that might Google “BMW 7 series versus Audi A8″ may find themselves with a similar list of small differences that nonetheless add up to one machine being more right than the other.

I spent some time pulling shots and steaming milk on the Rocket R58, and here’s my quick take and an overview of the few small differences:

PID CONTROLLER
The removable PID control module is a very clever feature as it completely removes any LED lights from the front of your machine, maintaining an analog purity that is not often found these days. The background of the module is almost midnight navy, with crisp white text shining through. It’s Apple-like in this way, but the user interface of this module needs improvement. I could not figure it out without referencing the manual, which is one key test for me. It’s still a good feature, but on future designs I hope Rocket invests the effort to make this UI completely intuitive for the non-techie to figure out.

DRIP TRAY
As mentioned, the new drip tray design is extremely solid, and compared to the Izzo Duetto 3 it has a low profile, making it a subtle feature of the design when looking at it straight on. The Duetto has a very tall drip tray, giving it a heavy, solid appearance. Your personal tastes will determine which is more aesthetically pleasing, but keep in mind that this does carry through to capacity. If you’re like me and like to use the group head to rinse your portafilter and shot glasses, you might make 4 or 5 drinks before needing to empty the drip tray. The Duetto 3 has probably twice the capacity.

The R58 drip tray is similar to the Giotto – sheet metal with drilled out holes. The Duetto has a stainless sheet design, similar to cookie cooling trays. I prefer the Duetto design, but again this is personal preference.

CUP GUARD
The R58 has a unique welded metal cup guard. It looks hand formed, which is a nice contrast to the very clean, modern lines of the rest of the machine. I don’t mean hand-formed in a cutesie way, but just that you can see the slight imperfections in how it’s welded together. I like this a lot.

The Duetto uses the newly added “hand rails” for two purposes – as handles to lift the cup warmer and and as a cup guard.

TECHNICAL DIFFERENCES

There are other differences between these machines. The Duetto weighs 72 lbs while the Rocket checks in at 64 lbs. The heating elements in the R58 are both 1400 watts, while the Duetto steam boiler is powered at 1200 watts and 800 watts for the espresso boiler. The R58 is also only a 15amp machine, while the Duetto can be run in 15amp or 20amp. For most people, these differences will not noticeably impact performance. If you’re interested in more technical details or comparisons, give our espresso tech Ken a shout. He’s at tech@clivecoffee.com.

CONCLUSION
Feel confident picking either machine based on a gut level instinct, or even a silly little issue like the drip tray design or PID controller. Either machine will deliver great espresso for years to come.

PS: I also tested out some new precision shower screens and portafilter baskets that will be available soon. Together they are a really nice upgrade at reasonable price. I found it much more forgiving to pull a bottomless shot that coalesces into a perfect inverted cyclone of mahogany espresso with zero spritzing.

We had a total blast attending a very coffee themed evening at Powell’s Books on Hawthorne Monday night.  Snoozy it was not (special thanks to Stumptown and Fresh Pot for providing some excellent brewed coffee)! It was both a reading of Hanna Neuschwander’s new book  ”Left Coast Roast” and a Q and A session with the “elusive” Duane Sorenson, CEO and founder of Stumptown Coffee.  If you have any curiosity about coffee roasting from the Bay Area up to Seattle, Hanna’s engaging new effort is a must read.  In it she questions 55 roasters about their companies and their varied approaches to craft roasting, with discussions concerning farm to cup ethics, and at the same time lifts the veil of language to provide a window into the coffee speak we in the industry use.  AND, Hanna has included a short primer about at home brewing!  Full disclosure and shameless plug here, Hanna distilled our thoughts on home espresso, and wrote most of the copy for “The Craft of Espresso: A Guide for Home” which we published late last year.  Yay for us!

Left Coast Roast, by Hanna Neuschwander, is a caffeine-fueled guide to 55 key companies in Washington, Oregon, and Northern California — from small artisan roasters like Heart, Coava, and Kuma and history-making icons like Peet’s and Starbucks, to rapidly expanding shops like Portland’s Stumptown and San Francisco’s Blue Bottle. Profiles describe each company’s background, roasting history, and style, and explain how to visit and order beans for home brewing. Not to toot our own horn too much, but there’s a great little writeup about Clive in this book as well.

Timber Press is hosting a launch event at Spirit of 77 in Portland on Monday, August 27. Come on down and enjoy specialty cocktails, coffee-inspired beer, hors d’oeuvres, and many other delights as we kick-off the exciting release of the book and celebrate the craft of West Coast coffee!

In recent years, the idea of espresso and the “god shot” have reached almost mythological proportions. Like the great Titan Atlas, the perfect shot balances upon so many ephemeral pillars, and baristas the world over are racing to discover the perfect technique. For many, espresso represents coffee in its quintessential form. It is an indeed an art that, when performed skillfully, produces a drink that is at once bold, elegant, sweet, and as complex as its long history – a history that spans across the decades.

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La Candelilla estate in Terrazu, Costa Rica. We bought a micro lot of coffee from this producer in 2010.

Coffee prices have risen considerably over the last year, and this trend has not escaped the attention of many coffee drinkers. Many roasters/retailers have been raising prices across the board and it may feel a little like an attempt to squeeze the consumer. However, there are very real cost issues that are directly related to the product at the heart of these businesses: green Arabic coffee. The explanation is almost disappointingly simple: basic green, specialty grade coffee costs almost twice as much today as it did a year ago. This increase in price is a direct result of the nature of coffee as an agricultural product and how it is traded globally.

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Making great espresso at home requires a certain amount of practice. We are pleased to announce our home barista classes, which are designed to give you an introduction to the principles and practice of the craft.  This two hour class will cover the basics of dialing in your grind, pulling a great shot, and steaming milk. This class is very hands on, so come prepared to get your hands dirty in pursuit of great espresso! Class size is limited to 2 to 4 people to ensure a great experience.

Read the details and reserve your seat! Next class is Saturday, February 19th from 10 am to noon.

Delaney Kelly of Carthagh Craft & Design just dropped of the first edition of the Clive Stand Triple. I couldn’t wait for our real photographer to take her sweet time with it, so I took a quick shot. It’s a beauty. Water Avenue Coffee will be the first shop in town to put this to good use. Read more about the stand, then get ready because the Triple will be available for purchase in early January.

The "drip tray" on the Stand is sealed with 4 coats of oil based polyurethane, than coated in food-safe wax. The Hario V60 cone and decanter fits perfectly.

There’s a great article in the Times about old fashioned espresso that doesn’t compromise quality for convenience. It encapsulates so well why we don’t sell super-automatic espresso machines at Clive. If you’re going to make espresso at home, we believe it’s worth investing the time and money required to make real espresso. It doesn’t have to be prohibitively expensive, and with a little bit of practice you’ll be well on your way to making authentic, old fashioned espresso.

Read the article in the New York Times.

Heading to the beach for camping and surfing? Maybe suffering through pitiful coffee at the office? Or perhaps you just like hand-operated tools that don’t require electricity. We’ve got the tools for you to make great espresso or coffee wherever you go.