In our last post, I discussed my idea for a crowdsourced list of coffee shops around the world, to help the tourist/traveler find the best cup of coffee in whatever town they might be in. Quite a few people decided to participate and our list started to grow.
I wanted to do something a little nicer than a google sheet. So I started working towards something a little more sophisticated. No claims other than I put a lot of effort into it.
I hope everyone enjoys the new site, and I hope the new version of the list continues to grow.
I am in multiple groups that discuss coffee on social media. I follow multiple coffee YouTube channels. I buy coffee tee-shirts. I spend hours a week in coffee shops.
I am a coffee nerd.
One of the things I run into quite often on social media is people asking the group, “I’m visiting (insert random city here). What coffee shops should I visit?”
I’ve seen it so often (and perhaps asked it once or twice myself), so I decided to try to curate a list. It’s a pretty simple project. If you have a shop you’d like to add to the list, fill out this form!
If you’re interested to see what shops are being recommended by our community, well, here it is!
In the middle of March, IKAPE contacted me and asked if I would be interested in trying out one of their products. After initially being a bit skeptical that IKAPE would be reaching out to me directly, I confirmed that the offer was legit and told them I’d be happy to try out anything they wanted to send me. Regardless of the way anything I review is obtained, I of course will give my honest impressions of the product.
Tampers. Man. For me, they are one of the first pieces of kit that can make or break the espresso making experience.
My first machine was a Breville Barista Express. While it is a great machine for many, I immediately wished I had gone the route of a separate grinder from the machine itself and I soon rectified that. However, the first time I touched the machine, I knew I was going to replace the tamper. I hated it. While the idea of attaching to the machine via a magnet was attractive, the cheap, light, plastic tamp just ruined the whole thing for me.
With that in mind, I’ve gone through several different tamps. My budget doesn’t allow for expensive ones like the Force or others in that price tier.
One of my first tamps was the IKAPE V3 58.35 calibrated tamper with the Walnut handle. I liked the look and feel of this tamper, and was very pleased with it. If I remember correctly, this tamp also provided a “click” when the 30lbs of pressure was reached and the spring was released. While my initial reaction to this tamper was positive, over time, my satisfaction became less as I was consistently finding that it didn’t fit my 58mm baskets tightly enough and a ring of espresso powder was left creeping up the sides of my basket.
I have tried several other baskets, and my current daily is a the Normcore V4 with a wooden handle. To be honest, it’s the only product from Normcore that I have liked and didn’t feel was overpriced, so when the new tamp arrived from IKAPE, I admit, I was a bit biased.
Upon opening the outer standard brown cardboard shipping box, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the IKAPE packaging of the V5 Impact Espresso Tamper. It comes in a nice black box that is pleasingly branded and feels a bit more posh than some items I’ve received from other brands. Upon opening the box, and removing the tamp, I was immediately saddened that the tamper disk was ridged.
Every tamper I’ve had thats had a ridged base has been an annoying experience. Coffee powder fills the ridges and due to static remains in the crevices even after the tamp is complete. No amount of RDT or tapping the tool after tamping has ever worked for me, and I’ve always had to resort to using a small brush to clean the face of the tamper. I loathe extra steps like this. After using this tamp daily for several weeks during which I’ve experienced ever atmospheric anomaly my area is likely to get, I am happy to say my experience with the Impact tamper completely upended my expectations. In the picture above, you can see minute amounts of coffee on the base. This is all that remains after multiple uses! I don’t know what IKAPE has done to keep the coffee from sticking, but whatever it is, it’s fantastic! For the first time I would consider buying a ridged tamper! I also like that the tamp is not coated with any process and appears to be a plain stainless steel, ridged disk.
The construction of this tamper is solid. While I generally prefer wooden handles on my espresso accessories, the minimalist design and metal touchpoints on this tamper appeal to me. The tamper does come with three springs that can easily be swapped out to set your desired tamp weight. I left the 30lb spring in as that correlated with my regular routine. The reason (I assume) this tamp is labeled the Impact, is that it has an auditory and sensory “click” when the puck has been tamped to the preset weight. It works quite well and the user would never be in doubt that the puck has been fully compressed to the desired weight.
Not everything is perfect with this tamp however. Although the stated size is 58.5mm, this tamp leaves a bit more coffee on the side of the basket than my regular 58.5mm tamp. To be honest, it’s not enough that I would find this to be an issue on a daily basis, but I did find it interesting. While I was impressed with the design, I do love the warmness of wood and wish there was an option for wooden accents (to my knowledge, there is not, though I could be wrong).
Even with these caveats, I do believe the IKAPE V5 Impact Espresso Tamper is a valid option for anyone that is looking to upgrade their espresso game without breaking the bank.
Rating: 1.75 out of 2 Ravens
Before you leave…. How would you like to own the IKAPE V5 Impact Espresso Tamper??
I am going to give one lucky reader the tamp reviewed above. I will send the tamp, free of charge, to anyone in the United States. If you live outside of the U.S., feel free to enter, but you will have to pay for the shipping to get the tamper to you. So, how do you register for the giveaway? Simply leave a comment! I will be choosing a name at random on Easter Sunday and will notify the winner via email in the week following.
Manufacturer: Turin Product: H40V2 Hand Grinder Price: Currently 99USD Vendor: Espresso Outlet
This is my first go with a hand grinder. Like many other things in life, I approached my coffee hobby backwards to many. Rather than enjoy drip and then specialty, I started with espresso and am now working my way backwards.
I was looking for a good hand grinder for a couple of months as I started preparing for pour-overs. I own a DF54 electric grinder, and I know many people use them for pour-overs, but I simply did not want to have to make large adjustments daily to go from an espresso drink in the morning to a pour-over in the afternoon/evening. I looked at a lot of different hand grinders.
I knew I wanted a stainless steel burr. I personally prefer not to have things coated in teflon etc, so that eliminated a few. I wanted external adjustments (something I initially took for granted) and for whatever reason, I wanted one that catch cup was easy to remove, but wouldn’t fall off.
Enter the H40V2. To be honest, I know nothing about the first version of this grinder. If you own it, and would like to comment on any changes between it and the V2, I’d love to see that. For me, this hit the sweet spot of everything I wanted in a hand grinder.
The H40 not only has a 40mm stainless steel conical burr with no chemical coating. The body is machined aluminum (or, if you prefer, aluminium), the sleeve on the upper barrel is textured and truly does provide a nice grip. It is simple to disassemble the grinder to clean and to zero the burrs. The crank does not fold down, but that was a non-issue for me. The catch cup is held on by magnets! I LOVE this feature. It truly is a pleasure to simply pop off the bottom when I am finished grinding. One of my favorite features (and one I wasn’t looking for), is the built in blind shaker. Once you’ve finished grinding, give the whole thing a couple of shakes (I personally slide my hand down to hold the upper and lower portions of the grinder for this part, just to be safe) and pull the lower section off. Unthread the bottom cap, and dose directly into your pour-over filter or portafilter. If you’re not a fan of blind shaker (heathen), then simply leave it out of the lower portion to begin with. With the threaded base, it truly is simply an option.
Conclusion: As coffee and espresso gear is fun to collect (some might say an addiction), I can’t claim I’ll never own another hand grinder. However, I can state without reservation that as well built and fun as the Turin H40V2 is to use, I don’t believe I’d ever need another one, and that’s a huge asset. I can’t think of anything I’d change in the design or function of this grinder and give it an enthusiastic Two Raven rating. Huginn and Muninn agree, great grinder at any price, a steal as listed.
Manufacturer: Turin Product: Electric Pour Over Kettle Current Price: 99USD Vendor: Espresso Outlet
Back in December, I was looking for an electric kettle. I had owned a cheap kettle I bought at Target for less than $40 dollars four or five years ago for making tea, but the heating element on it had died in less than a year. While I still enjoy a good cuppa tea, my primary reason for needing a new kettle was venturing into the world of pour over coffee.
My parents try to visit over the holidays in December, and my father enjoys a cup of coffee. I didn’t say a good cup of coffee. Really, I think he’d drink about anything. My grandmother would put on a large pot of coffee in the morning and drink it throughout the day, as it became more and more burnt.
As I don’t own a drip machine, I’d decided to broaden my experiences to incorporate pour overs before my folks arrived. I settled on the Hario V60 for several unimportant reasons. But I needed a kettle I could control my pour with. I watched James Hoffmann’s comparisons, and I spent hours looking at the Fellow Stagg EKG and others, but I just couldn’t justify the cost when I didn’t even know if I was going to use the thing more than one month a year.
Enter the Turin Electric Pour Over Kettle. Turin’s Kettle debuted in late 2024 (well, at least as far as I know it did. If it was available before, I just somehow missed it). Having a respect for the brand, I assumed it would be well made and knew before long I’d end up having it as part of my collection.
When it arrived, I was indeed impressed with the quality of the construction. The kettle itself is stainless steel and wood. I love the feel of the handle in my hand. The finish is very even and more matte than gloss. The base is plastic. The adjustment wheel protrudes from the right edge and is easily assessable. The LEDs are a nice bright, without being too bright, blue and easy to read. Even in the morning without my glasses. This kettle heats up fast. I have not timed it, but I use cold filtered water from the refrigerator, and the kettle usually is ready before I am.
It’s not a large kettle, standing just over 26cm tall. I believe the capacity is around 600ml, which I’ve found to be just enough for a V60 without a lot of left over water. It also fills my small teapot very nicely for a several cups of tea.
The controls are intuitive and easy to use. I believe most users would be able to have their first kettle of water ready within 10 minutes of opening the box.
There are two things I would change if asked. The “I/O” button is hard to find before the power is turned on. This isn’t a big deal because you can also wake up the kettle by turning the adjustment wheel. The second issue is that while the kettle can be set to maintain a given temperature, when you remove the kettle from the base, the base goes back into sleep mode and no longer recalls the temperature to keep the kettle at. Since I regularly use the kettle in one sitting, the also hasn’t been a deal breaker for me.
Since obtaining this kettle, I’ve become a huge fan of V60s myself. I am a bit backwards in that my coffee journey started with espresso based drinks. The V60 is allowing me to taste all of the fruit flavors I never understood in the descriptions of coffee. To get the best flavor out of your beans, of course you need a good grinder. I paired this kettle with the Turin H40v2 hand grinder. More on that in a separate review.
Conclusion: This is a truly fantastic kettle. The price is extremely reasonable at 149, but is quite often on sale at 99USD, which in my opinion is a steal. The build quality and feature set are remarkable and I am extremely glad I was able to add this to my kit. If you’re looking for a pour over kettle, I highly recommend you add this one to the list.
Rating: 1 and 7/8 Ravens (don’t feel badly for Huginn.. he was off his feed)
View from Valhalla 