Filter Stories – Coffee Documentaries
- Folgen
- 97
- Erscheint
- alle zwei Wochen
- Letzte Folge
- 9. Nov. 2026
Über den Podcast
Coffee stories with an extra shot of history and science. Filter Stories is a podcast revealing coffee’s hidden microscopic secrets, its powerful past, and how your choice of beans impacts tens of millions of people. See the behind-the-scenes stories on Instagram @filterstoriespodcast. If you haven’t already, please subscribe to the show and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!
Folgen 97
Producer Toolkit: Decaf - Why it's so hard to find good decaf
Why was decaf so bad for so long, and why is good decaf still so hard to find? In the final episode of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, we go inside a decaffeination plant in Veracruz, Mexico, to see what it …
Shownotes
Why was decaf so bad for so long, and why is good decaf still so hard to find? In the final episode of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, we go inside a decaffeination plant in Veracruz, Mexico, to see what it actually takes to pull the caffeine out of a coffee bean, and why a farm needs around 50 hectares before single-origin decaf starts to make sense.
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:
Follow us through our newsletters and Social media:
James' Filter Stories Instagram
People mentioned in the episode:
- Gerrit Peters — 19grams / Grownd, Berlin, Germany
- Óscar Hernández — Finca Nogales, Pitalito, Huila, Colombia
- Óscar Hernández — Finca Nogales Instagram
- Pablo Salazar — Cafeología, Chiapas, Mexico
- Carlos Rendón — Finca Kassandra, Veracruz, Mexico
- Sergio de la Vequia — Mexico
- Demetrio Arandia, Daniel Robles and Ignacio Martínez — Descamex, Córdoba, Veracruz, Mexico
- Melissa de Gasperín — Rancho San Felipe, Veracruz, Mexico
- Ernesto Pérez Orea — Grupo Cafetalero APG, Coatepec, Veracruz, Mexico
- Communal Coffee — Berlin, Germany
Resources:
- James Hoffmann's Decaf Project
- Photo of the raw caffeine at Descamex (James's Instagram)
- NCA National Coffee Data Trends 2025
- Perfect Daily Grind: Does decaf deserve better?
- Lucia's Fermentation Training Camp
Coffees cupped before and after Descamex's Mountain Water Process: Brazil Sierra Negra, Peru SHB, Mexican SHG RFA, Colombian Organic JAS, Sumatra Mandailing G1, Ethiopia Sidamo G2
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 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.
Producer Toolkit: Storage, Pt 2 - Why plastics are not all equal
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 …
Shownotes
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.
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:
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:
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. 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.
Producer Toolkit: Storage, Pt 1 - How coffee gets ruined on the farm
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 …
Shownotes
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.
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:
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:
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 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.
Producer Toolkit: Quality Assurance, Pt 2 - The basics of good water for coffee
This episode takes you through the basics of good water for coffee.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 …
Shownotes
This episode takes you through the basics of good water for coffee.
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:
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 calculator to adjust alkalinity
- Make your Own Water for Coffee
- Video: Make your own water for coffee
- BWT bestmax PREMIUM (under-sink option)
- BWT bestbarista ROC COFFEE
- PDFs of CVA Form in 7 languages
- The SCA Coffee Value Assessment, Extrinsic Criteria List
- Digital App: Catador
- Digital: CVA in your web browser
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 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.
Producer Toolkit: Quality Assurance, Pt 1 - A practical guide to tasting and roasting coffee
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 …
Shownotes
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.
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:
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 calculator to adjust alkalinity
- Make your Own Water for Coffee
- Video: Make your own water for coffee
- BWT bestmax PREMIUM (under-sink option)
- BWT bestbarista ROC COFFEE
- PDFs of CVA Form in 7 languages
- The SCA Coffee Value Assessment, Extrinsic Criteria List
- Digital App: Catador
- Digital: CVA in your web browser
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 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.
Producer Toolkit: Price, Pt 2 - Discovering the true value of coffee
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. Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration …
Shownotes
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.
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:
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 | 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 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.
Producer Toolkit: Price, Pt 1 - How the commodity 'C' market works
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 …
Shownotes
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.
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:
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 | 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 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.
Producer Toolkit: Marketing & Sales, Pt 2 - Navigating trade shows
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 …
Shownotes
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.
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:
Follow us through our newsletters and Social media:
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:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | 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 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.
Producer Toolkit: Marketing & Sales, Pt 1 - The power of story
This episode explores why specialty coffee is a luxury business that runs on story more than flavour.Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you …
Shownotes
This episode explores why specialty coffee is a luxury business that runs on story more than flavour.
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:
Follow us through our newsletters and Social media:
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:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | 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 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.
Producer Toolkit: Fermentation, Pt 3 - Is using yeast cheating? And who decides?
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 …
Shownotes
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.
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.
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Stay up to date with Lucia through her newsletter
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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:
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 in research on vineyards
- Sprudge Best Of Panama coverage
- Lucia’s Fermentation Training Camp
- Coffee Wet Mill Sanitize
- Opciones para la desinfección del beneficio
Lucia's Favorite Tools:
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | 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 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.
Producer Toolkit: Fermentation, Pt 2 - The case for avoiding exciting fermentations
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 …
Shownotes
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.
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:
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 in research on vineyards
- Sprudge Best Of Panama coverage
- Lucia’s Fermentation Training Camp
- Coffee Wet Mill Sanitize
- Opciones para la desinfección del beneficio
Lucia's Favorite Tools:
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | 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 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.
Producer Toolkit: Fermentation, Pt 1 - Nature's lottery and coffee's 3,000-year lag
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 …
Shownotes
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.
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:
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 in research on vineyards
- Sprudge Best Of Panama coverage
- Lucia’s Fermentation Training Camp
- Coffee Wet Mill Sanitize
- Opciones para la desinfección del beneficio
Lucia's Favorite Tools:
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | 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 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.
Producer Toolkit: Processing, Pt 3 - Critical instruments and poisoned rivers
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.Part of The Coffee …
Shownotes
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.
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:
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
- DIY Moisture Maths (weight + fixed volume)
Lucia's Favorite Tools:
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | 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 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.
Producer Toolkit: Processing, Pt 2 - Drying mistakes that ruin coffee quality
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.Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made …
Shownotes
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.
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:
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
- DIY Moisture Maths (weight + fixed volume)
Lucia's Favorite Tools:
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | 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 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.
Producer Toolkit: Processing, Pt 1 - Coffee rockstars and picking’s brutal economics
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 …
Shownotes
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.
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:
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
- DIY Moisture Maths (weight + fixed volume)
Lucia's Favorite Tools:
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | 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 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.
Producer Toolkit: Farming, Pt 3 - Starved soils and vanishing labour
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.Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in …
Shownotes
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.
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:
James:
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 Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | 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 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.
Producer Toolkit: Farming, Pt 2 - Water crisis, risky genetics and cash flow crunch
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.Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in …
Shownotes
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.
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:
James:
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 Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | 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 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.
Producer Toolkit: Farming, Pt 1 - Low harvests and profit blind spots
Welcome to 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 …
Shownotes
Welcome to 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.
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:
James:
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 Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | 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 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.
Introducing: The Coffee Producer Toolkit
Welcome to The Coffee Producer Toolkit, an eight episode series to help producers have long-term profitable farms.Hosted by coffee journalist James Harper (Filter Stories podcast) and fermentation specialist …
Shownotes
Welcome to The Coffee Producer Toolkit, an eight episode series to help producers have long-term profitable farms.
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:
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
History: Guatemala’s Inconvenient Truth, Pt 2
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.This episode explores the tension …
Shownotes
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.
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.
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.
History: Guatemala’s Inconvenient Truth, Pt 1
When you buy a bag of coffee labelled fifth-generation family farm, it feels like a good choice.But in Guatemala, that label might actually be a signal for a more uncomfortable truth.This episode explores how …
Shownotes
When you buy a bag of coffee labelled fifth-generation family farm, it feels like a good choice.
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 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.
History: Surrogates - Anything but the coffee
What happens when coffee disappears?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 …
Shownotes
What happens when coffee disappears?
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!
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.
History: Ethiopia’s wild coffee forests
Most coffee is grown on vast plantations using machines, pesticides and fertilisers. But in Ethiopia, coffee grows wild in humid forests surrounded by birds. And that wild coffee matters more than most of us …
Shownotes
Most coffee is grown on vast plantations using machines, pesticides and fertilisers.
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 Stories coffee podcast and Jonathan Morris, Professor of History and author of ‘Coffee: A Global History’.
Ethiopian forest sounds curtesy of George Vlad. Hear more nature sounds here.
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.
History: Hamburg and Europe’s coffee trade
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. But this giant coffee bean represents a …
Shownotes
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.
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!
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
Matt Perger WBC routine demonstrating the EK
Filter Stories episode on grinding curves
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.
Introducing: Series Three of A History of Coffee
We’re back with more stories about the tiny psychoactive seed that changed the world and continues to shape our lives today. Is it possible to follow the story not just to Ethiopia, not just to a single town …
Shownotes
We’re back with more stories about the tiny psychoactive seed that changed the world and continues to shape our lives today.
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 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.
Science: Coffee Quality, Pt 3 - When the “quality” myth hits the farm
For twenty years, the 2004 cupping form profoundly shaped the specialty coffee world.But on the hillsides of coffee farms, some of the form’s byproducts have been disadvantaging producers. In this episode, we …
Shownotes
For twenty years, the 2004 cupping form profoundly shaped the specialty coffee world.
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 from farmers, blended with fresh whole spices, sweetened with honey. Request a sample here.
Science: Coffee Quality, Pt 2 - How “quality” became a myth
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 …
Shownotes
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.
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.
Science: Coffee Quality, Pt 1 - The birth of specialty coffee flavours
For the longest time, coffees were dull and bitter. But then a small group of pioneers changed the world. In this episode, we travel back to the 1960s and ’70s to meet the trailblazers who realised coffees …
Shownotes
For the longest time, coffees were dull and bitter. But then a small group of pioneers changed the world.
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.
Science: How specialty coffee woke up to water’s role in flavour
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?In this episode, I tell the story of how …
Shownotes
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?
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 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.
Science: Why prehistoric rock ruins coffee
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 …
Shownotes
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
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.
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