Q&A Coffee Podcast with Scott Rao

The most impressive, productive (and sometimes over my head) discussion about espresso these days is on the private Decent Diaspora forum.

Does the difference in the body of various coffees matter?

A few years back there was a trend called “solubility matching,” an attempt to blend coffees of similar solubility.

How the belief in a supposed skill made me miss out on great coffees There’s a little story I started telling myself after I had been buying coffee for just a couple of years, and it went like this: I can taste green coffee through the roast.

A few years ago, I wrote the first book about the coffee buying role, Dear Coffee Buyer.

Recently a friend and I discussed the viability of starting a niche business selling green coffee.

As we enter the holiday season, I thought it would be nice to make some gift recommendations for the coffee enthusiast in your life.

I’m pleased to announce my newest all-levels online roasting class this November 7.

I’ve frequently written about astringency on Instagram and Jonathan Gagné, author of the forthcoming book The Physics of Filter Coffee, wrote an excellent blog post about the science of astringency.

If you’re in the market to purchase a coffee roaster, I wrote this book for you.

Sometimes the most fundamental and important messages seem to get lost in the details.

April 18— May 17 I’m pleased to announce my first online roasting class for beginners, April 18.

our venue in Melbourne LATE EDIT: THE COFFEE INNOVATION SUMMIT HAS BEEN CANCELLED; MATT AND I WILL INSTEAD USE THE SPACE WE RENTED IN PORTLAND TO HOST A FEW INFORMAL EVENTS.

How should you determine the optimal dose and brewing ratio for espresso or filter?

There are two significant differences in how third-wave baristas serve coffee in the US and Australia.

I’m pleased to announce I will offer an online roasting course on January 4th, 2020.

The vast majority of machines I’ve worked on in my consulting career have needed what I call “tuning.”

As of today’s podcast, I ‘ve begun separating the podcasts by theme: brewing, roasting, coffee & health, etc.

Photo credit: Norman Mazel (@normanito) I get an endless stream of unsolicited coffee questions in my inbox.

Idle noise, ROR intervals, and analyzing roast curves Recently, Marko Luther of Artisan published a fascinating blog post “On Idle Noise.”

Was it the green?

I’m pleased to announce I’ll be offering a roasting masterclass in Berlin on June 8, at the venerable Five Elephant roastery.

*A guest post by Ryan Brown, author of Dear Coffee Buyer* I can’t help myself from occasional banter with baristas.

Most of my work over the past ten years has involved analyzing roast-curve data for clients.

Litmus Coffee Labs is excited to announce that we’re finally ready to sell our spray head compatible with the Fetco XTS batch brewer.

I’m pleased to announce I will be holding two roasting masterclasses in Boston this April during the SCA Expo.

From Scott I recently ranted, I mean posted, on Instagram about the unnecessary frustrations of aligning the burrs of an EK grinder.

I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be offering a Roasting Masterclass in Sydney at Collective Roasting Solutions on February 3.

(Thumbnail photo credit: Lucia Solis) I like cascara.

Why Spin the Slurry?

I’m excited to visit Melbourne during MICE this February, because: It’s a blast to explore Melbourne’s food and coffee scene.

Disclaimer: While I don’t take requests for equipment recommendations on social media, occasionally I like to share my experiences with various coffee equipment.

I’m pleased to announce that I will offer an online roasting course this January 19th.

Just in time for the holidays, I thought I’d share a few book and gift recommendations for you to get for the coffee nerd in your life.

Roast Defect Kit available via the Regalia Company.

Phil Davidson operating Cropster while roasting.

Somehow despite the cold.

I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be offering a three-hour roasting masterclass in Montreal on November 17.

Litmus Coffee Labs first product, the UFO Spray Head.

Last year, I met Dan Eils, an engineer, through my blog.

View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize I’m rather overdue in noting that my books are available around the world in various languages.

EK Grinder | Photo Courtesy of @andrewrizer One thing notably absent from most marketing and discussion of grinders is mention of extraction level.

I recently posted a roast curve on my IG to illustrate how the way one sets the axes (the ranges for time, temperature, and ROR) affects a curve’s appearance.

I’ve worked with several hundred roasting machines over my consulting career and have experienced a troubling problem: manufacturers often deliver roasting machines with what I would consider defects, and then refuse to acknowledge the problems or fix them

Decent Espresso DE1+ Machine Advanced Mode on the DE1+ is perhaps the deepest rabbit hole into which any barista can climb.

Last year I had plans to open a cooperative roastery in LA but various problems with the landlord and the building forced me to cancel that project, I'm sorry to say.

Probably the most exciting feature of the DE1+ is its ability to manage shots by flow rate.

I've had a DE1+ at my house for the past few weeks and I've already learned a ton.

Sample slide from class of a suggested, generic starting point for settings when approaching an unfamiliar machine and coffee.

I'm pleased to announce that I've just released the second ROAST DEFECT KIT today, in conjunction with Regalia Company.