How We Test & Rate
Coffee gear coverage is full of numbers nobody measured. This page exists so you can tell, on every single article, whether I touched the hardware or not.
Two labels, never mixed
Every article on this site carries one of two badges at the top. They are not decoration — the site's publishing system will not accept a post without one.
🔬 Bench Tested
I bought the gear with my own money and measured it myself. A piece carrying this badge will contain first-person measurements — retention in grams, dose and yield weights, shot timings, dry-erase burr coplanarity results, TDS readings — and alongside every number, the rig that produced it and the date it was taken, so it can be audited and so you know how stale it is.
Nothing on this site carries this badge yet. The first pieces are all synthesis. The badge appears the day a tool is actually on the desk, and not before.
This covers the accessible end of the market — hand grinders, WDT tools, tampers, dosing funnels, scales, baskets, portafilters, kettles, drippers, cleaning chemistry, and entry-level machines and grinders. If a normal person can reasonably buy it, I buy it.
📚 Research Synthesis
I do not own the hardware. This covers high-end equipment — commercial and prosumer machines, flagship grinders, anything where owning one copy of every model is not realistic.
On these posts I publish no first-hand measurements. What I do publish is:
- Manufacturer specifications, service manuals and parts diagrams, cited by document
- Independent community testing (Home-Barista, CoffeeGeek, Socratic Coffee and similar), attributed to the source
- Peer-reviewed literature where extraction physics or chemistry is involved
If I could not source a claim, it does not appear. I would rather leave a gap than invent a plausible number.
What I will never do
- Publish a measurement for equipment I have not measured.
- Accept payment for a positive review, or let a brand approve copy before publication.
- Present a manufacturer's claim as my own test result.
- Cite a source I have not checked exists.
On citations
Every patent number, DOI, ISBN and standard I cite is verified against the issuing database before publication. This is a specific commitment rather than a general one, and it comes from experience: my own internal research library was audited in August 2026 and a significant number of its citations did not survive checking. They were removed. I would rather say that publicly than pretend it never happened.
Prices
Prices move constantly and vary by retailer. Any price shown is checked on the day the article is published or updated, and carries that date. Treat it as a segment indicator, not a quote — always confirm on the retailer's page before buying.
Affiliate links
I earn commission on some links. The commission does not influence rankings, scores or recommendations, and I routinely recommend the cheaper option where it is the better one. See the affiliate disclosure for the full explanation.
Corrections
If you find an error, tell me via the contact page. Substantive corrections are made in the article body with a dated note rather than quietly edited away.