May 1st, 2013

Philz Coffee Raises Eight-Figure Round From Summit, Angels, As Specialty Coffee Market Heats Up

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I’ve found that when people visit San Francisco, it’s not unusual to hear them ask something like: “No seriously, is there a coffee shop on every block in this city?” Yes, San Francisco likes coffee. So do a lot of cities. Busy people thrive on coffee, especially in the tech industry. In fact, some would even say that a substantial amount of coffee is an essential ingredient to success. → Read More

November 26th, 2012

Gift Guide: Krups EA82 Automatic Coffee/Espresso Maker

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People like coffee. People like coffeemakers. People like coffeemakers that make great coffee. That’s why you should look into the EA82, Krups’ fanciest coffee maker, an all-automatic espresso and long coffee maker that makes a nearly perfect cup with your own beans nearly every time. It’s probably one of the best home, push-button coffee makers I’ve ever used. → Read More

December 16th, 2011

Review: Krups EA82 Automatic Espresso Maker Makes You Love To Love It

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I was about to add this coffee maker (excuse me: espresso maker) to the Luddite gift guide but instead I felt it deserved special mention. As a fan of pod-based coffee-makers, I love almost everything about the EA82 – except its price.

This thing is a dense block of coffee-creation goodness. Operation is simple – add some water, whole beans, and a cup. You select the type of coffee – espresso… → Read More

August 8th, 2011

This Sexy Coffee Gadget Probably Won’t Ever Exist

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What is it? A laser cutter? A mod photo enlarger? A microscope? A tattoo remover? Nope, it’s a coffee maker, but an extremely svelte coffee maker. In fact, I imagine this little Nespresso-friendly caffeine inducer would look pretty sweet in your typical “ice hotel” or ad agency lobby.

Clearly, we’ve come a long way since days of yore when a Cuisinart was enough you get you by in the couture… → Read More

June 16th, 2011

Kone 2: Non-Electric Roastaroo

All right, so the headline is kind of a stretch. Let’s just say mistakes were made, and move on, yeah? You might have heard about the Kone, a metal replacement for paper coffee filters. It’s been making waves over the last year or so, but no product is perfect (even a perforated metal cone), and they’ve made some changes to the hardware that I’m pretty excited about. → Read More

May 4th, 2011

Stovetop Espresso Goes To The Dark Side

I was perusing NotCot’s roundup of non-electric coffee gear and spotted Darth Stovetop here. I talked about this old-school method of making espresso here (delicious and difficult), but in case you like your coffee and your coffee-maker black, this one from Valira might be right up your alley. At €36.50 it’s rather more than its Bialetti equivalent, and replacement parts might be… → Read More

March 29th, 2011

Kickstarter: Coffee Joulies Are Temperature Regulators For Your Java

Some people love the hot coffee. Love the hot. People order their americanos “extra hot” so the baristas will put out water at higher than the 180 degrees they aim at. Madness! Personally, I have to let it cool down a bit — but ideally, you want to drink the coffee as soon as possible to get the full flavor. Enter the Coffee Joulie. → Read More

January 26th, 2011

Just In Time For Trenta: Send Your Facebook Friends Starbucks Card eGifts

Starbucks, the coffee giant, has just launched an electronic gift card program called Starbucks Card eGifts. There’s two primary ways to top-up your (or your friends’) gift cards. The first is simplest, and that’s by going to the Starbucks Web site and telling it which e-mail address to send the funds to. Nothing too complicated there, and you can specify whether to send a predetermined amount… → Read More

January 14th, 2011

Croatian Coffee Cafe Caters To iPad People

When you go into a coffee shop anymore, isn’t it just full of iPads, others tabs, and coffee labs? These days, many of us aren’t looking to newspaper as a source of breaking and premium content; instead we’d rather know what conflict @kanyewest or @michaelarrington have gotten into. → Read More

December 26th, 2010

Yeah, So This Exists: A Coffee Cozy Wallet

Bread and circuses, friends. Bread and circuses. → Read More

July 30th, 2010

Keurig Could Put RFID Chips In Their Coffee Pods

According to an FCC filing, the folks at Keurig (they basically make a single serving coffee machine) could be adding RFID tags to their pods in order to allow the machine to sense the type of coffee being placed into the device. This would, in turn, allow the machine to change temperature, milk type, and whatever else the coffee requires. → Read More

May 4th, 2010

Mocca Pearl concept: espresso in the wilderness

Okay, it’s an egg-shaped version of the Moka Express stovetop espresso thing. So far so good. But how do you pick it up? → Read More

March 22nd, 2010

Low-tech coffee: it's the way to go

In the kitchen, the gadgets and objects that we use can be roughly divided into two categories: the ones that do something, and the ones that make something easier. It isn’t a judgment on their value, but a simple and fact-based division. A pan, of course, does something, as does a blender. But a Slap Chop or juicer: they don’t exactly have a purpose so much as they take something… → Read More

February 16th, 2010

MugStir is a spoon that hangs on a mug

Crowdsourcing. It’s so hot right now. Case in point, this crowdsourced spoon. It’s called the MugStir and you can pre-order three for $7.50. Developed by the Quirky community, it’s the 28th product from the crowdsourcing site. → Read More

January 13th, 2010

Finally! USB-powered latte foamer

When I first saw this, I thought to myself, “Wow, that is wonderfully stupid.” But then after remembering my days working in an actual office, it doesn’t seem quite as insane. I mean, you’ve got a computer right there in your cube. And, what, you’re going to lug a big espresso machine into the office? No! Make this DIY latte foamer with $4 worth of parts. → Read More

December 14th, 2009

Woot! Gevalia G90 coffee maker for $10

Go ahead and file this deal under “aggressive” as Woot.com is selling the Gevalia G90 coffee maker for just $10 plus $5 shipping. This is a pod-style coffee maker – easy cleanup, quick brew time – that normally sells elsewhere for $35 and up. → Read More

October 9th, 2009

This is a voice guided coffee maker. Yes, you read that right.

You know which sector has been aching for interactive voice command features? Coffee makers. For instance, if I were to set the timer on my own personal coffee maker, I’d have to press the timer button, select the time I want the coffee to brew, and then press the timer button again to set it. That’s two button presses with some button holding in between! → Read More

August 31st, 2009

Brunton's Flip N' Drip makes camping more coffee-tastic

If you find yourself in the overlapping section of the Venn diagram containing people who like camping and people who like coffee, you may very well begin figuring out how you’re going to find $45 to buy Brunton’s Flip N’ Drip Coffee Maker when it comes out next February. → Read More

August 13th, 2009

iFixit breaks down… a Starbucks Barista espresso machine

I bet you thought iFixit only tore apart Apple products and high-profile electronics. Not so! The Starbucks Barista is in fact not a barista but a machine that makes espresso. You could argue that’s what real baristas are as well, but we can talk about that another time. The Barista espresso machine is a good representative of the home-espresso machine world, and it isn’t some cheap piece of… → Read More

July 13th, 2009

Golfers Mug combines coffee and putting

Ah the Golfers Mug: such a simple idea. Drink your coffee and then lay the mug on the floor flat-side down for a little putting practice before you tackle the day ahead. → Read More

May 14th, 2009

In-wall coffeemaker from Siemens: functional but seems drastic

As a Seattle resident, I can confirm that people here do love coffee. But I see remarkably few people with modern espresso machines in their homes. A drip machine here, a Melitta there, and very occasionally (mainly in my apartment) a stovetop espresso maker. Still, I don’t think anyone would object to having this attractive coffee station embedded in their wall. Perhaps in the bedroom? → Read More

March 28th, 2009

Wrist cuff doubles as coffee sleeve

I looove your fashionable wrist cuff! Thanks, it doubles as a coffee sleeve! Wow, that’s incredibly weird! Thanks, I know!

If you really love coffee and you really love the environment (though not enough to bring your own mug to Starbucks) might I suggest this handmade $65 black walnut veneer wrist cuff that serves double duty as hand-protecting coffee sleeve? → Read More

December 18th, 2008

Weasel puked coffee may be good, or will make you want to vomit

Weasel puked coffee from Vietnam: picked and regurgitated by a weasel. Why puked coffee, you ask? The weasel (a type of civet) likes to eat the fruit of the coffee plant, but the seeds don’t agree with their stomachs, so the weasel vomits them up. The resulting coffee beans produce coffee that is purported to have a “surprising delicious chocolatey taste.” So if you’re… → Read More

November 24th, 2008

Excelsior! Windows XP-powered coffee maker

Humanity has finally arrived. After so many false starts—Ancient Egypt, Classical Athens, Caesarian Rome, Catholic Spain, Napoleonic France, Victorian England, to say nothing of the Asian empires—we now look to Finland, the epitome of civilization. Yes, there’s now a Windows-powered coffee maker. Windows XP, even. It even has an 8-inch touchscreen, for touching. That you can… → Read More

November 4th, 2008

CrunchDeals: Free tall cup of coffee from Starbucks today

  Starbucks is giving out a free tall cup of its delightful brew today for anyone that asks for it. Originally, the coffee shop simply asked that you come in and tell the lady or gent behind the counter that you voted and then you will get a free cup but that is illegal in some states as it can be construed as a gift for voting. So now all you need to do is stroll in to your local Starbucks… → Read More

September 2nd, 2008

IFA 2008 Overload: Home Appliances

IFA 2008 offers the curious spectator an awful lot to look at.  There are hundreds of televisions, computers, projectors, stereos, navigation systems, MP3 players, and all other manner of gadget covered by CrunchGear, from all the brand names you know and love.  But this year’s IFA introduced a new set of products to the show: so-called “white goods”.  Things like… → Read More

August 15th, 2008

New Senseo machines use milk for fancy coffee drinks

Coffee snobs will likely tell you that Philips’ Senseo coffee makers can’t make a decent cup of coffee compared to $10,000+ professional-grade coffee brewers. That’s probably true and I’m not a coffee snob. I had the original Senseo machine way back when it came out and the coffee it was able to make was good enough to keep me from spending $3 a day for a cup of black gold from my nearby… → Read More

June 25th, 2008

Horrors: No more iTunes cards at Starbucks

The joy of walking into a Starbucks and buying a CD or copping an iTunes gift card along with a venti iced coffee is over! The coffee chain, which has hit a bit of a rough patch, will no longer sell CDs or offer iTunes gift cards at its retail locations. It will still offer free Wi-Fi, though, so don’t freak out too much. Not enough people were buying CDs at stores to make it worth the… → Read More

June 2nd, 2008

Starbucks to give away free Wi-Fi tomorrow

Starbucks will give away Wi-Fi starting tomorrow, June 3. Or: When you register your Starbucks Card and use it at least once a month, you’ll receive two consecutive hours a day of complimentary Wi-Fi, courtesy of AT&T. Not much to complain about here, really. Buy an elitist latte once in a while, and check the headlines. Like, say, that Mourinho is officially at Inter Milan. And it’s… → Read More

May 28th, 2008

Be careful with those energy drinks, coders: May encourage 'risky' behavior!

Might want to find something other than Red Bull or Cocaine for those up-all-night coding sessions, fellers. It seems they may not be too healthy for you, and they may encourage “risky” behavior. Oh my! The Journal of American College Health recently published a study that shows a strong link between the consumption of energy drinks—Red Bull, Amp, Monster, Cocaine, etc.—and… → Read More