If you haven't make your summer travel plans yet, it's time to get cracking. Ditch the Blackberry, find someone to take care of the kids and check out our list of the best coffee travel destinations. It's time to see the world!

Knock boxes are like the middle child of the espresso world-- we'd never give them second thought unless they went missing. Perhaps this is a little harsh to readers with older and younger siblings, but the take home is knock boxes serve an essential purpose but are generally overlooked. They're well worth the investment if you're not already using one.

Great coffee deserves a great place. Those 99-cent IKEA mugs get old very quickly and there are more options than the local Hallmark store for unique coffee mugs. Check out Coffee Krave’s favorite Indie picks from Etsy. 1. Fill the Line Normally I’m not a fan of “Give me coffee” or “Grumpy until I get coffee”-type mugs. They’re too cliche. This “Fill the line” concept puts a new spin on an old adage.   2. Spiky Coffee Mug No one will mess with you or your coffee with this made-to-order mug. Attach it to a stick and you’ve got a great mace for medieval office combat.   3....

Lever espresso machines are all the rage these days. Manual control, while perhaps intimidating to the novice, with practice leads to the holy grail of espresso. The design of lever espresso machines-- combined with the right hand-- results in a shot that is sweeter and smoother than anything an auto can put out. Yet this espresso ecstasy doesn't come cheap. Many lever machines run into the thousands. Let's take a look at the La Pavoni Europiccola, a sub-$1,000 lever espresso machine for the coffee snob on a budget.

Last summer, Robyn posted some of our favorite coffee quotes from around the web. Forget the thoughts of the common folk! What do famous figures think about coffee? As the 20 quotes below attest, they have nothing but good things to say about this truly remarkable drink.

It's time to separate myth from fact. Coffee is more than a dose of caffeine. This wonderdrug also supplies a wide array of antioxidants and even a few vitamins and minerals that make coffee perhaps the most affordable and effective health serum on the market.

Today’s topic: milk alternatives, the synonyms of which (milk substitutes; non-dairy milks; plant milks; plant-based milks) are almost as numerous as the varieties of the species: soy milk, almond milk, hazelnut milk, oat milk, hemp milk, sunflower seed milk, cashew milk, peanut milk, coconut milk . . . (The official label on the CoffeeKrave research file for this article reads: “un-milks.”) We considered conducting a taste-test of popular brands of milk-alternatives and writing up a review, with our own coffee-specific take on the subject. We were inspired by the various methodologies presented in other taste tests, which included...

Red is the color of energy and emotion, so isn't it only natural that you brew with a red coffee maker? These bright red Ferrari machines add a centerpiece to your kitchen and let everyone know coffee is the boss of your household. Check out these beautiful red coffee makers for a change from the standard of white, black and stainless steel appliances of Suburbia.

A few readers objected when Coffee Krave posted Coffee and Cats: A Tribute last April. Sure, cats might be ok, but what about dogs? I suppose you can’t enjoy man’s favorite drink without man’s best friend. By special request, here’s a tribute to coffee and dogs. 1. A Balancing Act Photo: SuperFantastic 2. Coffee in the Dog Park Photo: Max / MDgoesMAD 3. Just Hanging Out Photo: Sam Fam Related: How to Choose the Best Coffee Maker- The right coffee maker can make or break your java experience, with or without a cute puppy getting in the way. Find out our top picks for the best drip coffee machines. 4. Kaffee mit...

My philosophy toward airline coffee has always been, “Take what you can get and make the best of it.” Certainly the flight attendant would prefer I sit down, shut up and accept her meager brew. But it hit me– why can’t I make my own on the plane? Is it even possible? We set out to find the answer. Caffeinated at 30,000 Feet: Mile High Brewing Setups The constraints of a typical economy cabin don’t leave many options open. High-flying brewers need equipment that is a) portable and b) doesn’t require electricity. In this day and time it would take a brave soul to power up an electric kettle in the cabin,...

Your mission: Save your laptop from a coffee spill disaster. Saving your electronic devices in the event of an unfortunate baptism by coffee can be a “Mission “Possible” – with a little luck and some lightening-fast reflexes. The basic parameters of the situation: Liquids can cause short-circuits. Short circuits damage electronic components. Your odds of successfully recovering from a spill depend the amount of liquid that was spilled, how corrosive and conductive the liquid is and how you react to the situation. Assuming the spill was an accident, the only factor you can control here is your reaction. To assist you in reacting like...

Coffee Krave reader and accomplished photographer Marek Lubacz got in touch with me last week and agreed to write a guest post about coffee in Poland under communism. It wasn’t until the formation of a new government in 1989 that Poland could begin to recover from communist rule. Today, the coffee culture is thriving, but Marek’s first-hand account of the state of coffee under communism made me realize how much I take freshly roasted beans for granted. You can see what a beautiful country Poland is here and  learn more about the history of Poland from 1945 to 1989 here. We greatly appreciate Marek’s contribution! He...

We have been in a list making mode recently at CoffeeKrave. To continue the trend, we present out Top Ten Coffee Makers. From the Espro Press to the Cona Vacuum Brewer . . . here are our takes on the top gear to grace your countertops. Authors Note: When Daniel, Editor and Chief here at CoffeeKrave, assigned me this article, I broke out in a cold sweat. Any “top ten” list is going to be subjective by nature, but a top ten coffee maker list? That’s one difficult combinatorial optimization problem right there. I decided the optimal way to constrain this search was to cut the cord. As in the power cord. In other words, this is the Top Ten...

For the past few years, talk surrounding the virtues of light roasts has been trending in the coffee community. I can remember the morning (November 29th, 2011) when I read “I’ll have a tall blonde please.” Starbucks, known for a distinctively dark roast, had announced that they were introducing a new line of lighter roasts. Starbucks went “blonde” in their terminology to avoid linguistic confusion – “light” (when removed from its roasting-specific content) having the potential to imply that something is missing or has been removed. My first response was to start a list recording how many variations of “insert inevitable...

With the majority of our daily communications happening online, it can get a little lonely in your mailbox. If there is room in your budget, consider signing up for a coffee subscription. It’s the best cure we know for coffee lovers who are channeling their inner Charlie Brown while peering into an empty mailbox. It’s also the best way to sample small batch beans from the top indie cult roasters. A few of our favorite subscription options: 1. Tonx The word on the street: “Tony is obsessed with coffee like a record store nerd is with vinyl . . . Me, I trust the guy’s taste. I just want really good coffee. Send me the beans.”...