All posts tagged: Coffee

6 Best Coffee Grinders Based on Particle Analysis and Tasting (2026)

6 Best Coffee Grinders Based on Particle Analysis and Tasting (2026)

Published by skeptic

Compare Our Top 5 Grinders Best Budget Coffee Grinders As mentioned above, the best bang for your buck will always be a hand grinder like my favorite, the Kingrinder K6 manual coffee grinder ($109). A precisely machined manual coffee grinder can rival coffee grinders many hundreds of dollars more expensive, both in precision and durability. And so the best manual coffee grinder will also be the budget option that’ll lead to the best coffee. I’ve personally come to love the routine and the control. But I get it. You’ll happily grind your pepper with the best pepper grinder, but you draw the line at grinding coffee. Mornings are hard. Electricity helps. These are the budgetiest of budget electric coffee grinder options for each style of brew, all blessedly hands-off. None of these will lead to the clarity of flavors or sweetness or delicacy of our top picks. But they’re the absolute lowest-cost devices we recommend for each category of brew. Best Budget Coffee Grinder for Drip Coffee Photograph: Matthew Korfhage Oxo Compact Conical Burr Grinder …

Keurig Alta First-Look: No More Plastic K-Cups

Keurig Alta First-Look: No More Plastic K-Cups

Published by skeptic

Whatever your thoughts are on how the perfect cup should be made, for nearly 50 million homes in the US (and not counting the many more in offices), Keurig is coffee. For almost 30 years, we’ve been trained to ditch the old drip-coffee maker for disposable single-serve pods. But now, Keurig wants us to leave (eventually) the K-Cup and embrace the AltaRounds pod, a compostable, compressed coffee round that works the same: Drop it into the machine, press a button or two, and out comes joe. During a presentation in New York City, Phil Drapeau, Keurig’s senior vice president of Future Coffee Systems, said customers wanted more than brewed coffee. They wanted to make fancy espresso drinks, from simple cappuccinos to salted caramel concoctions I sampled at the event (PSL fans, rejoice). But to do so, Keurig needed to invent an entirely new system. “We wouldn’t be able to do any of that with K-Cup,” Drapeau says. “It will fail. You have to brew it at the right temperature and extract. You can’t be constrained …

Best coffee machine 2026, tried and tested for cafe-quality cups

Best coffee machine 2026, tried and tested for cafe-quality cups

Published by Sam Flores

I admit it: I’m a coffee snob. In fact, both my husband and I are – he even more so, in fact – so we demand quite a lot from a machine that makes it at home. It was timely, then, that I was commissioned to review the best coffee machines just as our trusty old Nespresso – a pod model – gave up the ghost. After a decade of producing coffees that got us through the best (and worst) of times (hangovers and deadlines included), I was curious how coffee machines had moved on since our last investment, and what innovations they now boast. Luckily, Isabella Forgione, small appliance expert at AO.com, was on hand to remind me of the basics – and talk me through the advances. “Coffee machines are designed to brew coffee quickly and conveniently at home,” she explains. “Many modern machines range from simple pod-based models through to advanced bean-to-cup machines that grind fresh beans and create barista-style drinks such as cappuccinos, lattes and flat whites.” Best coffee machines at …

I Found National Coffee Day Deals Worth Making Coffee at Home For (2026)

I Found National Coffee Day Deals Worth Making Coffee at Home For (2026)

Published by skeptic

For some reason, September 29 is a popular date for holidays. Happy Goose Day, Poisoned Blackberries Day, and Attend Your Grandchild’s Birthday Day to those who celebrate. But I personally will be celebrating National Coffee Day. (Not to be confused with International Coffee Day, which is the day after tomorrow.) Created by the National Coffee Association around 2009, National Coffee Day used to be known for free and discounted coffee from places like Dunkin’ and Panera, but most big chains this year seem to be going with new releases rather than discounts. (See: Krispy Kreme’s coffee-flavored donuts and Starbucks’ new aerocano.) If you’re looking for deals, you might have to make your own coffee at home this year. Luckily, we’ve found some legitimately good sales—as good or even better than those seen during recent shopping holidays—to make this an occasion worth raising a mug to. Love WIRED? Add us as a preferred source on Google to see more of us. Deals From Atlas Coffee Club Photograph: Matthew Korfhage Photograph: Matthew Korfhage Photograph: Matthew Korfhage Atlas Coffee Club Coffee …

AeroPress Unveils a Coffee Press Made of Luscious Walnut Wood

AeroPress Unveils a Coffee Press Made of Luscious Walnut Wood

Published by skeptic

Ahead of National Coffee Day on Tuesday and just weeks after dropping a stainless steel version of its iconic coffee press, AeroPress released its walnut collection, marking the first time the company has launched a wood design.  Known for its three-in-one brew method that combines immersion like a French press, aeration like a pour-over and air pressure like an espresso machine to give you your java in under two minutes, AeroPress’s walnut collection is an extension of the brand’s premium line and includes both a brewer and a manual grinder in solid, clear-grade walnut.  Why walnut? A representative for AeroPress told CNET that because the brewer and grinder are tactile products, the company has been interested in using wood for quite some time. They settled on walnut for its warm tone that contrasts nicely with the final design’s darker finishes. A warm walnut was chosen to complement the new darker finishes.AeroPress What else has changed?  Like the other brewers in the premium collection, the walnut version is still made of 304 stainless steel, aluminum and …

Should you bring iced coffee to a job interview? Question brews generational debate

Should you bring iced coffee to a job interview? Question brews generational debate

Published by Sam Flores

What started as a conversation about job interview tips online escalated into a generational debate over whether it’s taboo to show up with an iced coffee to talk to a potential employer. The discourse over the caffeinated beverage gained momentum on TikTok this week after a creator, who goes by @caitlinrecruiter on the platform, shared a video in which she said she believes “when you show up with an iced coffee or an iced latte that this interview is just a stop on your list of errands for the day.” “It looks a little too casual to me,” she said in the video, which she posted Sept. 16. Caitlin Wehniainen, whose profile states she has 16 years of recruiting experience, has just over 1,000 followers on TikTok. But in the last week, her video has been clipped and recirculated by dozens of creators online, who engaged in a heated back-and-forth about whether she’s right. The divide seemed to primarily be between younger and older users — with the former group suggesting Wehniainen’s tip “makes no …

10 Best Coffee Subscriptions (2026), Tested by Caffeine Hounds

10 Best Coffee Subscriptions (2026), Tested by Caffeine Hounds

Published by skeptic

Retailer. Delivery: Variety packs or single-varietal packs arrive once every four weeks. Best Coffee Subscription for Rare Beans: Bean & Bean Courtesy of Bean and Bean Bean & Bean Coffee Subscription Bean & Bean sources some of the rarest and most precious coffee beans on the planet, and roasts them to delicate fruition. There are only about 400 certified Q Graders in the United States—basically, the master sommeliers of coffee. Two of them are the mother-daughter team of Rachel and Jiyoon Han at New York’s Bean & Bean. Together, they roast some of the world’s most exquisite beans, like Geshas from Taiwan and honey-milled Cup of Excellence winners from El Salvador. You can shop these bags individually. But the more fun option is to let the Hans surprise you with their favorite ridiculously rare light roast of the moment. It’s a more expensive subscription than some, and bag size may vary depending on the expense of each rare bean. But you have probably never tried coffee like the bag that will arrive at your stoop. …

Is it really unprofessional to bring an iced coffee to a job interview?

Is it really unprofessional to bring an iced coffee to a job interview?

Published by Daniella Wilson

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Every now and again, a trivial question pops up online that causes debate at both metaphorical and literal water coolers. Three years ago, it was how often (and why) men were thinking about the Roman Empire. The latest conundrum to get tongues wagging is a far more corporate query: would you take an iced coffee into a job interview? It might seem like an innocuous question but it’s one that has set the internet abuzz this week – and everyone has a firm view. Caitlin Wehniainen, a corporate recruiter who frequently shares work advice aimed at Gen Z on …

Is iced coffee really unprofessional at a job interview?

Is iced coffee really unprofessional at a job interview?

Published by Sam Flores

A few weeks ago, I met an acquaintance for coffee at a Cuban café attached to a downtown hostel, where people with backpacks of varying dimensions passed steadily through the lobby. He worked at a nearby university and had messaged me on LinkedIn saying he wanted to tell me about the campus and talk about teaching some night classes. Knowing academia and the speed at which it tends to move, I interpreted “talk about teaching” as something closer to perhaps someday, pending several committees and a minor geological event. I ordered a large black iced coffee in a clear plastic cup with a black straw. After sitting for a few minutes, he asked if we wanted to turn this into a walking meeting.  Somewhere between being handed a peel-and-stick visitor badge by a friendly security guard and being introduced to the dean with, “This is Ashlie, who I told you about,” I realized our casual coffee had become considerably more interview-shaped than I had anticipated. I, meanwhile, was carrying a sweating plastic cup. Thankfully, I …

A Barista’s Trick for Making Perfect Water for Coffee. Is It Worth It?

A Barista’s Trick for Making Perfect Water for Coffee. Is It Worth It?

Published by skeptic

Depending on where you live and what comes out of your tap, you may need to do damage control with the water that goes into your coffee machine, kettle, or French press. Water quality can greatly affect coffee outcomes, both by preventing off-flavors and aromas and by providing the right mineral composition to interact with the coffee’s aroma and flavor compounds. When I previously spoke with Jose Lepe, director of sourcing and quality control for Sightglass Coffee, about whether you might need to use filtered water for coffee, he pointed out that “water hardness is part of what is going to make your coffee taste right, so you need some of that minerality in coffee to help pull out the actual flavors.” The Best Drip Coffee Makers for 2026 High-end coffee shops typically use a water system that relies on reverse osmosis, which distills local water into its purest H2O form, then remineralizes it for the perfect balance. Not every major coffee city relies on a system like this, but in places like Los Angeles, …