10 Signs You're Growing as a Coffee Brewer

In this episode, I dive deep into the 10 unmistakable signs that show you're truly growing as a coffee brewer. I share my personal journey from someone who followed every rule religiously to discovering that the best coffee comes from trusting your own palate and breaking a few rules along the way. I discuss how growth in coffee brewing isn't about impressing others or having the perfect gear - it's about developing your taste, understanding when something goes wrong and knowing exactly how to fix it, and embracing the ritual rather than just going through the motions.

Throughout the episode, I explore how my own preferences have evolved, including my changing relationship with light roasts and why I now treat them more like tea. I emphasize that better coffee is completely subjective and that real growth comes from curiosity rather than competition. By listening to this episode, you'll learn to recognize your own progress as a coffee brewer and gain confidence to trust your instincts when crafting your daily cup. You'll also discover why flexibility with ratios, appreciation for the brewing ritual, and willingness to experiment are key indicators that you're on the right path in your coffee journey.

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:50 Sign #1: Caring Less About Impressing Others
• 1:35 Sign #2: Breaking Rules and Liking the Results
• 2:40 Sign #3: Tasting Beyond Bitter and Strong
• 3:55 Sign #4: Knowing How to Fix Bad Cups
• 5:05 Sign #5: Not Panicking Without Usual Gear
• 6:25 Sign #6: Understanding That Better is Subjective
• 8:00 Sign #7: Trying Previously Avoided Coffees
• 9:10 Sign #8: Stopping the Obsession Over Ratios
• 10:35 Sign #9: Appreciating Brewing as a Ritual
• 11:55 Sign #10: Being More Curious Than Competitive & Closing

Transcript

[00:00:00] We live right now. Today is Friday, the 16th of May, 2025. We're doing pretty good right now. I hope that you're doing pretty good right now. Here we go. 10 signs you're growing as a coffee brewer.

[00:00:25] We brew coffee. I roast coffee, but I also brew coffee. And I think that's more important than anything because at the end of the day, brewing coffee, right? How do you know if you're growing or not? And I think these 10 things are probably the reasons why you know that you're growing in the craft, the hobby, the obsession, the ritual of coffee brewing.

[00:00:50] So here's the first one. You care less about impressing people and more about enjoying the cup. I think that's true. If you have friends and family, sure. You probably have people online that you talk to or that you look to in order to give you a recipe or tip or whatever. But at the end of the day, nobody's in your house. You're in your house. You're making a cup of coffee for yourself, probably for another person or two. And you have to trust your palate. And once you do that, you're not worried about what another person may say about your brew or the coffee. You're figuring it out on your own. So that's one sign that you know that you're on the right track.

[00:01:37] Number two, you've broken a few rules on purpose and you like the results. I think even if you don't do it on purpose, it comes as an accident. But you're pushing yourself. Again, you're going beyond what you've heard from others. You're seeing what this coffee brings to you. You have a particular brewing style that you like and you're going with it. But at the end of the day, a lot of times when people say do this, do that, do this, do this, you tend to stick to that like it's the rule of everything. Yes, people have industry standards and obsession in coffee making. But you're the one who's making coffee for yourself. So if you break a rule or two here and there and you like the way it came out, I think that's pretty cool. So that's when you know that you're actually doing something for yourself.

[00:02:43] Number three. You're starting to taste more than just bitter or strong. And that's so true. I think bitter and strong, that's extremely important. But yeah, you're starting to taste other things. You're probably starting to taste some of the things that's on the bag, as somebody may say, or that color of that fruit or that thing or that note that somebody is saying. You see brown, you see chocolatey, you know, you're starting to see more awesomeness in coffee. You can describe it a lot more than bitter or strong. I think it's still very important that you do know what bitter and strong is and the difference between the two. But you're growing because now you're not just saying that coffee tastes like coffee. You're actually deciphering what you're actually tasting. And to an extent, sometimes with different recipes, you can probably go ahead and get different layers of what you're tasting in that cup. So that's when you know that you're growing, you're understanding what you're actually drinking a little bit more than what you have been in the past.

[00:03:57] Number four. You've had bad cups that you knew exactly how to fix. And I think that's going to be one of the most critical ones here, because the thing is, when we brew coffee, it's not going to be perfect all the time. We get a new bag. We have coffee that just sat there for a little bit. We came back to it. So we have to get to the point where we are kind of conquering that coffee again or figuring that coffee out. And we know if we did a certain thing right and when we actually can figure out the mistakes like, okay, that water was a little too hot. I didn't like the way that coffee presented itself. It wasn't as sweet as it was before. I ground my coffee too fine for whatever reason that it may be. And now you're able to troubleshoot. You're not going to the Internet to check to see if you're doing something right. Because again, you're by yourself. You're making this coffee for your own self, your own palate. And as you grow, that's what you're going to have to do anyway.

[00:05:08] You don't panic when you don't have your usual gear. I think that's a big one. A lot of times when I'm traveling, I don't really sweat the whole coffee thing. Sometimes I use a Mr. Coffee machine. Sometimes I use a Keurig, whatever they may have. I know a lot of people, they want to go camping and they want to make sure they have the right grinder. It doesn't matter. You know, you can figure out the best way to make coffee as you can, because at the end of the day, you're out, you're exploring life, you're living life. And coffee is a part of your life. It's not the only thing that you do. And when you don't have all the stuff that you usually have, you're able to figure it out no matter what. And with that being said, it's probably best that you start doing challenges anyway, because I think challenges that you do in your house, giving yourself constraints will help you to push yourself even more so to the point where it doesn't matter where you're at. You can probably make a good cup of coffee or at least try.

[00:06:34] You understand that better is subjective. And again, I think that's where all of this comes back to - it's up to you. Everybody has their own reasons why they like what they like. If you don't know already, I don't care for light roast. I did before, but now that my palate has kind of changed and I would say matured, I can see appreciation in other different types of roast, different types of coffee. Some coffees I do like, some coffees I don't like. But at the end of the day, it's one of those things where it's up to you to like what you like. It's up to you to figure it out no matter what. And I think that's really where it comes down to. It's up to you to take whatever somebody may say with a grain of salt or a pinch of ground. I'm horrible with puns and all that stuff. But hear me out. Trust yourself, believe in yourself, build that confidence in yourself. Understand that you are the one who's making the magic of that morning and it's up to you to decide to do the things that you need to do in order for you to enjoy your cup of coffee. So really think about that. It's subjective. And it's up to you.

[00:08:04] You're willing to try coffees you used to avoid. I think that's one of the reasons why I come back to this whole light roast or Sumatra thing. I've been hating Sumatra lately. I used to love Sumatra coffees, but lately, I don't know, just because of what I get out of the coffee or the way I roasted or even the way I brew it. It's not jelling with me. It's not coming to me. It's not something that I like. And it's just like anything in life, right? We do something. And as we do something, we probably come back to it. I try to tell my kids to always try things. If you don't like it now, you will come back to it and understand it to the point where it's like, oh, okay, that's cool. I like it now or I still don't like it. But now you can be more analytical or you can be more objective of why you like certain things and why you don't like it now and things that you can do in order to kind of mitigate that hatred of it. That makes any sense.

[00:09:18] You stopped obsessing over ratios. I still kind of obsess over ratios, but I've started to loosen up a little bit about that, especially now I'm playing around with this whole light roast thing where I'm trying to treat it as tea. When I treat it as tea, I don't think light roast shines in the one to 15 ratio. I think it's a lot better at one to 18 ratio, pushing that extraction to 23 to 24 percent. So playing around with that. But I'm realizing that one to 15 isn't the be all end all. And sometimes one to 15 can be kind of heavy. And I used to be a person who used to brew a cup of coffee at one to 10. But now that I've matured, I want to taste more of the essence and the intricacies and the clarity and the things about the coffee that you don't see in the bags. So yeah, play around with ratios. Don't be too close to your ratios. Different coffees may call for different things. So yeah, I do play around with that and not so much rigid about it. But again, my default is one to 15. I'm not going to lie about that.

[00:10:35] You appreciate brewing as a ritual, not just a task. I think that's everybody. I think that's everybody who really loves coffee brewing is that sometimes when you use a Mr. Coffee, it takes the ritual part out of it. But you can still have that ritual part. You're still doing essentially the same thing as everybody else has. I look forward to making a cup of coffee. And at times I make multiple cups of coffees throughout the day. I love it. And I think it's fun. And I think it's something that we can get behind. Why not? Because it's the part of the doing. We always think about the destination, going from A to B. But most of the time, 80, 90 percent of the time we're in the actual journey. And in this case, the journey is actually brewing a cup of coffee. So if you're enjoying majority of the things that you're doing, I think you're in a good spot. So think about that if you haven't. The actual ritual of making a cup of coffee is amazing. And if you love that part, it's not a chore. You're on the right track. I believe so.

[00:11:59] And the last one. You're more curious than competitive. And that is so true. I'm always weirded out when I see all these barista competitions and brewing competitions. And I understand why they do it. I think they kind of do it because they're bored. It could be a hot take. They don't know what else to do with themselves. But if you're curious and you're wondering and you're trying to figure out why you're actually loving this whole coffee thing. I think that sets you apart more than anybody. It's not even so much of a comparison. It's just like where you're at in your life, in your journey with coffee. And if you understand all the things that you're trying to do. And you want to continue to pursue different techniques, different ways of making coffee, different things people are doing. Or even what you're thinking about doing. That's more than half the battle. And I think when you do that. It's endless. It's completely endless. Other things that you can do. Like I'm loving the setup right now. I'm loving the situation. Yes, I have a lot of brewers, but I'm trying different things. I'm trying different papers. I'm trying different ratios. I'm trying to push myself to the point where I'm seeing things differently. Just curious about if I just tried this. I'm not thinking about the science of it so much because it doesn't really matter at the end of the day.

[00:13:41] Think about this. I'm going to end off with this. I just thought about this. Of all the things that you can do in the world. And you can think of trying a recipe to try. You can do that with coffee brewing. Think about it. Let's just say hypothetically, you saw somebody try something online. It looked cool. What you're brewing. The way that they're brewing. You're like, hmm, why did they do that? That doesn't make sense. It doesn't matter. At the end of the day, you can actually do it. See what I'm getting at? You don't have to do this crazy thing of figuring this out or trying to do all this other stuff. At the end of the day, you can actually do the thing that you want to do from yourself, from other people. It doesn't really matter. And I think that's the beauty of all of this. Is that we can get inspired by anything and do it. There's no real objections here. And you can use the gear that you have and explore and see where that curiosity goes. And I think that's really cool about all of this.

[00:14:59] We could always do the things that's why I try to do a lot of times in my videos. And the things that I share is that there's nothing that you cannot do that I'm talking about, that anybody talks about that anything that you can think about. And I think that's really cool. So think about it. Let me know what you think. Let me know if you have any ideas, thoughts and desires or other things, other rules that you can think of that may get you to think that you're on the right track because you are. At the end of the day, it's your journey. I'm just here to kind of let you know that trust that path that you're going on. That makes any sense.

[00:15:39] So this is Oki at Everyday Bean signing off. I'll talk to you later. Bye.