Everyday Beans Podcast - Mostly About Coffee and Other Stuff

Oaks, the coffee guy

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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

3d ago

Why You Can't Be Taught Coffee

Send us Fan Mail In this episode I dig into a distinction I think most coffee content skips right over: the difference between being taught coffee and actually learning it. I can hand you a recipe, but I can't hand you the palate that knows when to break it. I walk through a recent cup, a dark roasted Nicaraguan that kept lingering with a fruity, tannin-heavy finish I personally don't enjoy. My palate told me it was over-extracted before I ever touched a refractometer, and when I ran the TDS for fun it came back right in range. The point isn't the number. The point is that it took me years of brewing to trust what my own mouth was telling me, and no recipe written by someone else's palate was ever going to get me there on its own. I also open up about my own path, the years I spent using my V60 almost blindly, running the same recipe and only nudging the temperature, wondering if the bright, acidic light roasts I kept brewing were what I was "supposed" to like. I talk about going darker against the voices telling me I was doing it wrong, discovering more sweetness, falling for African dark roasts, and learning what flat-bottom drippers, different filters, and different waters actually did to my cup. If you've ever followed a recipe to the letter and felt frustrated that your cup didn't match the promise, this one is for you. You'll learn why getting taught is genuinely useful for speeding up the journey, why it can never be the finish line, and how to start tailoring coffee to your own taste the same way you already doctor a recipe in the kitchen. You can't be taught coffee. You can learn it, and that part is up to 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
5d ago

Why Water Chemistry Advice Online Is All Over the Place

Send us Fan Mail I can't hand you my water, and nobody else can either. My tap tested at 273 ppm the other day. Yours might be 150, or 100 if you're lucky, and even then neither of us knows what minerals are actually in it. So when you go looking online for the right water, you get one opinion, then another, then another, and you end up more confused than when you started. What water did they start with? What kind of coffee do they like? Are they trying to sell you something? Here's where I've landed. Pick one voice you trust, understand why they do what they do, and start with the water you already have. A $10 TDS meter will open your eyes. Then let your palate take over, the same way mine pulled me toward more developed coffees while everyone around me was chasing light roasts. I walk through my own path, from tap to Third Wave Water to blending my own sweet and acidic profiles, and why once water's figured out, that's where the work gets fun. Let me know what you think. 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
Oct 1

Inside a Brewers Cup Coffee Recipe

Send us Fan Mail I just watched a World Brewers Cup recipe from a competitor named Simon Gauteren, and it sent me down a rabbit hole I had to record. In this episode I break down his brewing recipe step by step: an immersion percolation method that intentionally throws away roughly thirty percent of the finished coffee to chase clarity for the judges. I walk through why competitors go to these lengths, what "playing God" with a coffee actually looks like when you control every variable from roast to grind to water, and what happened when I tried the recipe myself. But this episode is really about something bigger than one recipe. I get into why competition brewing exists in its own world, separate from the coffee you and I make every day, and why I think specialty coffee doesn't need this level of engineering to taste great. I share why I'm drawn to simple, fast pour over instead of long, tedious recipes, what instant gratification has to do with how I brew, and I turn the question back to you: would you actually make this recipe every day, or is it just entertainment? If you've ever wondered what really separates a competition cup from your everyday cup, 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
Sep 29

Start Here, Stop Here: The K-Ultra Grinder

Send us Fan Mail I own seven grinders, and in this episode I do something I almost never do: I recommend just one. The 1Zpresso K-Ultra has been in my rotation for the past four or five months, and after putting it through its paces I've landed on a strong opinion. It is not the single best grinder I own on every metric, but it is the most versatile, and for most people that matters more. I walk through why it lets you brew essentially any cup you want, from pour over at around six clicks to French press near six and a half, all the way down to a no-choke espresso shot on my Olympia Cremina. I talk about the build, the magnetic catch can, the 130-click adjustment system, and the external dial that lets you see exactly where you are instead of second-guessing yourself. The bigger idea here is what a grinder this capable actually frees you to do. When you trust that the grinder is not the weak link, you stop obsessing over it and start paying attention to your water, your pouring technique, and your brewer. By listening, you will learn how I think about grinder versatility versus outright clarity, how to read grind settings across brew methods, and why the price stops mattering once a tool quietly gets out of your way. If you are starting out and curious, or you have been chasing gear for years, this is my honest case for the one grinder you could start with and comfortably stop at. 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
Sep 24

I Still Don't Like Light Roast. I Keep Coming Back.

Send us Fan Mail I've spent years with light roast drinking it, roasting it myself, taking it as light as I can control and I still haven't decided that I like it. That's the honest starting point of this one. What keeps pulling me back isn't sweetness, even though I'm quietly still hoping to find it. It's the acidity, and specifically whether it has layers: whether it shows up as blackberry and then turns into something like crisp apple and finishes as a Meyer lemon, whether it lingers, whether it changes as the cup cools. That's interesting enough to keep me making cups of something I'm not sure I enjoy. I'm in a strange position to be saying this. I roast coffee. I've run light roast every way I know how my profiles, other people's profiles, fast starts, extended development, nine and ten minute first cracks. So I know what I can pull out of a lightly roasted coffee, and I still often don't love the result. For a long time I read that as a failure of mine. This episode is me deciding it isn't. The part I'd most want you to take is the thing I wrote down before I sat down: the gift of not liking something is that you can finally be honest and objective about why. When a coffee is amazing, it talks to me and I stop asking questions rose-colored glasses. When a coffee doesn't move me, I see it clean. I can name what's happening. That clarity is worth having, and it's why going on a ride with a category you don't love is worth doing at all. It's not about tricking yourself into enjoying it. It's about being straight with yourself, so that when you come back to what you do love, you can say why. And I'm still curious about you. Where does the sweetness arrive for you in a light roast at the tail end, as something chocolatey? Is the acidity the whole reason you're there, or is it the combination? Somebody out there is tasting things in the same cup I'm not tasting, with a recipe that looks simple, and I want to understand that more than I want to understand the coffee. You have to want to go on the ride even with the coffees you didn't choose because what you learn along the way is mostly about yourself. 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
Sep 22

It Smells Better Than It Tastes: A Coffee Story

Send us Fan Mail In this deeply personal episode, I share something I've rarely discussed publicly—a book I wrote over a decade ago titled "It Smells Better Than It Tastes." While coffee inspired this work, it's really a metaphor for life itself. I talk about the writing process, how I immersed myself in the character of Mark—a person in their late twenties navigating identity, self-discovery, and choosing to live authentically. The book is somewhat erotic and edgy, designed to make you examine yourself as you read. I explain how coffee became the linchpin that held the story together, much like how it centers my own life. Beyond the book, I explore how coffee serves as my daily ritual for staying grounded and present. I discuss the parallels between brewing coffee and navigating life's challenges—how sometimes things don't turn out as expected, how we troubleshoot and adjust, and how this process teaches us about ourselves. Listeners will learn about using coffee as a tool for mindfulness and self-reflection, understanding that our passions can be catalysts for deeper personal growth. I'm offering a free copy of the book to anyone interested, and I invite you to think about what "it smells better than it tastes" means in your own life and coffee journey. 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
Sep 17

5 Coffee Rules That Don't Hold Up

Send us Fan Mail There are a lot of rules in coffee, and after years of brewing and roasting I have quietly stopped trusting a few of them. In this episode I walk through the ones that sit at the bottom of my list: the strict 30 second bloom, the fixation on hitting exactly 30 grams of coffee, the 200 degree Fahrenheit water rule, the advice to buy the most expensive grinder first, and the habit of brewing with whatever recipe came printed in the box with your brewer. None of these are wrong. What I take issue with is the way we treat them, like a line you cannot cross instead of a starting point you are free to move. What I keep coming back to is that coffee is far more forgiving than we give it credit for. I throw beans into a roaster near 400 degrees Fahrenheit, they take 7 to 10 minutes to hit first crack, and then I pour 200 degree water over them. That bean has been through a lot before it ever reaches your cup. Listening to this, you will learn why the bloom matters more as a concept than as a stopwatch number, how to use water temperature as an actual flavor tool instead of a fixed setting, why starting cheap on a grinder can be the smarter move while your palate is still developing, and how to read a manufacturer recipe critically instead of following it blindly. I also share a story from my old photography days about a camera I almost replaced too early, and what maxing out a piece of gear really teaches you. If you want to stop second guessing your brew and start trusting your own palate, 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
Sep 15

Three Coffee Skills, and None of Them Are Gear

Send us Fan Mail There are three coffee skills I'd call foundational, and none of them are gear. That's the whole episode. Every list like this pivots to a grinder or a kettle inside thirty seconds, and I wanted to say the other thing out loud: the S Tier is the part you can't buy. The first one is your palate, and developing it is less exotic than it sounds. Drink a lot of coffee. Eat a lot of food. Taste the fruit, smell the flowers, see if what the bag says is actually in the cup for you. Write things down, because you will not remember. The second is reading the cup visually, which is watching the bed and the drawdown and letting them give you a hypothesis before your mouth confirms it. I tell the story of a white honey Ethiopian with the slowest drawdown I've seen in a long time, and how long I spent assuming something was wrong with me or my water before I accepted that it was just the way that coffee is. The third is water awareness, and I mean awareness, not a recipe. Before any of the chemistry, just find out what you're brewing with. A ten dollar TDS meter, then tap against fridge against distilled against spring, and pay attention to what changes. Your cup is more than ninety eight percent water, so it's strange how rarely we look at it. I close on why I think these three together make you a complete coffee person, which is that once you can taste, read and know your water, nobody can hand you a recipe and tell you what your coffee should be. And the most interesting thing I've done in the last month and a half is watch other people arrive at their own answers without any of my help at all. 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

334
Rating

Explicit
Copyright

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

Everyday Beans Podcast - Mostly About Coffee and Other Stuff