The Science of Coffee
James Harper
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S3E15 Coffee Quality, Part 3: When the “quality” myth hits the farm
For twenty years, the 2004 cupping form profoundly shaped the specialty coffee world. But on the hillsides of coffee farms, some of the form’s byproducts have been disadvantaging producers. In…
S3E14 Coffee Quality, Part 2: How “quality” became a myth
If you ask two specialty professionals what makes a high-quality coffee, you’ll likely get a surprisingly consistent answer: clean, sweet, juicy, bright. To an outsider, they would be forgiven for…
S3E13 Coffee Quality, Part 1: The birth of specialty coffee flavours
For the longest time, coffees were dull and bitter. But then a small group of pioneers changed the world. In this episode, we travel back to the 1960s and ’70s to meet the trailblazers who…
S3E12 How specialty coffee woke up to water’s role in flavour
For the longest time, the coffee community only cared about water’s impact ruining espresso machine boilers and kettles. But what about water’s impact on coffee flavour? In this episode, I tell the…
S3E11 The two ingredients in water that ruin your coffee, and the ancient story behind them
550 million years ago, earth was perfect. We had perfect water for coffee AND we were living in a vegetarian paradise! But then Earth changed—violently. The planet shifted from a peaceful,…
S3E10 Getting great water for coffee, step-by-step. Part 2: How to measure and treat your water
Water massively impacts your coffee’s flavours. But most of us struggle to fix our water because water science is confusing… …until now! In this special collaboration with Lucia Solis (Making…
S3E9 Getting great water for coffee, step-by-step. Part 1: Alkalinity, hardness and why it matters
Water massively impacts your coffee’s flavours. But most of us struggle to fix our water because water science is confusing… …until now! In this special collaboration with Lucia Solis (Making…
S3E8 Farm to port: why specialty costs more
Every time we open a bag of beautiful specialty coffee — like Erick Bravo’s from Finca El Chaferote in Huila, Colombia — we’re drinking something that’s been on a long journey. And I mean long!…
S3E7 Why one Colombian farmer chose specialty, and the other walked away
I travel to Colombia’s Huila region to answer a question that’s puzzled me for years: if specialty coffee pays more, is better for the environment, and brews tastier cups—why don’t more farmers grow…
S3E6 The hard business of selling beautiful coffee, part 2
Volume. Cheap. Lame flavours. This is the traditional way of growing coffee in Brazil, and almost every farm does it this way. But what if you wanted to produce beautiful, distinctive flavours…
S3E5 The hard business of selling beautiful coffee, part 1
Volume. Cheap. Lame flavours. This is the traditional way of growing coffee in Brazil, and almost every farm does it this way. But what if you wanted to produce beautiful, distinctive flavours…
S3E4 The Speed of Heat: How to roast more coffee, faster!
To roast coffee faster, you need to turn up the heat….right? No! In this episode, we explore the three powerful methods of heat transfer that revolutionised roasting. We’ll journey from humble…
S3E3 Coffee Roasting: How baby plant food transforms into delicious coffee flavours
A mother coffee plant gifts its baby everything it needs to grow—a green seed packed with food. But when we roast coffee, we hijack that gift and turn it into something else: flavor. But what is…
S3E2 Fruit juice or creamy almonds? Your guide to controlling cold brew flavors
When I started making cold brew this last year, I treated it like hot brew filter coffee. But no matter how I adjusted the grind or tweaked the brew time, I hardly got any differences in…
S3E1 Hot vs Cold: The science behind temperature and taste
For years, I used cold brew as a last resort—the only brew method to tame dark, oily beans that were too bitter for hot water. Then one day, I took a chance on a Guatemalan Gesha and brewed it…
S3 Introducing: Season 3 of The Science of Coffee
We’re back with another series of The Science of Coffee—and this time we’re diving even deeper into coffee’s hidden microscopic secrets! Over the past year, narrative audio producer and coffee…
S2E10 Freshness and Grinding, Part 2: How grinders work deep inside
Deep inside your coffee grinder, tiny changes can have massive consequences. This episode takes you deep inside Mahlkönig’s grinders to show you how coffee is ground and the importance of particle…
S2E9 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…
S2E8 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…
S2E7 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…
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The Science of Coffee has published 34 episodes since October 2022, covering topics in Arts, Documentary.
The Science of Coffee is currently dormant with new episodes weekly. Average episode length is 42m.
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