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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
What's Really Game Changing in Coffee?
In this thought-provoking episode, I dive deep into a question that's been weighing on my mind: what truly constitutes a "game changer" in the coffee world? I challenge the overuse of this term and examine whether the latest innovations in coffee brewing, roasting, and processing are actually revolutionary or just incremental improvements on existing methods.
I share my honest observations from attending the SCA this year and reflect on the current state of coffee innovation in 2025. From pourover drippers to co-fermented coffees, from the Moka Master to my trusty 1967 Olympia Cremina, I question whether we're seeing real breakthroughs or just variations on familiar themes. Listeners will gain a fresh perspective on evaluating coffee innovations critically and learn to distinguish between genuine game changers and marketing hype. I also explore what it means to be honest about the current state of coffee innovation and why that honesty might be more valuable than chasing the next "revolutionary" product.
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[00:00:00] A game changer is something that doesn't just improve what already exists. It redefines the rules, resets expectations, and shifts the standard for everyone involved. Now we think about that. That's very hard to do, and let alone in coffee.
[00:00:29] What I'm saying is that there hasn't been really that many breakthroughs or game changers or standards changing that everybody adopts to now in this existence, this 2025. Even by me going to the SCA this year, and what I've been seeing online and offline, is that nothing is really revolutionary. It's better than what it was before, but it doesn't really change much of anything.
[00:01:15] We have so many pourovers - cone shape, flat bottom. It doesn't significantly change the taste of the coffee. We have third wave water, we have droplets, we have other things to enhance your coffee.
[00:02:07] I think back in the day, those were truly game changers. Because "game changer" gets thrown around so many times, and when it gets thrown around so many times, it tends to mean nothing. And that's what I get quite a bit from this whole talk about what is a game changing thing or thinking or logic.
[00:02:30] Because right now we're still essentially doing the same thing, which is perfectly fine. And I think it's okay for us to try to be honest with ourselves on that whole spectrum. If nothing is really truly changing, then let's just call it what it is. Let's just say that this is better than what it was. And then let's just use it for what it is in this current state of mind. Probably years later, we'll probably will get a game changer.
[00:03:02] But it's kind of hard to see what game changer really is. For instance, you might say that anaerobics and co-ferments are game changers. I don't think so. I think it was just another way for producers to expand their diversification of their product. And at times it just kind of left you wondering, like this is what coffee is now - these one hit taste wonders that you get from time to time.
[00:04:20] I just spent a whole week with the Moka Master. Moka Masters are very old machine, drip automatic machine. The best part about that machine is the heating element. Other than that, it's kind of antiquated with the way that it actually drips on the coffee. The showerhead is lackluster and you get very under-extracted coffee, kind of like mostly all the other brew mechanisms that are out now.
[00:05:02] Even with the Mr. Coffee, you can mimic or you can play around, you can bring out the best in these particular devices. However, is it really truly game-changing? No, it's not. It makes a cup of coffee for you. What else does it do? There's still a lot of manual work that you have to do in order for you to get your cup of coffee.
[00:05:43] It has a grinder on it. So essentially all you would have to do is put a filter or no filter in the basket. And I'm sure it even has a timer because at the time when I did have it, you can put a timer on it to come on and to brew your cup of coffee. I would think that's more game changing. But making a cup of coffee isn't that difficult.
[00:06:13] What things are we doing right now in order to bring out the best in the things that we're trying to do in our cup of coffee? Is it the tools? Is it the water? Is it the actual coffee? What is it? What makes something in coffee game changing? That's really what I'm talking about here. What makes it something that I can't live without?
[00:06:43] Because truthfully, I'm still rocking my 1967 Olympia Cremina for espresso. And it's kind of ironic now that a lot of things that are out now they're trying to mimic that type of making espresso - like a lever machine, a pressurized machine that you can be a little bit more manual and more hands on. And you can play around with your coffee and still get cafe quality or even better out of your machine that's at home.
[00:07:22] We have all these brewers, they're great, they're different. They have different aspects that make it easier to brew versus another brewer. But at the end of the day, you put that coffee through it - that exact same coffee at the exact same temperature, exact same recipe - and more or less it tastes the same. Was the AeroPress revolutionary, a game changer at the time? Yeah, sure, it was. But it doesn't work for everybody.
[00:07:56] It took me a long time to understand the magic, the aura of the AeroPress. But at the end of the day, it's still a coffee dripper, or a coffee maker. And I'm looking around my office, my studio, and looking at the French press - and that hasn't changed in years. Probably a little mechanism of trying to keep the grounds out and all that stuff to give you more of a cleaner cup out of a metal filter. Sure. But is that really revolutionary? Is that a game changing thing?
[00:08:45] That's the thing that I'm really asking right now because at the end of the day, what are we really doing here? We're going to enjoy our coffee, drink it and move on with our day. That's great. We're going to be with people and communicate with them at cafes and at homes over coffee. That's great. That could be a game changer thing. But what is it really?
[00:08:58] I'm not just asking this for myself. I'm asking this for you too, because we keep throwing around this word like it really means something and we keep using it and bastardizing it as much as we do. It doesn't really mean anything. It doesn't change anything. It doesn't change the game of making coffee.
[00:09:23] I don't know if this is going to be a series or just an essay, but those are some of the things that I think about constantly. And I don't know about you, but when we start to think about things that are really truly game changers, revolutionary - what did it do for you? Beyond it just being a new grinder that's out that mimics the EK43 in a smaller footprint. What is it? What are we trying to chase here?
[00:10:06] That's more so the thing that we're trying to think about right now, or at least I am. So yeah, what's game changing in coffee. Let's talk about it.