Show Notes
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. 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.
More from Filter Stories - Coffee Documentaries
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
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
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: 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
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: 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
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