Your guide to espresso machines, grinders and coffee at home

Élodie Fontaine October 29, 2026 4 min read

Coffee Bean Advent Calendar 2026: What to Check First

None of the French retailer pages checked on 10 October 2026 mentions a roast date. Yet a coffee bean advent calendar is 24 sealed sachets that sit around for weeks. Before "beans or ground", two questions: roasted when, and packed how?

Julien Mercier October 27, 2026 5 min read

EquipHotel 2026: which pro coffee innovations belong at home?

A hospitality trade show has, on paper, nothing to say to someone pulling two espressos a day in their kitchen. But pro equipment is often where an idea gets proven before a home version shows up. So here's a radar on EquipHotel 2026, running 2 to 5 November at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles.

Julien Mercier October 25, 2026 4 min read

Brussels Coffee Show 2026: which day should you go?

The Brussels Coffee Show 2026 runs on 6, 7 and 8 November at the Gare Maritime, on the Tour & Taxis site in Brussels, according to the official show website. The weekend is open to the general public according to Fever and Belgique Insolite, so that includes you, even if your only espresso comes...

Camille Laurent October 21, 2026 4 min read

World of Coffee Panama 2026: home espresso watchlist

As of 7 October 2026, the official World of Coffee Panama 2026 page doesn't name a new home espresso machine. That may change before the doors open. For now, a booth logo shows that someone booked floor space; it doesn't prove a finished product or a release in France and the wider EU.

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Coffee Bean Advent Calendar 2026: What to Check First

Élodie Fontaine Oct 29 4 min read

EquipHotel 2026: which pro coffee innovations belong at home?

Julien Mercier Oct 27 5 min read

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Espresso puck screen: useful accessory or more washing up?

A puck screen may be worth adding if keeping grounds off the shower screen matters to you and you don't mind washing another part. With an already crowded basket, or a routine that needs fewer cleaning steps, going without is a reasonable choice.

Julien Mercier Nov 06 3 min read

Dose coffee without a scale using reliable markers

You can dose coffee without a scale more consistently, but you can't read exact grams from a scoop, fill line, timer or puck height. The realistic goal is narrower: reduce dose variation while keeping whole-bean volume separate from ground-coffee volume. That still won't make the whole extraction...

Élodie Fontaine Nov 04 3 min read

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Bean-to-cup coffee machine warranty: what it really covers (and what it doesn't)

"2-year warranty." It's printed on almost every spec sheet, and on its own it tells you very little. What a bean-to-cup coffee machine warranty actually covers depends on which of three protections you mean, and they share neither a duration, nor a counterparty, nor a price. Two of them are free....

Élodie Fontaine Sep 14 8 min read

Water hardness, alkalinity and TDS: coffee explained

Your water has to do two things that pull against each other. Enough minerals to actually drag flavour out of the coffee, and few enough that the machine doesn't scale up. Because those two demands run in opposite directions, the numbers you find online never line up: a filter brand quotes °dH, a...

Camille Laurent Sep 13 9 min read

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Julien Mercier Nov 06 3 min read

Espresso puck screen: useful accessory or more washing up?

Élodie Fontaine Nov 04 3 min read

Dose coffee without a scale using reliable markers

Élodie Fontaine Nov 02 3 min read

Decaf espresso: reset your grind without guesswork

Switch bags, leave the grinder alone, and a decaf espresso may suddenly run faster than your usual coffee. That happens, but probably not with every decaf. Keep dose and beverage weight fixed first. The flow gives you a useful direction without pretending there’s one magic decaf setting.

Élodie Fontaine Oct 31 4 min read

Pressurized Basket or Not: What Changes on Your Espresso Machine

Thick brown foam in the cup, even with coffee ground three weeks ago? On an entry-level machine, the pressurized basket that came in the box has a lot to do with it, and your grind far less. It forgives your mistakes. It also hides them.

Élodie Fontaine Oct 29 4 min read

Coffee Bean Advent Calendar 2026: What to Check First

Julien Mercier Oct 27 5 min read

EquipHotel 2026: which pro coffee innovations belong at home?

Julien Mercier Oct 25 4 min read

Brussels Coffee Show 2026: which day should you go?

Guides

Lever espresso machine: Flair, ROK or La Pavoni?

A machine without a pump can still have a plug, an electric heater and a pressurised boiler. That distinction catches buyers out. Under the label “lever espresso machine”, the Flair 58 Plus 2, ROK EspressoGC Classic PLUS and La Pavoni Europiccola LPLELQ01EU use three quite different systems for...

Julien Mercier Oct 23 11 min read

Camille Laurent Oct 21 4 min read

World of Coffee Panama 2026: home espresso watchlist

Julien Mercier Oct 19 4 min read

Coffee and atrial fibrillation: what DECAF found

The debate over coffee and atrial fibrillation now has a randomized trial behind it, but the finding is narrower than many headlines suggest. DECAF didn't test whether coffee protects everyone. It studied people who already drank coffee and had returned to sinus rhythm after successful...