Notes, reflections, corrections & additional links: Hey everyone! This was by far one of the most fun and challenging videos I've made to date. I'm sure there are going to be a ton of questions and comments on this video because the world of coffee is constantly evolving and a lot of what coffee you enjoy does come down to personal preference. Also, let me just get ahead of this question: Q: Why did you use a blade grinder?! A: I only used the blade grinder for the green coffee taste test. Green coffee is extremely hard and dense unlike porous roasted coffee so I didn't want to ruin my burr grinder that was used for all of the other coffees in this video. Now while this is fairly comprehensive video, it is also really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to learning about coffee. My ultimate goal with this video is to help YOU explore coffee beans you'll love. I think the best way to do that is by explaining the fundamentals from a price and flavor perspective so you can make an informed decision when you are tasting and shopping for coffee. Remember, all of us have our unique human biases when it comes to coffee: 1. Some of us only drink espresso and espresso drinks 2. Some of us use milk and sugar 3. Some of us like coffee black 4. Some of us only drink iced coffee Because of this I decided to focus this video specifically on the beans, because without the beans we don't have coffee, so logically, it makes sense as the first place to start. That being said, I'd love to do a video specifically on the fundamentals of brewing where we dive into: - Water (Ph, mineral content) - Grind size - Bean Ratio - Extraction (refractive index) - Brewing methods (espresso vs filter) So if you want to see that video, we can make it happen (maybe with some other coffee channel's help 👀) Additional learning ➡ ethanchlebowski.notion.site/Coffee-Learning-Resources-e961e8519d04457ba709fc7eea95a1f7?pvs=4 (I'll try to keep this updated as people offer more resources) AeroPress (20% off) ➡ www.aeropress.com/ethan - Another big thank you to AeroPress, without their support I probably would have a made a rushed coffee video just to get one done. So if you want to get 20% off and help support the channel, give them a look!
Good video. The aeropress is a great start to anyone's coffee journey! Want to add for anyone reading that another great reason to buy coffee from your local roaster is that they will roast beans fresh for you. Grocery stores see coffee as a non-perishable good (not as food!) so they will refuse to put a roasted-on date on the bag of coffee. Even if you buy 'specialty-grade' coffee from a grocery store it might have been roasted 5+ months ago and taste quite different to something roasted last week. In general its important to recognize coffee is a food product and getting it fresher is better. Slight note is that its generally considered good to wait a few days to a week after roasting to brew coffee as it needs to release its carbon dioxide buildup from the roasting process, as it might be more bitter to brew it instantly after roasting.
Nice video, quite well done. As someone who roasts his own coffee, it was something else to see your video on a topic I'm familiar with. Although I'd argue that robusta has a worse reputation than it deserves. While it lacks the more floral notes good robusta can have a very nice rich taste reminiscent of grain, nuts, woody and spicy. Part of the issue is that most robusta is used and grown for cheap commercial coffee and not to the standards of specialty arabica.
Thanks for all your time & effort. Great content. As a totally different twist, I've settled on consuming unfiltered Kafa Grande (Serbian brand) Turkish coffee. I just put 1 teaspoon in a large 16oz coffee mug, add water, then microwave for 2:44 (just below the boil-over time). The coffee comes out perfect for such a small amount of this intense powdered coffee. I do (3) coffees per morning and yet each bag lasts ~ (2) months. (6) bags are only $64 on Amazon, so my coffee habit costs only $0.175 per day. For a cappuccino, I recommend steam-frothed heavy cream. The combination comes out like a toasted marshmellow. Thanks again. Cheers!
A funny idea, but from a filming perspective, that sounds really hard to pull off 😆. You'd be racing against the clock sobering up between shots, or needing to re-dose just to stay drunk.
Yes, let's go down the Belgian Trappist rabbit-hole. I spent a few weeks there in the mid-2000s. It was a non-stop bender the entire trip...Belgium is to beer, as France is to wine. Cheers!
My family have been growing coffee for more than a hundred years. Currently, we get about 30$ for about 100 lb of dry coffee berry, which after processing turns into 60 lb of green coffee, which gets exported for approx 100$ per 100lb, which eventually gets sold for anywhere between 300$ to 3600$ per 100lb. So, middle men plus processing takes the coffee from 20c/ lb that we get to average of 5$ / lb. Wish my family we in the business of processing/exporting as the hardest part and the riskier part is growing but the least paid is the farmer.
Sounds simple, but if they do that, they won't be able to reach the same consumers as if they sell them to the multinational companies. How will a coffee farmer in Uganda mass roast and export coffee to the masses around the globe?
This channel and video is a PRIME example of why learning via video is so valuable. Large volume of information is compactly, yet digestibly presented with high-quality production value! Perfection! Edit: spelling and grammar.
I didn't hear one of the most important factors that can significantly impact the taste of coffee: Grinding! As an espresso and cappuccino enthusiast at home, I noticed a dramatic improvement in the taste of my shots after investing in a good grinder. It's not just about the grind size but also the consistency that a quality grinder provides. Therefore, a high-quality grinding machine is essential for achieving barista-level coffee. Maybe a French press might be more forgiving, I don't use it. Anyway, thank you for the great video.
The finer the grind the more important the grinder is. I started with a cheap ceramic one and my immersion brewing (french press) was still good. The espresso was night and day when I switched to the Kingrinder K2 though. French press was improved by being a little more balanced since there were fewer fines and coarser chunks, but immersion is pretty forgiving. Cold brew is the closest to fool proof because it’s so gentle.
also important to remember: the different ways to make coffee (amount of water, pressure, etc.) also affect the result. so in essence a good tasting coffee is a mix of the bean characteristics, the grinding and the brewing method. a bean that might taste terrible when ground up a certain size using a french press, might taste actually quite decent if ground up to a different grain and used with a mokka pot.
You are right, but this video is not meant for that. The process of brewing coffee or making espresso would be an entirely separate video in and of itself
@@lijkenkist1 Absolutely, that makes perfect sense. Anyway, my additional point was directed towards the title: "Is expensive coffee actually worth it?" Essentially, even if you have the finest beans in the world, without proper treatment and preparation (such as roasting and grinding), it could result in a worst tasting coffee experience.
I treat these deep dive videos like the superbowl 😂 I got UA-cam up on the living room TV, got my cup of coffee, and a spread of snacks. Please keep up these videos dude, hands down your channel is better than cable!
FRESHNESS!!! Ethan, can't believe you didn't talk about this. It's the one take away I make sure to tell the coffee curious who may not know. It will give them a huge jump in the quality of coffee they're drinking every day. It's a critical component of buying your coffee for home. Make a follow on video. Roasted coffee is best within 2 weeks!!!!
This isn't always the case... Roasted coffee can be good for longer than two weeks. In fact, many light roasts need to be rested for a minimum of two weeks for brewing. This time allows the coffee to release excess CO2 created in the roast. James Hoffmann has an excellent video on the subject if you are interested.
Freshness is a big factor for sure. Light roasts are much more tolerant to (and prefer more) aging so that it can off-gas, but dark (e.g. second crack) roasts should be drank ideally within 1-2 weeks
Within two weeks?? For some roasts, some would say that you want to *wait* two weeks before brewing. Even for dark roasts, this is a really limited window. Most experts seem to say that you should ideally drink your coffee within 4 - 6 weeks of roasting. The specialty roaster I've been buying from says their light to medium roasted coffee is best within two months. And to be honest, it's not like the coffee will instantly turn bad outside that window either. Worrying too much about freshness will only lead you to waste a lot of perfectly good coffee. And if you got it direct from the roaster, you're already doing way better than supermarket coffee which has already been sitting on the shelf pre-ground for a month or two before it ended up in your home.
Not to be a party pooper, but you guys need to realize that most people either never make their own coffee, or they buy what's most convenient, which means either instant or preground. The biggest upgrade possible is having your coffee freshly ground. I've had coffee beans that I'd forgotten in a cupboard somewhere for over a year, I ground them, brewed them and they were still good. Yes, blander than normal, but still more than decent. Back when I was a student and didn't have a grinder, I used to buy ground coffee from a roaster near my house, and it was always the same story. I went to them, bought coffee, returned home and immediately brewed a cup. First one was always amazing. Second day and it was already crap. A week on, I might have just been brewing with soil.
I can see James Hoffmann watching this video and then going into full blown Heisenberg mode, showing up at Ethan's house and uttering "Stay out of my territory..." before backing away into the darkness of the night. Also, I know it's an ad, but I've been using an Aeropress since about 2010. I even just made a cup with mine while starting this video. I hate how fake sponsorships are but honestly, it's my favorite way to brew. The company was created by the guy who made the Aerobee flying disc. He sadly sold the Aeropress and it does seem like the current owner is more interested in maximizing profits, charging about twice these days as in 2010. It's still worth the price of admission, things work amazing and last ages. Also get a good hand grinder! I bought an 1zpresso JX grinder 3 years ago for about $110. The performance is incredible compared to anything electric in a similar price point. Quieter too and it's really not that hard to grind 15-20g of beans by hand. Nothing has really changed in terms of performance and it feels like it will last many more years.
Knowing James, he probably loves seeing new people entering the scene. Every time I've seen a non-coffee creator make a coffee video he's been in the comments encouraging people to get even more nerdy.
Agreed about the aeropress. My favorite coffee is still french press, but my aeropress is second and there's nothing else even close. I use the inverted method with 18 grams of italian espresso beans, ground at 11 on a baratza encore, with 65 grams of water for 45 seconds. Even after all these years I'm still experimenting with water temperature, but my go-to is 15 seconds off boil.
@@BlueDragon1504agreed. he doesn't gatekeep. at worst, he might correct errors or clarify explanations, but he never tries to keep people out, and encourages them to go even deeper
I find that light, medium, and dark is more a way of getting a taste profile. Not really how light, medium, or dark, it is. I use that as a starter, but I do not use that as the final reason why I buy it.
It's extremely inconsistent. Starbucks light roast coffee would have a similar taste profile (or in that range) compared to most specialty dark roasts. Also why the large majority of specialty roasters don't ever mention the roast profile on the bag of coffee. They roast it for the best flavour of that particular coffee.
Tasting notes are more accurate. Some light roasts can have almost no acidity and they will have notes like "nuts, graham cracker, cereal". I find those to be extremely boring. Others are bright and zesty with acidity, like "lemon, grapefruit, any citric sorbet, honey", while others may be more funky like "mango, berry jam" etc. All can be light roasts and be extremely different from one another. From haylike bad coffee that just shouldn't be roasted that light because of their inherent properties, to delicate bright coffees like African coffees, and wild naturals that smack you in the face (which I personally prefer as part of a blend moreso than pure). It's why most specialty coffee roasters use tasting notes instead of just saying dark or light or medium.
@@TheRealAstro_ starbucks is the furthest thing from a standard or quality that anybody should consider or account for when it comes to coffee. it shouldn't even warrant a mention. they roast the shit out of their beans. most people i have talked to about it are convinced it is an attempt to cover up the poor quality of beans they use/sell.
@@raifsevrence My espresso machine can't even make them taste worthy of drinking. I tried their coffee and had to throw it away as it was terrible, no matter what I did.
I love this video. When I started my coffee journey about two years ago I went full into iced, brasilian, dark chocolate and nutty coffee. After a while I was in love with kenyan, sour and fruity as hell washed coffee and now I am looking for good balance between sours and bitters. 1st of July I am going to try my best in eliminations od Polish Aeropress Championship for the second time - wish me luck guys :D Cant wait for more coffee related videos!
I think you've done a really great job here walking the line between coffee nerds and coffee amateurs, this video serves as a very good 'introduction to coffee' primer for the unwashed (hweh) masses.
I love my aero press and have used one for nearly 10 years now. It was the best way to make coffee when I was in the army because I could just toss it into my rucksack without worrying about it given it’s durable construction!
You should check out Final Press - the largest ever Kickstarter for a coffee product. It's made from stainless steel and is a fraction of the size of an Aeropress. I replaced my Aeropress with it initially because of microplastic concerns, and now haven't looked back
Also what I've found out too is the Temp. of the Water and what Water you Do also use with the Beans as it Does make a change it a bit, as i've been brewing a lot as of late and it's great to experiment here and there with Coffee's.
First time watching, been recommended before, I love all the info, thank you for getting so technical! One thing though, could you possibly get some sound deadening? The echo was fairly distracting in this video
I also found the echo and audio distracting but really enjoyed the info, I don’t think most of the channels videos sound like this one but most of them are quite informative and enjoyable.
@@CWGminer Roasted beans have air in them, meaning they're brittle and thus easy to break down. Unroasted, or green, coffee beans have no air in them, making them *much* denser, and thus much harder to break down. Burr sets are made to break down roasted coffee beans. While all sharp things dull over time, burrs can dull *much* faster when subject to unroasted coffee beans because of how much denser they are.
These videos are so thorough, dynamic, and insightful. Literally a documentary. I love the experiments so much. Seeing them mean more than just being presented numbers and data- though, when you do refer to studies it’s such a treat ❤
I knew this question was going to popup haha, here's my explanation: Q: Why did you use a blade grinder?! A: I only used the blade grinder for the green coffee taste test. Green coffee is extremely hard and dense unlike porous roasted coffee so I didn't want to ruin my burr grinder that was used for all of the other coffees in this video.
Expensive though it really depends who it is. when it comes to coffee usually if it means that the coffee growers, the actual farmers, not Nestle or some other food corporation is getting the money, then it's worth it.
Tea drinker here. Was quite entertaining to see your take on the coffee world. I gave up soda 13 years ago so my caffeine intake is through tea. My husband is the coffee drinker and uses various methods to brew. It seems more of the coffee notes have to do with the processing. This is true to a certain degree with tea leaves but the primary source of determining quality is the location of the cultivar. Processing matters more so with red(black) tea, oolong tea, fermented teas (Puer) or aged teas (white, red/black Puer, and another variety known as Anhua) Aged teas (5+years) are a completely different world as this depends on storage methods and various techniques based on regional culture, like fur example storing your teas in bamboo versus wrapping in paper versus storing in clay jars. Once you source your quality of tea leaves, it's them up to you to control how you brew it by controlling the volume of leaves, temp of water, time steeping, and even type of water.
Fun video! Thanks!! I searched 20 years for a good coffee and stumbled on it by chance. I drink it everyday but occasionally try something different. Fun to try but every test confirms how great my daily coffee is.
I've just started watching but I'm already so excited to see what will happen in this great video. Because it is Ethan and I strongly believe he made a great content again. Besides I was recently thinking about the topic but was lazy to go over all content over the internet. Luckily, I've discovered this channel thank to UA-cam's algorithm.
I'm not a huge coffee fanatic, before I say this: but I own an Aeropress and I love it. I do follow a few groups online and it's honestly interesting to see someone use it in the factory-recommended way and not the "inverted method" that many Aeropress users rave about. I think a channel like yours should do a video to see if there's any actual difference in taste etc. between the two methods.
If you mentioned that shade grown coffee is superior to full sun I missed it. Coffee farms decimate bird habitat and are in full sun. Some farms do plant bananas to provide shade, but not many. Coffee planted in forests are shade grown and preserve bird habitat.
@@ZY1982 Shade grown coffee ripens slower allowing more complexity and flavor to develop. Coffee used to always be shade grown until more sun tolerant varieties were developed.
I love these deep-dives (documentaries, basically). I am a hardcore tea drinker that has started to get into coffee, mainly because I am getting old and need caffeine to keep me going through the day. Its amazing how many of the same processes are used with coffee and tea, and with the similar results. My favorite teas are fermented teas, I am now very interested in hunting down some fermented coffee (which I didn't know was a thing until watching this video) to try. Thanks!
@@NoahDVS I don't like them because they don't ship to Europe. Other than that I'm unsure, maybe there was a controversy? Not that I've heard, though. Maybe it's a general feel of "sponsor bad". Or it's just fun to not see trade because it's so common.
what i've learned soo far with my coffee making journey . is a good quality arabica bean is the key to a sweet fruity coffee (more cafe taste ) and the robusta gives a stronger more bitter taste for espresso etc
I love my Aeropress and my V60... it's wild that the ENTRY level brewers are also the end game brewers... lol it's such an unexpected thing for such a deep hobby (yes, coffee is a hobby... trust me readers)
The real enjoyment in coffee as a hobby is that you can get everything from Aeropress and V60 to french press, moka pot or your average coffee machine (or even espresso machine) and enjoy them all for different reasons. And brewing with all of them is exciting in some way.
@@soupisgood44 Come on man, don't sink down to that idiot's level by just throwing random insults hoping one lands. Just ignore him. I don't even like coffee but recognize it as a perfectly fine hobby, that isn't a contentious statement at all and anyone that thinks it is is so young their opinion doesn't matter or are just intentionally trying to be stupid to get a rise out of others...which also points to being too young (at least mentally) for their opinion to matter.
Great vid! I especially loved the concise but thoroughness of the process section. No one ever does this breakdown. That said, so much of the content here is almost entirely useless to vast majority of home brewers, as the differences discussed here all go right out the window for someone who can't get a quality extraction. - WATER - uniform grind - considered brewing methodology to match your specific coffee and brewer These are all necessary in order to get any coffee bean to taste like what it was roasted to taste like. Without them, you'll end up with mostly noise in the cup, and won't be any better off for it... Knowing Ethan's interest for depth, I expect he already knows this and is likely planning a companion brewing vid.
@@PhysicsGamer hahaha... I meant it like a signal:noise ratio. You'll mostly be tasting a mix of over- and under-extracted coffee, with at best only a hint of what it actually has to offer. That experience is all most home brewers know.
One of my favorite coffees is a Royal Mile (new jersey) light+dark blend of the same bean, so it tastes like a wide spectrum of coffee flavor in the cup.
Classic fallacy is that something that is expensive due to rarity and/or demand is also equally better. With common sense it's immediately obvious that is not what guided the price. I always try to buy as light roasted coffee as possible these days, because that often means that 1. there's rich flavour profile that's worth presenting, which indicates good beans 2. the roaster isn't trying to hide the poor quality of beans by roasting them out of all flavour. Not that there aren't good darker roasts, but with them you're just rolling the dice unless you're familiar with the product without any hints. Also prefer, when possible, buying from specialty shops because you get to see the beans before buying the bag, you even get to sniff them if you want and they can recommend you this or that based on your liking, and they rarely overroast beans to hide flavours (instead of roasting them for specific flavours) unlike market brands. The best part about it is their advice though. You can ignore just about everything in choosing coffee and just ask what they recommend you based on what you want, as long as you understand how to brew lighter and darker roasts for their potential. And you can almost guarantee the beans are freshly roasted when you buy from a specialty shop, unlike those market bags that, if they even have roasted date, are at best a month old, often as old as 6 months (even the local roaster coffee bags in the markets can be 6 months old which is sort of infuriating both for the customer and the roaster). When the optimum is somewhere around 1 week to 8 weeks, the last optimal date depending on how much it was roasted. More on the region based coffee flavours: if you just have money and can find coffees of such kind, the more pinpoint accurate the source is on the bag, the better. It might not be your favourite, but you're much more likely to get more ethical coffee and more distinct taste. Because it's not hidden from the consumer, you could investigate the ethical side when you know exactly who the farmer was (so it's more likely to be from a farm that has things in order). Also it's not a mixed bag of different coffees grown for example in Kenya. Even if it's coffee farmed by some community, it's better than vague "Kenya" or "Africa" or something. My favourite coffee was definitely a bag from Ethiopia that had the farmer's name on the bag as source. It was very easy to name different flavour experiences from that cup of coffee, perhaps because all the beans were just about the same. What I've personally noticed in my local coffee shop is that there's definitely regions that have coffee to my taste in that coffee shop, like Ethiopian coffees they have, just in general Ethiopian. Don't know if it's tied to what they like to buy from which area, but they've had similar qualities in some regions I've liked, so I assume the actual farming height and place does play a big role as well (of course it does change the flavour, but so distinctly affect it based on region). Another thing the specialty coffee shops have going for them is that the coffee beans are often very similar in size. This means their roasting was rather homogenous and as a result, your grind setting can control the experience better. To make an exaggerated example: if you grind a very dark roasted bean with a very light roasted bean to very fine grain, your cup will have both the extremely unpleasant bitterness and richness of those two beans. Similarly to grinding them very coarse, you might get a decently balanced and at the same time very underextracted. Making it rather unpredictable and mixed review, not the true nature of that bean any way you grind it. More to Ethan's point about the varieties you get named in specialty coffees, I looked at bags that I saved to remind me in future purchases and you wouldn't get these in market brands ever (all seemed to be single origin): Pacamara, SL28, Ruiru, Batian, Kurume, Welicho, Castillo, Mixed Heirloom. Noteworthy is that all had the farmer's name on the bag, my favourites and least favourites so that's to taste, not to quality. My least favourite (learned from the video, from the variety tree infographic) one was Robusta variety, might be consequential or not. My favourites had either citrusy or red berry, and floral tastes and were from African origin. The least favourites were from South/Central America and had more of a nutty or chocolatey aroma, but not quite the way I enjoy them. As you may have noticed, single origin with a specific farmer can still produce blends (Mixed Heirloom from Ethiopia and one bag had SL28, Ruiru and Batian from Kenya). The Mixed Heirloom was one of my favourites due to almost mandarin like aroma, fresh and fruity/citrusy. The Mixed Heirloom is due to Ethiopia having 6000-10000 coffee varieties (learned this just due to further researching inspired by the video) so almost all of their coffees are blends. Supposedly every village can have its own variety, and unidentified varieties are just marked Mixed Heirloom. Meaning to say blends aren't automatically bad. Truly fascinating that they have already updated the coffee tree infographics on Cafe Imports website since Ethan used it for the video. Ironically I do enjoy those "medium roasted" coffees with chocolate and vanilla, even caramelly hints and whatever. They also go better with milk/cream/sugar in my opinion. I'm just not very confident in buying them from markets. Especially since they're more likely to be stale from the unopened bag. Also here medium roast (or we have 1 to 5 in most bags, so 3) is roasted darker than you might expect elsewhere. In market coffees that's often the quality and range (and also age) where you don't get much more than the roast. Many who have only drunk market coffees could be surprised that coffee has wide range of flavours due to that stale market medium roast just tasting like sort of bitter dark roast coffee. For example I've never ever had fruity or berry or floral like flavours in market coffee, no matter which roast level. At best there's a very minor hint of chocolate or so. The lighter roasts would just be less bitter and more acidic coffee taste. And you need to brew it well to get that minor hint of chocolate out, which might not be a thing in your average household even. But don't despair if you can't reason or afford specialty coffee, I still buy market beans or ground coffee at times and I'm happy with the cups I get, it doesn't ruin the experience of "normal" coffee. In fact the big brands have infinitely superior grinding machines that get so much more homogenous grind than your own grinder, be it hand or automatic grinder, could ever get. And since ground coffee is consumed the most, you can sometimes find quite fresh bags, so win-win. Watching James Hoffmann and trying out more expensive (to give a rough estimate 4x the price since the market coffee is like 6 euros a bag and the specialty is 12, but market has 400…500 grams and specialty has 200 grams. Sounds rough but in the end your regular mug of market coffee costs 10…20 euro cents) specialty coffee shop coffee literally changed my life and I've drunk coffee for +20 years. Only after that I learned that coffee has that before mentioned wide variety of flavours. Even if I'm not a great brewer, I get so much more enjoyment out of my coffees these days, I truly enjoy both the brewing process and flavours I can find. I learned to adjust the brewing first with a familiar bag of coffee until I could tweak it based on the resulting taste and what I was looking for, and then started buying different coffees and using that acquired brewing skill to find what their true flavours were. And it's also a good lesson that the bags of coffee are individual. Even if you buy the same coffee, you might need to adjust the brewing, particularly when you buy a different coffee. So it's worthwhile to learn to adjust the brewing based on what you get in your cup and getting to know what tweaks affect what traits. The most important lesson in that was "even if you think you got a pretty decent cup, push the adjustment one step further. Or a whole range further." Like when I was brewing a bag of somewhat dark roast at 85°C because raising it to 87…89°C made it just more bitter and burnt tasting, I thought "what the heck, this isn't _really_ good" and pushed it to 95°C and found out that somewhere between 92…95°C was the goldilocks zone for that bag and me, richer flavour and less of that bitterness (bit surprisingly and contradictingly, usually the hotter the water, the more likely it starts to get bitter). Apparently the coffee wasn't that dark and higher extraction just helped give it so much more flavour that the bitterness with underextraction got overpowered by good flavours. Or something, you never really know for sure. What's truly fascinating is that there's a lot of coffee plant types, but we almost exclusively drink Arabica. Instant coffee and cheaper coffee might be Robusta, or some espresso I recall. Some brands make a blend of Arabica and Robusta for specific flavour profile. But as the climate changes, we're in risk of all the coffee farming areas moving into completely different areas, which is to begin with an economical disaster for the farmers, but also an issue for the current coffee varieties used for coffee. So people are "frantically" searching for different varieties that might be better fit for being farmed in different climates. I feel like Ethan addressed a lot of these points, but maybe this gives a tiny bit more detail to it for someone who is interested. Btw I really appreciate Ethan doing proper academic work by reporting all his source materials. It makes it so nice to further delve into information. And I approve AeroPress too. I use V60 pour over at the moment, but AeroPress makes brewing and adjusting your own process for whatever you have so much easier than anything else.
I use V60 too. I prefer a light roast that is either anaerobic or honey processed, seek out fruity flavors. Probably the best coffee I ever had was a small batch anaerobic from Ethiopia. I can’t remember now, but there was something else special they did. I wish I kept the bag. I usually order my coffee from Big Shoulders out of Chicago. They have never failed with their single origin and small batch. Even their standard options that they have consistently are very good.
Roasting darker doesn't necessarily mean lower quality bean and that the roaster is trying to mask it. Some beans just have a flavor profile that shines more when it's undergone more caramelization or when it gets a small hint of pyrolosis. It's about roasting the bean to the level where the flavor of the bean is showcased at it's best. Some beans just don't have flavor profiles that show well with a light roasting. While mass-market roasters will usually roast very dark to help reduce variance and make a more homogenized product, very few specialty roasters will roast beans into oblivion just to hide flavors, if the beans aren't worth showcasing they likely won't buy them again. This being said I tend to prefer lighter roasts most of the time myself, as they tend to be slightly more on the acidic side and I find that acidity helps cut through any bitterness and allows you to more easily pick out the flavors.
Good breakdown, I've been drinking/buying/selling coffee for 30+ years and learned from this. It's left me with some questions for my own tastes, so informative too.
I love these deep dive videos, definitely some of my favorites. If I may give some constructive feedback though, the phrase "We'll get to that shortly" or "We'll get to that later" comes up VERY frequently in all of these deep dive videos. It can be a tad aimless and distracting. I understand the need to acknowledge that undressed concerns will be realized, but it would seem more professional and curated without the large quantity of "as we'll see later" comments unnecessarily padding the information in each section. We're already looking forward to getting to those parts, and know they're coming based on the organizational graphics you present. Please keep making these!
I do agree the videos could be quite a bit shorter if all the delaying to get to topics, and talking about delaying upcoming topics was cut out. Also much less distracting that way for sure
I agree with this. The repeated mentions of content coming later come off as padding. A single summary at the front would be enough and not belabour the point.
The deeper the better, I learn so much from these, I listen several times when needed but cutting out parts would be a disservice, thanks for trusting us with the whole piece! Worst case to satisfy the haters u break it up & release in chunks for the lazies who can’t be bothered with scrolling (tho I feel not necessary if chapter labels)
@@jjjames6894 I don't want parts cut at all either, I love deep dives. It's not about length, it's just about structure and organization, and my view of how to improve on the flow. Definitely not a hater here!
Thanks for such a thorough video! Another big decision point for me when choosing coffee is how well the people involved and the environment are treated in the process. I'd love it if you would do a video about that.
i feel like the script was out of ChatGPT because he also said he would cover decaf “later in the video” and never did. Also he repeated some of the same lines several times
Co-ferments are definitely a fun world to explore! I just started brewing a bag from Black & White that's a blend of four coffees, three of which are co-fermented (lemongrass, lemon, and dragon fruit). The berry note was incredibly prominent, and it was maybe the best cup of coffee I've ever brewed. And now I'm gonna be chasing that high...
* in the honey process, the mucilage/mucilage doesn't cover the green bean directly but covers the parchhment which is a shell-like structure around the green bean that protects the green bean during the drying process.. this is also interesting to note because in Sumatra they hull (remove the parchment surrounding the green bean) before it's fully dried and finish drying the green beans. This is wild and I've never tried that type of coffee yet but I can only imagine the pressure it puts on the hulling machine to do that
I disagree with that you shouldn't go for light/medium/dark, at least in that regard if you prefer light, dark won't be your favourite and if you prefer dark, light won't be your favourite. at least that should've been mentioned, maybe i did not see it though.
Specialty coffee isn't really roasted "dark" though. Past 2nd crack all coffee starts to taste the same. If you like dark roast that's fine, but then most of the details aren't as important.
The main point is that even if you prefer *a* light roast, you might not like other light roasts, and that just because you found *a* light roast that you like doesn't mean that there aren't medium/dark roasts you might also like.
This is the best video you have ever done mate! Being a coffee person myself, I appreciate the amount of research you have put into this. Thanks for the effort.
Fun coffee tip: adding the tiniest bit of cocoa powder (like 1/8 teaspoon) in with your coffee grinds has a massive impact on the taste. It doesn't taste like chocolate, but it removes a great deal of the bitterness. My own personal theory is that the cocoa particles bind the bitterness causing compounds and trap them in the filter paper, giving you the cleanest cup of coffee you've ever had in your life.
@@pauldaulby260 Great! I'm glad to get this idea out there. Note that I mean adding the cocoa powder to the grounds you're just about to brew. Adding it to the cup after the fact gives an entirely different (and in my opinion, inferior) result. Add too much and you'll clog the filter, or get a noticable chocolate note (not necessarily bad, but not the point here). No need to mix it in, in fact mixing has seemed to increase clogging. Just sprinkle on top of the grounds and brew as usual. Either cocoa mix or unsweetened baking cocoa work, but cocoa mix has a lower risk of clogging in my experience. Cacao nibs might also be an interesting option.
Thanks!!! Between you and @LanceHedrick I have upped my game substantially. Lance taught me about time and weight being the primary variables in the espresso game... And you my good sir have just explained how to find and understand my coffee. Found a local roaster In Ridgewood NJ - REY SOL only one in the area that had the info you talked about Alt, Process, notes.... Well I can never go back to Starbucks now that I know what real coffee can taste like. Keep the knowledge flowing and Thanks AGAIN!!!
Good over-view of pretty much everything coffee for beginners I think :D The Aeropress IS very versatile and a great little device for not too high price. I'd also suggest a V60 pour over brewer, but you'll only get best results with that with either a drip assist device or a fancier gooseneck kettle. 8:38 Yeah that's some pretty extreme Under roasting! I've done that when I started roasting and my power outlet was providing insufficient power for my roaster, turns out if it's that under-roasted you can get better results re-roasting the coffee. Maybe it's not idea, but better than wasting it anyway! 11:35 Same-ish thing happens when your cooking food, a quarter pounder burger isn't 1/4lb when it's cooked!
Man, I absolutely loved this video. I went to a coffee tour in Salento, Colombia (south america), and I learned 80% of the content of this video there, picking the cherries all the way up to brewing my cup of coffee, and the information on this video is accurate and it was amazing seeing you deep diving into every single aspect of it. Amazing 👏🏻😍
Also, one thing he didn't mention is that when planted, the Arabica tends to absorb the nutrients from the ground, changing the flavor profile, so the specialty coffee in Colombia usually has banana tress, flowers, limes, etc around the coffe plants to alter their flavor profile, it's great 😍
Its 5:30 pm and this video made me make a pot coffee. Been getting this First Coloney Discoveries Organic Colombian Santa Marta coffee from Publix, seems so be a step above the other commercial beans.
Thank you for this - it is a good starter for those that are wanting a clearer picture. Also, always remember that, like wine, every year yields a different flavor profile.
if you are on computer download browser extension called "video speed controller", with it you can speed up his blabbering with a hotkey (v is the default) and when he gets to the important part, with the same hotkey (v) it will go back to normal and if you are on the phone just press anywhere in the screen and keep pressing, the video speed will automatically goes to x2 and the sec u let go it goes back to normal
It's also worth noting that coffee grinding also has an appreciable impact on the final cup, analogous to how headphones change the original music. A blade grinder would be like listening on your phone speaker, there are grinders that are like beats headphones which bring out the bass/deep notes, and there are grinders that try to be like studio reference monitors, where clarity and fidelity are the only goals.
My love, the Aeropress! I've been using it for years and years, tried all the other methods, and the only thing I like more is espresso. I have the Aeropress XL right now to feed my desire for a bigass cup in the morning. It rocks 🤙
Hi, i really needed this kind of video when i started to work at a speciality coffee shop, a big sum up of what is going on in coffee industry and i will be recommending this video to new baristas to watch. Thanks
Im glad you did this video. I watch a lot of coffee videos and not sure I have seen one that goes over these aspects so thoroughly and especially not how significantly all these variables contribute to taste. It's basically a coffee buying 101 video. Side note, green coffee IS coffee. It is actually a thing people do buy and drink, although not well known. I know you were essentially saying "this doesn't taste like what I think of as coffee" but saying "this isn't coffee" is inherently wrong and misinformation. Easy to miss in your research I'm sure. I've literally only heard about it once. Very interesting though.
I'm very lucky there is a local roaster where I can buy freshly roasted beans every couple of weeks, from single estates of my choice, (usually Kenyan or Ethiopian), or blends, if I want to try the store's combinations. Edit to add, I usually pay around $14/lb for the single estate beans, their most expensive beans from Java and Kona are like $25 and $35/lb. They source directly from the farms, so the prices you list seem a bit high, but I wonder about (US) regional variances and mark ups. The beans, and their freshness (James Hoffman seems to think 3+ weeks are fine, I think I lose the unique characteristics of the estates after about 2 weeks after roast), makes all the difference. Then, using a burr grinder, just previous to brewing. The actual brewing techniques--French press/AeroPress, pour over, or even a good maker like Bonavita--is dead last.
Great video Ethan! : ) One thing not mentioned that can affect roasting is if the green coffee is stored in "vacum" sealed bags. This can affect how much water is in the bean - and that can have a big impact on roasting time (drying time). Some use a device to measure water preassure before roasting - wich can give an idea of how much ramp up time is needed. :)
We have been growing coffee for over 20 years in Vietnam. There are only 2 type of coffee growed in Vietnam (Robusta, and Arabica). Robusta is more bitter, arabica is more sour. We only roasted our coffee dark, no such thing is light, or medium 😂. we also add butter while roasting for flavor, depending on customer requests. By the way the Aeropress is expensive, go buy Vietnamese dripping coffee maker for $10 to $15 bucks.
This is very interesting learning all the different things that affect the flavor of your coffee. If someone asked me how to pick coffee, my recommendation would be buying/trying coffee/beans in small quantities to find what you like. I say this because we were buying a Kona blend bean from a local supplier. We buy whole beans because we mainly drink drip coffee and it tastes bitter to me through a drip if it's strong enough for my husband if we buy pre-ground so we grind with a burr grinder grinding it at a coarser grind and have found a happhy medium. Our supplier stopped carrying whole beans and we tried their pre ground but it was a no go. I tried a Kona blend from another supplier and liked them but they were a little pricey considering the amount of coffee we drink between us so I started buying 1/2 lb bags of a few different types of beans. It actually only took three types for me to settle on one. We settled on Tanzania Peaberry which to me is crazy because I did some research and it's flavor profile is pretty much the opposite of Kona. I really enjoy both but the Peaberry is considerably less expensive than the Kona Blend from my supplier so it wins. I just drink Kona at my Dad's. 😂
To save money, I started roasting coffee a couple years back. I bought the same coffee roaster recently, and I really like it! I've never tried anaerobic process but this made me interested in roasting some.
Awesome and very thorough walkthrough... Just a quick correction from the chemistry PhD.. Caramelization is not degradation of sugars, it is association/polymerization :) Keep doing what you do, it's awesome content!
You mentioned it briefly in the harvesting section, but a huge thing to consider in choosing your coffee is the wages/treatment for those who are harvesting the beans. There are some huge issues with the ethics of large-scale coffee production (which is not unique to coffee but worth mentioning still), and a benefit of the smaller specialty roasters is that their beans can potentially link back directly to a grower that the roaster can confirm is engaging in ethical coffee farming! I see that as an important benefit of single-origin, smaller batch coffee, and a downside to some of the wholesale black box choices out there.
Always appreciate the long form videos that are thorough and quite helpful! Would you consider this topic: water purification (In-line to plumbing vs systems like Berkey vs store bought?)
These deep dives are awesome. I’d love to see these on a monthly/10 per annum type schedule along with regular weekly (at least) shorter videos in the 5-20 min range. Consistent output would be habit forming and keep viewers engaged. I used to watch your content all the time and think of something you mentioned while at the market or when planning meals, but now I feel like I’ve only seen 3-4 videos of yours this year. I can’t spontaneously watch a 45 min deep dive so whenever I come across them I have to add to watch later and then remember to make time to watch it. I miss the bite-sized stuff.
I would love a video going very deep about the chemicals which make these aromas like you said in the 25:13 I feel like you might be one of the very few people who can make that video and make many people watch and understand those details.
Great video! One of the most important factors I have seen in buying coffee is making sure to get a coffee with a recent roast date. A lot of mass-manufactured coffees don't include roast dates and can be very old and just lose their flavor.
Hey Ethan, one important step that you could have covered is how fine or coarse people grind their coffee. It completely change the end result. Thank you for your video
You’re one of my favorite youtube channels right now, because I love your deep-dives and your side-by-side taste tests. Thank you for geeking-out so hard on specific food topics, and de-mystifying why we would see different price-points for similar things at the grocery store. For me, it felt like this video was edited in such a way that you felt like you had to do a non-linear timeline- maybe to keep our interest in a longer video? Let me assure you that you are fascinating, and you can geek out even harder with chemical compounds, just please start with things like “What is a coffee bean?” and start in the ground. Tell me it’s a cherry with all the layers. Tell me about altitude, etc. We don’t have to get all Christopher Nolan editing Memento about it, I’d happily watch you for over an hour just fine.
I found a specialty roaster I really like (Len's). They actually have good Robusta as well as Liberica (not mentioned in the video). Two things I think bear more consideration in contributing to the taste is the use of freshly ground beans vs pre-ground (and use a burr grinder!) and the fact that roasted coffee has gas trapped in it (which is why allowing it to bloom is important when making a pour-over).
I love coffee and learned lots from this video. FYI Medici is pronounced “Med-itch-ee”. The front name is front loaded with the emphasis on “Med” and soft finish with “ici”.
I'd highly recommend people to check out Final Press. My favorite coffee Kickstarter ever. A fraction of the size of Aeropress and made from stainless steel for anyone else concerned about microplastics
Giving some interaction so others can be recommended this video. A very cool dive into what makes coffee different. I see people ask about other factors that affect flavor, but I think this has been a fantastic video on the coffee itself!
Another factor that can influence the taste is staleness. How long ago was it roaster a lot of these big box roasters roaster coffees and then they said on shelves forever if you get a ground up and ship to a store and you buy it from that store, it's probably stale due to the length of time it took to get into your hands from the roaster. It's generally better if you want a better flavor of coffee to go and get it freshly roasted.
Huge thank you for this video, coffee definitely deserves a bigger spotlight and appreciation -- saying it with a hint of shame for my European colonial past. As for learning resources, my absolute favourites are Making Coffee with Lucia Solis (which you already have included) and James Harper's podcasts (Filter Stories and its spinoffs, and Adventures in Coffee). They are the ones who talk not only about coffee and farmers, but with the farmers themselves as well. In the end, they are the most important link in the chain of specialty coffee. As a science person myself, for more nerdy stuff I usually turn to (not yet on your list) Jonathan Gagne's blog (not only his book), Christopher Ferran's blog, or Christopher Hendon's recent podcast Coffee Literature Review. They all make fundamental work.
Love the video Ethan! A lot of really helpful insights. Especially liked the delving into different processing methods, that is a really useful piece of knowledge when trying to select for particular profiles, and before this I had only been familiarized with “ethiopian process” which is the equivalent of natural process I suppose. Would love a sub-topic video with more side by side taste tests of different processing methods, different varieties, and potentially digging more into brewing methods as well. But I really appreciate these investigative style videos that are more oriented toward how these industries function, explaining all the variables in the line of production, etc. I think it’s really helpful as a consumer.
Very informative! After drinking coffee my whole life and always adding sugar and milk, to hide the bitterness, I now use the Aeropress and drink coffee pure, my knowledge had exploded also after watching this video, thanks!
That was awesome! Great video! Please make another one touching the points that were not spoken in this one like decaf or different ways to brew. Thank you!
For Dutch Bros our 3 bean blend comes from Colombia, El Salvador, and Brazil. I'm wanting to make a UA-cam guide on how to get into homemade coffee as a Broista because our systems are very different then at home coffee but I haven't made a video since highschool so I'm super rusty at the process. This video will help me a ton in that though
earlier this year i went to a coffee farm in yunnan, china that had tastings and it was pretty cool. they only grow 1 type of coffee cherry and they sell 10 different types which are all just variations on process and roast. so you got to side by side taste all of them while they explained what each of them were (natural, honey, washed, and how they roasted them) and all were the same original cherries from the same harvest at the same farm. it was very cool and without going to an actual farm like that i think it would be pretty hard to experience it to that degree. i ended up liking their honey processed medium dark roast the best and my wife like the washed dark roast the best and it's given us insight into finding other coffees from other places. highly recommend going to a farm that has tastings like that if you can
IMO buying based on roast type is absolutely still relevant. There are lot of characteristics that are naturally native to light and dark roast coffee - such as acidity, fruitiness and chocolate and caramel respectively. It is true you can get these attributes in different roasts, but generally, it works a lot like this. What you say about roast being different such as one light in a roaster being different to a light roast in a supermarket is true. However, if you only buy from specialty coffee roasters you are almost guaranteed to get a way more consistent roast level. It's a very easy and convenient way to purchase coffee without spending a lot of time thinking about it. I myself prefer light to light medium roast coffees for it's fruity and light flavour. I make a V60 every morning. There are occasional medium-dark roasts that are fruity, but, are generally much stronger. If you buy from a good shop, trust the roast process to tell you a bit about your coffee! Of course, I still look at the notes section to give me a better idea, roast doesn't say everything. But I know for a fact, I can rarely go wrong with a light roast coffee that has hints of fruits but I have been disappointed with a dark roast coffee with hints of fruits!
I was once told by a coffee grower that the ripeness of when the coffee bean is picked is a very important factor in terms of flavor, acidity, and bitterness. I wonder if you considered this factor in your comparisons and testing. Great video and content. Thanks.
Notes, reflections, corrections & additional links:
Hey everyone! This was by far one of the most fun and challenging videos I've made to date. I'm sure there are going to be a ton of questions and comments on this video because the world of coffee is constantly evolving and a lot of what coffee you enjoy does come down to personal preference.
Also, let me just get ahead of this question:
Q: Why did you use a blade grinder?!
A: I only used the blade grinder for the green coffee taste test. Green coffee is extremely hard and dense unlike porous roasted coffee so I didn't want to ruin my burr grinder that was used for all of the other coffees in this video.
Now while this is fairly comprehensive video, it is also really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to learning about coffee. My ultimate goal with this video is to help YOU explore coffee beans you'll love. I think the best way to do that is by explaining the fundamentals from a price and flavor perspective so you can make an informed decision when you are tasting and shopping for coffee. Remember, all of us have our unique human biases when it comes to coffee:
1. Some of us only drink espresso and espresso drinks
2. Some of us use milk and sugar
3. Some of us like coffee black
4. Some of us only drink iced coffee
Because of this I decided to focus this video specifically on the beans, because without the beans we don't have coffee, so logically, it makes sense as the first place to start.
That being said, I'd love to do a video specifically on the fundamentals of brewing where we dive into:
- Water (Ph, mineral content)
- Grind size
- Bean Ratio
- Extraction (refractive index)
- Brewing methods (espresso vs filter)
So if you want to see that video, we can make it happen (maybe with some other coffee channel's help 👀)
Additional learning ➡ ethanchlebowski.notion.site/Coffee-Learning-Resources-e961e8519d04457ba709fc7eea95a1f7?pvs=4 (I'll try to keep this updated as people offer more resources)
AeroPress (20% off) ➡ www.aeropress.com/ethan - Another big thank you to AeroPress, without their support I probably would have a made a rushed coffee video just to get one done. So if you want to get 20% off and help support the channel, give them a look!
Good video. The aeropress is a great start to anyone's coffee journey!
Want to add for anyone reading that another great reason to buy coffee from your local roaster is that they will roast beans fresh for you. Grocery stores see coffee as a non-perishable good (not as food!) so they will refuse to put a roasted-on date on the bag of coffee. Even if you buy 'specialty-grade' coffee from a grocery store it might have been roasted 5+ months ago and taste quite different to something roasted last week.
In general its important to recognize coffee is a food product and getting it fresher is better.
Slight note is that its generally considered good to wait a few days to a week after roasting to brew coffee as it needs to release its carbon dioxide buildup from the roasting process, as it might be more bitter to brew it instantly after roasting.
Yes on all those videos. We all know and love James Hoffman's perspective, I'd love yours as well.
Nice video, quite well done. As someone who roasts his own coffee, it was something else to see your video on a topic I'm familiar with.
Although I'd argue that robusta has a worse reputation than it deserves. While it lacks the more floral notes good robusta can have a very nice rich taste reminiscent of grain, nuts, woody and spicy.
Part of the issue is that most robusta is used and grown for cheap commercial coffee and not to the standards of specialty arabica.
Thanks for all your time & effort. Great content.
As a totally different twist, I've settled on consuming unfiltered Kafa Grande (Serbian brand) Turkish coffee. I just put 1 teaspoon in a large 16oz coffee mug, add water, then microwave for 2:44 (just below the boil-over time). The coffee comes out perfect for such a small amount of this intense powdered coffee. I do (3) coffees per morning and yet each bag lasts ~ (2) months. (6) bags are only $64 on Amazon, so my coffee habit costs only $0.175 per day. For a cappuccino, I recommend steam-frothed heavy cream. The combination comes out like a toasted marshmellow. Thanks again. Cheers!
There is this James Hoffmann guy, kinda into coffee. would be a great collab :)
My friends want you to do an "Is expensive beer actually worth it?" video where you get progressively more drunk as filming goes on lol.
🤦🏻♀️
That would be a better video and i don't drink, but love to watch alcoholics make fools of themselves.
A funny idea, but from a filming perspective, that sounds really hard to pull off 😆. You'd be racing against the clock sobering up between shots, or needing to re-dose just to stay drunk.
Yes, let's go down the Belgian Trappist rabbit-hole. I spent a few weeks there in the mid-2000s. It was a non-stop bender the entire trip...Belgium is to beer, as France is to wine. Cheers!
And 🇵🇱 polish people are watching you Ethan 😋make us proud hahah ❤❤
Stoked to see you covered coffee! Excited to watch!
Lance the GOAT!
A legend appears! Glad to see you supporting Ethan, always nice to see some positive vibes here.
Ayyy our Brother Lance is here!
The Burr-father blesses this video
THE LEGEND IS IN THE COMMENTS
My family have been growing coffee for more than a hundred years.
Currently, we get about 30$ for about 100 lb of dry coffee berry, which after processing turns into 60 lb of green coffee, which gets exported for approx 100$ per 100lb, which eventually gets sold for anywhere between 300$ to 3600$ per 100lb.
So, middle men plus processing takes the coffee from 20c/ lb that we get to average of 5$ / lb.
Wish my family we in the business of processing/exporting as the hardest part and the riskier part is growing but the least paid is the farmer.
This is why I really dig some specialty coffee shops buying directly from the farmers and a section of consumers starting to gravitate towards that.
Is there a way we can buy from you directly?
So roast and sell directly.
Sounds simple, but if they do that, they won't be able to reach the same consumers as if they sell them to the multinational companies. How will a coffee farmer in Uganda mass roast and export coffee to the masses around the globe?
@@Kewkky Excuses are easy.
This channel and video is a PRIME example of why learning via video is so valuable. Large volume of information is compactly, yet digestibly presented with high-quality production value! Perfection!
Edit: spelling and grammar.
Right perfectly annoying way
I didn't hear one of the most important factors that can significantly impact the taste of coffee: Grinding! As an espresso and cappuccino enthusiast at home, I noticed a dramatic improvement in the taste of my shots after investing in a good grinder. It's not just about the grind size but also the consistency that a quality grinder provides. Therefore, a high-quality grinding machine is essential for achieving barista-level coffee. Maybe a French press might be more forgiving, I don't use it. Anyway, thank you for the great video.
The finer the grind the more important the grinder is. I started with a cheap ceramic one and my immersion brewing (french press) was still good. The espresso was night and day when I switched to the Kingrinder K2 though. French press was improved by being a little more balanced since there were fewer fines and coarser chunks, but immersion is pretty forgiving. Cold brew is the closest to fool proof because it’s so gentle.
also important to remember: the different ways to make coffee (amount of water, pressure, etc.) also affect the result. so in essence a good tasting coffee is a mix of the bean characteristics, the grinding and the brewing method. a bean that might taste terrible when ground up a certain size using a french press, might taste actually quite decent if ground up to a different grain and used with a mokka pot.
French press is very forgiving, yes. Any immersion process (French press, aeropress) is more forgiving than drip, espresso, etc.
You are right, but this video is not meant for that. The process of brewing coffee or making espresso would be an entirely separate video in and of itself
@@lijkenkist1 Absolutely, that makes perfect sense. Anyway, my additional point was directed towards the title: "Is expensive coffee actually worth it?" Essentially, even if you have the finest beans in the world, without proper treatment and preparation (such as roasting and grinding), it could result in a worst tasting coffee experience.
I treat these deep dive videos like the superbowl 😂 I got UA-cam up on the living room TV, got my cup of coffee, and a spread of snacks. Please keep up these videos dude, hands down your channel is better than cable!
💯
Absolutely, the fact that these quality videos are freely watchable is out of this world
I do the exact same thing lol. always get so excited to increase my weird and rarely used knowledge
It is just show, entertaining stuff... but nothing to actually gain...
FRESHNESS!!! Ethan, can't believe you didn't talk about this. It's the one take away I make sure to tell the coffee curious who may not know. It will give them a huge jump in the quality of coffee they're drinking every day. It's a critical component of buying your coffee for home. Make a follow on video. Roasted coffee is best within 2 weeks!!!!
You mean the jar of instant coffee that's been in my pantry for years isn't nectar of the gods?
This isn't always the case...
Roasted coffee can be good for longer than two weeks. In fact, many light roasts need to be rested for a minimum of two weeks for brewing. This time allows the coffee to release excess CO2 created in the roast. James Hoffmann has an excellent video on the subject if you are interested.
Freshness is a big factor for sure. Light roasts are much more tolerant to (and prefer more) aging so that it can off-gas, but dark (e.g. second crack) roasts should be drank ideally within 1-2 weeks
Within two weeks?? For some roasts, some would say that you want to *wait* two weeks before brewing. Even for dark roasts, this is a really limited window. Most experts seem to say that you should ideally drink your coffee within 4 - 6 weeks of roasting. The specialty roaster I've been buying from says their light to medium roasted coffee is best within two months. And to be honest, it's not like the coffee will instantly turn bad outside that window either. Worrying too much about freshness will only lead you to waste a lot of perfectly good coffee. And if you got it direct from the roaster, you're already doing way better than supermarket coffee which has already been sitting on the shelf pre-ground for a month or two before it ended up in your home.
Not to be a party pooper, but you guys need to realize that most people either never make their own coffee, or they buy what's most convenient, which means either instant or preground. The biggest upgrade possible is having your coffee freshly ground. I've had coffee beans that I'd forgotten in a cupboard somewhere for over a year, I ground them, brewed them and they were still good. Yes, blander than normal, but still more than decent. Back when I was a student and didn't have a grinder, I used to buy ground coffee from a roaster near my house, and it was always the same story. I went to them, bought coffee, returned home and immediately brewed a cup. First one was always amazing. Second day and it was already crap. A week on, I might have just been brewing with soil.
I can see James Hoffmann watching this video and then going into full blown Heisenberg mode, showing up at Ethan's house and uttering "Stay out of my territory..." before backing away into the darkness of the night.
Also, I know it's an ad, but I've been using an Aeropress since about 2010. I even just made a cup with mine while starting this video. I hate how fake sponsorships are but honestly, it's my favorite way to brew. The company was created by the guy who made the Aerobee flying disc. He sadly sold the Aeropress and it does seem like the current owner is more interested in maximizing profits, charging about twice these days as in 2010. It's still worth the price of admission, things work amazing and last ages.
Also get a good hand grinder! I bought an 1zpresso JX grinder 3 years ago for about $110. The performance is incredible compared to anything electric in a similar price point. Quieter too and it's really not that hard to grind 15-20g of beans by hand. Nothing has really changed in terms of performance and it feels like it will last many more years.
Knowing James, he probably loves seeing new people entering the scene. Every time I've seen a non-coffee creator make a coffee video he's been in the comments encouraging people to get even more nerdy.
James Hoffmann is interesting/brilliant but he also likes to show off
Agreed about the aeropress. My favorite coffee is still french press, but my aeropress is second and there's nothing else even close. I use the inverted method with 18 grams of italian espresso beans, ground at 11 on a baratza encore, with 65 grams of water for 45 seconds. Even after all these years I'm still experimenting with water temperature, but my go-to is 15 seconds off boil.
@@JohnHaussershowing off how, exactly? I've yet to see a video of his that gives me that vibe....
@@BlueDragon1504agreed. he doesn't gatekeep. at worst, he might correct errors or clarify explanations, but he never tries to keep people out, and encourages them to go even deeper
I find that light, medium, and dark is more a way of getting a taste profile. Not really how light, medium, or dark, it is. I use that as a starter, but I do not use that as the final reason why I buy it.
This exactly. I take those terms "under advisement".
It's extremely inconsistent. Starbucks light roast coffee would have a similar taste profile (or in that range) compared to most specialty dark roasts. Also why the large majority of specialty roasters don't ever mention the roast profile on the bag of coffee. They roast it for the best flavour of that particular coffee.
Tasting notes are more accurate. Some light roasts can have almost no acidity and they will have notes like "nuts, graham cracker, cereal". I find those to be extremely boring. Others are bright and zesty with acidity, like "lemon, grapefruit, any citric sorbet, honey", while others may be more funky like "mango, berry jam" etc. All can be light roasts and be extremely different from one another. From haylike bad coffee that just shouldn't be roasted that light because of their inherent properties, to delicate bright coffees like African coffees, and wild naturals that smack you in the face (which I personally prefer as part of a blend moreso than pure).
It's why most specialty coffee roasters use tasting notes instead of just saying dark or light or medium.
@@TheRealAstro_ starbucks is the furthest thing from a standard or quality that anybody should consider or account for when it comes to coffee.
it shouldn't even warrant a mention. they roast the shit out of their beans. most people i have talked to about it are convinced it is an attempt to cover up the poor quality of beans they use/sell.
@@raifsevrence My espresso machine can't even make them taste worthy of drinking. I tried their coffee and had to throw it away as it was terrible, no matter what I did.
The conclusion going over what you went over in detail as a summary was really appreciated!!!
I love this video. When I started my coffee journey about two years ago I went full into iced, brasilian, dark chocolate and nutty coffee. After a while I was in love with kenyan, sour and fruity as hell washed coffee and now I am looking for good balance between sours and bitters. 1st of July I am going to try my best in eliminations od Polish Aeropress Championship for the second time - wish me luck guys :D
Cant wait for more coffee related videos!
Easily my favorite channel! The way you science the shit out of a particular subject has inspired me to do these sorts of experiments at home!
James Hoffman help me
Jesus ☕️ Christ
James Hoffmann BTW, he has two 'n's in his name.
@@ElvenSpellmaker he obviously doesn't as he's credited twice in the decription as James Hoffman.
@@TheGaymo it's with two n's. Ethan dropped the ball there
yeah but who gives a shit
Thank you Ethan for so much info out of a bean! Awesome the world needs more of you. Keep going!
I think you've done a really great job here walking the line between coffee nerds and coffee amateurs, this video serves as a very good 'introduction to coffee' primer for the unwashed (hweh) masses.
I love my aero press and have used one for nearly 10 years now. It was the best way to make coffee when I was in the army because I could just toss it into my rucksack without worrying about it given it’s durable construction!
You should check out Final Press - the largest ever Kickstarter for a coffee product. It's made from stainless steel and is a fraction of the size of an Aeropress. I replaced my Aeropress with it initially because of microplastic concerns, and now haven't looked back
Water, beans, grinding and brewing method are all quite important.
I love my aeropress and pour overs.
water is super important , filtered definitely is best
Also what I've found out too is the Temp. of the Water and what Water you Do also use with the Beans as it Does make a change it a bit, as i've been brewing a lot as of late and it's great to experiment here and there with Coffee's.
Ethan Chlebowski I can't tell you how much I love your approach to these foods. Very scientific and as unbiased as possible please don't ever stop.
Dude, yes! Medici! Thanks for representing us. Love seeing you at the shop!
First time watching, been recommended before, I love all the info, thank you for getting so technical! One thing though, could you possibly get some sound deadening? The echo was fairly distracting in this video
I also found the echo and audio distracting but really enjoyed the info, I don’t think most of the channels videos sound like this one but most of them are quite informative and enjoyable.
Also, I'll be the one to say smart move on using a blade grinder for the green beans. I wouldn't ruin a burr set on those, either.
Why would green beans ruin a burr set?
@@CWGminer Roasted beans have air in them, meaning they're brittle and thus easy to break down.
Unroasted, or green, coffee beans have no air in them, making them *much* denser, and thus much harder to break down.
Burr sets are made to break down roasted coffee beans. While all sharp things dull over time, burrs can dull *much* faster when subject to unroasted coffee beans because of how much denser they are.
a grinders ability to grind green beans and not choke/stall is a good way to show it has ample torque to grind any roasted beans from light upwards.
These videos are so thorough, dynamic, and insightful. Literally a documentary. I love the experiments so much. Seeing them mean more than just being presented numbers and data- though, when you do refer to studies it’s such a treat ❤
17:28 Is that a blade grinder? You're going to upset a lot of the coffee nerds online by doing that
He mentioned on another comment that he only used it for the green bean test so he doesn't ruin his burr grinder.
I knew this question was going to popup haha, here's my explanation:
Q: Why did you use a blade grinder?!
A: I only used the blade grinder for the green coffee taste test. Green coffee is extremely hard and dense unlike porous roasted coffee so I didn't want to ruin my burr grinder that was used for all of the other coffees in this video.
I wouldn't put green coffee in my expensive burr grinder, too. I doubt thats the primary grinder of someone trying >100$/kg coffee.
I wonder if Pestle and Mortars are considered "best" for green coffee beans.
@@EthanChlebowskishouldn’t grind size be a variable in the experimentation, though, if you are talking about extraction?
The moment I saw a blade grinder, I saw lance hendrick and James Hoffman astral projections in the back of my mind nodding in disappointment.
Expensive though it really depends who it is. when it comes to coffee usually if it means that the coffee growers, the actual farmers, not Nestle or some other food corporation is getting the money, then it's worth it.
Tea drinker here. Was quite entertaining to see your take on the coffee world. I gave up soda 13 years ago so my caffeine intake is through tea. My husband is the coffee drinker and uses various methods to brew.
It seems more of the coffee notes have to do with the processing. This is true to a certain degree with tea leaves but the primary source of determining quality is the location of the cultivar. Processing matters more so with red(black) tea, oolong tea, fermented teas (Puer) or aged teas (white, red/black Puer, and another variety known as Anhua) Aged teas (5+years) are a completely different world as this depends on storage methods and various techniques based on regional culture, like fur example storing your teas in bamboo versus wrapping in paper versus storing in clay jars.
Once you source your quality of tea leaves, it's them up to you to control how you brew it by controlling the volume of leaves, temp of water, time steeping, and even type of water.
As a coffee nerd myself I appreciate this video
Fun video! Thanks!! I searched 20 years for a good coffee and stumbled on it by chance. I drink it everyday but occasionally try something different. Fun to try but every test confirms how great my daily coffee is.
Never heard anyone mispronounce “Folgers” before. Well done, Ethan.
So it wasn’t just me.
Came looking for this comment! 😀
I've just started watching but I'm already so excited to see what will happen in this great video. Because it is Ethan and I strongly believe he made a great content again. Besides I was recently thinking about the topic but was lazy to go over all content over the internet. Luckily, I've discovered this channel thank to UA-cam's algorithm.
I'm not a huge coffee fanatic, before I say this: but I own an Aeropress and I love it. I do follow a few groups online and it's honestly interesting to see someone use it in the factory-recommended way and not the "inverted method" that many Aeropress users rave about. I think a channel like yours should do a video to see if there's any actual difference in taste etc. between the two methods.
If you mentioned that shade grown coffee is superior to full sun I missed it.
Coffee farms decimate bird habitat and are in full sun. Some farms do plant bananas to provide shade, but not many. Coffee planted in forests are shade grown and preserve bird habitat.
Wait. How is shade grown coffee superior, apart from its being more environmentally friendly?
@@ZY1982 Shade grown coffee ripens slower allowing more complexity and flavor to develop. Coffee used to always be shade grown until more sun tolerant varieties were developed.
I love these deep-dives (documentaries, basically). I am a hardcore tea drinker that has started to get into coffee, mainly because I am getting old and need caffeine to keep me going through the day. Its amazing how many of the same processes are used with coffee and tea, and with the similar results. My favorite teas are fermented teas, I am now very interested in hunting down some fermented coffee (which I didn't know was a thing until watching this video) to try.
Thanks!
I was absolutely clenching expecting a Trade ad, only to be pleasantly surprised that the Aeropress one
I know, right??
Yeah being sponsored by a coffee maker company instead of a coffee company is a lot more ethical
aeropress has been taken over by a money grubbing investment group. Our old aeropress is dead.
Aeropress is a cool sponsor, but what's wrong with Trade?
@@NoahDVS I don't like them because they don't ship to Europe. Other than that I'm unsure, maybe there was a controversy? Not that I've heard, though. Maybe it's a general feel of "sponsor bad". Or it's just fun to not see trade because it's so common.
what i've learned soo far with my coffee making journey . is a good quality arabica bean is the key to a sweet fruity coffee (more cafe taste ) and the robusta gives a stronger more bitter taste for espresso etc
I love my Aeropress and my V60... it's wild that the ENTRY level brewers are also the end game brewers... lol it's such an unexpected thing for such a deep hobby (yes, coffee is a hobby... trust me readers)
Thats until you start considering grinders… Thats where the end game money goes.
I guess it's a hobby if you have no life, but it impresses Momma that you have a hobby!
@@MrOldclunker you talk like you're the kind of dude who thinks Dunkin Donuts coffee is gourmet and drinks whatever his mom keeps in the cupboard
The real enjoyment in coffee as a hobby is that you can get everything from Aeropress and V60 to french press, moka pot or your average coffee machine (or even espresso machine) and enjoy them all for different reasons. And brewing with all of them is exciting in some way.
@@soupisgood44 Come on man, don't sink down to that idiot's level by just throwing random insults hoping one lands. Just ignore him. I don't even like coffee but recognize it as a perfectly fine hobby, that isn't a contentious statement at all and anyone that thinks it is is so young their opinion doesn't matter or are just intentionally trying to be stupid to get a rise out of others...which also points to being too young (at least mentally) for their opinion to matter.
Fantastic video Ethan! As a coffee nerd myself, this video is a proof that we never stop learning new stuff along our coffee journey. Thanks so much!
Great vid! I especially loved the concise but thoroughness of the process section. No one ever does this breakdown.
That said, so much of the content here is almost entirely useless to vast majority of home brewers, as the differences discussed here all go right out the window for someone who can't get a quality extraction.
- WATER
- uniform grind
- considered brewing methodology to match your specific coffee and brewer
These are all necessary in order to get any coffee bean to taste like what it was roasted to taste like. Without them, you'll end up with mostly noise in the cup, and won't be any better off for it... Knowing Ethan's interest for depth, I expect he already knows this and is likely planning a companion brewing vid.
I have to ask - what does "noise in the cup" even mean?
@@PhysicsGamer hahaha... I meant it like a signal:noise ratio. You'll mostly be tasting a mix of over- and under-extracted coffee, with at best only a hint of what it actually has to offer. That experience is all most home brewers know.
One of my favorite coffees is a Royal Mile (new jersey) light+dark blend of the same bean, so it tastes like a wide spectrum of coffee flavor in the cup.
Classic fallacy is that something that is expensive due to rarity and/or demand is also equally better. With common sense it's immediately obvious that is not what guided the price.
I always try to buy as light roasted coffee as possible these days, because that often means that 1. there's rich flavour profile that's worth presenting, which indicates good beans 2. the roaster isn't trying to hide the poor quality of beans by roasting them out of all flavour. Not that there aren't good darker roasts, but with them you're just rolling the dice unless you're familiar with the product without any hints. Also prefer, when possible, buying from specialty shops because you get to see the beans before buying the bag, you even get to sniff them if you want and they can recommend you this or that based on your liking, and they rarely overroast beans to hide flavours (instead of roasting them for specific flavours) unlike market brands. The best part about it is their advice though. You can ignore just about everything in choosing coffee and just ask what they recommend you based on what you want, as long as you understand how to brew lighter and darker roasts for their potential. And you can almost guarantee the beans are freshly roasted when you buy from a specialty shop, unlike those market bags that, if they even have roasted date, are at best a month old, often as old as 6 months (even the local roaster coffee bags in the markets can be 6 months old which is sort of infuriating both for the customer and the roaster). When the optimum is somewhere around 1 week to 8 weeks, the last optimal date depending on how much it was roasted.
More on the region based coffee flavours: if you just have money and can find coffees of such kind, the more pinpoint accurate the source is on the bag, the better. It might not be your favourite, but you're much more likely to get more ethical coffee and more distinct taste. Because it's not hidden from the consumer, you could investigate the ethical side when you know exactly who the farmer was (so it's more likely to be from a farm that has things in order). Also it's not a mixed bag of different coffees grown for example in Kenya. Even if it's coffee farmed by some community, it's better than vague "Kenya" or "Africa" or something. My favourite coffee was definitely a bag from Ethiopia that had the farmer's name on the bag as source. It was very easy to name different flavour experiences from that cup of coffee, perhaps because all the beans were just about the same. What I've personally noticed in my local coffee shop is that there's definitely regions that have coffee to my taste in that coffee shop, like Ethiopian coffees they have, just in general Ethiopian. Don't know if it's tied to what they like to buy from which area, but they've had similar qualities in some regions I've liked, so I assume the actual farming height and place does play a big role as well (of course it does change the flavour, but so distinctly affect it based on region).
Another thing the specialty coffee shops have going for them is that the coffee beans are often very similar in size. This means their roasting was rather homogenous and as a result, your grind setting can control the experience better. To make an exaggerated example: if you grind a very dark roasted bean with a very light roasted bean to very fine grain, your cup will have both the extremely unpleasant bitterness and richness of those two beans. Similarly to grinding them very coarse, you might get a decently balanced and at the same time very underextracted. Making it rather unpredictable and mixed review, not the true nature of that bean any way you grind it.
More to Ethan's point about the varieties you get named in specialty coffees, I looked at bags that I saved to remind me in future purchases and you wouldn't get these in market brands ever (all seemed to be single origin): Pacamara, SL28, Ruiru, Batian, Kurume, Welicho, Castillo, Mixed Heirloom. Noteworthy is that all had the farmer's name on the bag, my favourites and least favourites so that's to taste, not to quality. My least favourite (learned from the video, from the variety tree infographic) one was Robusta variety, might be consequential or not. My favourites had either citrusy or red berry, and floral tastes and were from African origin. The least favourites were from South/Central America and had more of a nutty or chocolatey aroma, but not quite the way I enjoy them. As you may have noticed, single origin with a specific farmer can still produce blends (Mixed Heirloom from Ethiopia and one bag had SL28, Ruiru and Batian from Kenya). The Mixed Heirloom was one of my favourites due to almost mandarin like aroma, fresh and fruity/citrusy. The Mixed Heirloom is due to Ethiopia having 6000-10000 coffee varieties (learned this just due to further researching inspired by the video) so almost all of their coffees are blends. Supposedly every village can have its own variety, and unidentified varieties are just marked Mixed Heirloom. Meaning to say blends aren't automatically bad. Truly fascinating that they have already updated the coffee tree infographics on Cafe Imports website since Ethan used it for the video.
Ironically I do enjoy those "medium roasted" coffees with chocolate and vanilla, even caramelly hints and whatever. They also go better with milk/cream/sugar in my opinion. I'm just not very confident in buying them from markets. Especially since they're more likely to be stale from the unopened bag. Also here medium roast (or we have 1 to 5 in most bags, so 3) is roasted darker than you might expect elsewhere. In market coffees that's often the quality and range (and also age) where you don't get much more than the roast. Many who have only drunk market coffees could be surprised that coffee has wide range of flavours due to that stale market medium roast just tasting like sort of bitter dark roast coffee. For example I've never ever had fruity or berry or floral like flavours in market coffee, no matter which roast level. At best there's a very minor hint of chocolate or so. The lighter roasts would just be less bitter and more acidic coffee taste. And you need to brew it well to get that minor hint of chocolate out, which might not be a thing in your average household even.
But don't despair if you can't reason or afford specialty coffee, I still buy market beans or ground coffee at times and I'm happy with the cups I get, it doesn't ruin the experience of "normal" coffee. In fact the big brands have infinitely superior grinding machines that get so much more homogenous grind than your own grinder, be it hand or automatic grinder, could ever get. And since ground coffee is consumed the most, you can sometimes find quite fresh bags, so win-win.
Watching James Hoffmann and trying out more expensive (to give a rough estimate 4x the price since the market coffee is like 6 euros a bag and the specialty is 12, but market has 400…500 grams and specialty has 200 grams. Sounds rough but in the end your regular mug of market coffee costs 10…20 euro cents) specialty coffee shop coffee literally changed my life and I've drunk coffee for +20 years. Only after that I learned that coffee has that before mentioned wide variety of flavours. Even if I'm not a great brewer, I get so much more enjoyment out of my coffees these days, I truly enjoy both the brewing process and flavours I can find. I learned to adjust the brewing first with a familiar bag of coffee until I could tweak it based on the resulting taste and what I was looking for, and then started buying different coffees and using that acquired brewing skill to find what their true flavours were. And it's also a good lesson that the bags of coffee are individual. Even if you buy the same coffee, you might need to adjust the brewing, particularly when you buy a different coffee. So it's worthwhile to learn to adjust the brewing based on what you get in your cup and getting to know what tweaks affect what traits. The most important lesson in that was "even if you think you got a pretty decent cup, push the adjustment one step further. Or a whole range further." Like when I was brewing a bag of somewhat dark roast at 85°C because raising it to 87…89°C made it just more bitter and burnt tasting, I thought "what the heck, this isn't _really_ good" and pushed it to 95°C and found out that somewhere between 92…95°C was the goldilocks zone for that bag and me, richer flavour and less of that bitterness (bit surprisingly and contradictingly, usually the hotter the water, the more likely it starts to get bitter). Apparently the coffee wasn't that dark and higher extraction just helped give it so much more flavour that the bitterness with underextraction got overpowered by good flavours. Or something, you never really know for sure.
What's truly fascinating is that there's a lot of coffee plant types, but we almost exclusively drink Arabica. Instant coffee and cheaper coffee might be Robusta, or some espresso I recall. Some brands make a blend of Arabica and Robusta for specific flavour profile. But as the climate changes, we're in risk of all the coffee farming areas moving into completely different areas, which is to begin with an economical disaster for the farmers, but also an issue for the current coffee varieties used for coffee. So people are "frantically" searching for different varieties that might be better fit for being farmed in different climates.
I feel like Ethan addressed a lot of these points, but maybe this gives a tiny bit more detail to it for someone who is interested. Btw I really appreciate Ethan doing proper academic work by reporting all his source materials. It makes it so nice to further delve into information. And I approve AeroPress too. I use V60 pour over at the moment, but AeroPress makes brewing and adjusting your own process for whatever you have so much easier than anything else.
I use V60 too. I prefer a light roast that is either anaerobic or honey processed, seek out fruity flavors. Probably the best coffee I ever had was a small batch anaerobic from Ethiopia. I can’t remember now, but there was something else special they did. I wish I kept the bag. I usually order my coffee from Big Shoulders out of Chicago. They have never failed with their single origin and small batch. Even their standard options that they have consistently are very good.
Roasting darker doesn't necessarily mean lower quality bean and that the roaster is trying to mask it. Some beans just have a flavor profile that shines more when it's undergone more caramelization or when it gets a small hint of pyrolosis. It's about roasting the bean to the level where the flavor of the bean is showcased at it's best. Some beans just don't have flavor profiles that show well with a light roasting. While mass-market roasters will usually roast very dark to help reduce variance and make a more homogenized product, very few specialty roasters will roast beans into oblivion just to hide flavors, if the beans aren't worth showcasing they likely won't buy them again. This being said I tend to prefer lighter roasts most of the time myself, as they tend to be slightly more on the acidic side and I find that acidity helps cut through any bitterness and allows you to more easily pick out the flavors.
Eh, maybe, maybe not
Good breakdown, I've been drinking/buying/selling coffee for 30+ years and learned from this. It's left me with some questions for my own tastes, so informative too.
I love these deep dive videos, definitely some of my favorites.
If I may give some constructive feedback though, the phrase "We'll get to that shortly" or "We'll get to that later" comes up VERY frequently in all of these deep dive videos. It can be a tad aimless and distracting. I understand the need to acknowledge that undressed concerns will be realized, but it would seem more professional and curated without the large quantity of "as we'll see later" comments unnecessarily padding the information in each section. We're already looking forward to getting to those parts, and know they're coming based on the organizational graphics you present.
Please keep making these!
I do agree the videos could be quite a bit shorter if all the delaying to get to topics, and talking about delaying upcoming topics was cut out. Also much less distracting that way for sure
I'll work on it, thanks for watching!
I agree with this. The repeated mentions of content coming later come off as padding. A single summary at the front would be enough and not belabour the point.
The deeper the better, I learn so much from these, I listen several times when needed but cutting out parts would be a disservice, thanks for trusting us with the whole piece! Worst case to satisfy the haters u break it up & release in chunks for the lazies who can’t be bothered with scrolling (tho I feel not necessary if chapter labels)
@@jjjames6894 I don't want parts cut at all either, I love deep dives. It's not about length, it's just about structure and organization, and my view of how to improve on the flow.
Definitely not a hater here!
Thanks for such a thorough video! Another big decision point for me when choosing coffee is how well the people involved and the environment are treated in the process. I'd love it if you would do a video about that.
Wait, so which was his favorite? Must have missed it
Yes. What was your favourite Ethan?
Medici in black
i feel like the script was out of ChatGPT because he also said he would cover decaf “later in the video” and never did. Also he repeated some of the same lines several times
@@mikaelwink2217
Totally agree. Lots of "you're probably wondering" "well get to later" etc fluff
Co-ferments are definitely a fun world to explore! I just started brewing a bag from Black & White that's a blend of four coffees, three of which are co-fermented (lemongrass, lemon, and dragon fruit). The berry note was incredibly prominent, and it was maybe the best cup of coffee I've ever brewed. And now I'm gonna be chasing that high...
Guess you didn't get a lot of sleep making this video.
* in the honey process, the mucilage/mucilage doesn't cover the green bean directly but covers the parchhment which is a shell-like structure around the green bean that protects the green bean during the drying process.. this is also interesting to note because in Sumatra they hull (remove the parchment surrounding the green bean) before it's fully dried and finish drying the green beans. This is wild and I've never tried that type of coffee yet but I can only imagine the pressure it puts on the hulling machine to do that
I disagree with that you shouldn't go for light/medium/dark, at least in that regard if you prefer light, dark won't be your favourite and if you prefer dark, light won't be your favourite. at least that should've been mentioned, maybe i did not see it though.
Specialty coffee isn't really roasted "dark" though. Past 2nd crack all coffee starts to taste the same. If you like dark roast that's fine, but then most of the details aren't as important.
The main point is that even if you prefer *a* light roast, you might not like other light roasts, and that just because you found *a* light roast that you like doesn't mean that there aren't medium/dark roasts you might also like.
This is the best video you have ever done mate! Being a coffee person myself, I appreciate the amount of research you have put into this. Thanks for the effort.
Fun coffee tip: adding the tiniest bit of cocoa powder (like 1/8 teaspoon) in with your coffee grinds has a massive impact on the taste. It doesn't taste like chocolate, but it removes a great deal of the bitterness. My own personal theory is that the cocoa particles bind the bitterness causing compounds and trap them in the filter paper, giving you the cleanest cup of coffee you've ever had in your life.
That is fun it's like the opposite of adding a bit of coffee to a chocolate cake... gonna try it
@@pauldaulby260 Great! I'm glad to get this idea out there. Note that I mean adding the cocoa powder to the grounds you're just about to brew. Adding it to the cup after the fact gives an entirely different (and in my opinion, inferior) result. Add too much and you'll clog the filter, or get a noticable chocolate note (not necessarily bad, but not the point here). No need to mix it in, in fact mixing has seemed to increase clogging. Just sprinkle on top of the grounds and brew as usual. Either cocoa mix or unsweetened baking cocoa work, but cocoa mix has a lower risk of clogging in my experience. Cacao nibs might also be an interesting option.
ooh thanks for the tip! I will try that
I've heard similar with salt as well. I'll give this a try though. Thank you so much!
Didn't really notice much of a difference, though I used a non-bitter coffee to start with
Thanks!!! Between you and @LanceHedrick I have upped my game substantially. Lance taught me about time and weight being the primary variables in the espresso game... And you my good sir have just explained how to find and understand my coffee. Found a local roaster In Ridgewood NJ - REY SOL only one in the area that had the info you talked about Alt, Process, notes.... Well I can never go back to Starbucks now that I know what real coffee can taste like. Keep the knowledge flowing and Thanks AGAIN!!!
Good over-view of pretty much everything coffee for beginners I think :D The Aeropress IS very versatile and a great little device for not too high price. I'd also suggest a V60 pour over brewer, but you'll only get best results with that with either a drip assist device or a fancier gooseneck kettle.
8:38 Yeah that's some pretty extreme Under roasting! I've done that when I started roasting and my power outlet was providing insufficient power for my roaster, turns out if it's that under-roasted you can get better results re-roasting the coffee. Maybe it's not idea, but better than wasting it anyway!
11:35 Same-ish thing happens when your cooking food, a quarter pounder burger isn't 1/4lb when it's cooked!
Man, I absolutely loved this video. I went to a coffee tour in Salento, Colombia (south america), and I learned 80% of the content of this video there, picking the cherries all the way up to brewing my cup of coffee, and the information on this video is accurate and it was amazing seeing you deep diving into every single aspect of it. Amazing 👏🏻😍
Also, one thing he didn't mention is that when planted, the Arabica tends to absorb the nutrients from the ground, changing the flavor profile, so the specialty coffee in Colombia usually has banana tress, flowers, limes, etc around the coffe plants to alter their flavor profile, it's great 😍
Absolutely the best video I've ever seen covering coffee..... Shows I know very little about something I thought I knew a lot about 😳😳😳
This is a great video! I live in Vietnam and almost all coffee here is Robusta and it’s SOOOO MUCH HARSHER than the Peruvian coffee I am used to.
Its 5:30 pm and this video made me make a pot coffee. Been getting this First Coloney Discoveries Organic Colombian Santa Marta coffee from Publix, seems so be a step above the other commercial beans.
Thank you for this - it is a good starter for those that are wanting a clearer picture. Also, always remember that, like wine, every year yields a different flavor profile.
God damn this guy babbles on forever without saying anything. Jesus! Get. To. The. Point.
Literally did no comparisons either
if you are on computer download browser extension called "video speed controller", with it you can speed up his blabbering with a hotkey (v is the default) and when he gets to the important part, with the same hotkey (v) it will go back to normal and if you are on the phone just press anywhere in the screen and keep pressing, the video speed will automatically goes to x2 and the sec u let go it goes back to normal
It's also worth noting that coffee grinding also has an appreciable impact on the final cup, analogous to how headphones change the original music. A blade grinder would be like listening on your phone speaker, there are grinders that are like beats headphones which bring out the bass/deep notes, and there are grinders that try to be like studio reference monitors, where clarity and fidelity are the only goals.
My love, the Aeropress! I've been using it for years and years, tried all the other methods, and the only thing I like more is espresso. I have the Aeropress XL right now to feed my desire for a bigass cup in the morning. It rocks 🤙
Hi, i really needed this kind of video when i started to work at a speciality coffee shop, a big sum up of what is going on in coffee industry and i will be recommending this video to new baristas to watch. Thanks
Your video is 49 minutes, yet you repeat yourself so much, it could be a quarter or less. 15 min into the video, the same info over and over again
Im glad you did this video. I watch a lot of coffee videos and not sure I have seen one that goes over these aspects so thoroughly and especially not how significantly all these variables contribute to taste. It's basically a coffee buying 101 video.
Side note, green coffee IS coffee. It is actually a thing people do buy and drink, although not well known. I know you were essentially saying "this doesn't taste like what I think of as coffee" but saying "this isn't coffee" is inherently wrong and misinformation. Easy to miss in your research I'm sure. I've literally only heard about it once. Very interesting though.
This video did not need to be 50 minutes long.
I'm very lucky there is a local roaster where I can buy freshly roasted beans every couple of weeks, from single estates of my choice, (usually Kenyan or Ethiopian), or blends, if I want to try the store's combinations. Edit to add, I usually pay around $14/lb for the single estate beans, their most expensive beans from Java and Kona are like $25 and $35/lb. They source directly from the farms, so the prices you list seem a bit high, but I wonder about (US) regional variances and mark ups.
The beans, and their freshness (James Hoffman seems to think 3+ weeks are fine, I think I lose the unique characteristics of the estates after about 2 weeks after roast), makes all the difference. Then, using a burr grinder, just previous to brewing. The actual brewing techniques--French press/AeroPress, pour over, or even a good maker like Bonavita--is dead last.
Great video Ethan! : )
One thing not mentioned that can affect roasting is if the green coffee is stored in "vacum" sealed bags. This can affect how much water is in the bean - and that can have a big impact on roasting time (drying time). Some use a device to measure water preassure before roasting - wich can give an idea of how much ramp up time is needed. :)
We have been growing coffee for over 20 years in Vietnam. There are only 2 type of coffee growed in Vietnam (Robusta, and Arabica). Robusta is more bitter, arabica is more sour. We only roasted our coffee dark, no such thing is light, or medium 😂. we also add butter while roasting for flavor, depending on customer requests. By the way the Aeropress is expensive, go buy Vietnamese dripping coffee maker for $10 to $15 bucks.
This is very interesting learning all the different things that affect the flavor of your coffee.
If someone asked me how to pick coffee, my recommendation would be buying/trying coffee/beans in small quantities to find what you like.
I say this because we were buying a Kona blend bean from a local supplier. We buy whole beans because we mainly drink drip coffee and it tastes bitter to me through a drip if it's strong enough for my husband if we buy pre-ground so we grind with a burr grinder grinding it at a coarser grind and have found a happhy medium. Our supplier stopped carrying whole beans and we tried their pre ground but it was a no go.
I tried a Kona blend from another supplier and liked them but they were a little pricey considering the amount of coffee we drink between us so I started buying 1/2 lb bags of a few different types of beans. It actually only took three types for me to settle on one.
We settled on Tanzania Peaberry which to me is crazy because I did some research and it's flavor profile is pretty much the opposite of Kona. I really enjoy both but the Peaberry is considerably less expensive than the Kona Blend from my supplier so it wins. I just drink Kona at my Dad's. 😂
To save money, I started roasting coffee a couple years back. I bought the same coffee roaster recently, and I really like it! I've never tried anaerobic process but this made me interested in roasting some.
Awesome and very thorough walkthrough... Just a quick correction from the chemistry PhD.. Caramelization is not degradation of sugars, it is association/polymerization :)
Keep doing what you do, it's awesome content!
You mentioned it briefly in the harvesting section, but a huge thing to consider in choosing your coffee is the wages/treatment for those who are harvesting the beans. There are some huge issues with the ethics of large-scale coffee production (which is not unique to coffee but worth mentioning still), and a benefit of the smaller specialty roasters is that their beans can potentially link back directly to a grower that the roaster can confirm is engaging in ethical coffee farming! I see that as an important benefit of single-origin, smaller batch coffee, and a downside to some of the wholesale black box choices out there.
Always appreciate the long form videos that are thorough and quite helpful! Would you consider this topic:
water purification (In-line to plumbing vs systems like Berkey vs store bought?)
Thank you so much for your hard work, researching and making this video. I really enjoy watching your "deep-dive" videos!
These deep dives are awesome. I’d love to see these on a monthly/10 per annum type schedule along with regular weekly (at least) shorter videos in the 5-20 min range. Consistent output would be habit forming and keep viewers engaged. I used to watch your content all the time and think of something you mentioned while at the market or when planning meals, but now I feel like I’ve only seen 3-4 videos of yours this year. I can’t spontaneously watch a 45 min deep dive so whenever I come across them I have to add to watch later and then remember to make time to watch it. I miss the bite-sized stuff.
Damn man, this is one of the most thorough and easy to follow coffee vids I've seen. Well done.
I would love a video going very deep about the chemicals which make these aromas like you said in the 25:13 I feel like you might be one of the very few people who can make that video and make many people watch and understand those details.
Great video! One of the most important factors I have seen in buying coffee is making sure to get a coffee with a recent roast date. A lot of mass-manufactured coffees don't include roast dates and can be very old and just lose their flavor.
Hey Ethan, one important step that you could have covered is how fine or coarse people grind their coffee. It completely change the end result. Thank you for your video
You’re one of my favorite youtube channels right now, because I love your deep-dives and your side-by-side taste tests. Thank you for geeking-out so hard on specific food topics, and de-mystifying why we would see different price-points for similar things at the grocery store. For me, it felt like this video was edited in such a way that you felt like you had to do a non-linear timeline- maybe to keep our interest in a longer video? Let me assure you that you are fascinating, and you can geek out even harder with chemical compounds, just please start with things like “What is a coffee bean?” and start in the ground. Tell me it’s a cherry with all the layers. Tell me about altitude, etc. We don’t have to get all Christopher Nolan editing Memento about it, I’d happily watch you for over an hour just fine.
I found a specialty roaster I really like (Len's). They actually have good Robusta as well as Liberica (not mentioned in the video).
Two things I think bear more consideration in contributing to the taste is the use of freshly ground beans vs pre-ground (and use a burr grinder!) and the fact that roasted coffee has gas trapped in it (which is why allowing it to bloom is important when making a pour-over).
I love coffee and learned lots from this video. FYI Medici is pronounced “Med-itch-ee”. The front name is front loaded with the emphasis on “Med” and soft finish with “ici”.
I'd highly recommend people to check out Final Press. My favorite coffee Kickstarter ever. A fraction of the size of Aeropress and made from stainless steel for anyone else concerned about microplastics
Be sure to look up the upside down method for the aeropress! You won't lose any through the filter too early and get a longer extraction time
Giving some interaction so others can be recommended this video. A very cool dive into what makes coffee different. I see people ask about other factors that affect flavor, but I think this has been a fantastic video on the coffee itself!
Another factor that can influence the taste is staleness. How long ago was it roaster a lot of these big box roasters roaster coffees and then they said on shelves forever if you get a ground up and ship to a store and you buy it from that store, it's probably stale due to the length of time it took to get into your hands from the roaster. It's generally better if you want a better flavor of coffee to go and get it freshly roasted.
Huge thank you for this video, coffee definitely deserves a bigger spotlight and appreciation -- saying it with a hint of shame for my European colonial past.
As for learning resources, my absolute favourites are Making Coffee with Lucia Solis (which you already have included) and James Harper's podcasts (Filter Stories and its spinoffs, and Adventures in Coffee). They are the ones who talk not only about coffee and farmers, but with the farmers themselves as well. In the end, they are the most important link in the chain of specialty coffee.
As a science person myself, for more nerdy stuff I usually turn to (not yet on your list) Jonathan Gagne's blog (not only his book), Christopher Ferran's blog, or Christopher Hendon's recent podcast Coffee Literature Review. They all make fundamental work.
Love the video Ethan! A lot of really helpful insights. Especially liked the delving into different processing methods, that is a really useful piece of knowledge when trying to select for particular profiles, and before this I had only been familiarized with “ethiopian process” which is the equivalent of natural process I suppose. Would love a sub-topic video with more side by side taste tests of different processing methods, different varieties, and potentially digging more into brewing methods as well. But I really appreciate these investigative style videos that are more oriented toward how these industries function, explaining all the variables in the line of production, etc. I think it’s really helpful as a consumer.
I was at a Coffee Convention/Barista Competition in Houston several years ago and had Jamaican Blue #5. Still the best I've ever had.
Great video thanks, I appreciate the time you took to film this and include all the information 👍
Very informative! After drinking coffee my whole life and always adding sugar and milk, to hide the bitterness, I now use the Aeropress and drink coffee pure, my knowledge had exploded also after watching this video, thanks!
That was awesome! Great video! Please make another one touching the points that were not spoken in this one like decaf or different ways to brew. Thank you!
For Dutch Bros our 3 bean blend comes from Colombia, El Salvador, and Brazil.
I'm wanting to make a UA-cam guide on how to get into homemade coffee as a Broista because our systems are very different then at home coffee but I haven't made a video since highschool so I'm super rusty at the process. This video will help me a ton in that though
For a person who is planning on opening up a coffee shop and carries shit knowledge, this video is a good boost to their knowledge! thank you so much
I absolutely love your deep dives. They are just an education that everyone needs.
Now I hope that you will do one about chocolate soon.
So happy to see James Hoffman cited here. He's my go-to source for coffee science and info.
earlier this year i went to a coffee farm in yunnan, china that had tastings and it was pretty cool. they only grow 1 type of coffee cherry and they sell 10 different types which are all just variations on process and roast. so you got to side by side taste all of them while they explained what each of them were (natural, honey, washed, and how they roasted them) and all were the same original cherries from the same harvest at the same farm. it was very cool and without going to an actual farm like that i think it would be pretty hard to experience it to that degree. i ended up liking their honey processed medium dark roast the best and my wife like the washed dark roast the best and it's given us insight into finding other coffees from other places. highly recommend going to a farm that has tastings like that if you can
IMO buying based on roast type is absolutely still relevant. There are lot of characteristics that are naturally native to light and dark roast coffee - such as acidity, fruitiness and chocolate and caramel respectively. It is true you can get these attributes in different roasts, but generally, it works a lot like this. What you say about roast being different such as one light in a roaster being different to a light roast in a supermarket is true. However, if you only buy from specialty coffee roasters you are almost guaranteed to get a way more consistent roast level. It's a very easy and convenient way to purchase coffee without spending a lot of time thinking about it. I myself prefer light to light medium roast coffees for it's fruity and light flavour. I make a V60 every morning. There are occasional medium-dark roasts that are fruity, but, are generally much stronger. If you buy from a good shop, trust the roast process to tell you a bit about your coffee! Of course, I still look at the notes section to give me a better idea, roast doesn't say everything. But I know for a fact, I can rarely go wrong with a light roast coffee that has hints of fruits but I have been disappointed with a dark roast coffee with hints of fruits!
I was once told by a coffee grower that the ripeness of when the coffee bean is picked is a very important factor in terms of flavor, acidity, and bitterness. I wonder if you considered this factor in your comparisons and testing. Great video and content. Thanks.