Café Crawling Around Copenhagen by Michael Butterworth Maybe it’s because I grew up reading Hans Christian Andersen stories, I’ve always felt as though Copenhagen is a fairytale city. It’s hard not to feel that way during a Nordic summer, with its obscene amounts of sunlight and pleasant temperatures. Cycle around the city and you’ll see people swimming in the harbor, drinking natural wine alongside a canal, or simply soaking up the sun. It’s easy to see why Danes are often ranked as the happiest people in the world. They certainly have some of the best coffee. Copenhagen hosted World of Coffe ..read more

Krea Opens in Istanbul’s Caddebostan Neighborhood by Michael Butterworth When I think about what distinguishes a great coffee shop, a lot hinges on what I call “the owner effect.” It’s easy to tell when a café is a cash grab from a predatory investor or a hobby business from a disinterested founder. These places rarely offer a compelling customer experience. Perhaps I’m influenced by my own background as a barista, but I find the best cafés are the barista-driven passion projects from coffee professionals who have finally managed to open their own place. Krea in Istanbul’s Caddebostan nei ..read more

Three Coffee Shops in Chicago Pushing the Boundaries by Michael Butterworth Chicago might be known as America’s Second City, but when it comes to coffee, it’s long been first in class. Industry giants like Intelligentsia may have set the standard in the 90s, but on a recent trip to the Windy City for SCA Expo we encountered a new wave of independent cafés that are continuing to raise the bar. These were three of our favorite coffee shops in Chicago.  Four Letter Word We first visited Four Letter Word’s coffee shop on Burgazada outside Istanbul in 2014, so visiting their Logan Square loca ..read more

Şevval Nida Fetullahoğlu Wins Turkish Brewers Cup by Michael Butterworth Şevval Nida Fetullahoğlu of Tetra N Roastery has won the 2024 Turkish Brewers Cup Championship. The competition was held in Ankara, March 1-3.  For her open service, Fetullahoğlu brewed an anaerobic process, Gesha variety from Colombian coffee producer Jairo Arcila with the Etkin 2-Cup Brewer.  The Brewers Cup competition is a global coffee-brewing competition sanctioned by the Specialty Coffee Association and World Coffee Events. In the competition, brewers must make three filter coffees within 10 minutes ..read more

The Coffee Compass Holiday Gift Guide 2023 by Michael Butterworth We’ve now entered the traditional season for acts of consumerism in late capitalism, and what better way to spend your hard-earned cash than on coffee and coffee-related accessories? After all, nothing says “I love you” like a gift of the world’s most consumed stimulant. So whether you’re shopping for yourself or that special coffee nerd in your life, here is the 2023 edition of the Coffee Compass Holiday Gift Guide. But First, Coffee It may come as a shock to some of our readers, but thecoffeecompass.com is not the world’s fore ..read more

David Beckham Makes Coffee With a La Marzocco Linea Mini by Michael Butterworth The new Netflix docuseries Beckham offers a behind-the-veil look at the life of soccer legend David Beckham. From hiding his relationship with Spice Girl Victoria Adams from the paparazzi to his infamous red card against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup, the series offers a lot of juicy details for any fan of the English footballer.  But for coffee nerds, no tidbit is as juicy as the revelation that Beckham makes his morning coffee with a La Marzocco Linea Mini espresso machine.  At the beginning of episod ..read more

Four Great Cafés in Portland, Oregon by Michael Butterworth Every day at SCA Expo in Portland I faced a conundrum. I knew I would drink far too much coffee on the trade show floor, but I also wanted to visit some of the coffee shops that make Portland, Oregon one of the most exciting coffee destinations in the US. Although we weren’t able to get to every coffee shop on our list, we did drink some fantastic coffee at these four cafés. Heart Coffee Roasters  Here at thecoffeecompass.com we’ve been Heart fanboys for a while. Their meticulous roasting program focuses on the sort of coffee we ..read more

Aeropress Releases New Aeropress Clear by Michael Butterworth One of the most iconic modern coffee makers just got a makeover. Longtime readers of thecoffeecompass.com are no strangers to the Aeropress. In fact, this humble coffee blog has published one of the more popular recipes on the internet. In recent years we’ve seen a more portable version released with the Aeropress Go, and the innovation continues with the new Aeropress Clear. Perhaps we shouldn’t expect anything less from legendary inventor Alan Adler. The Aeropress Clear offers a big upgrade in materials (and price!) from the stand ..read more

Etkin Launches New 2-Cup Dripper on Kickstarter by Guest Istanbul-based coffee design firm Etkin is launching its new 2-cup pour-over dripper on Kickstarter. The campaign builds upon the success of the Etkin 8-cup Dripper, which was fully funded on Kickstarter in 2021 before being released to the general public in 2022. Etkin is co-owned by Coffee Compass cofounder Michael Butterworth. The Etkin 2-cup Dripper’s design elevates the filter with deep ridges, allowing for a faster flow. Like the Etkin 8-cup dripper, the 2-cup dripper is made from Turkish porcelain and features a double-walled cons ..read more

Will the Cafec Abaca Filter Make Your Coffee Taste Better? by Michael Butterworth It might be the one piece of coffee equipment you’re overlooking: the filter. After all: paper is paper right? You throw it away at the end of the brew. Well, it turns out that the filter has a big impact on the way your coffee tastes. Not just because of what it filters out or allows through, but also because of the flow rate, which impacts contact time, channeling, and bypass. As Jonathan Gagne,explains in his seminal book The Physics of Filter Coffee, microscopic pores allow dissolved coffee solids to pass thr ..read more