The Science of Coffee Coffee Podcasts

Imagine you’ve got a cup of coffee in front of you. You haven’t tasted it yet. You therefore don’t know what it tastes like, right?

Wrong. Some scientists argue that you actually do know what it will taste like (more or less), and the act of tasting simply confirms what you have already imagined it will taste like. And that’s because a growing body of research is revealing that sight, sound and touch all affect your expectation of a coffee’s flavours.

In this episode, I explore how certain sounds might make your coffee taste sweeter, while other sounds translate to bitterness. And I expose how some cafe owners might be ruining the flavours of the high-end specialty coffee you paid for without even realising it.

In the second half, I show you why so many of our scientific questions about coffee are going unanswered. I take you deep into the future of coffee science by explaining who’s doing research into coffee science, why they’re doing it, how much it costs and how you can get involved.

----------

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

Explore the technology behind Fiorenzato’s AllGround home coffee grinder

Want to listen to more documentary podcasts about coffee? Check out my Filter Stories podcast


Get more involved in coffee science!

Buy Brita Folmer’s The Craft & Science of Coffee

Read the Specialty Coffee Association's 25 Magazine for cutting edge insights into coffee science, business and sustainability, including Charles Spence’s article on sonic seasoning

Partner with the Coffee Science Foundation

Explore Felipe Reinoso Carvalho’s sonic research, including Diego Campos’ winning World Barista Championship routine

Apply to study at the UC Davis Coffee Centre
Do an online course with ZHAW’s Coffee Excellence Centre
Subscribe to Barista Hustle and complete their online coffee courses

Become a member of the Barista Guild, Coffee Roaster’s Guild, Coffee Technicians Guild and attend their events!


Connect with my very knowledgeable guests

Charles Spence - Academic profile
Fabiana Carvalho - Instagram
Janice Wang - a href="https://bit.ly/3i1eEt7" target="_blank"...

When was the last time you picked up a cappuccino with a mountain of foam perched on top? Maybe these are the cappuccinos you make every morning at home.

I personally really, really dislike them! The foam is cold, raspy, and gets in the way of the actual coffee liquid.

How much better would your mornings be if, instead, your cappuccino had that creamy, silky “microfoam” you find in a specialty coffee cafe?

In this episode, I take you deep into the bubbles of latte foam to show you what makes them, what destroys them, and how you can craft mouth-melting lattes.

Along the way I also settle the big debate: what is the actual difference between regular Oatly and Oatly Barista Edition!?

---------

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

Try Oatly Barista Edition (this episode’s sponsor) for yourself

Want to listen to more documentary podcasts about coffee? Check out my other show, Filter Stories


Go deeper into latte foam science!

Measure your latte foam’s bubble size!
Marvel at tetrakaidecahedra foam for yourself
Check out Steven Abbott’s brilliant science website
Learn how to create microfoam with Lance Hedrick
Study milk science with Barista Hustle’s online courses


Connect with my very knowledgeable guests

Steven Abbott - website
Rituja Upadhyay - LinkedIn
Nidhi Bansal - LinkedIn
Thom Huppertz - LinkedIn
Sofia Eldhe - LinkedIn
Toby Weedon - LinkedIn


The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations

BWT Water and More
Marco Beverage Systems
Trabocca
Eversys
Oatly
Fiorenzato

A good espresso is a sublime experience: rich, sweet, and wonderfully caffeinated.

But, who woke up one morning and thought to themselves, ‘I’m going to build a contraption that forces a tiny amount of super hot water with incredible pressure through a bed of very finely ground coffee’?

Well, the fact is, the first “espresso” machine built 150 years ago was awful in almost every way. Worst of all, if you gave that coffee to anybody on the street, nobody would say it’s even an espresso!

But, over the decades, problems begat solutions that begat more problems that culminated in espresso machines like Eversys that produce gorgeous espressos at just the push of a button.

And it’s got me wondering: what is the perfect espresso machine? How far can we go?

But, before clicking play, be warned: this story gets explosive and bloody!

-------

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

Learn more about how Eversys espresso machines (this episode’s sponsor) produce high quality espressos

Listen to my A History of Coffee podcast series with Prof. Jonathan Morris

Want to listen to more documentary podcasts about coffee? Check out my other podcast, Filter Stories


Pictures of the espresso machines featured in this episode

Angelo Moriondo (1884, “Big water boiler with gnarly bits”)
La Pavoni Ideale (1905, "Fire hydrant")
Gaggia Tipo Classica (1947, “Lever”)
Faema E61 (1961, “Retro 60s toaster”)
Eversys (2022, “push button”)


Want to go deeper into espresso machine technology?

Coffee Technician Guild’s Educational Courses
Barista Hustle’s The Espresso Machine course
Read Prof. Jonathan Morris’ book ‘Coffee: A Global History’


Do your own coffee museum tour in Italy!

MUMAC (Milan)
Rancilio Officina 1926 (Milan)
Accademia del Caffè Espresso (Florence)


Connect with my very knowledgeable guests

Jonathan Morris - Instagram
Hylan Joseph - LinkedIn
Giorgio Rancilio - a href="http://bit.ly/3jJadU9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer...

How can you make better coffee at home? Well, an easy way is to buy higher quality beans.

But, I’m concerned this is going to get harder and harder for you in the future.

Climate change is making coffee taste worse while also pushing farmers into financial hardship.

In this episode we explore how genetic development can produce a coffee tree that might save the day. Is there a wild coffee tree happily growing in the forests somewhere that could be our silver bullet? What about if we mix existing documented species together?

But, the big problem is that genetic research is slow, and farmers can’t wait around. So, in the second half, we learn how coffee farmers in Kenya are trying to fix the problem right now.

And I’m actually tentatively hopeful the beans you brew in the morning are not going to get worse. But, it all depends on you, me and the coffee industry making a couple of changes right now.

—---

Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story - https://bit.ly/2Mlkk0O
Write a review on Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/3sf87MV
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3yHkjcV

Learn more about how Trabocca, this episode’s sponsor, works with coffee farmers: https://bit.ly/3Tjn8bV

Support the work of World Coffee Research: https://bit.ly/3VtyoV6

Become a member of Kew Gardens: https://bit.ly/3yFZ8b0

Find some of Alvans Mutero’s (https://bit.ly/3T0NHTy) and Thiriku’s (https://bit.ly/3CCxHQJ) coffee to taste for yourself

Learn more about cloning coffee plants on my other podcast, Adventures in Coffee - https://bit.ly/3EFBmzG

Want to listen to more documentary podcasts about coffee? Check out Filter Stories - https://bit.ly/3zb5vnO

Connect with my very knowledgeable guests:
Sarada Krishnan - LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/3rW9dwB) and Research Gate (https://bit.ly/3VvzDTq)
Aaron Davis - Kew Gardens (https://bit.ly/3CAicZg)
Hanna Neuschwander - LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/3MvW2Mi)
Bernard Gichimu - LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/3VrOIFJ)

Learn more about the coffee varieties discussed on this episode:
SL 28 - https://bit.ly/3MvNIw6
SL 34 - https://bit.ly/3rTX2QX
Ruiru 11 - https://bit.ly/3CXmDPf
Batian - https://bit.ly/3EEls8M


The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:

BWT Water and More - https://bit.ly/3EEpuxN
Marco Beverage Systems - https://bit.ly/3T2YDzY
Trabocca - https://bit.ly/3Tjn8bV
Eversys - https://bit.ly/3CBkp6X
Oatly - a href="https://bit.ly/3exvlKS"...

How you brew your coffee dramatically affects what you taste. And I do mean dramatic! Brewing up the same bag of coffee beans can taste like a slice of heaven, or a slap in the face.

So, what exactly is happening at a microscopic level when water swirls through coffee grinds? Why does boiling water extract certain flavours, while letting the kettle cool for five minutes make it taste markedly different?

In this episode, we dive deep into the academic research conducted at the UC Davis Coffee Center so you can choose your flavour adventure: Do you like your coffees when they’re a sour bomb? A floral caress on the lips? A smokey drag on a pipe? Or a treacle of sweet syrup?

We also explore why it can be so difficult getting the same flavours from the same beans consistently. And finally, I equip you with tools so you can begin finding your perfect brew.

—---

Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story - https://bit.ly/2Mlkk0O
Write a review on Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/3sf87MV
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3yHkjcV

Explore this episode’s sponsor Marco Beverage Systems SP 9 brewer and how it delivers consistent brews in the cafe (https://bit.ly/3Tgh18r)

Listen to the Adventures in Coffee episode about making dramatically different brews using the Aeropress: https://bit.ly/3TghsQ7

Want more to listen to more documentary podcasts about coffee? Check out Filter Stories - https://bit.ly/3zb5vnO


Want to go deeper into coffee extraction?

Mackenzie Batali’s fractionation research - https://bit.ly/3CFnvH0
UC Davis’ brewing control chart research - https://bit.ly/3CLoiGz
Take courses on coffee brewing with the Specialty Coffee Association - https://bit.ly/3EQFoVV
Study at the UC Davis Coffee - https://bit.ly/3TwSgod
Read ‘The Craft and Science of Coffee’ - https://bit.ly/3zb7bN8


Connect with my very knowledgeable guests:
Samo Smrke - LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/3EKrjtg) and Instagram (https://bit.ly/3IdrfRz)
Bill Ristenpart - Academic profile (https://faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu/ristenpart/)
Mackenzie Batali - LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/3s7VRxr)
Peter Giuliano - LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/3yT66tv)
Danny Pang - LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/3Sd9mqq)
David Walsh - LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/3VEH7Uo)


The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:

BWT Water and More - https://bit.ly/3EEpuxN
Marco Beverage Systems - https://bit.ly/3T2YDzY
Trabocca - https://bit.ly/3Tjn8bV
Eversys - https://bit.ly/3CBkp6X
Oatly - a...

Water really matters when you’re brewing coffee. Different waters can dramatically change how a single coffee will taste.

But what is the right water for the best coffee?

In this episode I will give you the answer, but I will first take you back billions of years to tell you the story of a single mineral and how it's responsible for making our coffees taste lame. Because here’s the thing: water science is chemistry, and chemistry is very complicated and easily forgettable. But with a great story, I’m hoping you’ll remember!

In the second half, I show you why Christopher Hendon’s book Water for Coffee made a big splash in the coffee community, but also why some academic chemists are critical of the book, and how this all manifested in the creation of the Specialty Coffee Association’s Water Quality Handbook.

And, to cap it all off, I offer you some environmentally conscious ways to get hold of good water for coffee, so your coffee brews can finally explode in flavour.

—---

Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story - https://bit.ly/2Mlkk0O
Write a review on Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/3sf87MV
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3yHkjcV

Discover this episode’s sponsor BWT’s water filtration products. I use their Penguin cartridges (http://bit.ly/3Xiuq2a) and cafes can use their BestAqua ROC (https://bit.ly/3EPLIx9)

Read Marcia Bjornerud’s amazing book, Reading The Rocks: https://bit.ly/3EQIYj4


Want more to listen to more documentary podcasts about coffee? Check out Filter Stories - https://bit.ly/3zb5vnO

Want to go deeper into water chemistry?

SCA’s Water Quality Handbook: https://bit.ly/3TyWM5X
BWT White Paper on the effects of magnesium (German): https://bit.ly/3TqOFbq
How to add magnesium to your soft water out of the tap (scroll to bottom): https://bit.ly/3s5WYOm
Christopher Hendon’s Water for Coffee: https://amzn.to/3Tbo3LS
Certificate of Advanced Studies at Zurich’s Coffee Excellence Center online course: http://bit.ly/3xlIOel
Read ‘The Craft and Science of Coffee’: https://bit.ly/3zb7bN8
Barista Hustle's Water course - https://bit.ly/3z8zSKA
James Hoffman's water video - https://bit.ly/3Duxn8f

Connect with my very knowledgeable guests:
Samo Smrke - LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/3EKrjtg) and Instagram (https://bit.ly/3IdrfRz)
Chahan Yeretzian - Linkedin (https://bit.ly/3S4emO1)
Frank Neuhausen - LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/3gg4Fie)
Marcia Bjornerud - Academic profile (https://bit.ly/3eCYuEi)
Christopher Hendon - LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/3EXULMe) and Instagram (https://bit.ly/3eAUuo3)


The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:

BWT Water and More - https://bit.ly/3EEpuxN
Marco Beverage Systems - https://bit.ly/3T2YDzY
Trabocca - https://bit.ly/3Tjn8bV
Eversys - https://bit.ly/3CBkp6X
Oatly - https://bit.ly/3exvlKS
Fiorenzato - https://bit.ly/3T3nmUQ