Filter Stories - Coffee Documentaries
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Producer Toolkit: Storage, Pt 2 - Why plastics are not all equal
26 oktober 2026 · 29 min
This episode explores the black box between coffee leaving the farm and the roaster's warehouse, and how quality can be ruined. Wrapping the coffee in any old plastic bag won't do. We get geeky looking at how hermetic bags like GrainPro actually work. Lees meer
Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.
Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing.
Related podcast episodes:
Lucia:
#68: Fermentation vs. Germination: A Look at The Seed From The Inside, Out (Flávio Borém's drying research and how drying works)
James:
Filter Stories: Farm to Port – Why Specialty Costs More
Filter Stories: Freshness and Grinding, Pt 1 (oxidation, diffusion and how to store coffee)
Follow us through our newsletters and Social media:
Lucia's Newsletter
James's Newsletter
Lucia Instagram
James' Filter Stories Instagram
People mentioned in the episode:
Ronald de Hommel — The Coffee Quest
Paulino Quintero — Huila, Colombia
Gilberto Baraona — Los Pirineos, Usulutan, El Salvador
Marvin Tala — Engineering Department head, GrainPro Philippines
Hazel Valera — COO, GrainPro Philippines
Resources:
GrainPro hermetic bags, container liners
NKG / GrainPro bag recycling
How to Protect Coffee Against Container Rain
Data loggers
Cover art: Nick Hafner
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT water+more | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Di…
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Producer Toolkit: Storage, Pt 1 - How coffee gets ruined on the farm
26 oktober 2026 · 24 min
This episode explores the many ways coffee can get ruined while still on the farm, including fishy concrete tanks, the importance of not using jute sacks to collect coffee cherries, and solutions to unpredictable rains ruining coffee drying on the patio. Lees meer
Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.
Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing.
Related podcast episodes:
Lucia:
#68: Fermentation vs. Germination: A Look at The Seed From The Inside, Out (Flávio Borém's drying research and how drying works)
James:
Filter Stories: Farm to Port – Why Specialty Costs More
Filter Stories: Freshness and Grinding, Pt 1 (oxidation, diffusion and how to store coffee)
Follow us through our newsletters and Social media:
Lucia's Newsletter
James's Newsletter
Lucia Instagram
James' Filter Stories Instagram
People mentioned in the episode:
Orlando Osorio — La Primavera, Huila, Colombia
Thai Dang — 96B Cafe and Roastery, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Flávio Borém — UFLA, Brazil
Resources:
Perforated harvest baskets/crates
GrainPro Collapsible Dryer Case
Dryer PDF (full spec table)
Borém's intermittent drying research
Cover art: Nick Hafner
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT water+more | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine …
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Producer Toolkit: Quality Assurance, Pt 2 - The basics of good water for coffee
12 oktober 2026 · 42 min
This episode takes you through the basics of good water for coffee. Lees meer
To objectively assess a coffee's quality, both producer and buyer need to taste it using the same water. But whose water standards should you choose? Why do roasters often get to define what the "right" water is? What would the coffee world look like if producers set quality standards instead of roasters?
Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.
Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing.
Related podcast episodes:
James:
Filter Stories: How Heat Transforms Coffee Beans
Filter Stories: How to Be a Better Taster
Filter Stories: Getting Great Water, Step by Step
Follow us through our newsletters and Social media:
Lucia's Newsletter
James's Newsletter
Lucia Instagram
James' Filter Stories Instagram
People mentioned in the episode:
Karla Boza — Jacinta Y Su Cafe, San Benito, El Salvador
Paulino Quintero — Huila, Colombia
Jesús Antonio Chala — Finca El Silencio, Colombia
Thompson Owen — Sweet Maria's Coffee, USA
Lahari Balireddi — ASG Coffee, Kenya
Manuel Barsallo — Agrícola Geisha, Panama
Lorenz Haschka — BWT water+more
Resources:
Video: How to Make Cold Brew
Physical Coffee Diary
Digital App: Coffee Brew Log
Digital App: Tasting Notes
Sweet Maria's guide to roasting in a pan or popper, with video
Sweet Maria's roasting on a pan or popper tip sheet
Sweet Maria's air popper resources and video
Filter Stories guide: Roasting your own coffee (English)
Guía de Filter Stories: Cómo tostar tu propio café (en español)
Guide to getting a good sample roast
Video: How to Cup Coffee at Home
SCA Cupping Workshop
Video: How to use an Alkalinity Dropper Kit
Buy a water test kit
SCA Water Control Chart
Water calc…
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Producer Toolkit: Quality Assurance, Pt 1 - A practical guide to tasting and roasting coffee
12 oktober 2026 · 30 min
This episode is a practical guide to tasting coffee, sample roasting and judging quality, built for small producers on a tight budget. That makes it just as useful if you’re early in your coffee journey and want to learn the basics without spending thousands on equipment, starting with a frying pan or a $30 popcorn popper. Lees meer
If you work in coffee, it reveals the obstacles producers face when they try to discuss quality on equal terms with buyers in the global north.
Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.
Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing.
Related podcast episodes:
James:
Filter Stories: How Heat Transforms Coffee Beans
Filter Stories: How to Be a Better Taster
Filter Stories: Getting Great Water, Step by Step
Follow us through our newsletters and Social media:
Lucia's Newsletter
James's Newsletter
Lucia Instagram
James' Filter Stories Instagram
People mentioned in the episode:
Karla Boza — Jacinta Y Su Cafe, San Benito, El Salvador
Paulino Quintero — Huila, Colombia
Jesús Antonio Chala — Finca El Silencio, Colombia
Thompson Owen — Sweet Maria's Coffee, USA
Lahari Balireddi — ASG Coffee, Kenya
Manuel Barsallo — Agrícola Geisha, Panama
Lorenz Haschka — BWT water+more
Resources:
Video: How to Make Cold Brew
Physical Coffee Diary
Digital App: Coffee Brew Log
Digital App: Tasting Notes
Sweet Maria's guide to roasting in a pan or popper, with video
Sweet Maria's roasting on a pan or popper tip sheet
Sweet Maria's air popper resources and video
Filter Stories guide: Roasting your own coffee (English)
Guía de Filter Stories: Cómo tostar tu propio café (en español)
Guide to getting a good sample roast
Video: How to Cup Coffee at Home
SCA Cupping Workshop
Video: H…
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Producer Toolkit: Price, Pt 2 - Discovering the true value of coffee
28 september 2026 · 49 min
What is the right price for coffee? This episode shows what the journey of price discovery looks like from the perspective of a coffee farmer. Lees meer
Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.
Each episode takes one part of the farming business - agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales - and lays out what the best farms are actually doing.
Related podcast episodes:
Lucia:
#64: "What Kind of Coffee Lover am I? How Much am I Willing to Pay for a Cup of Coffee?"
James:
Filter Stories: The Hard Business of Selling Beautiful Coffee
Follow us through our newsletters and Social media:
Lucia’s Newsletter
James’s Newsletter
Lucia Instagram
James’ Filter Stories Instagram
People mentioned in the episode:
Karla Boza — Jacinta Y Su Cafe, San Benito, El Salvador
Julia Ortega, Finca Los Pinos, Puebla Mexico
Edilberto Tovar — Finca La Esmeralda, Huila, Colombia
Melissa de Gasperín — Rancho San Felipe, Veracruz, Mexico
Diego Robelo — Aquiares Estate, Turrialba, Costa Rica
Cristian Reyes — Finca El Rodeo, Santander, Colombia
César Marín — Chacra D'Dago, Peru
Gilberto Baraona — Los Pirineos, Usulutan, El Salvador
Lalo Perez, Biofilia
ASOPEP, Planadas, Tolima, Colombia
Piedras Azules cooperative, El Salvador
Agnes Thieleke, InterAmerican Coffee Europe
Resources:
Record keeping and profitability analysis
V-Hub (formerly Cropster Hub)
Coffee Yield Calculator
Cost-of-production calculator
Fairtrade Verified Living Income reference prices
Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide
Chad Trewick interview on Bellwether podcast
Heifer / ASOPEP / Fairtrade Tolima living income study
Book: The Culture Map by Erin Meyer
Cover art: Nick Hafner
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT water+more | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesi…
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Producer Toolkit: Price, Pt 1 - How the commodity 'C' market works
28 september 2026 · 41 min
This episode explores the strange world of the C market, where movements in the Brazilian currency or rebels boarding a random container ship decide the worth of a Colombian farmer's coffee. Yet specialty coffee still uses this number to price the coffees it says are anything but a commodity. Lees meer
Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.
Each episode takes one part of the farming business - agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales - and lays out what the best farms are actually doing.
Related podcast episodes:
Lucia:
#64: "What Kind of Coffee Lover am I? How Much am I Willing to Pay for a Cup of Coffee?"
James:
Filter Stories: The Hard Business of Selling Beautiful Coffee
Follow us through our newsletters and Social media:
Lucia’s Newsletter
James’s Newsletter
Lucia Instagram
James’ Filter Stories Instagram
People mentioned in the episode:
Karla Boza — Jacinta Y Su Cafe, San Benito, El Salvador
Julia Ortega, Finca Los Pinos, Puebla Mexico
Edilberto Tovar — Finca La Esmeralda, Huila, Colombia
Melissa de Gasperín — Rancho San Felipe, Veracruz, Mexico
Diego Robelo — Aquiares Estate, Turrialba, Costa Rica
Cristian Reyes — Finca El Rodeo, Santander, Colombia
César Marín — Chacra D'Dago, Peru
Gilberto Baraona — Los Pirineos, Usulutan, El Salvador
Lalo Perez, Biofilia
ASOPEP, Planadas, Tolima, Colombia
Piedras Azules cooperative, El Salvador
Agnes Thieleke, InterAmerican Coffee Europe
Resources:
Record keeping and profitability analysis
V-Hub (formerly Cropster Hub)
Coffee Yield Calculator
Cost-of-production calculator
Fairtrade Verified Living Income reference prices
Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide
Chad Trewick interview on Bellwether podcast
Heifer / ASOPEP / Fairtrade Tolima living income study
Book: The Culture Map by Erin Meyer
Cover art: Nick Hafner
The Coffee Produce…
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Producer Toolkit: Marketing & Sales, Pt 2 - Navigating trade shows
14 september 2026 · 43 min
This episode explores what a trade show actually feels like for a farmer who flew in on money his community pooled together, why a sausage dog opened a door that hundreds of cold emails couldn't, and why learning English may be a better investment for a farmer than a longer fermentation. Lees meer
Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.
Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing.
Related podcast episodes:
Lucia:
#54: Visiting Producers, Advanced Tourism & The Coffee Hunter (farm visits, the buyer relationship)
#56: Pranoy Thipaia (finding export markets, expo advice)
#65: To Blend or Not to Blend? Wine Vintages, and Harvest Update (sales strategy, consistency over novelty)
Cabal Cafe Podcast en Espanol
James:
Filter Stories: The Hard Business of Selling Beautiful Coffee
Follow us through our newsletters and Social media:
Lucia’s Newsletter
James’s Newsletter
Lucia Instagram
James’ Filter Stories Instagram
People mentioned in the episode:
Diego Robelo — Aquiares Estate, Turrialba, Costa Rica
Cristian Reyes — Finca El Rodeo, Santander, Colombia
Cristian Reyes — Personal Instagram
Catherine Bedoya — Eje Cafetero, Colombia
Hamsini Appadurai — Sangameshwar Coffee Estates, Chikmagalur, India
Melissa de Gasperín — Rancho San Felipe, Veracruz, Mexico
Edilberto Tovar — Finca La Esmeralda, Huila, Colombia
Desnudo Coffee (Austin) — Austin, Texas, USA
Alejandro Rodríguez Delgado — Hacienda San Pedrito, Puerto Rico
César Marín — Chacra D'Dago, Peru
Karla Boza — Jacinta Y Su Cafe, San Benito, El Salvador
Resources:
Algrano — Producer Sign Up
The list of 144 international trade shows
Clases Gratis de Inglés en linea - USA Learns
Clases Gratis de Inglés en linea - Voa News
English Accent T…
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Producer Toolkit: Marketing & Sales, Pt 1 - The power of story
14 september 2026 · 37 min
This episode explores why specialty coffee is a luxury business that runs on story more than flavour. Lees meer
Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.
Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing.
Related podcast episodes:
Lucia:
#54: Visiting Producers, Advanced Tourism & The Coffee Hunter (farm visits, the buyer relationship)
#56: Pranoy Thipaia (finding export markets, expo advice)
#65: To Blend or Not to Blend? Wine Vintages, and Harvest Update (sales strategy, consistency over novelty)
Cabal Cafe Podcast en Espanol
James:
Filter Stories: The Hard Business of Selling Beautiful Coffee
Follow us through our newsletters and Social media:
Lucia’s Newsletter
James’s Newsletter
Lucia Instagram
James’ Filter Stories Instagram
People mentioned in the episode:
Diego Robelo — Aquiares Estate, Turrialba, Costa Rica
Cristian Reyes — Finca El Rodeo, Santander, Colombia
Cristian Reyes — Personal Instagram
Catherine Bedoya — Eje Cafetero, Colombia
Hamsini Appadurai — Sangameshwar Coffee Estates, Chikmagalur, India
Melissa de Gasperín — Rancho San Felipe, Veracruz, Mexico
Edilberto Tovar — Finca La Esmeralda, Huila, Colombia
Desnudo Coffee (Austin) — Austin, Texas, USA
Alejandro Rodríguez Delgado — Hacienda San Pedrito, Puerto Rico
César Marín — Chacra D'Dago, Peru
Karla Boza — Jacinta Y Su Cafe, San Benito, El Salvador
Resources:
Algrano — Producer Sign Up
The list of 144 international trade shows
Clases Gratis de Inglés en linea - USA Learns
Clases Gratis de Inglés en linea - Voa News
English Accent Training
The SCA Coffee Value Assessment, Extrinsic Criteria List
PDFs of CVA Form in 7 languages
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
Th…
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Producer Toolkit: Fermentation, Pt 3 - Is using yeast cheating? And who decides?
24 augustus 2026 · 33 min
This episode explores why 30 cents a kilo is trivial for a large farm and unaffordable for a small one, the strange power imbalance that lets roasters define quality when nobody asks a winemaker what yeast they used, and how producers can talk to buyers who think starter cultures are cheating. Lees meer
Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.
Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing.
Please spread the word about Filter Stories!
Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast) and Lucia (@lluciasolis) - and tag us in an Instagram story.
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Stay up to date with Lucia through her newsletter
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories
Related podcast episodes:
Lucia:
#72: Planning Your First Coffee Fermentation Trials? Start Here.
#76: How Commercial Microbes Threaten The Coffee Industry
#80: How Microbiology Can Explain Beginner's Luck
James:
Filter Stories - Coffee Quality, Part 1: The birth of specialty coffee flavours
People mentioned in the episode:
Lester Lerner, Old Willow Coffee, Colombia
Victor Chala, Palma Rosa, Colombia
Fridolin Stocker— Mount Sunzu, Zambia
Shyira washing station, Rwanda
Evangelos Filippatos, La Cabra
La Cabra, Copenhagen
Helen Riley — Novonesis
Gunne Øregaard — Novonesis
Franz Zeimetz — Lost Origin Coffee Labs, Panama
Alejandra Rodríguez Delgado — Hacienda San Pedrito, Puerto Rico
Gustavo Arroyo — Rancho Contento, Puerto Rico
Resources:
pH meter & buffer
Thermometer
Novonesis Pichia yeast
Novonesis Lactobacillus bacteria
Pressure washer
Fermentation Log …
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Producer Toolkit: Fermentation, Pt 2 - The case for avoiding exciting fermentations
24 augustus 2026 · 36 min
This episode explores why the specialty industry's obsession with exotic processing is a dangerous signal for farmers, five ways commercial microbes can make a farm more money, and what a well-run fermentation looks like on farms of very different sizes. Lees meer
Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.
Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing.
Please spread the word about Filter Stories!
Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast) and Lucia (@lluciasolis) - and tag us in an Instagram story.
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Stay up to date with Lucia through her newsletter
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories
Related podcast episodes:
Lucia:
#72: Planning Your First Coffee Fermentation Trials? Start Here.
#76: How Commercial Microbes Threaten The Coffee Industry
#80: How Microbiology Can Explain Beginner's Luck
James:
Filter Stories - Coffee Quality, Part 1: The birth of specialty coffee flavours
People mentioned in the episode:
Lester Lerner, Old Willow Coffee, Colombia
Victor Chala, Palma Rosa, Colombia
Fridolin Stocker— Mount Sunzu, Zambia
Shyira washing station, Rwanda
Evangelos Filippatos, La Cabra
La Cabra, Copenhagen
Helen Riley — Novonesis
Gunne Øregaard — Novonesis
Franz Zeimetz — Lost Origin Coffee Labs, Panama
Alejandra Rodríguez Delgado — Hacienda San Pedrito, Puerto Rico
Gustavo Arroyo — Rancho Contento, Puerto Rico
Resources:
pH meter & buffer
Thermometer
Novonesis Pichia yeast
Novonesis Lactobacillus bacteria
Pressure washer
Fermentation Log Sheet
Yeast’s impact on the environment…
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Producer Toolkit: Fermentation, Pt 1 - Nature's lottery and coffee's 3,000-year lag
24 augustus 2026 · 23 min
This episode explores why coffee is only fifteen years into a fermentation revolution that wine and bread went through millennia ago, what's actually happening inside the tank when microbes multiply into billions on their own, and why farmers who used to ferment as fast as possible are now trying to do the opposite. Lees meer
Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.
Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing.
Please spread the word about Filter Stories!
Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast) and Lucia (@lluciasolis) - and tag us in an Instagram story.
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Stay up to date with Lucia through her newsletter
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories
Related podcast episodes:
Lucia:
#72: Planning Your First Coffee Fermentation Trials? Start Here.
#76: How Commercial Microbes Threaten The Coffee Industry
#80: How Microbiology Can Explain Beginner's Luck
James:
Filter Stories - Coffee Quality, Part 1: The birth of specialty coffee flavours
People mentioned in the episode:
Lester Lerner, Old Willow Coffee, Colombia
Victor Chala, Palma Rosa, Colombia
Fridolin Stocker— Mount Sunzu, Zambia
Shyira washing station, Rwanda
Evangelos Filippatos, La Cabra
La Cabra, Copenhagen
Helen Riley — Novonesis
Gunne Øregaard — Novonesis
Franz Zeimetz — Lost Origin Coffee Labs, Panama
Alejandra Rodríguez Delgado — Hacienda San Pedrito, Puerto Rico
Gustavo Arroyo — Rancho Contento, Puerto Rico
Resources:
pH meter & buffer
Thermometer
Novonesis Pichia yeast
Novonesis Lactobacillus bacteria
Pressure wa…
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Producer Toolkit: Processing, Pt 3 - Critical instruments and poisoned rivers
9 augustus 2026 · 28 min
This episode explores how just a handful of cheap instruments can ensure quality is reproducible year-on-year, and the wastewater crisis poisoning rivers behind picture-perfect coffee farms. Lees meer
Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.
Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing.
Please spread the word about Filter Stories!
Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast) and Lucia (@lluciasolis) - and tag us in an Instagram story.
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Stay up to date with Lucia through her newsletter
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories
Related podcast episodes:
Lucia:
Making Coffee with Lucia Solis — How to De-Funkify your Naturals
Making Coffee with Lucia Solis — Germination: A Close Look at Coffee Drying
James:
Filter Stories: Why One Colombian Farmer Chose Specialty, and the Other Walked Away
People mentioned in the episode:
Lester Lerner, Old Willow Coffee, Colombia
Orlando Osorio, La Primavera, Colombia
Astrid Medina, Tolima, Colombia
David Velásquez, Los Naranjos, El Salvador
Jesús Antonio Chala, Finca El Silencio, Colombia
Victor Chala, Palma Rosa, Colombia
Melissa de Gasperín, Rancho San Felipe, Córdoba, Mexico
Norberto Suárez, Boquete, Panama
César Marín, Chacra D'Dago, Peru
Manuel Matta, Santa Maria, Colombia
Resources:
Innovakit: canguaro (picking sleeves)
Pinhalense Cherry Floater
Pinhalense Vertical Pulper
Pinhalense Mechanical Dryers
Tolva — Plastic Vertical Hopper
Moisture Meter (Mid Tier)
Moisture Meter (High End)
Cenicafé Low-Water Wet Milling (Ecomill-type systems)
F…
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Producer Toolkit: Processing, Pt 2 - Drying mistakes that ruin coffee quality
9 augustus 2026 · 31 min
This episode explores the simple drying mistakes that compromise months of careful work, and the low-cost fixes that protect a coffee's shelf life and flavour. Lees meer
Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.
Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing.
Please spread the word about Filter Stories!
Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast) and Lucia (@lluciasolis) - and tag us in an Instagram story.
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Stay up to date with Lucia through her newsletter
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories
Related podcast episodes:
Lucia:
Making Coffee with Lucia Solis — How to De-Funkify your Naturals
Making Coffee with Lucia Solis — Germination: A Close Look at Coffee Drying
James:
Filter Stories: Why One Colombian Farmer Chose Specialty, and the Other Walked Away
People mentioned in the episode:
Lester Lerner, Old Willow Coffee, Colombia
Orlando Osorio, La Primavera, Colombia
Astrid Medina, Tolima, Colombia
David Velásquez, Los Naranjos, El Salvador
Jesús Antonio Chala, Finca El Silencio, Colombia
Victor Chala, Palma Rosa, Colombia
Melissa de Gasperín, Rancho San Felipe, Córdoba, Mexico
Norberto Suárez, Boquete, Panama
César Marín, Chacra D'Dago, Peru
Manuel Matta, Santa Maria, Colombia
Resources:
Innovakit: canguaro (picking sleeves)
Pinhalense Cherry Floater
Pinhalense Vertical Pulper
Pinhalense Mechanical Dryers
Tolva — Plastic Vertical Hopper
Moisture Meter (Mid Tier)
Moisture Meter (High End)
Cenicafé Low-Water Wet Milling (Ecomill-type systems)
Flávio Borém Drying Research
DI…
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Producer Toolkit: Processing, Pt 1 - Coffee rockstars and picking’s brutal economics
9 augustus 2026 · 42 min
This episode explores why chasing avant-garde processing before nailing the basics is a trap for most producers, the brutal economics behind selectively picking and ways to sort coffee cherries in the wet mill. Lees meer
Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.
Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing.
Please spread the word about Filter Stories!
Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast) and Lucia (@lluciasolis) - and tag us in an Instagram story.
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Stay up to date with Lucia through her newsletter
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories
Related podcast episodes:
Lucia:
Making Coffee with Lucia Solis — How to De-Funkify your Naturals
Making Coffee with Lucia Solis — Germination: A Close Look at Coffee Drying
James:
Filter Stories: Why One Colombian Farmer Chose Specialty, and the Other Walked Away
People mentioned in the episode:
Lester Lerner, Old Willow Coffee, Colombia
Orlando Osorio, La Primavera, Colombia
Astrid Medina, Tolima, Colombia
David Velásquez, Los Naranjos, El Salvador
Jesús Antonio Chala, Finca El Silencio, Colombia
Victor Chala, Palma Rosa, Colombia
Melissa de Gasperín, Rancho San Felipe, Córdoba, Mexico
Norberto Suárez, Boquete, Panama
César Marín, Chacra D'Dago, Peru
Manuel Matta, Santa Maria, Colombia
Resources:
Innovakit: canguaro (picking sleeves)
Pinhalense Cherry Floater
Pinhalense Vertical Pulper
Pinhalense Mechanical Dryers
Tolva — Plastic Vertical Hopper
Moisture Meter (Mid Tier)
Moisture Meter (High End)
Cenicafé Low-Water Wet Milling (Ecom…
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Producer Toolkit: Farming, Pt 3 - Starved soils and vanishing labour
27 juli 2026 · 45 min
This episode explores what plants really need from the soil beneath them, and the labour shortage forcing farms to rethink how the work gets done. Lees meer
Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.
Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing.
Please spread the word about Filter Stories!
Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast) and Lucia (@lluciasolis) - and tag us in an Instagram story.
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Stay up to date with Lucia through her newsletter
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories
Related podcast episodes:
Lucia:
#79: Farm First: Lalo Perez on Long-Term Coffee Health
James:
The Science of Coffee: The Magic of Soils
The Science of Coffee: Plant Genetics
People mentioned in the episode:
Fernando Castillo Guatemala
Paulino Quintero, Colombia
Orlando Osoria, Colombia
Julia Ortega, Mexico
Sergio de la Vequia, Mexico
Hugo Lopez, Innovakit
Manuel Mata, Colombia
Sam Knowlton, Soil Symbiotics
Lalo Perez, Biofilia
Resources:
Anacafe technical management
Coffee Cascara Compost Guidelines (English)
Compostaje de la pulpa/cáscara de café (Espanol)
Netafim Drip Irrigation manual
Innovakit: abonador (fertiliser applicator)
Innovakit: aroplateo (tree guard for weed whacking)
Innovakit: selector de arvenses (low-drift sprayer)
Innovakit: canguaro (sleeves)
World Coffee Research variety catalogue
Recommended varieties: Centroamericano, H1, H16, Mundo Maya
Coffee&Climate Toolbox
Access Agriculture
World Coffee Research Resources
Barista Hustle’s Coffee Farm Management series
The Coffee …
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Producer Toolkit: Farming, Pt 2 - Water crisis, risky genetics and cash flow crunch
27 juli 2026 · 35 min
This episode explores the growing water crisis in coffee farming, why farmers are drawn to risky coffee varieties and coffee farming's hidden cashflow traps. Lees meer
Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, this series will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.
Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing.
Please spread the word about Filter Stories!
Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast) and Lucia (@lluciasolis) - and tag us in an Instagram story.
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Stay up to date with Lucia through her newsletter
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories
Related podcast episodes:
Lucia:
#79: Farm First: Lalo Perez on Long-Term Coffee Health
James:
The Science of Coffee: The Magic of Soils
The Science of Coffee: Plant Genetics
People mentioned in the episode:
Fernando Castillo Guatemala
Paulino Quintero, Colombia
Orlando Osoria, Colombia
Julia Ortega, Mexico
Sergio de la Vequia, Mexico
Hugo Lopez, Innovakit
Manuel Mata, Colombia
Sam Knowlton, Soil Symbiotics
Lalo Perez, Biofilia
Resources:
Anacafe technical management
Coffee Cascara Compost Guidelines (English)
Compostaje de la pulpa/cáscara de café (Espanol)
Netafim Drip Irrigation manual
Innovakit: abonador (fertiliser applicator)
Innovakit: aroplateo (tree guard for weed whacking)
Innovakit: selector de arvenses (low-drift sprayer)
Innovakit: canguaro (sleeves)
World Coffee Research variety catalogue
Recommended varieties: Centroamericano, H1, H16, Mundo Maya
Coffee&Climate Toolbox
Access Agriculture
World Coffee Research Resources
Barista Hustle’s Coffee Farm Management…
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Producer Toolkit: Farming, Pt 1 - Low harvests and profit blind spots
27 juli 2026 · 26 min
Welcome to The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis. Lees meer
This series will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.
Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing.
In this first episode, we cover the fundamentals of what makes a coffee farm viable. We look at how farms measure success and why so few know whether they're actually profitable.
Please spread the word about Filter Stories!
Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast) and Lucia (@lluciasolis) - and tag us in an Instagram story.
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Stay up to date with Lucia through her newsletter
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories
Related podcast episodes:
Lucia:
#79: Farm First: Lalo Perez on Long-Term Coffee Health
James:
The Science of Coffee: The Magic of Soils
The Science of Coffee: Plant Genetics
People mentioned in the episode:
Fernando Castillo Guatemala
Paulino Quintero, Colombia
Orlando Osoria, Colombia
Julia Ortega, Mexico
Sergio de la Vequia, Mexico
Hugo Lopez, Innovakit
Manuel Mata, Colombia
Sam Knowlton, Soil Symbiotics
Lalo Perez, Biofilia
Resources:
Anacafe technical management
Coffee Cascara Compost Guidelines (English)
Compostaje de la pulpa/cáscara de café (Espanol)
Netafim Drip Irrigation manual
Innovakit: abonador (fertiliser applicator)
Innovakit: aroplateo (tree guard for weed whacking)
Innovakit: selector de arvenses (low-drift sprayer)
Innovakit: canguaro (sleeves)
World Coffee Research variety catalogue
Recommended varieties: Centroamericano, H1, H16, Mundo Maya
Coffee&Climate Toolbox
Access Agriculture
World Coffee Research Resources
Barista Hustle…
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Introducing: The Coffee Producer Toolkit
13 juli 2026 · 17 min
Welcome to The Coffee Producer Toolkit, an eight episode series to help producers have long-term profitable farms. Lees meer
Hosted by coffee journalist James Harper (Filter Stories podcast) and fermentation specialist Lucia Solis (Making Coffee with Lucia Solis podcast), this series breaks down essential topics including agronomy, fermentation, pricing, sales, and marketing.
In this introductory episode, you'll learn about James and Lucia’s backgrounds, why they joined forces to build this resource, and how this toolkit is structured to help you run a viable coffee business.
Follow us through our newsletters and Social media:
Lucia's Newsletter
James's Newsletter
Lucia Instagram
James' Filter Stories Instagram
Cover art: Nick Hafner
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT water+more | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro
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History: Guatemala’s Inconvenient Truth, Pt 2
20 april 2026 · 29 min
Specialty coffee changes the story for the indigenous people of Guatemala. Coffee as a tool of oppression finally offers hope....and then something a bit more complicated. Lees meer
This episode explores the tension between the values of the Mayan communities who grow coffee, and the values that drive the specialty coffee movement.
Many of the signals we typically look for in our coffees - super-specialty flavours, Fairtrade certification, “5th generation family farm” - might actually exclude coffee grown by indigenous Guatemalans.
This episode might change what kind of Guatemalan coffee you buy.
Please spread the word about A History of Coffee!
Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast) and Jonathan (@coffeehistoryjm) - and tag us in an Instagram story.
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
This free educational content for the coffee community was made possible by Mahlkönig, manufacturers of world-leading coffee grinders for 100 years for your home and cafe.
Read Jonathan’s book, Coffee: A Global History
Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories
Read James’ article on Dieseldorf, the famous German plantation owner, in Standart
Pick up a copy of Prof. Ted Fischer’s excellent book Making Better Coffee: How Maya Farmers and Third Wave Taste Makers Create Value
Follow Juan Jose on LinkedIn to keep up with his PhD on coffee farming in Jacaltenango exploring how ecology, generational memory and ritual all shape how Jacalteco farmers tend the land.
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
M…
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History: Guatemala’s Inconvenient Truth, Pt 1
20 april 2026 · 44 min
When you buy a bag of coffee labelled fifth-generation family farm, it feels like a good choice. Lees meer
But in Guatemala, that label might actually be a signal for a more uncomfortable truth.
This episode explores how land has been understood, used, and eventually fought over in Guatemala for centuries between indigenous people, Europeans and those in-between.
It’s a story of what happened immediately after Guatemala won independence from Spain. This pivotal period of history gets less attention in the history books, but the suffering of the indigenous people of Guatemala gets arguably even worse.
Fair warning: it's a dark story, and it will make you think twice about what you're really choosing when you pick up a bag of coffee from Central America.
Please spread the word about A History of Coffee!
Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast) and Jonathan (@coffeehistoryjm) - and tag us in an Instagram story.
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
This free educational content for the coffee community was made possible by Mahlkönig, manufacturers of world-leading coffee grinders for 100 years for your home and cafe.
Read Jonathan’s book, Coffee: A Global History
Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories
Read James’ article on Dieseldorf, the famous German plantation owner, in Standart
Pick up a copy of Prof. Ted Fischer’s excellent book Making Better Coffee: How Maya Farmers and Third Wave Taste Makers Create Value
Follow Juan Jose on LinkedIn to keep up with his PhD on coffee farming in Jacaltenango exploring how ecology, generational memory and ritual all shape how Jacalteco farmers tend the land.
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fair…
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History: Surrogates - Anything but the coffee
2 maart 2026 · 46 min
What happens when coffee disappears? Lees meer
This is not a thought experiment! It’s happened many times in history: War, blockades, tariffs, ideology, health panics, sanctions, supply shocks.
When coffee is not around, people still need something warm, comforting, and familiar. And throughout history, people have reached for coffee surrogates: roasted plants and grains engineered to look like coffee…but do they actually taste like coffee?
In this episode, Jonathan and James time-travel by taste testing a truly alarming number of coffee substitutes.
Spoiler: you will hear a lot of spitting!
Which leads to the bigger question: can anything actually replace coffee—or will we always come crawling back?
Please spread the word about A History of Coffee!
Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast) and Jonathan (@coffeehistoryjm) - and tag us in an Instagram story.
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
This free educational content for the coffee community was made possible by Mahlkönig, manufacturers of world-leading coffee grinders for 100 years for your home and cafe.
Read Jonathan’s book, ‘Coffee: A Global History’
Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories
Read James’ article on the history of decaf technology in Standart
See Colin Smith’s amazing coffee museum at Smith’s Coffee in Hemel Hempstead, UK
Get nerdy about the intersection of AI and the occult on Karin’s Subtack, Mercurial Minutes
Do your own surrogate taste test!
Postum
Atomo
Orzo
Fig
Dandelion root
Dateseed
Acorn
Chickpea
Chicory Root
Camp Coffee
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home …
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History: Ethiopia’s wild coffee forests
9 februari 2026 · 49 min
Most coffee is grown on vast plantations using machines, pesticides and fertilisers. Lees meer
But in Ethiopia, coffee grows wild in humid forests surrounded by birds.
And that wild coffee matters more than most of us realise. It is the genetic ‘library’ we can turn to find new varieties to help us keep coffee thriving in the face of climate change.
But the communities who live alongside them and have safeguarded this genetic treasure often don’t earn enough from coffee to make preservation the obvious economic choice.
Could a great story be the answer to earn higher premiums for these communities? Could that story be that all the coffee we drink today can actually be traced back to a single “mother tree” in Ethiopia?
This episode is about the history of coffee in Ethiopia, how far back the evidence goes, what counts as evidence, and what we should celebrate (and pay for) when we buy “wild” Ethiopian coffee today.
Please spread the word about A History of Coffee!
Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast) and Jonathan (@coffeehistoryjm) - and tag us in an Instagram story.
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
This free educational content for the coffee community was made possible by Mahlkönig, manufacturers of world-leading coffee grinders for 100 years for your home and cafe.
Read Jonathan’s book, ‘Coffee: A Global History’
Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories
Discover how James makes these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to his Substack newsletter
Enjoy James’ Standart article about Avicenna and the earliest (supposed) written reference to coffee
Read the scientific paper pinpointing where wild coffee forests are in Ethiopia
Follow Solomon Tselele's work through his Facebook page
Learn more about the Ethiopian coffee ceremony on the Adventures in Coffee podcast
Series 3 of A History of Coffee is a collaboration between documentary maker James Harper of the Filter Sto…
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History: Hamburg and Europe’s coffee trade
5 januari 2026 · 50 min
On a long walk through Hamburg, somewhere between the fish markets and giant cranes, you might stumble a giant bronze coffee bean looks like its crash landed from space. Lees meer
But this giant coffee bean represents a staggering fact: one in every three cups of coffee drunk in Europe has passed through Hamburg.
In the first half of this episode, we explore the many profound ways coffee shaped one of Europe’s most important cities.
But then the story flips because, once coffee changed Hamburg, Hamburg began to change coffee.
Series 3 of A History of Coffee is a collaboration between documentary maker James Harper of the Filter Stories coffee podcast and Jonathan Morris, Professor of History and author of ‘Coffee: A Global History’.
Please spread the word about A History of Coffee!
Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast) and Jonathan (@coffeehistoryjm) - and tag us in an Instagram story.
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
This free educational content for the coffee community was made possible by Mahlkönig, manufacturers of world-leading coffee grinders for 100 years for your home and cafe.
Read Jonathan’s book, ‘Coffee: A Global History’ (https://amzn.to/3dihAfU)
Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories
Pick up a copy of Margrit Schulte Beerbühl’s book, Kaffee Ist Fertig!
Read James’ article on Frederick the Great’s attempt to ban coffee in Standart
Go on your own Hamburg coffee tour!
Giant bean
Speicherstadt Museum
Burg Coffee Museum in the Speicherstadt
Becking, 100 year old coffee roasters
1950s Rebuilt Coffee Exchange - and an Instagram post coming on @filterstoriespodcast
Go deeper into the story of Mahlkönig’s grinders
Early EKs - post coming on @filterstoriespodcast
DK (aka Donkey Kong Dreiphasen Kaffeemühle)
Grind-by-Sync espresso grinders
EK Omnia
Guatemala
Matt Perger WBC routine demonstrating the EK
Filter Stories episode on grinding curves
Use ProfileP…
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Introducing: Series Three of A History of Coffee
29 december 2025 · 3 min
We’re back with more stories about the tiny psychoactive seed that changed the world and continues to shape our lives today. Lees meer
Is it possible to follow the story not just to Ethiopia, not just to a single town, but all the way back to one tree?
We’ll uncover the uncomfortable history of Guatemala — a story about who inherited the rich volcanic soil, and who was forced to work it.
We explore what happens when our worst nightmare comes true: coffee disappears from the shelves. What did people brew instead? Was any of it actually drinkable?
And we tell the story of how coffee can shape the massive port city of Hamburg, and how Hamburg then went on to shape the global coffee world.
If we want to make coffee a more equitable industry that’s also kinder to the environment, a place to start is understanding the stories and systems that put the coffee into your cup this morning.
Press the ‘Subscribe’ button so you don’t miss future episodes.
A History of Coffee is a collaboration between documentary maker James Harper of the Filter Stories coffee podcast and Jonathan Morris, Professor of History and author of ‘Coffee: A Global History’.
Follow us on Instagram! Jonathan Morris @coffeehistoryjm and James Harper @filterstoriespodcast.
This free educational content was made possible with the support of Mahlkönig, manufacturers of world-class grinders for 100 years.
Subscribe to The Science of Coffee podcast
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
Meet the Mazzer Super Jolly g, the iconic grinder that's got even better. Click here to learn about its super fast grindin…
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Science: Coffee Quality, Pt 3 - When the “quality” myth hits the farm
8 december 2025 · 30 min
For twenty years, the 2004 cupping form profoundly shaped the specialty coffee world. Lees meer
But on the hillsides of coffee farms, some of the form’s byproducts have been disadvantaging producers.
In this episode, we follow two producers whose lives collided with the myth of universal quality. These stories reveal how a single idea of “quality” can close doors for the people with the least power in the supply chain.
The new coffee evaluation form, the CVA, is still young, and with any luck it will keep evolving. I hope for a form that can empower even the smallest producers.
Please support my work directly at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories
Other ways you can help:
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Go deeper into the story of quality:
The original Filter Stories episode about Murray Cooper in Ecuador, Firefly
Specialty Coffee Association's new Coffee Value Assessment
2004 cupping form from the Specialty Coffee Association of America
SCAA Coffee Cuppers Handbook (4th edition, 2011)
Kenneth Liberman's book, "Tasting Coffee: An Inquiry into Objectivity"
SCA's video series on the CVA presented by Peter Giuliano
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
Meet the Mazzer Super Jolly g, the iconic grinder that's got even better. Click here to learn about its super fast grinding, bump protection, and 100th-of-a-gram accuracy.
Elevate your cafe's menu with Prana Chai: whole leaf tea sourced direct…
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Science: Coffee Quality, Pt 2 - How “quality” became a myth
8 december 2025 · 26 min
If you ask two specialty professionals what makes a high-quality coffee, you’ll likely get a surprisingly consistent answer: clean, sweet, juicy, bright. To an outsider, they would be forgiven for thinking coffee quality is universally defined. Lees meer
But the truth is more sober.
In this episode, we examine how a simple cupping form helped create a universal idea of quality. We then look at the evidence that, in fact, it’s just the personal preferences of a small group of people masquerading as universal quality.
Please support my work directly at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories
Other ways you can help:
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Go deeper into the story of quality:
2004 cupping form from the Specialty Coffee Association of America
SCAA Coffee Cuppers Handbook (4th edition, 2011)
Cup of Excellence cupping form
Kenneth Liberman's book, "Tasting Coffee: An Inquiry into Objectivity"
SCA's video series on the CVA presented by Peter Giuliano
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
Meet the Mazzer Super Jolly g, the iconic grinder that's got even better. Click here to learn about its super fast grinding, bump protection, and 100th-of-a-gram accuracy.
Elevate your cafe's menu with Prana Chai: whole leaf tea sourced direct from farmers, blended with fresh whole spices, sweetened with honey. Request a sample here.
Support Filter Stories at Ko-Fi.com/FilterStories
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Science: Coffee Quality, Pt 1 - The birth of specialty coffee flavours
8 december 2025 · 24 min
For the longest time, coffees were dull and bitter. But then a small group of pioneers changed the world. Lees meer
In this episode, we travel back to the 1960s and ’70s to meet the trailblazers who realised coffees could taste distinctive: sweeter, brighter, cleaner.
We discover how their personal preferences became a movement, then a form, and eventually a global definition of “quality”.
Please support my work directly at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories
Other ways you can help:
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Go deeper into the story of quality:
Specialty Coffee Association's new Coffee Value Assessment
2004 cupping form from the Specialty Coffee Association of America
SCAA Coffee Cuppers Handbook (4th edition, 2011)
Michael Sheridan of CQI discussing the inter-organisational politics behind the Houston Expo announcement on Lee Safar's Map It Forward podcast
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
Meet the Mazzer Super Jolly g, the iconic grinder that's got even better. Click here to learn about its super fast grinding, bump protection, and 100th-of-a-gram accuracy.
Elevate your cafe's menu with Prana Chai: whole leaf tea sourced direct from farmers, blended with fresh whole spices, sweetened with honey. Request a sample here.
Support Filter Stories at Ko-Fi.com/FilterStories
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Science: How specialty coffee woke up to water’s role in flavour
28 juli 2025 · 26 min
For the longest time, the coffee community only cared about water’s impact ruining espresso machine boilers and kettles. But what about water’s impact on coffee flavour? Lees meer
In this episode, I tell the story of how the specialty coffee community came to understand water chemistry: the pioneering work of the computational chemist Christopher Hendon and British roaster Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood, the genesis of the SCA’s Water Quality Handbook, and where we are today understanding the impact of minerals on our water.
I strongly recommend listening to the two episodes before this one first Getting great water for coffee, step-by-step & The two ingredients in water that ruin your coffee, and the ancient story behind them
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Want to go deeper into water chemistry?
Read the SCA’s Water Quality Handbook
BWT White Paper on the effects of magnesium (German)
Christopher Hendon’s Instagram where he’ll announce his new version of his book, Water for Coffee
Do an online Certificate of Advanced Studies at the Coffee Excellence Centre
Season 3 of The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | TODDY | Algrano | Probat
Note: this is a reworked version of my 2022 episode Water for Brewing Coffee, including portions of my 2024 episode How to think like a scientist, part 2.
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind…
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Science: Why prehistoric rock ruins coffee
28 juli 2025 · 39 min
550 million years ago, earth was perfect. We had perfect water for coffee AND we were living in a vegetarian paradise! Lees meer
But then Earth changed—violently. The planet shifted from a peaceful, plant-eating paradise to a darker, more brutal world. And in this new world, the chemistry of water was forever altered.
This is the wild story of how earth-shaking forces and the spirits of long-dead critters ruin your coffees today.
This story will help you remember the two invisible ingredients in your water that have a huge impact on coffee flavour and your brewing equipment: calcium and hydrogen carbonate.
Read Marcia Bjonerud’s amazing book, Reading the Rocks
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Season 3 of The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | TODDY | Algrano | Probat
Note: this is a reworked version of my 2022 episode Water for Brewing Coffee.
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
Meet the Mazzer Super Jolly g, the iconic grinder that's got even better. Click here to learn about its super fast grinding, bump protection, and 100th-of-a-gram accuracy.
Elevate your cafe's menu with Prana Chai: whole leaf tea sourced direct from farmers, blended with fresh whole spices, sweetened with honey. Request a sample here.
Support Filter Stories at Ko-Fi.com/FilterStories
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Science: Water, Pt 2 - How to measure and treat it
14 juli 2025 · 43 min
Water massively impacts your coffee’s flavours. But most of us struggle to fix our water because water science is confusing… Lees meer
…until now! In this special collaboration with Lucia Solis (Making Coffee podcast), I guide her through the two most important concepts you need to understand to get great-tasting water for coffee: hardness and alkalinity.
We go step-by-step through:
• Why these concepts matter for coffee flavour and equipment
• How to test your water at home
• How to fix it, depending on what you’re working with
These aren’t one of my usual narrative episodes—they’re a straightforward, practical guide to help you take control of your water.
By the end of these episodes, you’ll be able to say: “I know what good water for coffee is and how to get it”.
I hope it helps you as much as it helped Lucia.
Check my website for all the visuals mentioned in this episode, including:
SCA graph for excellent water (the “map”)
Map of different water hardness across Paris
My Berlin water report
The nightmarish table of conversions…
Results from my water tests in my Berlin studio
Bottled water brands rated for their hardness and alkalinity
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Resources mentioned in the episode:
SCA’s Water Quality Handbook
Hardness and alkalinity dripper testing kit (also good for keeping your fishies happy)
BWT Penguin Filter Jug (what I used to use with the magnesium cartridges)
BWT BestAqua ROC (what now I use)
BWT BestBarista (for cafes)
Create your own water by adding minerals to very soft or distilled water: JoJo Hersh’s simple calculator using epsom salts and bicarbonate of soda, and Barista Hustle’s more elaborate one.
Want to go deeper into water chemistry?
BWT White Paper on the effects of magnesi…
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Science: Water, Pt 1 - Alkalinity, hardness and why it matters
14 juli 2025 · 26 min
Water massively impacts your coffee’s flavours. But most of us struggle to fix our water because water science is confusing… Lees meer
…until now! In this special collaboration with Lucia Solis (Making Coffee podcast), I guide her through the two most important concepts you need to understand to get great-tasting water for coffee: hardness and alkalinity.
We go step-by-step through:
• Why these concepts matter for coffee flavour and equipment
• How to test your water at home
• How to fix it, depending on what you’re working with
These aren’t one of my usual narrative episodes—they’re a straightforward, practical guide to help you take control of your water.
By the end of these episodes, you’ll be able to say: “I know what good water for coffee is and how to get it”.
I hope it helps you as much as it helped Lucia.
Check my website for all the visuals mentioned in this episode, including:
SCA graph for excellent water (the “map”)
Map of different water hardness across Paris
My Berlin water report
The nightmarish table of conversions…
Results from my water tests in my Berlin studio
Bottled water brands rated for their hardness and alkalinity
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Resources mentioned in the episode:
SCA’s Water Quality Handbook
Hardness and alkalinity dripper testing kit (also good for keeping your fishies happy)
BWT Penguin Filter Jug (what I used to use with the magnesium cartridges)
BWT BestAqua ROC (what now I use)
BWT BestBarista (for cafes)
Create your own water by adding minerals to very soft or distilled water: JoJo Hersh’s simple calculator using epsom salts and bicarbonate of soda, and Barista Hustle’s more elaborate one.
Want to go deeper into water chemistry?
BWT White Paper on the effects of magnesi…
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Science: Farm to port - why specialty costs more
23 juni 2025 · 54 min
Every time we open a bag of beautiful specialty coffee — like Erick Bravo’s from Finca El Chaferote in Huila, Colombia — we’re drinking something that’s been on a long journey. Lees meer
And I mean long! Over 1500 kilometers north up and down the Andes mountain range, a distance more than twice the height of France.
Along the way, it passes through dozens of hands, machines, and decisions. We follow it through muddy mountain sides, dusty dry mills, and hurricane-battered coastal warehouses — places where all kinds of things can go wrong. A leaky roof. An overly aggressive polishing machine. Or even theft.
But here’s the mystery: getting Erick’s coffee to port costs 50% more than sending a commodity coffee through the same route.
Why?
That question led me deep into Colombia’s coffee supply chains — and what I found changed how I think about the real cost of treating coffee with care.
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Find your next favourite Colombian coffee from The Coffee Quest
Taste coffees from Erick Bravo’s award winning farm, Finca El Chaferote, and follow him on Instagram.
Season 3 of The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organizations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | TODDY | Algrano | Probat
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
Meet the Mazzer Super Jolly g, the iconic grinder that's got even better. Clic…
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Science: Why one Colombian farmer chose specialty, and the other walked away
9 juni 2025 · 47 min
I travel to Colombia’s Huila region to answer a question that’s puzzled me for years: if specialty coffee pays more, is better for the environment, and brews tastier cups—why don’t more farmers grow it? Lees meer
I speak with two producers in the same region whose choices couldn’t be more different. One stakes his future on specialty. The other opts out.
Their decisions come down to more than passion or a hard work ethic. Instead, I uncover two starting conditions—often invisible to us buyers—that strongly shape whether a farmer chooses specialty at all.
If we want to see more speciality coffee grown, we need to bring down the barriers to specialty. But first we need to understand what those barriers really are.
The answers might surprise you. They surprised me.
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Find your next favourite Colombian coffee from The Coffee Quest
Taste coffees from Erick Bravo’s award winning farm, Finca El Chaferote
Nerd out on my farm profitability estimations
Season 3 of The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organizations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | TODDY | Algrano | Probat
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
Meet the Mazzer Super Jolly g, the iconic grinder that's got even better. Click here to learn about its super fast grinding, bump protection, and 100th-of-a-gram accuracy.
Elevate your…
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Science: The hard business of selling beautiful coffee, Pt 2
19 mei 2025 · 39 min
Volume. Cheap. Lame flavours. This is the traditional way of growing coffee in Brazil, and almost every farm does it this way. Lees meer
But what if you wanted to produce beautiful, distinctive flavours instead—and make a living from it?
In this episode, we travel to Fazenda Paraíso in Minas Gerais, Brazil, where farmer Vicente Pereira and his daughter are on a steep learning curve finding buyers for their beautiful coffees.
Part 2 explores what it looks like for a small Brazilian farm to find better buyers, and the challenge of achieving pricing power.
Behind every beautiful coffee is a family story like this, but it’s a story we rarely get to see close up.
Let’s take a closer look.
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Source your next lot of specialty green coffee on Algrano
Listen to Firefly to hear a cautionary tale about a specialty farm failing because they couldn't find the right buyers.
Try Fazenda Paraiso's and Sancoffee's coffees for yourself!
Season 3 of The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organizations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | TODDY | Algrano | Probat
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
Meet the Mazzer Super Jolly g, the iconic grinder that's got even better. Click here to learn about its super fast grinding, bump protection, and 100th-of-a-gram accuracy.
Elevate your cafe's menu with Prana…
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Science: The hard business of selling beautiful coffee, Pt 1
19 mei 2025 · 29 min
Volume. Cheap. Lame flavours. This is the traditional way of growing coffee in Brazil, and almost every farm does it this way. Lees meer
But what if you wanted to produce beautiful, distinctive flavours instead—and make a living from it?
In this episode, we travel to Fazenda Paraíso in Minas Gerais, Brazil, where farmer Vicente Pereira and his daughter are on a steep learning curve finding buyers for their beautiful coffees.
Part 1 unravels the hidden structures of Brazil’s coffee industry: how prices are set, why it’s so hard to create a specialty-focused farm, and why Vicente's farm is unsustainable if he sells his coffee the traditional way.
Behind every beautiful coffee is a family story like this, but it’s a story we rarely get to see close up.
Let’s take a closer look.
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Source your next lot of specialty green coffee on Algrano
Listen to Firefly to hear a cautionary tale about a specialty farm failing because they couldn't find the right buyers.
Try Fazenda Paraiso's and Sancoffee's coffees for yourself!
Season 3 of The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organizations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | TODDY | Algrano | Probat
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
Meet the Mazzer Super Jolly g, the iconic grinder that's got even better. Click here to learn about its super fast …
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Science: How to roast more coffee, faster!
24 maart 2025 · 52 min
To roast coffee faster, you need to turn up the heat….right? Lees meer
No!
In this episode, we explore the three powerful methods of heat transfer that revolutionised roasting. We’ll journey from humble beginnings—when roasting three kilos took half an hour—to machines that now roast hundreds of kilos of coffee in the time it takes you to boil a kettle.
But beans roasted at lightning speed look strange, and taste… well, you’ll find out. Join us as we test-drive an industrial tangential roaster where first crack remind me of fireworks crackers.
We also see the whale-sized roaster so massive it’s worth you a Guinness World Record.
We have the technology today to roast coffee faster than ever, so why aren’t we all roasting at recording-breaking speeds?
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Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Check out the Probat roasters mentioned in this episode:
Emmerich Spherical Roaster - "Pink Hydrant"
Large ball roaster - “Sputnik in a pizza oven”
G45 early drum roaster - “Old school steam train”
Early tangential roaster
Sample tangential roaster - "Shoebox"
Neptune 4000, the largest drum roaster in the world! - "The whale"
And there are lots of other specialty roasters from Probat I didn't have time to showcase, including their new hydrogen powered roasters. See them all for yourself!.
Theodor von Gimborn's wikipedia page
Go deeper into the science of roasting
Read Mark Al-Shemmeri’s coffee roasting blog
Do a Certificate of Advanced Studies with the Coffee Excellence Centre
Explore Barista Hustle's online roasting learning
Learn more from Morten Münchow and his coffee roasting courses
Read Morten’s paper in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen on Roasting Conditions and Coffee Flavour
Follow Filter Stories on Inst…
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Science: The chemistry of coffee roasting
10 maart 2025 · 48 min
A mother coffee plant gifts its baby everything it needs to grow—a green seed packed with food. But when we roast coffee, we hijack that gift and turn it into something else: flavor. Lees meer
But what is flavor, at a microscopic level? What actually happens inside the bean when heat meets those nutrients?
In this episode, we shrink down to witness the Maillard reaction up close—a wild chain of molecular collisions that transforms baby plant food into aromas we adore.
Grab your popcorn - you’re getting a front row seat at the wildest chemistry show in coffee.
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Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Ethiopian forest sounds curtesy of George Vlad. Hear more nature sounds here.
Explore Probat's roasters
Go deeper into the science of roasting
Do a Certificate of Advanced Studies with the Coffee Excellence Centre
Grab a copy of Anja Rahn's upcoming book on coffee science through her Instagram
Explore Barista Hustle's online roasting learning
Learn more from Morten Münchow and his coffee roasting courses
Read Morten’s paper in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen on Roasting Conditions and Coffee Flavour
Follow Sebastian Opitz on LinkedIn
Follow Filter Stories on Instagram for my infographics
Season 3 is made possible by these leading coffee organizations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | TODDY | Algrano | Probat
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use disco…
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Science: Fruit juice or creamy almonds? Your guide to controlling cold brew flavors
16 februari 2025 · 47 min
When I started making cold brew this last year, I treated it like hot brew filter coffee. But no matter how I adjusted the grind or tweaked the brew time, I hardly got any differences in flavor… Lees meer
Then it hit me: cold brew isn’t just a slower hot brew—it’s a completely different game with its own rules!
In this episode, I speak with leading coffee researchers who break down the microscopic dance between water and coffee that explains why cold brew plays by its own playbook.
And I bring you in on the brewing secret that can turn your brews from fruit juice to nutty creaminess.
---------------
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Explore TODDY’s cold brewing kits
Go deeper into the science of cold brew
Do a Certificate of Advanced Studies with the Coffee Excellence Centre
Read Jiaxin (Jessie) Liang’s equilibrium extraction SCA 25 article and her published article
Discover all of UC Davis' cold brew research through the Coffee Science Foundation
Learn how to do a cold brew cupping with Toddy
Follow Filter Stories on Instagram for my infographics
Season 3 is made possible by these leading coffee organizations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | TODDY | Algrano | Probat
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
Meet the Mazzer Super Jolly g, the iconic grinder that's got even better. Click here to learn about its super fast grinding, bump p…
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Science: Hot vs Cold - The science behind temperature and taste
3 februari 2025 · 45 min
For years, I used cold brew as a last resort—the only brew method to tame dark, oily beans that were too bitter for hot water. Lees meer
Then one day, I took a chance on a Guatemalan Gesha and brewed it cold. The result? A massive explosion of florals I’d never tasted before. That single cup sent opened my eyes into how extraordinary cold brew can be.
In this episode, I speak with world-leading coffee scientists who explain why brewing with cold water tastes so different from chilled hot coffee.
You’ll learn how certain flavors leap into your cup (and how others mysteriously vanish) when you lower the brew temperature.
You’ll also discover there are hidden “cold brew gems” in beans you thought you knew. So before you grab the kettle, consider this: sometimes all you need is cold water.
---------------
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Explore TODDY’s cold brewing kits
Go deeper into the science of cold brew
Do a Certificate of Advanced Studies with the Coffee Excellence Centre
Listen to my episode on Coffee Extraction for insights into how polarity affects flavor extraction
Read the UC Davis cold brew vs chilled hot brew study
Listen to my episode on 'How to think like a scientist'
Learn how to do a cold brew cupping with Toddy
Follow Filter Stories on Instagram for my acidity infographic
Go deeper into Paul Breslin's work at the Monell Chemical Senses Centre
Discover all of UC Davis' cold brew research through the Coffee Science Foundation
Season 3 is made possible by these leading coffee organizations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | TODDY | Algrano | Probat
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscr…
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Introducing: Season 3 of The Science of Coffee
27 januari 2025 · 2 min
We’re back with another series of The Science of Coffee—and this time we’re diving even deeper into coffee’s hidden microscopic secrets! Lees meer
Over the past year, narrative audio producer and coffee professional James Harper has scoured academic journals, ventured deep into coffee farms, and conducted bold tasting experiments.
Now, he’s weaving those discoveries into captivating audio stories that reveal why coffee tastes the way it does—and how we can make it taste even better.
In this new series, you’ll learn about cold brew extraction science, explore innovations in roasting, and follow the shifting business models that shape farmers’ livelihoods. You’ll also take a journey through commodity vs. specialty supply chains and examine the historical, sociological, and philosophical perspectives that define what “specialty coffee” truly means.
Press the “Subscribe” button so you don’t miss an episode!
https://link.filterstories.org/3TdDnHO
For more coffee science and behind-the-scenes content, follow James on Instagram @filterstoriespodcast.
https://link.filterstories.org/2Mlkk0O
The Science of Coffee is a spin-off series from James Harper’s documentary podcast, Filter Stories.
https://link.filterstories.org/3ajoT5e
Season 3 is made possible by these leading coffee organizations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | TODDY | Algrano | Probat
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
Meet the Mazzer Super Jolly g, the iconic grinder that's got even better. Click here to learn about its super fast grinding, bump protection, and 100th-of-a-gram accuracy.
Elevate your cafe's me…
-
Science: How grinders work deep inside
6 mei 2024 · 47 min
Deep inside your coffee grinder, tiny changes can have massive consequences. Lees meer
This episode takes you deep inside Mahlkönig’s grinders to show you how coffee is ground and the importance of particle sizes on flavour.
If you’re a home coffee lover, you could easily spend thousands of dollars on your coffee grinder. But after diving deep into the R&D of grinder manufacturing, I learned that after a certain point spending more probably won’t produce a better tasting cup of coffee for you!
---------
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter.
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Explore Mahlkönig’s range of world leading grinders, trusted by baristas globally.
Go deeper into the world of grinding
Take Barista Hustle’s Advanced Espresso course
Learn from Lance Hedrick where the sweet spot is for buying a coffee grinder
Get super nerdy with Jonathan Gagne’s writings on grinding
Read up on Samo Smrke’s work on coffee fines
Connect with my very knowledgeable guests
Arnaldo Rodrigues - LinkedIn
Luca Lange - LinkedIn
Chris Meier - LinkedIn
Dario Burger - Instagram
The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
BWT Water and More
Marco Beverage Systems
ROEST
Sustainable Harvest
Mahlkönig
The Science of Coffee is a spin-off series from James Harper's documentary podcast Filter Stories
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
Meet the Mazzer…
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Science: Protecting your coffee’s flavours
22 april 2024 · 50 min
For your coffee to taste its best, it’s crucial you buy fresh roasts and grind fresh.… Lees meer
.….Or maybe not.
When I began creating this episode, I was convinced that ‘fresh is best’. But, after delving into the science of coffee freshness, I don’t believe that anymore.
This episode goes deep into how diffusion and oxidation changes a coffee’s flavours.
You’ll learn what it takes to store your coffee grounds unbelievably well. So well, that if you do it right, you will struggle to taste the difference between two month old coffee compared to those same beans freshly ground!
But here’s the weirdest thing: Maybe, just maybe, you will prefer old coffee more than the fresh stuff.
----------
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter.
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Explore Mahlkönig’s range of world leading grinders, trusted by baristas globally.
Dive deeper into the science of coffee freshness
Do a Certificate of Advanced Studies with the Coffee Excellence Centre
Pick up a copy of the SCA’s Coffee Freshness Handbook
Connect with my very knowledgeable guests
Samo Smrke - Instagram
19 Grams Coffee Roasters in Berlin - Instagram
Arnaldo Rodrigues - LinkedIn
The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
BWT Water and More
Marco Beverage Systems
ROEST
Sustainable Harvest
Mahlkönig
The Science of Coffee is a spin-off series from James Harper's documentary podcast Filter Stories
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic…
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Science: How to think like a scientist
8 april 2024 · 55 min
In the last episode, I discovered that rinsing my Chemex filter papers was a waste of time! As a result I’ve managed to claw back over seven days of my life left on earth. Lees meer
But why stop there?
The coffee industry is full of elaborate ways of brewing and savouring coffee: fancy drippers, cold metal balls, “slurp-able” cupping spoons.
These are very fun, but how many of them actually affect the flavour of our coffee?
I fear elaborate coffee gear is wasting our time and money. They're distracting us from the existential crises in coffee that actually require all our attention now. For example, the issue of farmers who grow delicious coffees quitting the business because it’s just getting too hard.
But to figure out whether a popular new coffee tool was actually waste of time or not, I needed to think like a scientist.
This episode is the journey I went on to rewire my brain: I had to learn what good evidence looks like, what to do if I can’t find good evidence, and why it’s important to focus mostly on experimental results while resisting the allure of a compelling theory.
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter.
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Discover this episode’s sponsor BWT’s water filtration products. I use their Penguin magnesium filter cartridges and cafes can use their BestAqua ROC
Dive deeper into the science of slurping, water and Signal Detection Theory
Do a Certificate of Advanced Studies with the Coffee Excellence Centre
Read Georgiana’s paper on soup slurping
Learn more about Signal Detection Theory
Explore BWT White Paper on the effects of magnesium (German)
Browse Christopher Hendon’s book Water for Coffee
Take Barista Hustle's Water course
Watch James Hoffman's water video
Connect with my very knowledgeable guests
Morten Munchow - Coffee M…
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Science: How to brew coffee like a scientist
25 maart 2024 · 46 min
Should you rinse your filter paper before making a filter coffee? Almost everybody in coffee internet says you should. Lees meer
But what if most of coffee internet was wrong?
In this episode, I show you how I try to answer this question like a professional sensory scientist would.
It’s hard. It’s frustrating. But ultimately, it’s worth it because I end up saving seven days of my life left on earth!
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Bring out vibrancy in your coffee with BWT’s magnesium water filters for the home and cafe
Dive deeper into sensory science methodologies
Take Becky Bleibaum's free introductory sensory science course!
Set up a triangulation yourself with DragonflySci’s worksheets
Understand Rose Marie Pangborn’s three step process better with Morten Münchow (“Pangborn’s Razor”)
Do a Certificate of Advanced Studies with the Coffee Excellence Centre
Connect with my very knowledgeable guests
Morten Munchow - Coffee Mind website
Becky Bleibaum - LinkedIn
Samo Smrke - Instagram
Sophie Vo - LinkedIn
The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
BWT Water and More
Marco Beverage Systems
ROEST
Sustainable Harvest
Mahlkönig
The Science of Coffee is a spin-off series from James Harper's documentary podcast Filter Stories
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
Meet the Mazzer Super Joll…
-
Science: Why don’t we see more organic coffee farms?
13 maart 2024 · 41 min
Farming coffee organically is amazing because soils are more alive, birds and insects are more plentiful, farmers avoid getting sick with agrochemicals. Lees meer
But, if it’s so great, why is less than 10% of the world’s coffee grown organically?
The fact is, going organic is hard. Much harder than growing coffee conventionally.
In this episode I show you the story of one of Central America’s most successful organic coffee cooperatives, RAOS, and the four big hurdles that stood in the way of their early founders who all dreamed of converting their farms to organic.
This story changed my understanding of farming and is now the reason I choose organic specialty coffee whenever I can.
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Dive deeper into organic coffee
Learn more about Sustainable Harvest’s Most Valuable Producer programme, their cupping app Tastify, and explore their range of certified organic and Fairtrade coffees
Explore RAOS (Cooperativa Regional Mixta de Agricultores Organicos de la Sierra)'s story for yourself
Are you a coffee farmer? Get in touch with Lalo Perez Varaona
Connect with my very knowledgeable guests
Lalo Perez Varaona - LinkedIn
Jorge Cuevas - LinkedIn
Andrea Futterer - GEPA website
Osman Contreras - LinkedIn
Roberto Rene Gonzales - Farm website
The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations
BWT Water and More
Marco Beverage Systems
ROEST
Sustainable Harvest
Mahlkönig
The Science of Coffee is a spin-off series from James Harper's documentary podcast Filter Stories
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint…
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Science: The magic of soil
26 februari 2024 · 39 min
The world’s farming soils are deteriorating quickly. Lees meer
Conventional coffee farming where plants are grown using agrochemicals allowed farmers to reap huge harvests these last 70 years. But these agrochemicals have been at the expense of soil health.
I travel to Honduras to explore a potential solution: organic coffee farming.
Come with me as I show you the organic farming tricks of Don Rufino, one of the region’s leading organic farmers.
He nurtures the soil around his coffee trees using mountain microorganisms, a huge diversity of shade trees, attentive tree pruning, and very funky batches of homemade bug spray.
The results speak for themselves: when I pick up a handful of his soil, it is moist, dense and writhing with life.
Could these cultivation techniques be the answer to the coffee world’s declining soil health?
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter!
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Dive deeper into organic coffee
Explore Sustainable Harvest’s range of certified organic and Fairtrade coffees
Are you a coffee farmer? Get in touch with Lalo Perez Varaona
Check out Don Rufino’s organic cooperative, RAOS
Connect with my very knowledgeable guests
Lalo Perez Varaona - LinkedIn
Tommie Hooft van Huysduynen - LinkedIn
Alison Streaker - LinkedIn
The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations
BWT Water and More
Marco Beverage Systems
ROEST
Sustainable Harvest
Mahlkönig
The Science of Coffee is a spin-off series from James Harper's documentary podcast Filter Stories
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of…
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Science: Roasting made easy
12 februari 2024 · 46 min
Roasting coffee can be maddening. Just 4° Celsius is enough to make the same green beans taste distinctly different! And there are so many things roasters can play around with: temperature, time, fan speed, drum speed, types of probes…the list goes on and on. Lees meer
So, if you want to start roasting yourself, where do you start!?
In the first half of this episode, I interview one of the world's leading roasting teachers who takes me through his published scientific research to give a clear answer. It’s as simple as 80%, 15% and 5%.
And then, in the second half, I show you why roasting coffee consistently batch-after-batch is so difficult. But these problems are finally being solved with smart technologies.
I visited the ROEST engineering team in Oslo and cracked open their innovative prototype P3000 roaster to show you the technology that allows anybody to roast coffee consistently and fully automatically.
I am so impressed with these innovations, I believe they’re going to change the coffee industry.
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Dive deeper into the science of roasting
Explore ROEST’s innovative products for the coffee industry.
Learn more from Morten Münchow and his coffee roasting courses
Read Morten’s paper in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen on Roasting Conditions and Coffee Flavour
Connect with my very knowledgeable guests
Sverre Simonsen - LinkedIn
Callum Gilmour - LinkedIn
Veronica Balduc - LinkedIn
Morten Münchow - Coffee Mind website
Scott Rao - Instagram
The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations
BWT Water and More
Marco Beverage Systems
ROEST
Sustainable Harvest
Mahlkönig
The Science of Coffee is a spin-off series from James Harper's documentary podcast Filter Stories
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without …
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Science: How roasting transforms coffee beans
29 januari 2024 · 38 min
What flavours do you want from your coffee? Lees meer
Every coffee bean begins its life green. And if you brewed it up without first roasting it, you’d get a yellow-green cup of grass-flavoured water.
But, as soon you apply heat to a bean, the flavour can morph to from something quite vegetative to a very acidic unripe fruit, then a very sweet fruit, and eventually dark roasted flavours.
This is the magic of coffee roasting!
In this episode of The Science of Coffee, I show you a full roast in action on the ROEST P3000, taste how coffee flavours evolve from acidic to bitter, and speak to leading coffee roasting scientists to reveal the mind-bending chemical and physical transformations taking place.
See for yourself Roest's innovative P3000 fully automatic roaster.
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Connect with my very knowledgeable guests
Mark Al-Shemmeri - LinkedIn
Callum Gilmour - LinkedIn
Veronica Balduc - LinkedIn
Anja Rahn - LinkedInIldi Revi - LinkedIn
Samo Smrke - Instagram
Morten Münchow - Coffee Mind website
The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations
BWT Water and More
Marco Beverage Systems
ROEST
Sustainable Harvest
Mahlkönig
The Science of Coffee is a spin-off series from James Harper's documentary podcast Filter Stories
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
Meet the Mazzer Super Jolly g, the iconic grinder that's got even better. Click here to learn about its super …
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Science: Do you and I taste the same flavours?
15 januari 2024 · 39 min
Ever wonder why you and your friends can taste the same coffee, but you can’t agree on the flavour notes? Lees meer
Join me as I explore this metaphysical mystery! I speak with leading scientists and ask: are the flavour receptors in your nose and mouth the same as mine? How does music and the shape of a cup affect what we taste? What about our different cultural backgrounds and language?
Best of all, I put all these questions to the test in the Athen’s World of Coffee trade show. Many poor unsuspecting Filter Stories spit, splutter and gasp in the name of science!
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See Marco Beverage Systems' SP9 for yourself, and discover their range of consistent and energy-efficient coffee brewers for your cafe.
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Connect with my very knowledgeable guests
Helene Hopfer - LinkedIn
Joel Mainland - LinkedIn
Fabiana Carvalho - Instagram
Janice Wang - LinkedIn
Felipe Reinoso - LinkedIn
Freda Yuan - Instagram
Mandy Naglich - Instagram
The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
BWT Water and More
Marco Beverage Systems
ROEST
Sustainable Harvest
Mahlkönig
The Science of Coffee is a spin-off series from James Harper's documentary podcast Filter Stories
Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
Meet the Mazzer Super Jolly g, the iconic grinder that's got even better. Click here to learn about its super fast grinding, bump protection, and 100th-of-a-gram accuracy.…
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Science: How to be a better coffee taster
8 januari 2024 · 45 min
So you’ve just taken a sip of a very rare coffee, and flavours of passion fruit explode in your mouth. Lees meer
But here’s the thing: that flavour of passion fruit is not coming from your mouth. It’s not even coming from your nostrils. It’s being picked up behind your eyes!
In this first episode of The Science of Coffee's second series, I unravel how our sense of smell and taste works to help you be a better coffee taster.
I shrink us down microscopically and we dive into your tongue to show you why good black coffee tastes sweet, even though there’s no sugar in it.
We then travel up into our noses and get stuck in a lot of mucus. This slime might be disgusting, but we need it to be able to smell well.
And finally, with the help of tasting expert and author Mandy Naglich, I show you three effective ways you can train yourself to be a much better coffee taster without having to go on any expensive courses. The trick is to train our internal flavour prediction models!
This episode will help you deepen your appreciation of coffee and its delicious complexity.
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See Marco Beverage Systems' SP9 for yourself, and discover their range of consistent and energy-efficient coffee brewers for your cafe.
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Become a better coffee taster!
Pick up a copy of Mandy Naglich’s book “How To Taste”
Sign up for the Specialty Coffee Association’s Sensory Skills courses
Do an online sensory course with CoffeeMind
Connect with my very knowledgeable guests
Mandy Naglich - Instagram
Linda Bartoshuk - Website
Joel Mainland - LinkedIn
Fabiana Carvalho - Instagram
Janice Wang - LinkedIn
Peter Giuliano - LinkedIn
Bram De Hoog - Instagram
The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
BWT Water and More
Marco Beverage Systems
ROEST
Sustainable Harvest
Mahlkönig
The Sci…