Everyday Beans Podcast - Mostly About Coffee and Other Stuff
It's about coffee, food, life and what other randomness I feel that'll be helpful to the common coffee drinker or to anyone who likes to be entertained by a stranger, briefly.
Everyday Beans Podcast - Mostly About Coffee and Other Stuff
340g Coffee Challenge: When One Bag Is Too Much
In this eye-opening episode, I share my intense two-and-a-half-week journey of drinking nearly 30 cups of coffee from a single 340-gram bag. I challenged myself to brew exclusively with one medium-roast coffee using my Mugen Dripper at 200°F, experimenting with various pour techniques from one to five pours. What started as an exciting challenge quickly revealed some surprising truths about coffee consumption habits and the psychology of variety in our daily coffee ritual.
Through this experiment, I discovered that even as someone who typically drinks only one to two cups per day, 340 grams of coffee is substantial – lasting far longer than most coffee enthusiasts would prefer to stick with a single origin. I found myself getting bored with the coffee after just a third of the way through, despite being able to create different flavor profiles through various brewing techniques. This led me to explore practical solutions for coffee preservation, sharing strategies, and rethinking how we approach coffee purchasing habits. Listeners will learn valuable insights about coffee storage, the economics of specialty coffee consumption, and why variety might be more important than we realize in our coffee journey.
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[00:00 - 00:28] Oh, that sounds so good. Really does. If you're listening to this, two weeks, two and a half weeks of drinking mostly just one coffee. Since I have the ability to roast my own coffee and give myself random challenges so I can share it with you, give you my insight on things of coffee and how we actually go about drinking coffee.
[00:49 - 01:20] It was a big eye opener. But something about trying to figure out what to do with 340 grams of coffee. This time I went ahead and went on an experiment. I brewed nearly 30 cups of coffee at a one to 17 ratio, which was kind of brutal. It was a medium roast. It's a coffee that I've had for some time now and I actually finished it. I'm out of it. So if you want any of it, it doesn't exist anymore.
[01:22 - 02:41] At least not for me. And as I was drinking these coffees back to back sometimes, I was doing this in a way where I was trying to push the coffee as much as I could with the constraints that I gave it. And I think it's very critical that we do give ourselves constraints when it comes to coffee, especially coffees that we're used to drinking, even coffees we're not used to drinking. But I guess what I'm really saying here is that 340 grams of coffee, even for two people is a lot of coffee for me if I really was looking at it. The way that I normally drink coffee, which is one possibly two cups a day, no matter what the ratio is, the ratio really doesn't matter as much in the grand scheme of things. That would put me at seven, let's just say 10 and then another 10. So in two weeks, if I was to drink this normally, I still wouldn't be done with this bag of coffee. I guess what I'm saying here is that 340 grams of coffee is a lot. I think most people can get done with coffee in about two weeks, depending on their consumption level, addiction level, their routine level. No judgment here. I'm just one of the weird ones that actually just have probably one to two cups of coffee a day.
[02:42 - 03:18] Throughout this challenge, throughout this journey with this particular coffee, it shocked me how quickly I got bored of it. Initially, it was great. It was something that I was looking forward to. It was something that I was trying to crack, trying to figure out. The challenge that I always have with coffee.
[03:24 - 03:53] I was only brewing the coffee at 200 degrees Fahrenheit and allowing myself to have as many types of recipes with the Mugen Dripper, either one pour, two pours,
[03:55 - 04:05] three, sometimes I did four or five. The coffees had different variations of what they tasted like. But at the end of the day, at this roast level,
[04:06 - 04:26] and at the grind size that I used, it was what it was. And that's perfectly fine. But how long do we really need to keep our coffees? I guess that's what I'm saying. Probably you have a better understanding of that because to me, my judgment in the way that I look at things is kind of skewed.
[04:28 - 04:53] I'm in a unique situation where I don't tend to stay with coffees as much or as long as the normal person. If you spend 20-30 dollars for a bag of coffee, you're probably trying to enjoy it as much as possible. But then again, there's many times where I see people online talk about they just got a new haul of coffee and they have about four to five of them.
[05:02 - 05:50] Think about it in any way, shape or form that you want to. But I think it's just more about being bored with your coffee. You want to keep the excitement as high as possible. You want to see what this particular beverage does for a couple brews and then you switch it up and you keep going from there. I don't know how you do it, like a little comparison taste comparison with all the coffees that you do have. But at the end of the day, it's one of those things where what do you do with 340 grams of coffee? How do you do 12-15 grams per brew? Try to get rid of it a little bit more? Probably you brew it with friends and family, people in your house. Probably take it to work, share amongst friends and all that. I probably don't do that.
[05:52 - 07:16] But I guess what I'm saying here is that what other things can we do with a bag of coffee? Because to me, even when I was extreme with this whole challenge, I was able to do this coffee 34 times. Let's just say 30 times at about 10 grams per cup. Think about that. For one bag of coffee, I was able to drink it at the consistency that I was going at. That's a lot of coffee. And again, I want to speak for myself. But what I'm seeing from a lot of things that I'm seeing online, talking to friends and all that good stuff. You need variety. You need different types of coffees. You get bored. So you always have to change it up. Those are some of the things that I think about a lot of times when I think about coffee because coffee, as much as I like to sell my two pound bags of coffee, I think those type of people are a little different because it's mostly like a fix. It's something that they're trying to enjoy. And as they enjoy it, they know that that bag is going to last them for a very long time. So think about that. Or have you thought about that? And I think one of the solutions that we can have when it comes to coffee drinking is preserving it. So freezing it some way somehow, labeling it, just not worrying about it as much.
[07:17 - 07:33] Probably give it out to friends, giving them that experience of drinking that cup of coffee. That's some of the ways that we can actually preserve the coffees and I hate to say this but probably not buy as much coffee.
[07:36 - 07:45] Probably buy even smaller bags which if you think about it may seem kind of crazy but I look at it in a way where it's like a pair of jeans.
[07:46 - 07:59] You get some jeans because I just recently bought some new pants and you do a cost analysis. You're saying okay this is a hundred dollars for this particular jean. It's strong, it's rugged.
[08:00 - 08:08] It's going to last me a while and you look at another one that's probably like thirty dollars and you have a good time.
[08:10 - 09:19] But it's going to last but probably not as long as the one that's going to last a long time. But I guess what I'm getting at here is that once you pay for that particular product, no matter how much you pay for it and then you start to use it, the per usage goes down. So then at the end of the day, you're not really so much worried about how much that thing was unless it's a really high ticket item like a 3000 dollar coffee grinder. But to an extent that can be the same thing or 800, 900 dollars for a commercially graded home use coffee grinder. You're justifying it. And then you're wondering if it makes sense for you to actually get and play with. But then as you keep using it and get better with that particular product or a jean, you're not worrying about the cost. You're not worried about the ruggedness of how long it's going to last. The reason why is because you're using it. And as you keep using it, the per usage of it keeps going down.
[09:20 - 09:39] So as I keep drinking this coffee, per cup of coffee, the utilization of it goes down. So the cost essentially goes down. So I guess really what I'm saying here is that when we think about coffee and when we buy coffee and when we drink and try to enjoy coffee.
[09:40 - 09:59] After we get it, we're not so much worried about how much it actually cost us. It's an experience that we're willing to take because we know that's part of the game plan of when we're drinking a cup of coffee. So what can you do about that? Freeze it, give it away, buy smaller bags.
[10:00 - 11:32] I don't know. Those are some of the options that we do have. But do realize if you are drinking majority of your high end specialty coffee by yourself and you're new to the game, do realize that after a while you're going to get so conditioned. So experienced to the point where after five or 10 brews of that coffee, you're good to go. You're done with it. And as you're done with it, you have to figure out what else you want to do with it. Because even if it's a 12 ounce bag, 340 grams of coffee, it's not going to take you that much longer to actually experience it for what it is. Yeah, you can change it out with different brewers and all that stuff. But the coffee tastes what it tastes like. So once you get your fix, I think it's time to move on to something else. That's just me personally. Do you go through that? Are you constantly changing out your coffees? How often do you actually go back to that exact same coffee? Because that could be a story for another day. But this is just me talking about my experience with this coffee, this whole bag, this two, two and a half week saga challenge of trying to finish this whole bag majority of it by myself. But how do you enjoy your coffee? Do you freeze it? Do you give it out? Do you just finish it up and then just move on? So talk to you later. Bye.