Everyday Beans Podcast - Mostly About Coffee and Other Stuff

Oaks, the coffee guy

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Food
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It's about coffee, food, life and what other randomness I feel that'll be helpful to the common coffee drinker or to anyone who likes to be entertained by a stranger, briefly. When I have more to say than fits in an episode, it goes in the newsletter. It Smells Better Than it Taste, at itsmellsbetterthanittaste.com

1d ago

What Actually Makes You Good at Coffee

Send us Fan Mail Most coffee gear guides rank kettles, grinders, and brewers. In this episode I flip that on its head and rank the skills instead, the ones that actually decide whether your cup is great, not the equipment sitting on your counter. I walk through a tier list of the habits I think matter most: tasting a coffee across its full temperature arc, trusting your second sip over your first, deliberately brewing outside your comfort zone, and asking why a recipe works instead of just chasing the numbers. By the end of this episode, you will know exactly what to pay attention to the next time you brew, whether that is noticing how a coffee changes as it cools, understanding why your first cup of the day tastes different from your second, or learning why the best thing you can do for your palate is sometimes to leave your own kitchen behind. If you have ever wondered what separates someone who just follows a recipe from someone who actually understands their coffee, this is the episode that lays out the difference. Support the show Go deeper than the episode, in the newsletter: https://itsmellsbetterthanittaste.com For tips, tricks and still trying to figure it out: https://www.youtube.com/@everyday-beans For good tasty coffee, check us out at: everydaybeans.com
6d ago

The Numbers You Inherited

Send us Fan Mail I've been following the same coffee "rules" for years, the 30 second bloom, the 1:16 ratio, the 200 to 205 degree water, and I never stopped to ask where any of it came from. In this episode I break down why I think most of us are running recipes we inherited from someone else instead of ones we actually tested. I walk through what happened when I finally questioned my own defaults: a coffee I almost gave up on because I stuck to a ratio that wasn't mine, a dark roast that came alive at a temperature I'd been told to avoid, and what changing grind size actually did to the cup. I also bring in an unexpected parallel from a completely different kitchen experiment I've been running on the side, because it turns out the same principle applies far beyond coffee. If you've ever wondered whether the brew ratio or bloom time you've been using is actually right for you, or if you're just repeating something you picked up online, this episode will give you a framework for testing it yourself. You'll learn why the "why" behind a recipe matters more than the recipe itself, how to run your own side by side comparisons without needing expensive gear, and why the most interesting coffee conversations I've had lately have been with people whose recipes look nothing like mine. This one is about giving yourself permission to question everything you've been told about brewing, and building a process that's actually yours. Support the show Go deeper than the episode, in the newsletter: https://itsmellsbetterthanittaste.com For tips, tricks and still trying to figure it out: https://www.youtube.com/@everyday-beans For good tasty coffee, check us out at: everydaybeans.com
Aug 18

Does 2 Degrees Actually Matter in Coffee?

Send us Fan Mail I used to stress over a two degree swing in my water temperature more than I stressed over my pour or my grind. Two hundred degrees, two hundred and two degrees, I treated that gap like it was the difference between a great cup and a wasted bag of beans. In this episode I walk through what actually changed when I stopped chasing that level of exactness, including a small brew ratio experiment I ran across 1:15 to 1:17 and what it taught me about extraction, and why the swing that actually moves the needle is a lot bigger than most of us think. You'll learn where water temperature genuinely does affect flavor, why I've shifted to measuring my brews weekly instead of daily, and how loosening my grip on the numbers made my coffee more interesting instead of worse. If you've ever wondered whether your scale, your refractometer, or your two degree kettle setting is actually earning its keep, this one's for you. Support the show Go deeper than the episode, in the newsletter: https://itsmellsbetterthanittaste.com For tips, tricks and still trying to figure it out: https://www.youtube.com/@everyday-beans For good tasty coffee, check us out at: everydaybeans.com
Aug 18

Dark Roast Isn't the Villain You Think

Send us Fan Mail I love dark roast coffee, and in the specialty coffee world that pretty much makes me an outlier. In this episode, I dig into why dark roast earned its rough reputation, the gas station coffee, the diner pot, the stuff sitting on a warmer for hours, and why that reputation only tells half the story. You'll learn how the beans behind a dark roast, not the roast degree itself, are usually what's actually responsible for a flat, lifeless cup. I also walk through the roasting experiment that changed how I think about dark roast for good: roasting the same bean light, medium, and dark, and watching an African coffee come alive in ways I never expected at that roast level. I get into why the industry keeps chasing light roast innovation while ignoring what dark roast can do, and I use a steak analogy to explain why "doneness" isn't the enemy people think it is. If you've written off dark roast because of one bad cup, this episode will give you a reason to try it again with a more interesting bean behind it. Support the show Go deeper than the episode, in the newsletter: https://itsmellsbetterthanittaste.com For tips, tricks and still trying to figure it out: https://www.youtube.com/@everyday-beans For good tasty coffee, check us out at: everydaybeans.com
Aug 13

Is $70 Too Much for a Pour Over Brewer?

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I take a hard look at the Orea brewer, a $70 manual pour-over with interchangeable flat bed and cone-shaped bottoms, and ask whether that price tag is actually expensive. I break down the real cost-per-use math, comparing manual brewers to automatic drip machines like the Moka Master, and talk through what you are really getting for your money: control over temperature, grind size, filter choice, and extraction. I share why I chose the wide version of the Orea specifically and what I have already learned putting it through 20 to 30 brews in less than a week. I also get honest about something most coffee enthusiasts do not want to say out loud: the gear accumulation cycle. I have been there. Ten-plus brewers in rotation, multiple filter types stacked up, grinders lined up next to more grinders. After years of brewing and roasting, I have had to sit with the real question: does the equipment actually matter as much as the coffee? By listening to this episode, you will walk away with a smarter framework for thinking about the cost and value of your next brewer purchase, and you will hear an honest perspective on when the gear stops being the point. Support the show Go deeper than the episode, in the newsletter: https://itsmellsbetterthanittaste.com For tips, tricks and still trying to figure it out: https://www.youtube.com/@everyday-beans For good tasty coffee, check us out at: everydaybeans.com
Aug 11

Taste at the Extremes: A Better Way to Brew

Send us Fan Mail For a long time, I made small changes to my brew and tasted nothing. In this episode, I talk about why incremental tweaks, the kind every recipe and every guide tells you to make, are often the worst way to actually learn your coffee. I walk through why pushing to the extremes, brewing something intentionally over-extracted and then intentionally under-extracted, teaches your palate more in ten minutes than weeks of tiny adjustments ever will. I also share a real example from my own bar this week, dialing in a new dark roast, and connect it to a lesson I picked up years ago on an autocross track. You'll learn why your palate struggles to register small changes, how to use the extremes on purpose to find your reference points faster, and why the incremental fine-tuning that everyone tells you to start with is actually where you end up, not where you begin. If you've ever felt frustrated dialing in a new bag of coffee, or wondered whether you're actually tasting anything different at all, this episode gives you a simpler, more honest way to explore it. Support the show Go deeper than the episode, in the newsletter: https://itsmellsbetterthanittaste.com For tips, tricks and still trying to figure it out: https://www.youtube.com/@everyday-beans For good tasty coffee, check us out at: everydaybeans.com
Aug 6

Don't Fast Forward Your Coffee Journey

Send us Fan Mail For the past couple of weeks I've been sitting with Kenyan coffee and a Costa Rican natural, roasting them light, medium, and dark, and being honest with myself: they're just not doing it for me. In this episode I talk through what it feels like to drink a coffee everyone says you're supposed to love and walk away unmoved. I get into that familiar winey character in Kenyans, the way fruit in naturals hits hard and then fades into something empty, and why understanding a coffee matters more than forcing yourself to enjoy it. More than tasting notes, this is about the mindset behind specialty coffee. I talk about industry pressure, baristas and competitions telling you what you'll experience, Reddit opinions becoming your identity, and why none of that should be the main recipe for your palate. You'll learn how to tell honest self-assessment apart from second-guessing, and why trusting your own walk with coffee, even when it goes against the crowd, is the real skill worth building. If you've ever wondered whether something's wrong with you for not liking the "right" coffee, this one is for you. Support the show Go deeper than the episode, in the newsletter: https://itsmellsbetterthanittaste.com For tips, tricks and still trying to figure it out: https://www.youtube.com/@everyday-beans For good tasty coffee, check us out at: everydaybeans.com
Aug 4

Light Roast Just Wants to Be Acidic

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I walk through a water chemistry experiment I ran on a light roast Kenyan coffee I roasted myself. For a long time, I've been playing this game of trying to coax sweetness out of light roast by pulling every lever available. I've swapped brewers, played with paper filters, dialed down temperature, and manipulated water chemistry. This time, I took it further. I tested three water profiles side by side on the same coffee: distilled, acidic, and a sweet-profile build. The distilled version was flat and unremarkable. The acidic version was lively, expressive, and the one I couldn't stop going back to. The sweet profile worked almost too well. Chocolatey, sweet, and completely stripped of everything that made the coffee interesting. The acidity was gone. The personality was gone. I realized I'd gone too far, and that realization opened up a bigger question about what we're actually doing when we manipulate coffee. The deeper conversation in this episode is about losing sight of the coffee itself in the middle of all the tools, gear, and variables we use. I'm talking about the moment when the experimentation stops being in service of the coffee and starts being about winning an argument with it. By listening to this episode, you'll hear how one experiment shifted the way I think about light roast and why I'm starting to believe the acidity was never the problem to fix. You'll also come away with a genuine question to sit with the next time you brew: are you working with the coffee, or are you trying to change what it fundamentally is? Support the show Go deeper than the episode, in the newsletter: https://itsmellsbetterthanittaste.com For tips, tricks and still trying to figure it out: https://www.youtube.com/@everyday-beans For good tasty coffee, check us out at: everydaybeans.com

It's about coffee, food, life and what other randomness I feel that'll be helpful to the common coffee drinker or to anyone who likes to be entertained by a stranger, briefly. When I have more to say than fits in an episode, it goes in the newsletter. It Smells Better Than it Taste, at itsmellsbetterthanittaste.com

Creator

Oaks, the coffee guy
Years Active

2024 - 2026
Episodes

321
Rating

Explicit
Copyright

© 2026 Everyday Beans Podcast - Mostly About Coffee and Other Stuff
Show Website

Everyday Beans Podcast - Mostly About Coffee and Other Stuff

Food

Food

Updated Weekly