Embracing Subtlety in Your Coffee Journey

In this episode, I dive into how our coffee brewing equipment can actually reveal our deeper preferences in coffee. I explore the fascinating idea that subtlety - something I previously suggested might rob us of joy - might actually be the missing piece in our coffee journey. Through my recent experiences testing different brewers like the Hario Pegasus and Oxo Brewer, I've discovered something surprising about my own preferences: I actually prefer slower drawdowns for a sweeter, more exciting cup.

I demonstrate the physical differences between various brewers, focusing on how the size of the drip hole dramatically affects brew time and flavor profile. By taking time to use different equipment daily rather than doing quick back-to-back comparisons, I've gained insights into what truly matters for my palate. I encourage listeners to experiment independently, trying affordable new brewers to discover their own preferences without being overly influenced by others' opinions. This episode is perfect for coffee enthusiasts looking to understand their own preferences better and break out of brewing ruts.

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

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:10 The Question of Subtlety in Coffee
• 2:09 Testing Different Brewers
• 5:00 Discovering a Preference for Slower Brews
• 7:30 Comparing Brewer Hole Sizes
• 10:32 Finding What You Like Through Experimentation
• 12:10 Independent Coffee Journey & Conclusion

Transcript

[00:00:00] Today is April 9th, 2025, and we're doing really good right now. I hope that you're doing really good right now. We got a still couple more seconds before this brew actually finishes.

[00:00:23] Just choking, but whatever, it is doing what it's doing.

[00:00:28] I tend to not pull my brews after a certain time. I've been averaging two and a half, three, sometimes four minutes, depending on the coffee, depending on the grind size. We all go through that, right? But whatever we're gonna be talking about today, it's kind of interesting to me.

[00:00:48] Here's the topic. Sometimes gear can reveal what we actually like in coffee. How subtlety can be the thing we are missing in our journey.

[00:01:00] Probably have to read that a couple of times. I've been thinking about it for a couple of days.

[00:01:10] I know earlier, a couple episodes before I did talk about this whole thing about how subtlety can rob us from the joy of the experience of enjoying coffee. And now I am coming on here telling you that subtlety is probably more so the thing that we need in coffee. Let me get the stir and let me start to explain myself.

[00:01:54] All right, here we go.

[00:02:02] Here's the thing. The past couple of weeks, I've been testing out different coffee brewers.

[00:02:09] The Hario Pegasus, maybe saying that wrong, I don't think so, but somebody can correct me. I'm all here for it.

[00:02:18] And the Oxo Brewer.

[00:02:26] And they're more so the same brewer. There's a couple of differences.

[00:02:31] To me, one key difference that makes the Oxo better than the Pegasus. And perhaps even better than my trusty Hario V60.

[00:02:51] Wait till it gets cooler.

[00:03:07] Good. I'm talking, I'm doing my thing.

[00:03:11] I'll teach you something, now or right now, okay?

[00:03:31] So I went ahead and had the brewer for demonstration purposes. You probably can't see it, but you can see it when I do it that way. But I've been putting myself through the paces of using this brewer, and I've been enjoying it. I don't care so much about the shape of the brewer. It's a cone-shaped filter. I don't think there's that big of a difference between the V60, the way it's shaped. It's a conical semi-flat burr, flat semi-flat bed burr. As you can see, if you can see that, you probably can't see that. It's semi-flat, it's a lot flatter in kind of like elongated oval-shaped way.

[00:04:23] Go.

[00:04:43] So yeah, so it's semi-flat, whatever. It kind of is kind of a weird type of design when you actually start to look into it. But the key factor to me here is that I've realized, even though with the subtlety of differences of the taste of the coffee, is that I like slower drawdowns. I like coffee that takes its time to brew. And to me, that makes for a more exciting, more sweeter cup of coffee. It just does.

[00:05:19] I've said it, yes.

[00:05:21] I don't care so much about the whole fast-brew thingy. It has its time and place, depending on the coffee, depending on the situation, depending on what you wanna taste. But in my experience, not going back to back, but more so using the brewer daily for what it is, I've realized that I like a slower brew. And it's interesting coming to that notion of when, not too long ago, I was talking about subtlety and coffee how I can rob the joy of what we're doing. And I still believe that wholeheartedly, but it's one of those things to where, when you're actually putting yourself in a situation to where you're tasting, testing different things, enjoying or not enjoying coffee, and seeing what you like about the whole experience, you start to come to realize with open eyes that you like what you like. And it's perfectly okay. And I think the only way that I can really figure that out or come to that conclusion is really just taking my time and just using the brewer for what it is, different brewers. And in this case, really the saving, the thing about this brewer that the most magical part about it is this right here. See it? I see it.

[00:06:54] It's this right here. Look at that. You can barely see it. This is a very small hole. The one on the heart, it'll be 60. Let me go ahead and get it for demonstration purposes.

[00:07:26] Okay. I went ahead and got them all.

[00:07:30] Because this is the key part of this.

[00:07:34] Since this brewer technically doesn't have any fast filters, it's heavily reliant on how you go about your grind size. And if you are more fine with your grind size, it's gonna be even slower. If you're more coarser with your grind size, then the draw down is gonna be faster. However, one thing that I've noticed with this particular brewer is that I can use a coarser grind size. It's taken a little bit longer compared to the Hario V60, but the cup is sweeter. I don't know why. To me, sometimes when you go too coarse with the Hario V60, the flavors are not all the way there. And then that's what it was in this case.

[00:08:23] Look at this. Look how big that hole is.

[00:08:28] That's pretty big.

[00:08:30] Look at that. This hole, this hole. That is substantial.

[00:08:37] Okay.

[00:08:39] I think this is the Hario V60, but this is the porcelain. And I've studied these.

[00:08:49] The porcelain hole is slightly smaller than the plastic brewer.

[00:08:56] Okay.

[00:08:57] The Pegasus almost had it right, but it has two small holes.

[00:09:04] I don't know if you can see that, but it has two small holes.

[00:09:07] Okay. And it gets a little weird with the Pegasus to me. I'll do another month review or so like that of the Pegasus. But when it draws down, the coffee draws down, there is one hole that usually drips all the way through. The other one kind of just puddles sometimes. So they're not really going at the same time, which kind of pisses me off a little bit, but whatever. It is what it is. I can probably close this hole off. And now we have this. Okay.

[00:09:44] I think the size three is the same size as the other one. The size as a plastic brewer.

[00:09:54] And then the April brewer is slightly smaller than, let me clean this story for another day. It's slightly smaller compared to the Hario V60.

[00:10:08] But this brewer can take almost any paper and they, of course, he has his own paper to where you have the fast drawdown.

[00:10:19] I guess really what I'm saying here is that through subtlety or just try and test these things out. Not so much of a back to back type of situation, but a use it for a week type of situation.

[00:10:32] I've grown and started to understand what I like in coffee.

[00:10:38] And at times, let's get in there. There we go. It's cool. It's cool.

[00:10:47] And at times we don't know what we don't know. And the only way that we can know is us trying new things, being objective, and seeing if we like it or not. I think that's one of the biggest factors in this.

[00:11:04] And it's, again, like I say, it's really interesting how I've come to this conclusion. And again, I think both ways of looking at it can go the way that we want it to go or understand the journey that we're on in a psychological type of way. But sometimes we do need gear. Sometimes we do need gear to the point to where we're trying to understand it for what it is. We're trying to see what we like, what we don't like. And at times when we have outside influence of people telling us how we are supposed to drink our coffee or giving us suggestions, we should question that. We should wonder why this person is saying that. Probably they do have a lot of experience. But at the end of the day, it's our palates. It's our likes, it's our dislikes. It's our journey. Everybody else around us is essentially on our backs and our ears and all that stuff along the journey. But we're the ones who are dictating the path that we go on.

[00:12:15] I'm saying I'm really liking slower brews. I'm liking coffees that come out of something like this.

[00:12:27] And my Bonavita has something very similar to this. So I can use it for the exact same reason. That's why I wondered why my coffees were tasting the way they were on the Bonavita, the drip machine. Because it has a very small hole to one exit out. And it produces a richer type of sweeter taste. That's what I'm tasting, at least right now. Probably depends on the coffee. That's the story for another day. But when you have these realizations and you come to a point in your life to where you're like, wait, I was thinking about this all wrong. And now you're getting to the point of second guessing yourself, thinking that if what you're thinking makes sense and it's perfectly okay to be wrong or being curious about this on your journey. The biggest thing, the biggest takeaway is that you're trying new things. You're seeing what really works. And as we do that, come to that conclusion, I think we're gonna be in a better place independent of me, depending of other people online, independent of all the chatter and noise that we deal with each and every day. It can be not just coffee, it can be anything. But as we focus and understand and delve deeper into the understanding of the things that we're really trying to do, that's all that matters here. That's all that really matters.

[00:14:05] So this is me on or off the soapbox, whichever way you wanna look at it. So I guess what I'm saying here is just try different things. If you are in a rut, if you wanna change it up, buy a 10, $20 brewer, something cheap, something that's different than what you're used to.

[00:14:30] And put it through its paces. Ask yourself, what do you like about it independently of others? Because more than likely, unfortunately, you're not drinking your coffee with me. I'm not there analyzing your coffee, and it's going in your mouth. So make the decision for yourself, because at the end of the day, it's your coffee. So I know this is kinda weird me coming back there, talking about this, but I'm just being real and honest with you about things that I'm going through, things that I've seen in my own coffee journey, and just giving that back to you. So this is me, Okey, at Everyday Beans, signing off. Bye.