The Metro-Blog

Welcome to Brew Diligence, our at-home coffee education series. Citrus is a great subject for at-home sensory exercises. All coffee has some level of acidity and tasting different citrus fruits will help you tune your palate to different levels and types of acidity. How is the sourness of an orange different from that of a grapefruit? Which has a more intense acidity, lemon ...

The Flanzer family began farming on the Serra do Cabral plateau in the 1970’s. Originally planted for forestry, brothers Marcelo and Roberto decided to diversify their land when they took over management from their father, Henrique, in 2000. Coffee had never been produced in the region before so Marcelo and Roberto started with a blank slate. They determined that pivot irrig...

Welcome to Brew Diligence, our at-home coffee education series. Cupping is a method of tasting coffee used around the world by producers, buyers, roasters, and baristas to evaluate coffees and develop the flavor notes you see on bags of beans. Cupping is also a great activity to try at home when you don’t have quite enough of a bag left to brew a full cup or if you’d like to...

Welcome to Brew Diligence, our at-home coffee education series. With many beloved coffee shops temporarily closed, a lot of people may be missing their go-to lattes. While brewed coffee at home is delicious, there’s something special about a sweet coffee treat with your favorite flavors and hot milk.  Luckily, it’s super easy to make your own syrups for flavoring your at-hom...

Welcome to Brew Diligence, our at-home coffee education series. Many of us are finding ourselves brewing more coffee than usual at home, or digging deep within our cabinets to bust out The Coffee Maker That Time Forgot. Giving your brewer a deep clean will keep it running smoothly and keep your coffee tasting its best. How to Clean an Automatic Coffee Maker NOTE: This method...

Welcome to Brew Diligence, our new at-home coffee education series for the bored, trapped, and curious. We’ve got a number of fun things you can try all lined up, starting with today’s installment: Sensory Exercises. Our coffees always have one ingredient: coffee. But have you looked at a bag of coffee and wondered how we decide on flavor notes like brown sugar, guava, or hi...