Why Context Matters in Coffee Reviews

I dive deep into why context matters more than anything when it comes to coffee equipment recommendations and brewing methods. Throughout this episode, I share my personal coffee journey as a pour-over enthusiast, occasional espresso puller, and coffee roaster who's tried just about every brewing method out there. I break down my honest opinions on the Kase Six grinder, discuss why I'm not sold on light roasts, and explain why medium roasts hit that perfect sweet spot for me. I also reveal my surprising take on dark roasted African coffees that might change how you think about darker roasts entirely.

By listening to this episode, you'll learn how to make better-informed decisions about coffee gear purchases by understanding the reviewer's context and brewing preferences. You'll also discover why your grinder matters more than your brewing equipment, gain insight into how different roast levels affect flavor profiles, and learn to trust your own coffee preferences instead of chasing trends. Whether you're a French press loyalist or a pour-over perfectionist, this episode will help you cut through the noise and focus on what actually matters for your coffee journey.

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 2:30 The K6 Grinder Review
• 5:00 Why Context Matters in Coffee Reviews
• 8:00 My Journey Through Roast Levels
• 11:30 Coffee Roasting and the Real Game Changer
• 14:30 Making Your Own Informed Decisions

Transcript

[00:00:00] I think it's important that I give you context for all that I'm saying and all that I do. First off, I'm a coffee lover. I love mostly anything coffee.

[00:00:20] I loved French press at one time, but to be honest, I only do French press probably once a month. Same with the AeroPress. Pour overs are my thing. I really do understand and don't understand sometimes, and that's a frustrating thing about pour overs or coffee - trying to get the right extraction, flavors, and all that stuff that we know about. But that's my thing. Two to three minutes, you get to see how well you did with your brew.

[00:01:02] Context is everything. And when somebody recommends something to you, I think it's very important that they give you something more than just the good, the bad, and why you should get something.

[00:01:22] In this case, we're going to be talking about a grinder - the Kase Six grinder. It's a very good grinder. It's about 100 bucks. It can go from espresso to pour overs to French press. To tell you the truth, this does what you want for the majority of people. If you're chasing clarity, this may be the one for you or may not be. But if you want consistent grind uniformity, this works most of the time.

[00:02:25] This is actually my espresso grinder. A couple pulls, they're lively. I can easily figure out if I was over extracted and just dial it back down again. Very tactile feel. Besides espresso, it's relatively easy to grind actually.

[00:03:23] Like I said, those of us who review gadgets and give you our opinions need to give you more than just "it's good" or "it's bad." Like I said, I'm a Hario guy. With all this variance, it's what I love more than anything. But don't get me wrong, I'm starting to understand the excitement of flatbed pour over brewers.

[00:04:14] As I test things, I think about why I'm doing things and who it's for. A lot of times I give you a reason or a point of view of who it really is for. But as you can see behind me, there's a lot of stuff in this room. There's a lot of things in here that I use all the time daily. Certain things I use once in a while or not at all.

[00:04:49] So it's very important that when we review things, we give you an idea of where we're coming from. It's best that we give you context of who we are as coffee lovers.

[00:05:14] For instance, espresso is probably the most rewarding way to brew a cup of coffee. It's finicky. You have to play with different things that are out of your norm if you don't do it every day. Pulling a shot from the Olympia Cremina is really cool. I love it a lot. But to be honest, I probably pull a shot once a month.

[00:05:49] Which is perfectly fine. That means I'm not so much of an espresso guy, and that probably helps you out to give you a little bit more context of where I lean - literally speaking - in this whole coffee thing.

[00:06:06] You may be a French press person. You may like the ease of use, don't mind the sludge, don't mind the muddiness of the cup of coffee. But whatever the reason may be - same thing with percolators. There's so many people who hate percolators. I think it's pretty cool. I think it's cool that you get a perfumey taste out of it, but for the most part, I don't like how long it takes to brew a cup of coffee. But that's perfectly fine.

[00:06:49] Different gadgets, different meanings, different reasons for why you like things. Same thing with the moka pot. Legendary in its own right. It does all the things that you need it to. But do I use it every day? No. Do I appreciate it when I do use it? Yes.

[00:07:10] Nine times out of 10, I'm grabbing some type of pour over. So realize that's my context. That's my lens. That's the thing I'm really trying to get you to understand here. I don't know if you're a pour over guy. I don't know if you're a Mr. Coffee drip machine person where you just put the coffee in and don't worry about things. And we haven't even gotten to the whole part of light roasts, medium roasts, dark roasts, and in between.

[00:07:41] As you probably know, at least for now, I'm not so much of a light roasted person. I don't care for it. I think it's overrated. But I do like the fact that you can push it as far as you want to, and that's when the complexities of the acidity comes into play. I still haven't really found that sweetness that everybody says is in light roasts. Probably I will eventually. One guy gave me a good tip of putting some honey on it and it kind of worked.

[00:08:20] But that natural sweetness, that's really what I'm trying to look for. I'm trying to look for that balance because light roasts to me just lean too far to one side with acidity. That's me personally.

[00:08:33] Medium roasts - that's the best of both worlds. You can get the sweetness mixed in with the acidity. I think that's where everybody should be. But everybody's individual. They like what they like for the reasons that they like it.

[00:08:53] Dark roasts - I know, a specialty coffee guy talking about dark roasts. Trust me, if you haven't tasted an African coffee - Kenyan, Ethiopian, it doesn't really matter - as a dark roast, once you do that, come back to me and let me know if you think it's still crap.

[00:09:18] It's super sweet, and there's just enough hint of acidity and fruitiness in it that just keeps you going for days and days and days. Don't get me wrong, Brazilian coffees are great too, but they have a time and place for me. Most of the time I drink those during the morning. It's easy to drink. It's not offensive. If I want to bring out more acidity, I'll use a cone-shaped filter.

[00:09:53] But truthfully at times, Brazilian and Guatemalan to an extent - if it's not fruity - they kind of bore me. So that's the whole thing we're talking about here - context, things that will give you a better sense of understanding where I'm coming from when I recommend gear like the Kase Six grinder.

[00:10:20] If you don't have context, you're just going off of this talking head giving their opinions without the backstory. I know we can't get backstory all the time, but I guess this is the video or audio that gives you that sense of understanding.

[00:10:46] That's who I am. Something that just makes me think about coffee all the time. Those are the coffees I lean towards more than anything.

[00:11:27] And as I think about that, the real game changer in this whole thing of coffee - because I talked about it before - it's not really so much the pour over gadgets. The water is really important. It's the grinders.

[00:12:29] So what I'm saying here is that we need to think about context because context is everything when it comes to making an informed decision for yourself.

[00:12:55] I love talking about gear. As you see, I have so much gear back here. I have so many videos that I haven't even put out there yet because it takes a while to edit all the gear stuff and coffee talk and all that. I love it a lot. But sometimes we can get a little too hooked on the next best thing.

[00:13:21] So that's just me personally. But again, context is everything. I think it's very important that I give you a better understanding of who I am, what I care about, and the reasons why.

[00:13:41] One last thing to leave you with to let you know a little bit more about where I'm coming from is that I'm also a coffee roaster. I came to coffee roasting because I felt that I wasn't getting some things out there that other coffees were presenting. I used to be the guy who would buy $20-$30 bags of small bags of coffee. I'd geek out, learn about them, get my refractometer, and understand coffee that way from a scientific engineer's point of view.

[00:14:37] I'm going to tell you a lot - it's where the brewing is at. It's where the real magic happens because at the end of the day, you can't simply roast that coffee again once you get the bag of coffee.

[00:15:04] This is the thing about coffee in general - you really don't know where you're going to be going in this whole rabbit hole. It's pretty cool.

[00:15:16] But I guess the biggest thing, the biggest takeaway that I can leave you with right now is that we have to come out of the hole and analyze it from a bird's eye view of what we're doing. Because at the end of the day, it's our journey. Understand where people are coming from, even understand their motives.

[00:16:30] Or we can even play with the French press, or I can give you reasons why the AeroPress is starting to really come back to me.

[00:16:37] So this is me just spinning, just talking, but when you do make a decision about whatever you want to do, remember the context of who that person is, why they're saying it, and see how it actually benefits you. Probably you're not a pour over person. Probably you're just a French press person. Probably you just need a basic, easy grinder.

[00:17:02] Probably I'd recommend the K2 or a basic grinder. It doesn't matter. At the end of the day, it's one of those things where you make your own decision.

[00:17:16] Because why would I tell you to get an EK 43, a $3,000 machine, for a French press or for even the AeroPress, or for whatever reasons? That doesn't make sense. Again, context - that matters more than anything.

[00:17:36] And then ultimately you just make your own decision. And hopefully you're happy with whatever that person gave you their opinion about.

[00:17:45] But yeah, this is Okie at Everyday Beans. I'll talk to you later.