Everyday Beans Podcast - Mostly About Coffee and Other Stuff

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I get real about one of the most frustrating experiences a coffee brewer can have — doing everything "right" and still ending up with a flat, lifeless cup. I was working with an Ethiopian white honey process, medium roast that leaned lighter, and no matter what I threw at it — different grinders, different filters, faster pours — the coffee just wasn&apo...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I finally sit down with the co-fermented coffees I've been tasting over the past couple of days — specifically the Peach and Green Apple varieties — and give you my honest, unfiltered take on what actually happened. I was genuinely pleasantly surprised when I first cracked open these beans. The aroma was intense off the whole bean, and when I ground them, it...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I share my honest, unfiltered predictions about two co-ferment coffees I roasted about a month ago — a Colombian carbonic honey green apple and a Colombian carbonic honey peach, both from Royal Coffee's Crown Jewel selection. Before I even take a sip, I walk through what I'm smelling, what I'm sensing, and what I genuinely expect these coffees to de...

Send us Fan Mail I've said it before and I'll say it again: the best coffee in the world is most likely a washed coffee. It took me a while to get there, but after trying naturals, co-ferments, double ferments, and everything in between, I keep coming back to washed coffees. There's something about the way they challenge you, the way the flavors stay subtle and restrained at first,...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I get real about something I've been thinking about a lot lately — the growing pile of tools, gadgets, and precision instruments that have slowly crept into my coffee routine. I walk through the contrast between my French press setup, where precision was never the goal, and the rabbit hole that pour-over brewing has sent me down — drip assist devices, melodri...

Send us Fan Mail I dive deep into one of the most powerful concepts in coffee brewing: manipulation. In this episode, I explore how we, as coffee brewers, have the ability to bend and shape coffee to match our personal preferences through our choice of equipment, technique, and understanding. I break down how every decision we make—from choosing a flat-bed brewer versus a cone-shaped filter, selec...

Send us Fan Mail I've been thinking a lot about smell — specifically, how much it really matters when it comes to coffee. In this episode, I take you through my relationship with coffee aroma, going all the way back to the first time I walked into a roastery and got hit with that wave of smell before I even stepped through the door. I knew right then I was addicted. But over the years, I&apos...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I take you through my personal journey with coffee grinders, specifically comparing the Kin Grinder K2, K6, K Ultra, and the ZP6. I started with a basic hand grinder and gradually expanded my collection to better understand how different grinders affect coffee clarity, flavor profiles, and overall brewing experience. I discuss why I transitioned from the K2 to the...

Send us Fan Mail I've been brewing coffee for a while now, and if I'm honest, my journey started with something beautifully simple: a brewer, a filter, some coffee, and water. That was it. A simple recipe with a bloom and a couple of pours, and I was making fantastic, great-tasting coffee without any issues. But somewhere along the way, I fell deep into the rabbit hole — and I'll be...

Send us Fan Mail I gave up on a Nicaraguan coffee — and I'm so glad I did, because that mistake led to one of the most surprising brewing discoveries I've had in years. In this episode, I walk through my experience with a strictly highly grown, European-prepared, organic Nicaraguan coffee that simply refused to cooperate at every ratio I tried. I tested it as a light roast, a medium roas...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I dive deep into a topic that I avoided for years—blending and mixing coffees. For the longest time, I was a purist, strictly dedicated to single origin coffees. I romanticized the origin stories, the soil, the elevations, the farmers, and the unique characteristics of each coffee. Single origins felt sacred, like something I shouldn't alter or mess with. But...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I dive deep into the paradox of precision in coffee brewing and question whether my obsession with exactness has actually robbed me of the joy I once felt. I reflect on my journey from the simplicity of the French press—just ground coffee, water, and time—to the world of scales, refractometers, temperature-controlled kettles, and my Timemore Sculptor 78SS grinder....

Send us Fan Mail I recently put the ZP6 grinder to the test with a dark roast Honduras coffee—a bean I know intimately with its orangey top notes that fade into mellow chocolate. Most people claim this "clarity king" grinder only works well with light and medium roasts, but I wasn't convinced. What I discovered changed how I think about grinders entirely. I went finer than the recom...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I dive deep into the one piece of coffee equipment that changed everything for me—a simple TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) meter. For less than $10, this unassuming device has unlocked flavors in my coffee that I didn't think were possible anymore. I talk about how understanding water hardness through this meter has made my lightly roasted Kenyan coffees finally...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I explore the uncomfortable reality of mastering coffee: sometimes, despite all your knowledge and skill, a coffee just doesn't work for you. I'm diving deep into my experience with a Nicaraguan organic, strictly high-grown, European-prepared coffee that on paper should be spectacular, but in practice leaves me completely uninspired. I detail my extensiv...

Send us Fan Mail I spent the last month testing the ZP6 grinder, and I think it's time I share my honest thoughts about this budget clarity grinder that everyone's been talking about. In this episode, I dive deep into what I discovered after grinding coffee daily with this thing - from its surprisingly limited useful grind range to the way it completely separates flavor profiles in a way...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I dive deep into the psychology and passion of light roasted coffee drinkers—a group I used to belong to but now observe from a different perspective. I explore why these coffee enthusiasts are so unapologetic about their preferences, how they chase that next hit of unique acidity and complexity, and why they'll spend almost any amount of money on specialized...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I dive deep into the Hario V60 Mugen Switch and answer the burning question: do you actually need this brewer? I demonstrate a brew using this device and break down the honest truth about whether it's worth adding to your collection, especially if you already own a regular Hario V60 Switch. I compare the grooves, flow rates, and performance differences betwee...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I open up about one of the most humbling realizations in my coffee journey: the coffees I've lost along the way. I'm talking about those bags where I knew something special was hiding, but I just couldn't crack the code to unlock it. The culprit? Water chemistry—and more broadly, ignorance about the variables that truly matter in brewing. I've...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I share my honest recommendation for anyone just starting their specialty coffee journey: the K2 Kin Grinder. I reflect on my own coffee beginnings with ground coffee and a French press, and explain why if I were starting fresh today, this $70-80 hand grinder would be my first investment. I walk through the grinder's capabilities—from pour over to French pres...

Send us Fan Mail In this deeply personal episode, I share the story of a Sulawesi coffee that completely transformed my understanding of what exceptional coffee could be. I discovered this remarkable bean over 10 years ago during my early roasting journey when I was still a novice, experimenting with a Fresh Roast and barely knowing what I was doing. I describe how this particular coffee had an al...

Send us Fan Mail I recently bought some new camera gear, and as I was playing around with it, figuring out how it works and what it can do, it got me thinking about coffee equipment. I talk about how we often buy coffee gear—whether it's a Hario V60, an Origami Dripper, or whatever catches our eye—but we don't really take the time to understand it. We watch videos, read reviews, follow r...

Send us Fan Mail I dive deep into why context matters more than anything when it comes to coffee equipment recommendations and brewing methods. Throughout this episode, I share my personal coffee journey as a pour-over enthusiast, occasional espresso puller, and coffee roaster who's tried just about every brewing method out there. I break down my honest opinions on the Kase Six grinder, discu...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I break down my approach to the year-long coffee mastery challenge by returning to the fundamentals: coffee, water, and the brewer. I share how I initially felt overwhelmed by the scope of this project, but simplified everything by focusing on these three core elements—with the grinder occupying its own special category between coffee and brewing equipment. I expl...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I get brutally honest about something I've been reluctant to admit: gear matters, and I love it. After spending this year going deep into the rabbit hole of coffee equipment—buying almost everything in sight, including things I told myself I'd never purchase—I'm ready to have a real conversation about the coffee gear journey. I talk about my collect...