Specialty Archives - usatoday24

The V60 has been an icon of specialty coffee for 20 years. Its first big update is coffee for coffee lovers

May 17, 2026 by usatoday24

When you enter a specialty cafe and they have ‘V60’ on the menu, you automatically know that things have to be very bad for them to not make good coffee. The V60 is to filter coffee what the Bialetti is to italian coffee maker: a symbol, a declaration of intentions and a ‘gadget’ with a design so perfect that it has not had to be modified in its 20 years of life. Until now. Hario launched the original V60 around 2004 in a show of how a simple and functional design could be perfect for any level. Simply put, it is a cone with a 60 degree inclination (hence the name) that can be placed on top of your jug, any jug or even a cup. In that cone we place a paper filter, add the coffee, hot water and the coffee solution flows to the container. It is simple and came to solve the problem that Hario had detected in the percolation coffee makers that dominated in the 80s: those typical ones that many of our grandmothers have at home and that are the ones that appear in any American series in which the coffee remained there passively soaking until it came out under its own gravity and the jet black liquid was deposited in the jug. The classic V60 It was not what best extracted all the nuances of the coffee and Hario implemented three design ideas: The cone at 60 degrees so that the water tends to the center, lengthening the contact time without the need to create a long-lasting ‘pond’. A single exit hole which made it easy to make coffee for non-expert users, but also gave a lot of control possibilities to the expert user. By restricting the water channel, pouring speed, exposure time or grinding, different “recipes” can be created. Spiral striations on the cone. These “ribs” have a lot of technology behind them because they serve to release air between the filter and the wall, avoiding the suction effect of the paper and causing the filter to expand as the coffee releases the product. The translation is that Hario designed a coffee maker that combined simplicity, complication capacity for experts and that rib design that was very well thought out to facilitate a relatively quick extraction while being able to extract all the nuances of the coffee. It was so perfect that, over these 20 years, it really hasn’t changed beyond different sizes for the cone or the plastics and glass that came after the original Japanese porcelain version. There were some little problems and limitations and they released an accessory, the Hario Switch, but the most important thing of all is that the V60 was a good, versatile and very, very economical coffee maker that, as we say, there was no need to touch. And, then, Hario… touched her. The V60 Neo In what seems like a clear “find the differences” exercise, Hario presented the Hario V60 Neo. If you are not very involved in the coffee world and the new one seems the same as the old one, I have to tell you that the Neo was a tsunami that stirred up coffee content creators. It was the first time that Hario redesigned the conethe core of the V60, and has done so in two ways: design and material. The new V60 The material issue is the easiest to explain. The Neo is manufactured in a resin called ‘tritan’a plastic that retains great transparency, is resistant to both heat and impacts and has properties that make it very good in an essential issue for the most enthusiasts: very good thermal retention. This allows the temperature to remain stable during extraction so that the processes are more constant and it is easier to replicate a good coffee. The second change is the one that has drawn the most attention is a new geometry. From the larger “ribs,” Hario transitions to 72 microribs at the top that converge into nine channels at the base. The explanation is that these grooves will now guide the water much more uniformly, while the nine exit grooves ensure a clearer path towards the hole, minimizing the dreaded channeling. This channeling thing is interesting. because in any coffee maker, the water passes through the coffee and what it looks for is the least resistance in its path. If it encounters little resistance in one point, it will go that way, failing to go through other areas and, therefore, not extracting the solution that it could extract from the entire coffee. With the new design, what Hario suggests is that these channels will be minimized while we will be able to achieve a more uniform extraction. It seems like a lie, but there is a lot of technique in a cone that looks the same as the one from 20 years ago, but that makes sense if we look at the narrative of a brand that, it claims, has been working on prototypes and playing with fluid dynamics for two years. Is she a motorcycle dealer? Well… I don’t know. I have the original V60 and I am clear that my skills do not reach the point of thinking that those microribs are what I was missing to finish making the perfect coffee at home. I have not the slightest interest in this V60 Neo and, although it makes sense from the point of view of the very specific needs of a tiny niche of baristas, At home I don’t think it’s something different.. In fact, what interests me most about the new V60 is that they have kept the price very similar, so it remains one of the most affordable coffee makers with which to prepare a very good specialty coffee at home and, above all, it shows that a simple design, even if it can be intricate with micro-rib technology, triumphs if from the first moment it is a product that makes sense and that is … Read more

While specialty cafes are filled with Salomon, more and more people are walking barefoot in the mountains

April 10, 2026 by usatoday24

It’s Saturday morning in the center of any big city. In specialty coffee shops, among flat whites and sourdough bread, an urban army parades equipped to survive a blizzard in the Alps. We talk about fever Gorpcore: waterproof technical jackets and sneakers trail running ultra-reinforced, designed to devour kilometers of rocks, but today they will only step on tiles and asphalt. However, hundreds of miles from that cafe, on the actual trails where those sneakers should be getting dirty, the exact opposite is happening. We have reached the technological peak of footwear outdoorbut a growing wave of purists, adventurers and elders have decided to take an evolutionary step back: take off their boots and feel the raw earth. Yes, there are people walking barefoot in the mountains. The image of a barefoot mountaineer ceased to be a rarity for hermits and became a global movement. According to GuardianGen Blades, an Australian researcher, says she was hiking the 147-kilometer Namsan Dulle-gil route in South Korea when the terrain changed to a stretch of wet clay (“hwangto”). Neither quick nor lazy, she took off her shoes. He described the feel of the mud oozing between his fingers as “revitalizing, like a massage.” You don’t have to go to Asia to find these devotees of the bare foot. In Australia, Dale Noppers, 37, organizes routes of up to seven hours through the Serpentine National Park stepping on mud, gravel and rocks. He confesses that the experience makes him feel “quite primitive” and assures that, despite the risk of stepping on insects or glass, the soles of his feet are so soft that “it looks like they have had a pedicure.” For Uralla Luscombe-Pedro, 32, who has walked hundreds of kilometers along Australia’s wild coast, feet are “sensory organs.” After weeks of walking like this, he claims to feel like a leaner animal and concludes that our modern concrete human habitat is “strangely boring” in comparison. This is not new, but it has gotten out of control. Europe has been flirting with this idea for decades through the Barfusspark or Barefoot Parks. The German environmental organization NABU documents about 50 of these venues in Germany, with Bad Sobernheim (opened in 1992) being one of the pioneers. An example An example of its magnitude It is the Egestorf parkwhich has almost 3 kilometers and more than 60 stations where visitors step on pine cones, fine sand, spring water and deep mud. But if in Europe it is a recreational activity, in South Korea It’s real institutional madness.. 68.7% of the country’s 243 local governments have ordinances to encourage barefoot hiking. Seongnam City invested 3.45 billion won (about $2.7 million) to build six red clay courts and budgeted another 3.5 billion won by 2024. The private sector not left behind: The Sun Yang Soju liquor company built a 14.5-kilometer runway and donates $800,000 annually for its maintenance. The obsession is such that roads are being built in greenhouses for use in winter. Unfortunately, overcrowding is already causing ecological havoc, such as the degradation of the ecosystem in wetland marshes such as Sorae in Incheon. The key question: why? Defenders of this practice divide their arguments into two large blocks: the mechanics of the body and the “magic” of the earth. On the one hand, mechanical advocates point to physical health. Without shoes, the body constantly adjusts, improving coordination and balance. Small forgotten muscles are activated and the 28 bones, 20 muscles and more than 100 tendons of the foot benefit. Furthermore, when going barefoot on uneven ground, we usually abandon landing with the heel and start stepping with the ball of the foot (metatarsus). This reduces the impact, although it requires 53% more energy, turning the walk into an intense workout. On the other hand, there is the phenomenon of “Earthing”. There are studies that suggest that this direct contact neutralizes free radicals that cause aging, reduces blood viscosity and improves heart rate variability. Attracted by these supposed benefits, patients in Korea claim that the practice has reduced their blood sugar levels, alleviated insomnia and even cured cancer. Science hits the brakes. Podiatrists applaud the freedom of the foot, but with nuances. Dr. George Murley warns in Guardian that you have to treat this transition “almost like a gym session for your feet” and do it progressively. Alejandro Martínez, expert podiatrist, explains in Men’s Health Magazine that “a healthy foot works best when barefoot.” However, when faced with miraculous cures, the medical community pulls out its claws. Dr. Steven Novella, a neurologist at Yale School of Medicine, calls “earthing” pseudoscience that lacks physical sense, denouncing that many of the studies are poorly designed and financed by companies in the sector. Oncologist Ahn Hee-kyung is blunt about the risks: Walking barefoot exposes vulnerable or immunocompromised patients to potentially lethal bacterial infections, such as staphylococcus or tetanus, through small cracks in the skin. As a result, hospitals report an increase in plantar fasciitis and cellulitis from these reckless walks, and many doctors attribute much of the supposed “cures” to a strong placebo effect enhanced by the environment. The alternative that unites worlds: “Barefoot” footwear. For those seeking tetanus-free biomechanics, the industry has perfected footwear barefoot (or respectful). These are shoes with “zero drop” (no heel), a wide last that does not compress the fingers and an extra-thin sole. Brands like Xero Shoes, leguano, Groundies or Freet dominate the niche, and even Zara has launched its own line. Its effectiveness in hostile terrain is proven: Traveler Matouš Vinš managed to climb the 5,000 meters of Mount Kenya in Africa with minimalist footwear, overcoming the challenge without problems while his heavy-booted companions suffered from blisters. Likewise, adventurer Viktorka Hlaváčková claims to be faster on demanding terrain thanks to these shoes, and emphasizes that her feet maintain great blood circulation even below zero. The cushioning paradox. It is revealing that, at a time of greatest hyper-technization in the footwear industry outdoorthe most striking phenomenon is leaving shoes at home. While … Read more

Specialty coffee is expensive and there is something that increases it even more: to remove caffeine

May 3, 2025 by usatoday24

For many, drinking coffee is almost a daily ritual. There are those who take it for pleasure or by necessity, but there is also the case of Who wants all their benefitsexcept Caffeine. There are many ways to decaffeinate coffee, and not all are equally healthy. Among all methods, we know two that are employees for specialty coffee to remain specialty. Now, they are tremendously technical and more expensive than the most general methods. Market. The demand for decaffeinated coffee is experiencing sustained growth in recent years. In more commercial coffees Like capsules Or snapshots, we have decaffeinated varieties for a long time, but increasingly easy to find options among specialty coffees. Depending on the indicator we take (total market or only grains), and depending on the analysis, it is esteem That the decaffeinated coffee bean market was $ 31,580 million in 2024, with a projection to 41,050 million dollars by 2032. Others analysis They estimate it at 6,740 million in 2023, with a growth up to 12,330 million by 2031. The way they are, in what they coincide is that it is a upward market. Controversy without decaffeinar. Something that has also increased is awareness about what we eat. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle depends on a lot of factors, and that saying of “we are what we eat” points in an adequate direction. Why do I say this? Because there are several ways to eliminate coffee from coffee (although there is always a certain residual percentage), but not all are as natural as we would like. The two most used methods are precisely the most controversial. One is the one who uses methylene chloride to dissolve caffeine. In the process, the solvent is eliminated by evaporation and grains, subsequently, it is washed and dry, passing controls so that the solvent residues are maintained below the legal limits. The other uses ethyl acetate, which is a compound that is found naturally in some fruits and the process is the same as in methylene chloride. Although it is considered more natural, it is still a chemical solvent that can also leave an aroma impregnated in coffee. More natural processes. These processes in which solvents are used have been at the point of view of organizations such as the United States Food and Medicines Administration, being the methylene chloride in the conversation. But there are other methods that are used to substantially reduce the coffee level of coffee. One is the swiss water process. In it, the grains immerse themselves in hot water to dissolve caffeine. Then, the water goes through active carbon filters that retain only caffeine and this process is repeated until the grains contain a minimum percentage of caffeine. Image: Swiss Water Process Another is the one who uses Supercritical co₂. In it, the grains undergo high pressures and expose themselves to CO₂ in a supercritical state, acting as a selective solvent for caffeine. Decaffeination through the supercritical co₂ method | Image: James Hoffmann Technology to coffee power. That they are more natural does not imply that there is no sophisticated technological network after the process. James Hoffman, one of the reference baristas for coffee world lovers, has visited facilities in which this decaffeination process is carried out through the Swiss Water technique and we can see that … it is a fairly boring environment: There are simply drums, silos and warehouses in which that “soaking” of the grains, drying and storage is being carried out. But the key is in the control room. Hoffmann cannot show us the graphs that are used to control these processes, but comments that they have computers connected to probes that, in real time, send information of the caffeine present in the grains in several points of the process. Thus, the technicians are adjusting the process until leaving the caffeine necessary to be considered decaffeinated without altering the properties of the grains themselves. The great drums | Image: James Hoffmann And the cabin in which the information of all the sensors is collected to send it to the technicians responsible for supervising the process | Image: James Hoffmann Specialty. These are two more natural methods because they do not use chemicals or solvents, and something for which they are appreciated is because they better retain both the aromas and the original aromas of the grains. And there is a segment that interests that this is: that of specialty coffee. In the search for a coffee with a better flavor, but above all more sustainable for both farmers and the planet, the specialty coffee is earning a hole between palates both understood and profane. In regions such as Europe and North America, the global specialty coffee market is growing at a 10% annual rate. Of $ specialty coffee. Now, decaffeinated specialty coffee is 1 + 1. The specialty coffee is expensive because there is a meticulous process behind. They are selected crops, the harvests are usually done by hand, they have strict control processes for washing and drying, implies fair trade, more sustainable practices and a lower volume. All that makes it a more expensive coffee both to produce and buy. But, in addition, processes such as Swiss Water or the Supercritical Co₂, due to its complexity, the time that is required and, especially in the case of the supercritical co₂, due to the infrastructure to be mounted, make this type of coffee even more. They take away the caffeine, but add some cents to the price. Tags. That is why the methods without solvents are more used in the decaffeination processes of instant coffee, capsule or the most common mixtures that we find in the bar and the supermarket, while the most natural and expensive methods are those associated with decaffeinated specialty coffee. If you are a consumer worried about this, the way of knowing how your favorite coffee has been decaffiled is … Looking for information and look at the labels. When a coffee uses methods such as the supercritical CO2 … Read more

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