Everyday Beans Podcast - Mostly About Coffee and Other Stuff

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In this episode, I sit down with two pitchers of homemade water in front of me, one dialed for sweetness and one dialed for acidity, and ask a question that's been nagging me for a while. Can you actually coax sweetness out of a lightly roasted coffee, or is the coffee just going to do what the coffee is going to do? I walk through why third wave water stopped cutting it for me on light roast, why I landed on 100 ppm instead of the 155, 250, or 300 you see floating around out there, and why I started making my own water from three ingredients that cost less than a bag of coffee. I also get honest about my complicated relationship with light roast, how it used to be my jam, how it feels one-noty to me now, and why I keep coming back to it anyway.
More than a water breakdown, this is a reflection on the bigger question lurking underneath every gear purchase and every brewing experiment. Are we manipulating coffee too much? Am I really growing as a palate, or am I just bending every cup to fit what I already want? By listening, you'll learn why water is the biggest determining factor in what ends up in your cup, how a lower total dissolved solids target can let coffee speak for itself, and why the real work of this whole coffee journey may have less to do with the beans and more to do with understanding yourself. If you care about light roast, water chemistry, or the philosophy of brewing, this one is for you.
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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

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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.
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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

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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.
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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

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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.
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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

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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