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Crema Method

Editorial policy

What we source, what we refuse to invent, and what happens when we get something wrong.

By Scooter M. · Published

Sourcing standards

Every claim on this site falls into one of these categories, and each has a rule.

What each kind of claim requires
ClaimRequired sourceIf we do not have it
A product specificationThe manufacturer’s page or manual, linked inlineThe row does not appear, and the card says no spec sheet has been compiled
A priceThe live price data layer, with a visible dateThe page says “check price”. Never a remembered number
A brewing parameterA named published standard, or a manufacturer manualIt does not ship
An arithmetic resultEvery input stated, with its own source and dateIt does not ship
A star rating or review countPulled live, with its count and source shownOmitted entirely. We never approximate one
An editorial judgmentOurs, and written clearly as ours

What we commit to never doing

  • Never invent a price, a rating, a review count or an award. “Data unavailable” is always an acceptable answer here. An invented number never is.
  • Never claim we tested, owned, used or measured a product. We have not, on any of them, and no phrasing on this site will suggest otherwise.
  • Never publish a testimonial or a customer review. We have no customers, so any review-shaped content here would be fabricated. There is none.
  • Never emit a rating in structured data. No Review, no AggregateRating. Marking an editorial opinion up as a product review rating would be a claim to search engines we do not stand behind.
  • Never state a credential we do not hold. No certifications, no “expert”, no years of experience, no staff we do not have.

Corrections

If something here is wrong, tell us at info@cremamethod.com, and this is what happens:

  1. We check the claim against the source we cited.
  2. If the source does not support it, we correct the page.
  3. If the correction changes a recommendation or a figure a reader may have acted on, we note the correction on the page rather than editing silently.
  4. We update the page’s modified date, which is visible on it.

We aim to do that within a few days. A factual error that could cost somebody money gets handled the day we hear about it.

Update cadence

  • Prices — refreshed on a daily schedule, with the verification date shown. A price older than 48 hours is withdrawn rather than displayed.
  • Pick order — reviewed monthly, and immediately when a product is discontinued.
  • Specifications — re-checked quarterly against the manufacturer page cited.
  • Arithmetic inputs — quarterly, and whenever a cited statistic is republished.
  • Policy pages — every six months, or immediately when anything about how we earn changes.

What “last updated” means here

It means the content changed. It does not move when a price refreshes, because a price is not content — and a site whose every page claims to have been updated today is a site whose dates mean nothing. That is also why our sitemap carries real document dates rather than build timestamps.

Independence

No manufacturer or retailer has any input into what appears here, and no brand sees a page before it publishes. We accept no free products and no paid placements, and the one commercial relationship we do have is described in full on the disclosure page.

Who is responsible

One person writes this site — see about — and how we pick sets out the method in full, including how picks are ordered and what disqualifies a product.