55 episodes
Filter Stories - Coffee Documentaries Coffee Podcasts
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- Kunst
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5.0 • 22 Ratings
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Coffee stories with an extra shot of history and science.
Filter Stories is a podcast revealing coffee’s hidden microscopic secrets, its powerful past, and how your choice of beans impacts tens of millions of people.
See the behind-the-scenes stories on Instagram @filterstoriespodcast.
If you haven't already, please subscribe to the show and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!
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Freshness and Grinding, Part 1: Protecting your coffee's flavours
For your coffee to taste its best, it’s crucial you buy fresh roasts and grind fresh.…
.….Or maybe not.
When I began creating this episode, I was convinced that ‘fresh is best’. But, after delving into the science of coffee freshness, I don’t believe that anymore.
This episode goes deep into how diffusion and oxidation changes a coffee’s flavours.
You’ll learn what it takes to store your coffee grounds unbelievably well. So well, that if you do it right, you will struggle to taste the difference between two month old coffee compared to those same beans freshly ground!
But here’s the weirdest thing: Maybe, just maybe, you will prefer old coffee more than the fresh stuff.
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Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter.
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Explore Mahlkönig’s range of world leading grinders, trusted by baristas globally.
Dive deeper into the science of coffee freshness
Do a Certificate of Advanced Studies with the Coffee Excellence Centre
Pick up a copy of the SCA’s Coffee Freshness Handbook
Connect with my very knowledgeable guests
Samo Smrke - Instagram
19 Grams Coffee Roasters in Berlin - Instagram
Arnaldo Rodrigues - LinkedIn
The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
BWT Water and More
Marco Beverage Systems
ROEST
Sustainable Harvest
Mahlkönig
The Science of Coffee is a spin-off series from James Harper's documentary podcast Filter Stories -
What Is Good Science? Part 2: How to think like a scientist
In the last episode, I discovered that rinsing my Chemex filter papers was a waste of time! As a result I’ve managed to claw back over seven days of my life left on earth.
But why stop there?
The coffee industry is full of elaborate ways of brewing and savouring coffee: fancy drippers, cold metal balls, “slurp-able” cupping spoons.
These are very fun, but how many of them actually affect the flavour of our coffee?
I fear elaborate coffee gear is wasting our time and money. They're distracting us from the existential crises in coffee that actually require all our attention now. For example, the issue of farmers who grow delicious coffees quitting the business because it’s just getting too hard.
But to figure out whether a popular new coffee tool was actually waste of time or not, I needed to think like a scientist.
This episode is the journey I went on to rewire my brain: I had to learn what good evidence looks like, what to do if I can’t find good evidence, and why it’s important to focus mostly on experimental results while resisting the allure of a compelling theory.
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter.
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 this episode’s sponsor BWT’s water filtration products. I use their Penguin magnesium filter cartridges and cafes can use their BestAqua ROC
Dive deeper into the science of slurping, water and Signal Detection Theory
Do a Certificate of Advanced Studies with the Coffee Excellence Centre
Read Georgiana’s paper on soup slurping
Learn more about Signal Detection Theory
Explore BWT White Paper on the effects of magnesium (German)
Browse Christopher Hendon’s book Water for Coffee
Take Barista Hustle's Water course
Watch James Hoffman's water video
Connect with my very knowledgeable guests
Morten Munchow - Coffee Mind website
Jeremy Nelson - LinkedIn
Samo Smrke - Instagram
Georgiana Juravle - Google Scholar
Young Baek - Instagram
Frank Neuhausen - LinkedIn
Sergio Barbarisi - a href="https://bit.ly/4cyGCna" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer... -
What Is Good Science? Part 1: How to brew coffee like a scientist
Should you rinse your filter paper before making a filter coffee? Almost everybody in coffee internet says you should.
But what if most of coffee internet was wrong?
In this episode, I show you how I try to answer this question like a professional sensory scientist would.
It’s hard. It’s frustrating. But ultimately, it’s worth it because I end up saving seven days of my life left on earth!
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Bring out vibrancy in your coffee with BWT’s magnesium water filters for the home and cafe
Dive deeper into sensory science methodologies
Take Becky Bleibaum's free introductory sensory science course!
Set up a triangulation yourself with DragonflySci’s worksheets
Understand Rose Marie Pangborn’s three step process better with Morten Münchow (“Pangborn’s Razor”)
Do a Certificate of Advanced Studies with the Coffee Excellence Centre
Connect with my very knowledgeable guests
Morten Munchow - Coffee Mind website
Becky Bleibaum - LinkedIn
Samo Smrke - Instagram
Sophie Vo - LinkedIn
The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
BWT Water and More
Marco Beverage Systems
ROEST
Sustainable Harvest
Mahlkönig
The Science of Coffee is a spin-off series from James Harper's documentary podcast Filter Stories -
Organic Coffee, Part 2: Why don't we see more organic coffee farms?
Farming coffee organically is amazing because soils are more alive, birds and insects are more plentiful, farmers avoid getting sick with agrochemicals.
But, if it’s so great, why is less than 10% of the world’s coffee grown organically?
The fact is, going organic is hard. Much harder than growing coffee conventionally.
In this episode I show you the story of one of Central America’s most successful organic coffee cooperatives, RAOS, and the four big hurdles that stood in the way of their early founders who all dreamed of converting their farms to organic.
This story changed my understanding of farming and is now the reason I choose organic specialty coffee whenever I can.
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Dive deeper into organic coffee
Learn more about Sustainable Harvest’s Most Valuable Producer programme, their cupping app Tastify, and explore their range of certified organic and Fairtrade coffees
Explore RAOS (Cooperativa Regional Mixta de Agricultores Organicos de la Sierra)'s story for yourself
Are you a coffee farmer? Get in touch with Lalo Perez Varaona
Connect with my very knowledgeable guests
Lalo Perez Varaona - LinkedIn
Jorge Cuevas - LinkedIn
Andrea Futterer - GEPA website
Osman Contreras - LinkedIn
Roberto Rene Gonzales - Farm website
The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations
BWT Water and More
Marco Beverage Systems
ROEST
Sustainable Harvest
Mahlkönig
The Science of Coffee is a spin-off series from James Harper's documentary podcast a href="https://bit.ly/3ajoT5e" target="_blank"... -
Organic Coffee, Part 1: The magic of soil
The world’s farming soils are deteriorating quickly.
Conventional coffee farming where plants are grown using agrochemicals allowed farmers to reap huge harvests these last 70 years. But these agrochemicals have been at the expense of soil health.
I travel to Honduras to explore a potential solution: organic coffee farming.
Come with me as I show you the organic farming tricks of Don Rufino, one of the region’s leading organic farmers.
He nurtures the soil around his coffee trees using mountain microorganisms, a huge diversity of shade trees, attentive tree pruning, and very funky batches of homemade bug spray.
The results speak for themselves: when I pick up a handful of his soil, it is moist, dense and writhing with life.
Could these cultivation techniques be the answer to the coffee world’s declining soil health?
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter!
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Dive deeper into organic coffee
Explore Sustainable Harvest’s range of certified organic and Fairtrade coffees
Are you a coffee farmer? Get in touch with Lalo Perez Varaona
Check out Don Rufino’s organic cooperative, RAOS
Connect with my very knowledgeable guests
Lalo Perez Varaona - LinkedIn
Tommie Hooft van Huysduynen - LinkedIn
Alison Streaker - LinkedIn
The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations
BWT Water and More
Marco Beverage Systems
ROEST
Sustainable Harvest
Mahlkönig
The Science of Coffee is a spin-off series from James Harper's documentary podcast Filter Stories -
Coffee Roasting, Part 2: Roasting made easy
Roasting coffee can be maddening. Just 4° Celsius is enough to make the same green beans taste distinctly different! And there are so many things roasters can play around with: temperature, time, fan speed, drum speed, types of probes…the list goes on and on.
So, if you want to start roasting yourself, where do you start!?
In the first half of this episode, I interview one of the world's leading roasting teachers who takes me through his published scientific research to give a clear answer. It’s as simple as 80%, 15% and 5%.
And then, in the second half, I show you why roasting coffee consistently batch-after-batch is so difficult. But these problems are finally being solved with smart technologies.
I visited the ROEST engineering team in Oslo and cracked open their innovative prototype P3000 roaster to show you the technology that allows anybody to roast coffee consistently and fully automatically.
I am so impressed with these innovations, I believe they’re going to change the coffee industry.
Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Dive deeper into the science of roasting
Explore ROEST’s innovative products for the coffee industry.
Learn more from Morten Münchow and his coffee roasting courses
Read Morten’s paper in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen on Roasting Conditions and Coffee Flavour
Connect with my very knowledgeable guests
Sverre Simonsen - LinkedIn
Callum Gilmour - LinkedIn
Veronica Balduc - LinkedIn
Morten Münchow - Coffee Mind website
Scott Rao - Instagram
The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations
BWT Water and More
Marco Beverage Systems
ROEST
Sustainable Harvest
Mahlkönig
The Science of Coffee is a spin-off series from James Harper's documentary podcast Filter Stories
Customer Reviews
Fun Podcast
I really want to try Tito’s coffee. 👍
For those who are fascinated about coffee and substance
I was in the same situation that another reviewer explained. I stopped listening to podcasts, because I felt they were superficial and I felt irritaded afterwards.
Filterstories are the opposite. A deep dive for people who care beyond blingbling. I feel that this is real food for the brain, that leaves you satisfied. Absolutely great!
Cutting-edge podcast
Digging into a hidden aspect of coffee that you’ve never imagined. 5stars.