Pu’er Coffee

 When you’re out visiting cafés, have you noticed that many of them now prefer using zhukou cups for milk-based drinks? They’re especially popular for flat whites. Whether in terms of volume or latte art control, zhukou cups just seem to work beautifully. As a result, the term “zhukou cup” has quickly become a hot search keyword in online shopping. Simply put, the defining characteristics of a zhukou cup are that it’s short, sturdy, and compact. The walls usually go straight up or taper slightly inward at the rim. Most are made of ceramic with relatively thick walls. Visually, they look squat and charming—almost like a small barrel. The walls are nearly vertical, the base is wide, and the opening is generous. These are cups you naturally cradle in your hands, and they’re essentially designed as professional vessels for showcasing milk drinks with latte art. So why is this shape such a perfect match for milk coffee? Let’s break it down. If you’re currently debating which cup to u...

 While ordering a straight espresso isn’t all that common in many coffee shops in China, the scene looks very different abroad—especially in Europe. There, starting the morning with a single espresso is almost second nature. If you pay close attention, you’ll notice that an espresso is almost always served with a small glass of water and a spoon. This pairing has become an unwritten standard in cafés around the world. Today, let’s talk about why such a small cup of coffee comes with a glass of water and a spoon—and what roles they actually play. The Role of the Glass of Water Let’s start with the water, which is relatively easy to understand. No matter what kind of coffee you order, a glass of water is often considered an essential part of good café service. Beyond simply quenching your thirst, its most important function is to cleanse your palate. Espresso is intensely aromatic and concentrated. Taking a sip of water before your first taste helps wash away lingering flavors fro...

 Be honest—do you do this too? Every time you buy coffee beans, the first thing you look for is the roast date. As long as it’s fresh, you feel safe. If the “best before” date is still a month away, into the cart it goes. If there’s only two weeks left, doubt immediately kicks in. Stop. Put that bag down. Here’s a little secret: the date on the bag is just the coffee’s birth certificate . What truly determines whether a coffee will surprise you—or disappoint you—are several far more important details that most people overlook. Learn to read them, and your coffee-buying skills will instantly level up. Your wallet and your taste buds will thank you. 1. Origin & Processing Method Let me ask you something: Why does someone from Northeast China sound completely different from someone speaking Cantonese? Coffee works the same way. Its “accent”—in other words, its flavor—has already been shaped by where it comes from. That small line of text on the bag, like “Ethiopia ...

 Cold brew, as the name suggests, is coffee made with cold water at low temperatures. The most common method is to soak ground coffee in room-temperature water, refrigerate it, and wait for the cold water to slowly pull out the flavors. After steeping, simply filter out the grounds and you’re done. But here’s something fun: cold brew doesn’t have to be made with room-temperature water. You can actually make it with ice water —a mix of ice cubes and water brewed together with the coffee grounds. The big question is: Does it taste better? Two Ways to Make Cold Brew For this comparison, I made two batches of cold brew—one with room-temperature water and one with ice water. I kept all other variables as consistent as possible so I could really taste the difference. 1. Room-Temperature Cold Brew I used my Colombian “Big Belly Button” beans, measured out 20g, and ground them to a coarse, sugar-like texture. Using a 20-mesh sieve, the grind had an 80% pass rate. (For reference: EK43s...

 Mahlkönig has now officially expanded into both the commercial and home-use espresso equipment markets. With their new auxiliary tools joining the lineup, the brand’s ecosystem is becoming more complete than ever. Personally, I think this entire product strategy is an excellent business decision. With years of deeply rooted technical credibility and the highly trusted “Made in Germany” reputation, Mahlkönig’s espresso expertise—originally built for cafés—can now be applied directly to a home “coffee corner.” For any household coffee lover, that’s a hard temptation to resist. Previously, I mentioned that when Mahlkönig launched their home espresso machines and grinders, their core mission was to build an intelligent and stable “technical platform.” Their devices connect to each other through the Sync system, which you can think of as a built-in Wi-Fi style IoT network. The newly released Sync Scale is designed to work with this system, allowing the scale to communicate with both es...

 When it comes to pour-over coffee, the dripper is the heart of the entire setup. Once you decide to start brewing at home, choosing the right dripper becomes essential. But with so many designs and materials on the market—and each promising a different brewing effect—newcomers often don’t know where to start. So today, I’ll break down the real differences between the major types of drippers and show you how to choose the one that fits your taste and brewing style. And don’t worry—if you still feel unsure after learning all this, I’ll also give you a few foolproof recommendations at the end! 1. Powder Bed Structure Although drippers vary widely in shape and appearance, the mainstream designs fall into three categories : Cone-shaped drippers Flat-bottom drippers Fan-shaped drippers Their main difference lies in how the coffee grounds sit inside, which directly affects extraction and flavor. Cone-Shaped Drippers Cone drippers look like a funnel—narrow at the bottom a...

 As mentioned earlier, most cases of channeling occur due to improper handling. So if we want to minimize the chances of channeling, it’s worth taking a look at the following points and see which ones you may need to improve. 1. Uneven Distribution of Coffee Grounds Distribution and tamping are the two key steps before pulling an espresso shot, and the correctness of these steps is directly tied to the likelihood of channeling. Let’s start with distribution. The purpose of distributing the coffee grounds is simple: spread the grounds evenly across every corner of the portafilter basket. Only when the grounds are evenly placed can the puck create consistent resistance throughout, preventing hot water from concentrating on a single area during extraction. Although the goal is simple, many people still trigger channeling frequently because they don’t distribute properly. Some want to save time, others assume distribution isn’t important, so they casually swipe the grounds to “get it ...

 Sometimes you might just want a small cup of coffee—maybe for a special blend, or simply to enjoy a few sips without going all in. Every now and then, friends tell me they want to “brew a small cup using just a few grams of beans.” But if you’ve actually tried it, you’ll probably agree: brewing a good cup with a small dose of coffee is much harder than brewing with a regular amount. Just recently, a friend told me he tried making coffee with only 5 grams of beans, but no matter what he did, it just didn’t taste right. The flavor and body were completely different from what he’d get using a normal dose. So, why is it so hard to brew coffee with such a small amount of beans? The short answer: the smaller the dose, the more brewing challenges you’ll run into. Why Small-Dose Brewing Is Tricky In a previous post, I mentioned that each dripper design has its own “sweet spot” for optimal coffee dose. For example, the Hario V60 01 dripper works best with about 10–20 grams of coffee, ...