Coffee Instruments: Do You Need Them?

In this episode, I reflect on a simple moment: looking at my cutting board and noticing the instruments sitting on it. No brewer, no grinder — just the tools I've come to rely on most: a refractometer, a roast degree meter, brew boosters, a Melodrip, and a Hario Drip Assist. I talk through each one honestly, including which I think are genuinely valuable, which are overrated, and why I still believe the most important instrument you'll ever own is your own palate. I also share what these tools have actually done for me beyond just giving me numbers — they've made my coffee journey completely my own.

By listening to this episode, you'll gain a clearer sense of whether instruments like the refractometer or roast degree meter are worth exploring for your specific situation. More importantly, you'll walk away with a new lens for understanding how any tool, purchased or free, can help you develop independence and confidence in your own brewing.

Transcript

00:00 The other day I was looking at my cutting board. Not a brewer, not a grinder was on it. And I'd be totally lost without those items. That's when I started to get a little torn about the whole situation of gear, instruments, and all that good stuff.

00:27 I also thought about, how did I get here? I thought I was just making a cup of coffee. Something that you put water in, play around with temperatures, play around with grind size, and you just drink it. No — not me. Probably not you either. But this one's a little different.

00:58 These instruments are more like actual instruments. They help you get better at tasting coffee independently, autonomously, on your own. Not depending on others. And I think that's where they're really important in this whole coffee game. At least in my coffee game.

01:28 I started with just the French press. Or the Mr. Coffee. Did not progress there. Now I'm in this world of pour over coffee. Love it. Wouldn't change it for anything. Sometimes I delve into espresso, but rarely. I'll buy a brewer if I want to, just for curiosity. And as I've always said, it's for you. You won't buy it for the various reasons I tell you, or whoever else is telling you this is a game changer or this is what you need to get.

02:11 But something about the actual instruments. They've allowed me to get better in coffee. Understand coffee. Make my own judgments in coffee. See what I like in coffee. See what I don't like in coffee. For my own palate. For my own understanding of roast degree. What that really means in the cup. Beyond what the bag may say it's going to taste like.

02:56 That's where I'm at with this. And I want to give you some reasons why this is probably more critical for you, too. If you've been on the fence about all the gear I'm about to mention, not all of it is great. But the biggest question is: why do you need to go down this rabbit hole?

03:21 The things on my cutting board were my refractometer — love the thing, I try not to mention it all the time because I don't want you to feel like you need to get it — and my roast degree meter. Since I'm a roaster, that's one of the reasons I got it. I wanted to see how my roasts were doing from the inner and outer color. To see if I was going too fast or too slow, and see how that correlates with the coffee's taste and flavor. But there's a case for it even if you're not a roaster. Whatever a roaster tells you about a light roast, it's probably not exactly what's in the bag. Who knows. You may like it that way. But there's a case for understanding what's actually there.

04:21 On the board as well: the Sybaris boosters. I've got knockoffs. I've got a lot of different boosters. Aero press boosters. Pour over cone-shaped filter boosters. Flatbed filter brewers and all that stuff. The jury is still out on those. I'm really trying to understand it. It's a little strange when you create a paper filter that's fast and then you put something at the bottom of the cup to slow it down. It does something to the cup on a lightly roasted coffee. It makes it a little more nuanced, more interesting — if you're really paying attention. But sometimes there's just not that much there for it to really reveal. I'm still here and there with it, seeing if it actually makes sense.

05:30 And then you have the Melodrip. Curiosity gets you sometimes. But I'm here to tell you that the Melodrip, for the most part, is not worth it. Is it gentler on the coffee? The way it disperses water? Yes, it is. It's a little different. More subtle. You can taste the difference slightly. But there's less control with it, if you really think about it. Somebody may say the Hario Drip Assist does the same thing, but I beg to differ.

06:11 The Drip Assist does bring water onto the bed. It probably has a narrower footprint because of the way it's designed. But it keeps you honest. It keeps you moving in the right direction. Sometimes you wonder if it's you or the recipe or whatever it may be. But it allows you to keep things consistent. It allows you to try different recipes and see which one you like more, without you being the bottleneck in the whole situation.

06:49 I really do like the Hario Drip Assist. It's probably one of Hario's best items.

07:00 But then as I look back at my cutting board, the ones that really stand out to me are the refractometer and the roast degree meter. They give you an insight of wonder. But you're also getting closer to what that coffee actually is. Each and every coffee is different.

07:33 I know because I roast all the time. And believe it or not, as much as your favorite roaster is working with that bean and using computers to replicate the roast consistently, that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be the same coffee every time. Just variations. Different temperatures, different things happening. We won't get into the whole world of roasting right now — let me know if you want to. But something about getting that bag of coffee, reading "light roast" on the label and smelling it and thinking, something's off here. Then you put it through the roast degree meter. You get the outer bean color. Then you grind it and get the inner color. And you're seeing how those actually mesh together and how that may influence the way you brew your cup.

08:39 I haven't used it as much lately because I roast all the time and I kind of know where I'm at. But at the end of the day, it's still a good gauge. It's still a good reason for why you may not like something, or why you may like something. Sometimes there's a big spread, and you're wondering if that roaster went too fast with that roast. Maybe that's exactly what you're seeing in that cup.

09:14 And then we have the refractometer. I got mine a long time ago. There are cheaper ones on the market now that get you there at about the same accuracy. It's expensive, but if you're already spending 20 to 40 bucks on a bag of coffee for the week or two, truthfully it's not that big of a deal.

09:41 So what does the refractometer actually do besides tell you the TDS? Well, part of it is the TDS. And if you get different software or apps, you can calculate your actual extraction percentage. Then you're playing around with different ratios, playing around with drip versus immersion, and all of that. That's how you can really start to understand a lot of things about your brew.

10:07 That's also how you can tell if your grinder is underperforming. It's pretty cool. I've had my EK-43 burrs for a long time. I should change them. But when I brew a cup on those burrs at the levels I'm brewing, it still says the extraction is good. The cup is slightly muddier, yes. But it still works. Those are the kinds of things the refractometer can show you.

10:49 And of course there's taste, there's flavor, there's recipes that somebody online gave you for whatever various reasons, and they're telling you it's good. And then you wonder sometimes if you've ever actually tasted a sour coffee — intentionally or not. With the refractometer you can see what your extraction really is. You can play around with grind size, play around with your technique. That's one of the reasons I don't really agitate or stir much in the coffee, because it's inconsistent. One minute you're at 1.5 percent TDS, the next you're at 1.2 depending on how you're feeling.

11:32 That's probably also why a circle pour or center pour doesn't really matter as much to me. That's probably why time, technically, doesn't matter as much either. Time is an indicator — a true indicator of how fast the coffee is drawing down. But if you're not really paying attention to what the coffee is actually telling you, you're missing the point. Think about that coffee. Because every coffee is different.

12:01 Those are the things you can understand through the refractometer.

12:11 It's like, it's my journey. These are what these tools have done for me. They've allowed me to be objective when I hear somebody say try this, do that, this is the best way. It's autonomous. It's my journey. It's something that's not anybody else's. And that's what I'm trying to share with you right now.

12:53 That's right, I'm usually in the right direction, but it is my journey. It doesn't matter what somebody else says to me. I can try that recipe for myself. I can see where it's at and implement what works into my system and my routine. And that's where this stuff really shines.

13:21 And thinking about it more, these instruments have kept me interested in coffee a lot longer. They've gotten me to try different things, different experiments — to see what others are doing and what they're not doing, and to try my own experiments. Because now I actually have instruments here to help me understand the taste of coffee.

13:51 For instance, I can taste a coffee brewed on my Sculptor 78 SS. I grind the coffee, sit there and think about it, and wonder why, at almost the coarsest setting of that grinder, I'm able to get a really high extraction and it's not bitter at all. It's interesting. It goes beyond a lot of what I've learned before, including things I've picked up online. But I'm learning it for myself. I'm seeing it for what it is for myself. And that's the kicker.

14:43 Those are the variables I care about and try to understand as much as I can. And that's why I have the instruments.

14:54 So I'll leave you with this: you don't have to get anything. If you're on the fence, stay on the fence. If you're curious, sure — there are probably cheaper options out there that will get you 80 to 90 percent there. Even 100 percent there.

15:19 If you're curious about gear, just be curious about the experiments. You can still do the exact same thing. If you want to try a really coarse grind for a particular recipe with a particular paper filter — try it. Taste it. You may not know exactly if it's sour because you don't have an instrument to give you that number. But you do have a palate. And that's still the most important indicator in all of this.

15:56 Taste it. See what it's all about. See if you like it, see if you don't. Try to do the exact same recipe with the same pouring structure. If you don't have a Hario Drip Assist, go a little finer. Or go to the other extreme, really finer. Taste it. See what it's all about. Just pay attention.

16:30 Think about what your paper filter is doing. Is it clogging up too fast? Are you using Hario filters? You should probably switch to Cafec. They drain a lot faster. They're not the fastest filters in the world, but you'll get a different experience. You'll get less bitterness. Those are little nuances and things you start to understand about your coffee.

17:01 That's the thing about all of this. This stuff has allowed me to take control of my journey. And the cool thing is, even if you don't want to spend all this money and you just want to buy beans, you can still do this. You can see if your grinder is working or not. You can see why it's doing what it's doing based on the way you're actually pouring. Those are the indicators. Those are the benefits of the instruments.

17:46 And at the end of the day, no matter what somebody else says — it's your journey. That's the biggest part about this. It's your actual journey. Let it be your journey, not somebody else's. No matter what anyone says, it's all about you. It's all about how you see things. Let that be what it is.

18:24 I'll leave you off with that. Talk to you later. Let me know what you think. Bye.