Making Coffee with Lucia Solis

Today I bring you a conversation with an extraordinary producer: Rani from Java Halu in Indonesia. I do not use this word lightly. Rani is a truly exceptional person and my new coffee crush. I met her because she was the only woman who attended FTC Indonesia in June. Each previous FTC has been minimum 50% female, this is very important to me because so many coffee spaces are still very male domina...

The conversation with Tom Owen is wide ranging, but one main theme we talk about is coffee travel and tourism. How the host and guest dynamics play out including the unintentional burden we may be placing on coffee producers when we visit them. Its an interesting time to be reflecting on the role of travel in coffee, since I just had a major trip to teach coffee fermentation. You’ll hear Tom bring...

In this conversation I got to ask him how he feels differently about the coffee industry since our last conversation. I highly recommend you listen to Ep #27 first, or as a refresher because we refer to that conversation frequently in this episode In this episode I follow up with him on his thoughts on: coffee certifications and competitions his relationship with social media and sharing on reddit...

In this episode we talk about: Carbonic Maceration in winemaking Carbonic Maceration in coffee and best guidelines to follow How to process Robusta differently than Arabica Benefits of fermentation in coffee fruit vs green seed modification Support the show on Patreon to join our live Discord hangouts. And if you don't want to commit, show your support here with a one time contribution: PayPa...

Vava Instagram Website Coffee Milk Blood Book Paula Instagram Website Lowell Instagram Website Frankie Instagram Christopher Feran Blog Resources: Sign up for the newsletter for behind the scenes pictures. Support the show on Patreon to join our live Discord hangouts. And if you don't want to commit, you can show your support here with a one time contribution: PayPal Support the show

  Some of the questions I cover on today's episode involve: -how do fruit added fermentations differ from microbe inoculation? -my stance on the usefulness/benefits of probiotics -can we taste yeast in the cup? -what is the future of fermentation for the specialty coffee industry? -we typically ferment cherries or wet parchment but what about fermenting green coffee? -what is honey osmotic de...

In this episode we talk about: Coffee production in Kenya The similarities between latin and african coffee production How we consumers perceive coffee producers vs how coffee producers would like to be seen The success paradox, when too much financial success can turn off some buyers  Resources: Support the show on Patreon to join our live Discord hangouts. And if you don't want to commit, s...

Today’s episode is a little different. I am sharing a conversation that I had with Katrien of OR Coffee, A specialty coffee roastery & training center in Belgium. This episode is a little different because I’m not interviewing her, She actually interviewed me for her new podcast, Puur Koffie .  Fermentation Training Camp: January 2023 OR Coffee Website   OR Coffee Instagram Puur Koffie Podcast...

In this episode we talk about: Plastic Grocery bags vs Paper Rwanda's Plastic Bag ban Coffee Processing Glossary Power dynamics in coffee buying Support the show on Patreon to join our live Discord hangouts. And if you don't want to commit, show your support here with a one time contribution: PayPal Sign up for the newsletter for behind the scenes pictures. Resources Life Cycle of Bags 1...

In this episode we talk about: The months of making EP 44 Gas Station Cuisine $17 cup of Yemeni coffee A winemaker's role and a coffee maker's role Formula 1 Racing, go karts and Tennis What does it mean to love coffee? Support the show on Patreon to join our live Discord hangouts. And if you don't want to commit, show your support here with a one time contribution: PayPal Sign up f...

In this episode we talk about: Coffee consulting in Brazil What is a quaker Matching coffee processing with roasting  How Eystein roasts high and low density seeds Extraction and Brewing techniques to maximize acidity How Eystein would prepare a coffee to show off orange, chocolaty notes  Preparing our bodies and palate to be more sensitive to flavors Support the show on Patreon to join our live D...

Next time you set about making your morning coffee, take a moment to peruse the info on your bag of beans. What do you notice? The variety of beans? Flavor notes? Technical details on where the coffee was grown?  They're not so different from the sort of blurb you might find on the back of a wine bottle in many ways. And that’s intentional. Specialty coffee has taken a lot from the world of w...

In this episode we talk about: The class system in Colombia Specialty coffee shops in coffee producing countries Extended fermentations, 500 hours Germination of dry processed coffees, what is going on? Overview of the role of amino acids How do we measure stress in coffee cherries? Stressed grapes vs stressed coffee cherries Support the show on Patreon to join our live Discord hangouts. And if yo...

In this episode we talk about: The long geographical chain of custody for a cup of coffee Why do wet process and dry process coffees taste differently Coffee seeds: orthodox vs. recalcitrant seed The yeast metabolism case for quality vs the plant metabolism case for quality Cacao seed germination vs coffee seed germination  Support the show on Patreon to join our live Discord hangouts. And if you...

In this episode we talk about: Crossing borders on foot My recent trip to Guatemala and Honduras w/ 2 new producer clients Brewing coffee as a love poem How instant coffee has a similar problem to instant cake mixes When is effort a virtue and when is it a drawback? Support the show on Patreon to join our live Discord hangouts. And if you don't want to commit, show your support here with a on...

Welcome to the first episode of the new year and season 3. In this episode we talk about: If sugar follows the direct of water flow, does sugar evaporate out as coffee dries? The difference between sugar in mucilage and inside the seed. Can sugar be a preservative? The benefits and drawbacks of adding cascara to the fermentation How to inoculate for free How to control the fermentation in a hot en...

As many of you know, we've started doing live hang out after the episodes on Discord a week after the podcast comes out. I find this valuable because I get to hear from listeners and we create our own podcast after the podcast together. In the most recent gathering I had Felipe, Jose and Lucas from Ep 38 on the discussion so listeners of the podcast could ask them questions directly. A few th...

Today's episode features Lucas, a Patron and exporter with Unblended who sold a Kombucha coffee. I invited him and the producers he works with, Felipe and Jose to talk about their experience reverse engineering a $5 castillo. They started with the end goal in mind, the picked the price, the flavor profile they wanted and then created a process to hit their target. In this episode you'll...

Today I am joined by Jamie Isetts, Sourcing Consultant.  In this episode we cover: What a green buyer does How Jamie became a green buyer How to organize a coffee contract Communication red flags between producers and green buyers Strategies for long lasting relationships Get in touch with Jamie Isetts Support the show on Patreon And if you don't want to commit, show your support here with a...

In this episode I will cover: the yeast inoculation history of wine to better understand why the natural wine and sour beer movements are rejecting inoculation. the difference between rot, wild fermentations and controlled fermentations. the role of salt in a coffee fermentation. are lactoferments better for low or high elevation farms? to pulp or not to pulp coffee cherries? how lactoferments dif...

Do you drink kombucha? Coming from California, kombucha is about as normal as orange juice. But I imagine it might not be as popular in other parts of the world. Kombucha is probably more popular in North America and Europe (coffee importing countries) and probably very rare in coffee producing countries. I can imagine a near future where buyers are drawn to or supportive of kombucha process witho...

Today's episode is another in a series hearing from coffee producers from all parts of the world.  I think one of the common traps we can get into is thinking and talking about "The" coffee farmer. Or "The Average Coffee Farmer." As if coffee farmers are a monolith. The average doesn’t exist. The people who grow and produce coffee are a very diverse group who do it for dif...

Today’s questions all come from Dr. Mack in Bangkok, Thailand. Even though he is asking the question on behalf of coffee producers in Thailand, I wanted to answer them on the podcast because they are relevant to all of the newer coffee producing regions. Thailand didn’t export coffee until 1976! This is very recent and not a lot of time for coffee growers and producers to develop their craft and c...

 Our sugar journey is almost complete as we round out the third installment in the Brix series. I hope the previous podcast episodes helped open your mind to some of the challenges we face in talking about sugar in the coffee industry. Today's episode focuses on ripeness and how counterintuitively sometimes measuring Brix can lead to lower quality coffee. And to help illustrate this point I&a...

I hope the previous podcast episode helped open your mind to some of the challenges we face in talking about sugar in the coffee industry. In today's episode we are adding another element, another piece of the puzzle—the refractometer and the other instruments used to measure sugar. In today's episode we will see how a refractometer can give a high Brix reading even when there is zero su...