Is Your Coffee Journey About Gear or Understanding?

In this episode, I delve into the concept of subtlety in coffee brewing and how we often get lost in the minutiae of small differences. I share my personal struggle with continuously acquiring new brewing equipment while questioning if these subtle variations actually enhance our coffee experience or simply complicate it. I reflect on a recent conversation with my wife who challenged my deep dive into water chemistry and equipment obsession, making me question if we're chasing differences that are "barely different" at the expense of joy.

By listening to this episode, you'll gain insight into the balance between pursuing coffee perfection and appreciating simplicity. I explore whether having a limited set of tools that you truly master might lead to better results than constantly expanding your coffee arsenal, drawing parallels to writers who create masterpieces with just pen and paper.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:15 Defining Subtlety in Coffee
• 2:30 The A/B Testing Coffee Culture
• 3:45 Conversations with My Wife About Water Chemistry
• 5:20 When Small Differences Steal Joy
• 7:00 Questioning New Equipment Purchases
• 9:15 The Toolbox Metaphor
• 11:00 Writer's Pen and Paper Analogy
• 12:30 Is Chasing Subtlety Worth It?
• 13:45 Final Thoughts on Coffee Complexity

Transcript

[00:00] We live, we live, we live right now. Today is March 26, 2025. And we're doing pretty good right now. I hope that you're doing pretty good right now.

[00:25] You know, we always talk about coffee and that's the case in this thing that we're trying to do and all that, right? But sometimes I forget that coffee is just one subset of what we do in life and our day and all that stuff. And we can relate to this quite a bit. And there's a lot of parallels.

[00:47] So the topic of the day is subtlety, subtle, subtleness. And really what does that mean? Let's see if we can get a definition real quick. Something not obvious, easily noticed or direct, but rather refined, delicate, clever in its approach.

[01:15] The one that there were really two that kind of gets me thinking about what really subtlety is or subtle is something is not obvious, not easily noticed. Those are the two real meanings that whenever I think about subtlety, those are some of the things that I think about.

[01:38] And we go through that all the time with coffee, right? We have our different measurements. We have our recipes. We try different brewers and all that good stuff, right? And then we're sitting back to back or at another time trying to replicate, trying to see if we can taste the difference.

[02:02] Because that's really what it's about, right? Seeing if something tastes different than the other method that we're used to. We're always doing A/B testing with coffee. And I've witnessed that many multiple times in my life with coffee.

[02:26] And I don't know. I don't know really what I think about that. I wonder sometimes if I am—talking about me, you're probably the same, I don't know—that we are too deep into the rabbit hole to where we're just trying to find the subtleness in things.

[02:47] Just like me here talking to you, the biggest goal that I have for this year in coffee is clarity. And you'll probably see the video later on and whatnot. But I had a discussion, a little skirmish with my wife about coffee.

[03:12] And she saw my water. She saw the packages. And she was getting pissed off because I was going deep into the rabbit hole. I've been deep into the rabbit hole for a very long time. And she was like, there's a difference. I told her there's a difference. And she told me, but not that much.

[03:35] It's probably just a little bit, but nothing to scream home about. And those are some of the things that I'm trying to find in my coffee journey. As much as I can, at least for this year.

[03:48] So I've changed the grinder. I've changed the water. I constantly taste coffee in order to understand it more. And those the degree of differences are subtle.

[04:05] It's for that time. It's for that moment. Maybe I do try a different coffee. But it's still subtle. Is there a difference? Yes. But is that enough for us to take into consideration? Or is that enough for us to change the way we do things? Just because there is a slight difference.

[04:29] That's what I'm trying to wrap my head around. And it'd be cool to see some of the things that we are trying to do here when it comes to coffee. And is subtlety a good place to be? Does it rob us from our joy in coffee?

[04:48] I would say sometimes it really does. And if we don't have anything else. It's just a thing that we have. And you know, it's perfectly fine. It's perfectly okay for us to go down the path that we have chosen for whatever reason.

[05:07] But again, just think about that. Barely different. It changes just enough for us to notice a difference. And I think it's beyond just is it better? What we like more compared to a different method.

[05:24] But yeah, I don't know. Those are the things that I think about quite a bit. And when I'm presented with a chance, an opportunity to try things out, explore things and see it for what it is. Then I get pissed.

[05:42] Because now I'm having these moments to where I'm like, what the hell am I doing, Oki? What why am I going? What am I doing this for? Is it for others? Is it to let others know that I am the shit and I know all this stuff?

[06:05] I wonder about that because it's interesting. Because this is a craft, right? This is something that we do and try to understand as much as we can. But yeah. I don't know. I don't know.

[06:23] Because I'm racking my head right now. And the reason why this topic is this come alive is because I bought another coffee brewer. Doesn't matter which name it is—actually bought two. And I'm sitting there wondering. What is who is this coffee maker for?

[06:45] Or is it here? Where is it? Yeah, it's over there. If you can see it, you can see it. Who's this coffee maker for? How is it different? How is it better? Than what I currently have? Why would somebody get this? It doesn't make any sense.

[07:10] Those little difference of what you get out of a coffee. Is it enough to switch or change or just another tool in the arsenal that we fight and use in? Probably like at a time and don't like at a time and. What is it? What are we really trying to do here?

[07:35] Because you know, at the end of the day, it is another instrument. It is another piece in our toolbox. But I guess the question I'm really asking is that. How full do we want to make our toolbox?

[07:53] Because at the end of the day, I believe having the knowledge, understanding how to use the tools, getting to the point of knowing exactly what you need to do to get the best out of this coffee. That's more important than everything. Than anything. Right.

[08:18] I think that's where we're at with this. Because if I was thinking about this as a live thing, in using an actual toolbox as a metaphor or example for us. Is that we have plenty of tools right. And in the span of a year, let's just say. That we have so many different multiple projects that we're doing. And we go to the toolbox and we already know which ones that we pull out.

[08:51] The most stuff right. And then just off randomly for a particular job. We pull out a tool that we have. How critical important is the tools? Because I think that's really what we're talking about here.

[09:14] What why do we have so many tools in order to make a cup of coffee? And again I'm talking more so by myself but I hope that this helps you to challenge yourself. If you're in a situation like this. Because that's where we're at with this.

[09:34] Those are the things that I think about. And if we don't get out of our way. And if we do understand. The craft and understanding what we're doing. I wonder how far off we will truly really be. If we just focus on a limited amount of instruments. To tell our story.

[09:57] You know, I will talk about that right now about the story or another example. Meaning that as simplistic as it may sound is that you have a writer. And they have a notebook. And then they have a pen.

[10:17] And let's just say that they go a little crazy they get a nicer notebook. A nicer pen. But think about that that's all they have. To have their mind have a blank page have their imaginations. They perhaps have reps in the tank where they write every day.

[10:38] They're always going out thinking of different topics. Experiencing life. Jotting that down. Getting to the point to where they can create anything that they want to. With the simple and limited amount of tools that they have.

[10:56] Sometimes I think about that I think about how I'm chasing something and I feel that I need to get more gear, more instruments in order to tell that story. To understand coffee even more so.

[11:15] If it's just that different. And not necessarily better. And it depends on the occasion. And perhaps I'm probably more so wasting my time. I keep going I keep doing.

[11:32] I'm trying to challenge myself I'm trying to understand all the things that I'm trying to do. When it comes to this whole coffee thing. But yeah. It's kind of fucked up if you really think about it. The pressures the struggles the things that we put ourselves in order to understand coffee.

[11:53] To love it to hate it to get frustrated to do all the things that we think that we need to want to do with coffee. It's really fucked up. All in the name of subtlety. Just a little bit different. Not necessarily better just a little bit different.

[12:17] And again we ask ourselves or I at least I ask myself like is that truly really worth it. Or we just do it anyway. Why not fill up the toolbox. Hopefully learn something from it but for the most part we had a little bit less.

[12:37] We'll be further along in this journey and what does that really mean what does the journey really mean. Everybody's definitions are different it's different. But it's the same. What does it mean.

[12:56] So those are some of the things to think about ponder I'm going to constantly think about and ponder. You want to talk about it a little bit more, let's talk about it. But yeah subtlety.

[13:14] Subtlety can be extremely frustrating extremely expensive. And you probably won't even learn anything from it. Which is the ironical part about it right.

[13:28] So. Off my soapbox. Talk to you later. This is OK. Every day being signing off. Bye.