Show Notes
For years, I used cold brew as a last resort—the only brew method to tame dark, oily beans that were too bitter for hot water. Then one day, I took a chance on a Guatemalan Gesha and brewed it cold. The result? A massive explosion of florals I’d never tasted before. That single cup sent opened my eyes into how extraordinary cold brew can be. In this episode, I speak with world-leading coffee scientists who explain why brewing with cold water tastes so different from chilled hot coffee. You’ll learn how certain flavors leap into your cup (and how others mysteriously vanish) when you lower the brew temperature. You’ll also discover there are hidden “cold brew gems” in beans you thought you knew. So before you grab the kettle, consider this: sometimes all you need is cold water. --------------- Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee! Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story Write a review on Apple Podcasts Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter Explore TODDY’s cold brewing kits Go deeper into the science of cold brew Do a Certificate of Advanced Studies with the Coffee Excellence Centre Listen to my episode on Coffee Extraction for insights into how polarity affects flavor extraction Read the UC Davis cold brew vs chilled hot brew study Listen to my episode on 'How to think like a scientist' Learn how to do a cold brew cupping with Toddy Follow Filter Stories on Instagram for my acidity infographic Go deeper into Paul Breslin's work at the Monell Chemical Senses Centre Discover all of UC Davis' cold brew research through the Coffee Science Foundation Season 3 is made possible by these leading coffee organizations: The Coffee Quest | BWT | TODDY | Algrano | Probat Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.