News
Coffee machine energy class: what actually changes in 2026
Look at the box of any coffee machine on a shop shelf. Wattage. Usually a pump pressure in bar. Sometimes an "eco" mode. No coloured arrow with a letter in it.
Julien Mercier
Your guide to espresso machines, grinders and coffee at home
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News
Julien Mercier
Office coffee machine: what changes compared with home
An office coffee machine and the one sitting in your kitchen perform the exact same gesture. They don't solve the same problem. At home you pick the beans, the grind, the moment. At work nobody picks anything: the thing is there, it runs from eight in the morning until six, and the only real...
Julien Mercier
News
Recyclable coffee pods: what the EU's 2026 rules change
The words "recyclable coffee pods" on a box tell you far less than they look like they do. Two separate rules landed on coffee capsules this year and almost nobody keeps them apart: an EU regulation about how packaging is designed, and a French sorting change about which bin the capsule goes in....
Camille Laurent
Bean-to-cup or capsules: the real cost per cup over 3 years
Updated 28/08/2026. Machine prices taken from Amazon.fr on 28/08/2026; coffee prices come from the sources linked below.
Julien Mercier
News
Brazil coffee tariffs: why Europe feels it too
On 6 August 2025, Washington slapped a 50% surcharge on Brazilian coffee. Thirteen months later, those coffee tariffs are gone for green and roasted beans. And yet nobody in Europe has watched their bag of beans get cheaper.
Élodie Fontaine
Tips
Bottomless portafilter: what it actually shows you
A bottomless portafilter doesn't make your espresso better. It takes the spout off, and the spout was hiding what your puck had already been doing. Diagnostic window, not a performance part, which is probably why it disappoints plenty of buyers.
Julien Mercier
News
Bean-to-cup coffee machine on Black Friday 2026: should you wait?
Black Friday 2026 lands on Friday 27 November. If you've been eyeing a bean-to-cup coffee machine since the summer, here's the real question: does the discount reflect an actual price drop?
Élodie Fontaine
Tips
What water for an espresso machine? Hardness, filters and limescale
The reflex "the softer the water, the better" is wrong. It's the first thing to fix when you're choosing water for an espresso machine: too hard and it furs up the heating circuit, too soft and it under-extracts into a flat cup.
Julien Mercier
Guides
The E61 group head: why this block of brass is on nearly every prosumer machine
Open any espresso retailer's catalogue and the same part keeps appearing from one brand to the next: a heavy block of chrome-plated brass topped by a lever you lift with your hand. Machines that share neither price, nor manufacturer, nor heating architecture carry this component identically. That...
Élodie Fontaine
Guides
Milk pitcher size and shape: how the jug changes your latte art
The milk pitcher is the accessory people buy last and choose worst. You take the biggest one "to keep your options open", or the one with the sharpest spout because every latte art video features one. Both reasons pick the wrong criterion.
Julien Mercier
Guides
Flushing Before the Shot: The Routine Most Machines Actually Ask For
"Flush for five seconds before you pull." The advice is everywhere, and it is wrong about half the time — not because the action is bad, but because the word "flushing" covers three operations with different purposes, different effects, and wildly different importance depending on which machine...
Camille Laurent
Guides
How to Store Coffee Beans: What Actually Ruins Them (and the Habits That Backfire)
Learning how to store coffee beans comes down to limiting four attacks — oxygen, moisture, heat and light — and they do not carry anything like the same weight. Oxygen dominates the ranking by a wide margin, which is why so much storage advice misses the point: it fixates on the dark cupboard...
Élodie Fontaine
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