News

Home Barista Training: Make Better Coffee at Home
At B’spoke we offer Home Coffee making training in the areas of M19, SK4, SK5 and SK1 Greater Manchester. Whether this is for espresso machine (including Sage machines), AeroPress (including inverted methods and iced coffee), Pour Overs, French Press and Moka Pots. Have you found that your morning coffee can often be weak or bitter. This is the importance of using a specific recipe for the job. The training we offer will consist of concentrating on one of the main coffee making methods. We will look at grind size for... Read more...
The Truth About Compostable Cups
Or rather Nick’s ramble about disposable coffee cups  Compostable cups seem to be much more common place now, places specifically marketing that they have them in to become a much more sustainable cafe/coffee house. It’s certainly a step in right direction, but it’s not the whole story. Firstly, which we won’t go into much here, it’s only one of the many questionable environmental issues we face in food and drink industry – electricity, food waste, water, plastic bottles, transport. Secondly, and what we will concentrate on here, what does compostable... Read more...
Sustainability in Speciality Coffee
I wrote this in 2016 after the third Manchester Coffee Festival; I am only now publishing. Not really re-edited it and I guess some of my thoughts may be different now. Always was a brain dump more than anything else. Anyhow, still a piece that can get us thinking about sustainability in speciality coffee. I’ve included some thoughts from Vegware’s Kate Chambers from 2017. What I’ve learnt, what I’ve discovered, what I’m thinking So the big thing in the news is the amount of non-recyclable disposable cups that just go... Read more...
Easy Aeropress Method
The Aeropress is an inexpensive piece of kit for making great smooth, clean tasting coffee.However, go to a speciality coffee house and you could pay £3-4 for a brew. There are hundreds of Aeropress recipes; this 'inverse' method is one I picked up at CoffeeFix in Gatley when I worked there. What you'll need:An AeropressA empty Bonne Maman jam jar16 grams of coffee beansA grinderElectronic scalesTimerKettleMethod Boil about 500ml of water in kettle, pour it into inverted Aeropress & then your cup to heat them, pour in jam jar with... Read more...
French Press Method
I’m sure that many coffee-lovers have a Cafetiere (or The French Press) at home.  However, is the coffee you make in it – tasty or a bit weak and bitter?  Do you find that cleaning it is a bit of a bind?  Well let’s look at how a coffee house would prepare your Cafetiere at the table. These are the things you’ll needs: A Cafetiere (each size is designed to make a specific amount of coffee ; more about this later) Coffee beans (or ground coffee) Kettle Scales 2 desert... Read more...