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Science: Why prehistoric rock ruins coffee

28 de julio de 2025 · 39 min

Notas del episodio

550 million years ago, earth was perfect. We had perfect water for coffee AND we were living in a vegetarian paradise!

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

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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.

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