Everyday Beans Podcast - Mostly About Coffee and Other Stuff

Coffee Instruments: Do You Need Them?

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2412927/fan_mail/new] In this episode, I reflect on a simple moment: looking at my cutting board and noticing the instruments sitting on it. No brewer, no grinder — just the tools I've come to rely on most: a refractometer, a roast degree meter, brew boosters, a Melodrip, and a Hario Drip Assist. I talk through each one honestly, including which I think are genuinely valuable, which are overrated, and why I still believe the most important instrument you'll ever own is your own palate. I also share what these tools have actually done for me beyond just giving me numbers — they've made my coffee journey completely my own. By listening to this episode, you'll gain a clearer sense of whether instruments like the refractometer or roast degree meter are worth exploring for your specific situation. More importantly, you'll walk away with a new lens for understanding how any tool, purchased or free, can help you develop independence and confidence in your own brewing. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2412927/support] For good tasty coffee, check us out at: everydaybeans.com For tips, tricks and still trying to figure it out: https://www.youtube.com/@everyday-beans

The Beauty of Meh Coffee

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2412927/fan_mail/new] I've been sitting with an Ethiopian white honey coffee that I just couldn't get to click for me. I brewed it every way I could think of. Different devices, different grinders, different ratios. I went down the rabbit hole hard with this one. I used the AeroPress, the ZP6, brewed it at 1:15 and 1:18, played with the grind size, even thought about water chemistry. And for a long time, it stayed meh. Not bad. Just not talking to me. In this episode, I walk through exactly what I discovered about this coffee and, more importantly, what I discovered about myself as a brewer because of it. The real lesson here isn't about the Ethiopian. It's about what these mediocre, frustrating, won't-quite-land coffees actually teach us. I explain why I've come to appreciate meh coffees just as much as the ones that blow me away, and why being able to articulate exactly why a coffee doesn't work for you is one of the most valuable skills you can develop. If you've ever had a coffee that just didn't do it for you and didn't know what to do with that feeling, this episode is for you. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2412927/support] For good tasty coffee, check us out at: everydaybeans.com For tips, tricks and still trying to figure it out: https://www.youtube.com/@everyday-beans

The ZP6 Surprised Me

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2412927/fan_mail/new] I went into this episode with something I had to get off my chest. The ZP6 surprised me, and not in the way you might expect. The marketing around this grinder tells you it is made for light roast coffee and clarity, and for a long time I accepted that. But I started experimenting outside those boundaries, testing it on medium roast, dark roast, Kenyan, Ethiopian, fruity naturals, and what I found genuinely caught me off guard. The clarity and lack of fines that make this grinder famous do not just serve light roast coffee. I went all the way down to a setting of two on a dark roast and walked away impressed. No bitterness. Real complexity. It gave the coffee its legs in a way I did not expect a grinder like this to do. What I really want you to take from this episode is that the labels we put on gear stop us before we even start. I do it too, with my own coffee descriptions and roast profiles. But your grinder, your brewer, your coffee, they do not know what the marketing said. In this episode, I walk you through my actual brewing experience across multiple roast levels and origins with the ZP6, share the specific settings that worked and the ones that did not, and explain why low fines production is a bigger deal than most people realize regardless of what you are brewing. If you have ever wondered whether your grinder is limiting you or the label on it is, this one is for you. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2412927/support] For good tasty coffee, check us out at: everydaybeans.com For tips, tricks and still trying to figure it out: https://www.youtube.com/@everyday-beans

Why Winey Coffee Doesn't Move Me Anymore

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2412927/fan_mail/new] In this episode, I sit with a cup of Kenyan double-washed pea berry coffee and confront a question I have been turning over for weeks: is this coffee not landing, or have I simply changed? I walk through everything I did to make it work. I roasted it light, medium, and dark. Fast roasts, slow roasts, careful attention to development and sugar expression. I brewed it on a flat bed brewer, adjusted temperature, slowed down the drawdown. Nothing clicked the way I expected. What I kept coming back to was this: the coffee presented exactly the same as it did years ago. The tomato-y strawberry up front, a little chocolate through the middle, that grapefruit-like finish on the back end. The same profile. The same story. And therein lies the problem. Familiar is not the same as good. I also question whether the double-washed processing was an R&D advancement or compensation for a quality issue in the preparation. I do not know the answer, and I sit with that honestly. By listening to this episode, you will understand how palate evolution is a real and often quiet process, and why asking yourself why a coffee is not working matters just as much as dialing in your brew variables. I get into what the word "winey" actually means when you stop using it as shorthand, why coffee as agriculture means we cannot always hold it to the standard of our memory, and what my next step is to finally answer whether it is the coffee or me. If you have ever had a coffee that used to move you and now just sits there, this one is for you. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2412927/support] For good tasty coffee, check us out at: everydaybeans.com For tips, tricks and still trying to figure it out: https://www.youtube.com/@everyday-beans

When Your Palate Outgrows Your Old Favorites

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2412927/fan_mail/new] In this episode, I sit down with a cup of natural processed Costa Rican coffee and get real about something I've been circling for a while: naturals just don't do it for me the way they used to. I walk through what it's like to taste this coffee, noting how it hits you with a bold, fruit-forward punch right up front and then fades quickly, leaving me wanting more from the cup. I roasted this same coffee as both a light and a dark roast, and neither version gave me what I was looking for. I talk about why that first sip is everything with a natural processed coffee and why, for me, that's also the problem. I also reflect on how my palate has evolved over the years. When I first got into specialty coffee, natural processed coffees were revolutionary to me. The intensity of fruit in a black cup was unlike anything I had experienced. But now, coming from a place of deeper knowledge, years of brewing experience, and a real understanding of water chemistry, I gravitate toward washed coffees that reveal themselves slowly. I contrast this current experience with one of my all-time top two coffees: a Bozo Black Honey Costa Rican natural that actually kept building and getting more interesting. By listening to this episode, you'll learn what it truly means to know your own palate, why your coffee preferences change over time, and why understanding the reason behind what you like or don't like is one of the most valuable things you can develop as a coffee drinker. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2412927/support] For good tasty coffee, check us out at: everydaybeans.com For tips, tricks and still trying to figure it out: https://www.youtube.com/@everyday-beans