Coffee, Water, Brewer: That's It

In this episode, I break down my approach to the year-long coffee mastery challenge by returning to the fundamentals: coffee, water, and the brewer. I share how I initially felt overwhelmed by the scope of this project, but simplified everything by focusing on these three core elements—with the grinder occupying its own special category between coffee and brewing equipment.

I explain why I believe water will be the most rewarding variable to explore, discussing my plans to experiment with PPM levels, Third Wave Water mixed with spring water, and even alkalinity water. I also dive into my thoughts on grinders (yes, I have seven of them), brewers, paper filters, and accessories like boosters and metal filters. Throughout the episode, I emphasize that this challenge is about understanding why we like what we like and learning to trust our own palates rather than chasing endless gear upgrades. You'll learn how to simplify your own coffee brewing by focusing on the variables that truly matter, develop a systematic approach to analyzing coffee, and discover why the coffee itself—not the equipment—should be the star of your brewing journey.

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:38 Coffee, Water, Brewer: The Three Core Elements
• 3:39 Why Water Is the Most Rewarding Variable
• 5:41 Grinder Strategy: Working with Seven Options
• 7:34 Brewer Selection: Flatbed vs Cone Shape
• 9:17 Paper Filters and Accessories: Boosters and Beyond
• 11:05 The Coffee Itself: The Most Integral Part
• 12:28 Psychology of Coffee: Why We Like What We Like

Transcript

[00:00]
I sit here right now thinking about coffee. In this mastery challenge, every time I keep saying that, I kind of laugh and chuckle a little bit about mastery, really what it means. Probably a story for another day.

[00:24]
But as we go through this challenge, this series for the whole year, when I was first starting thinking about this, I was very overwhelmed. I was like, how am I really going to do this? How is this going to make sense to me? Not bad, Brazilian.

[01:07]
And I kept thinking about simplify it, simplify it, simplify it. And as I think about it right now and go about going through this challenge with all the skill, all the knowledge that I already have, how am I really going to do it?

[01:33]
So I've started with this concept of coffee is coffee, water, and the brewer. That's it. That's what it is. The coffee, water, and the brewer.

[02:00]
And as I was thinking about that, and to a large extent, it has its kind of own category that's in the middle, I'll call it more so closer to coffee, it's the grinder.

[02:17]
So I was thinking, which one's going to be the best bang for the buck? And I honestly think not really the best bang for the buck, but the one that's going to be the most rewarding is water.

[02:39]
I don't know if I'm moving away from Third Wave Water packages or whatnot. But I think there's a way that you can truly really manipulate the taste of the coffee more than anything is in the water.

[02:56]
So I'm going to go about it many different ways with the water, trying to simplify my setup, try to understand PPM, how that plays a part, how does distilled water mix with spring water, or even some chemicals or powders, how do they play a role with each other? Probably even play around with alkalinity water. It doesn't really matter. At the end of the day, I'm exploring, I'm trying to figure this out, and hope that you are along with the journey here.

[03:29]
I think water, you can get in the weeds. I may still buy this course from a fellow content creator, still thinking about it. But I did get some good help from people in the comments about just being simple about it and using distilled water with spring water and seeing how that works, seeing if that is what I need in order to bring out the best of what I'm trying to get out that particular coffee.

[04:06]
I think the grinder situation is relatively easy. I mean, you have seven grinders. It better be easy. But I'm also thinking about how to simplify it for you, because you shouldn't feel less than, especially when it comes to this whole grinder stuff, wondering if this one's better than others.

[04:38]
And you have to realize too that I kind of do this for semi-living. So it's best that I test out as many things as I can. But it does get to the point where it is a law of diminishing return when it comes to all these grinders.

[04:55]
But I do have a decent amount in order to share with you to give you an understanding of what I'm tasting, why I picked this grinder for this particular application. And probably the best all around grinder that you will want to get or you already have, because everything is context.

[05:16]
I'm in a different place to where I like what I like. And the reason is why. And I'm honest with myself. I'm not second-guessing myself. And you shouldn't second-guess yourself too. Don't get something if it doesn't make sense to you. That makes any sense. We'll get there throughout this whole journey, this challenge, this whatever it may be.

[05:41]
So I think the grinder part is going to be easy. I think for the most part, I'll be able to use a couple of the grinders. And I'll explain the reasons why I'm using what I'm using.

[05:54]
But yeah, the grinders, not that big of a deal. The brewer is not that big of a deal. I think the brewer selection is going to be quite easy, actually. You either use a flat burr or a flat burr. You either use a flatbed brewer or a cone shape to bring out different things of that coffee.

[06:18]
And again, a lot of that stuff will be dictated with what you're really trying to do with that particular coffee, with that particular session, but between whatever you're really trying to get out of it, what you're trying to taste. So we're going to go through a methodology, a methodology, if that makes any sense, a procedure in order for us to analyze, bring the best out of that coffee and then move on with our day.

[06:48]
I think about this a lot in the engineering aspect because that's who I am. That's what I've been trained to do. And I have my own way and spin of going about things. So yeah.

[07:07]
But I think the brewer is going to have an issue with the paper filters or applications and accessories that you can get with it. For instance, this one right here, flatbed brewer, Orea Dripper. You use April Brewer, whatever you want to use, Kalita Wave. But this is a flatbed brewer, very tight.

[07:32]
It has its pros and cons like all brewers do. But then the funny thing is that I'm using the April filter. That is a relatively fast filter. And then I have a booster at the bottom of it to help modulate extraction and all that stuff.

[07:54]
Still figuring it out, I did get something that's like for AeroPress metal filter because I have one by Able and just got it separately. That was $6. That could be better. I've been playing around with it right now. Not that big of a difference so far. I want to go down that rabbit hole of understanding these papers, seeing what it's all about, why we use what we use, and how these different accessories play a part in our coffee journey.

[08:28]
Wondering if the booster really does anything or if it's gimmicky. I am noticing another element of complexity and sweetness when it comes to those boosters, at least initially, especially for a lighter roast. It makes it more interesting.

[08:50]
It makes it more challenging to kind of see what you want out of the whole coffee because I think that's really the biggest thing. All of this stuff is a lot of stuff that we are playing with. We really think about the things that we're trying to do. We have to really, truly ask ourselves, why are we doing it? It comes back to that whole procedure thing. We're going to get there. Same thing with the papers.

[09:19]
The papers are papers. They do make a difference. And then you start to think about lighter roasts, medium roasts, dark roasts, everything in between, different varietals. Some are more fruity and more acidic than others. Some are more classic. Something less offensive like this Brazilian right here. Chocolate. Nutty. It does all the stuff that it wants you to. But does the paper really play that big of a role in all of this? We're going to find out.

[10:07]
This is going to be a lot of fun because at the end of the day, we're just trying to really get to a place to where we're understanding and loving and enjoying coffee for what it is. And I think that's what it's all about.

[10:27]
So we got the brewer. We got the water. We got the coffee. Coffee is going to be interesting. I think coffee, when we really think about it, is the most integral part of all of this. Coffee tastes the way it tastes, right? That roaster roasts the coffee, gives it to you.

[11:03]
I think you open the bag and you smell this intense flavor. And you wonder if that coffee is going to taste like that. At times, you're let down. It smells better than it tastes. But there are those moments to where the taste exceeds the smell. We're trying to get there most of the time.

[11:36]
That's really where it's at. That's where the nugget of all of this really lies. Like really getting back to that coffee part. Gear is great. It's amazing. It does what it needs to. But at the end of the day, it's about that coffee. Different variations of it. That's kind of like where I'm at right now with it.

[12:04]
And it's a lot of fun because as I delve into this lighter roast side of it, this medium roast side of it, this darker roast, this espresso, this whatever it may be, I'm going to continue to ask myself. I'm going to continue to hopefully challenge you to ask yourself why you like what you like.

[12:27]
Because that's really where we're getting at too. It's like asking ourselves why do we like what we like? What are the challenges? What are the difficulties? Why do we get there all the time? I think we're going to figure that out.

[12:43]
This may be more so like a psychology of the mind and ourselves more than just the coffee. I know I'm thinking about this philosophical stuff a little too much sometimes. But that's what I think about. That's what I go down this rabbit hole of mystery and determination and drive to figure it out.

[13:07]
Ask ourselves why it works, why it doesn't. Why can I just use a Hario V60 filter on most of my coffees? Can I just manipulate it from there with the grinder? How does that affect the taste and flavor of that coffee? Does it bring it out even more? Those are some of the things that I would like to explore.

[13:36]
And the unknown things, the unknown things that I will get into, that we will get into, that you will give me information about and all that. That makes any sense. But yeah, I don't know. I don't know where this is going to go. I really don't. And the accessories, the gear of just drinking this beverage. You know, again, when you come back down and think about coffee in its most simplest form, coffee, water, the brewer.

[14:15]
But then when you really expand it out and start thinking about all the things that I've talked about, things that I haven't talked about, things that I don't even know that I'm supposed to be paying attention to. That's where it gets really dicey. But again, if we keep it simple, one step at a time, we're going to get there.

[14:42]
I'm going to get there. You're going to get there. Probably this is something that you need in order to really figure out your coffee. Because nothing's perfect, right? We try to still push that coffee, understand that coffee, get to the place where we are happy most of the time with our coffees. So yeah, this is me kind of being honest, talking about the challenge before it gets started. We're going to go from there.

[15:16]
So I think the first thing I'm going to try to tackle is water. Kind of get that figured out. And then we're going to go to the paper filters. Because the brewers are really easy, like I said. You either select a flatbed or a cone shape where you have both. And you kind of modulate from there, as I've talked about before. Talk to you later. Let me know what you think. Bye.