October is Fair Trade Month which is meant to raise awareness for the fair trade movement and its impact on the global economy. In 2020, that is more important than ever. Coffee producers are facing the third year of a coffee price crisis and a global pandemic that has caused…
What is Direct Trade Coffee?
If you have had any exposure to specialty coffee you’ve probably heard some terms get thrown around without a firm understanding of what they really mean. Within the specialty coffee world there is a comically long list of acronyms and industry speak that can sometimes feel like trying to learn…
Troubleshooting Your Coffee Tasting Issues: Best Coffee for You
Our mission at MistoBox is to help people find their ideal coffee and over the years we’ve had more than 260,000 5-star reviews given for coffee we’ve sent to our customers. While we do get it right a lot, because coffee preferences are so particular to the individual, we have…
Milk in Coffee: When does it help and when does it hurt?
Everyone has a preference when it comes to how they take their coffee. In the world of specialty coffee there can be a negative stigma about adding milk to your brew, but in truth there are coffees that are enhanced by milk and coffees that are at odds with it.…
Coffee Brewing Methods Compared: How Should You Brew Coffee at Home?
In The Science of Brewing Coffee, we covered the different brewing variables (time, temperature, grind, turbulence, filter) that contribute to coffee extraction and how each impacts the taste of coffee. The type of equipment or device used to brew coffee will also have a significant impact on the way the…
The Science of Brewing Coffee
By the time a coffee arrives at your doorstep, it has traveled a long distance and has been transformed from an agricultural product into freshly roasted beans ready to be ground and brewed. We recognize the effort, time, and energy that goes into making the decisions about things like growing…
The Impact of Roasting on Coffee Flavors & Taste
Roasting is the final stage of a coffee’s complex journey from an agricultural product to a roasted bean that is ready to be ground, brewed, and enjoyed. We refer to coffee beans that have not yet been roasted as “green beans”, which get their name from their greenish hue. Before…
What influences the taste of coffee?
Once you have a baseline understanding of what taste is and how to begin tasting specialty coffee you may begin to wonder how coffee becomes so dynamic and what factors influence the taste of coffee. Are you curious why you taste a hint of citrus? Maybe you have begun to…
Strong vs Rich vs Bold Coffee: What’s the difference?
As coffee lovers, we are constantly subjected to marketing ploys where large coffee commodity companies have excelled in utilizing words such as “rich”, “strong”, “bold”, and “full-bodied” to describe coffee and influence our thinking for years. The terms are alluring, but what do they actually mean? Truthfully it varies widely…
Guide to Coffee Cupping: Refine Your Coffee Tasting Skills at Home
In our previous post, we sought to better understand what taste is and the vocabulary used to describe it, which can sometimes feel like trying to learn a new language. What we love about third-wave specialty coffee is that deeper appreciation isn’t just for baristas or professional tasters anymore. Anyone…