Filter Stories - Coffee Documentaries – Details, episodes & analysis

Deep inside your coffee grinder, tiny changes can have massive consequences. 

This episode takes you deep inside Mahlkönig’s grinders to show you how coffee is ground and the importance of particle sizes on flavour. 

If you’re a home coffee lover, you could easily spend thousands of dollars on your coffee grinder. But after diving deep into the R&D of grinder manufacturing, I learned that after a certain point spending more probably won’t produce a better tasting cup of coffee for you! 



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Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee! 

Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter. 

Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify

Explore Mahlkönig’s range of world leading grinders, trusted by baristas globally.



Go deeper into the world of grinding 

Take Barista Hustle’s Advanced Espresso course
Learn from Lance Hedrick where the sweet spot is for buying a coffee grinder
Get super nerdy with Jonathan Gagné’s writings on grinding
Read up on Samo Smrke’s work on coffee fines



Connect with my very knowledgeable guests 

Arnaldo Rodrigues - LinkedIn
Luca Lange - LinkedIn
Chris Meier - LinkedIn
Dario Burger - Instagram



The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations: 
https://bit.ly/3EEpuxN

BWT Water and More
Marco Beverage Systems
ROEST
Sustainable Harvest
Mahlkönig
https://bit.ly/3TdDnHO


The Science of Coffee is a spin-off series from James Harper's documentary podcast Filter Stories

For your coffee to taste its best, it’s crucial you buy fresh roasts and grind fresh.…
.….Or maybe not. 

When I began creating this episode, I was convinced that ‘fresh is best’. But, after delving into the science of coffee freshness, I don’t believe that anymore. 

This episode goes deep into how diffusion and oxidation changes a coffee’s flavours.

You’ll learn what it takes to store your coffee grounds unbelievably well. So well, that if you do it right, you will struggle to taste the difference between two month old coffee compared to those same beans freshly ground!

But here’s the weirdest thing: Maybe, just maybe, you will prefer old coffee more than the fresh stuff.


----------

Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!

Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter. 

Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify
Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram storyhttps://apple.co/3jWYtxq
Write a review on Apple Podcasts

Explore Mahlkönig’s range of world leading grinders, trusted by baristas globally.



Dive deeper into the science of coffee freshness

Do a Certificate of Advanced Studies with the Coffee Excellence Centre

Pick up a copy of the SCA’s Coffee Freshness Handbook


Connect with my very knowledgeable guests

Samo Smrke - Instagram
19 Grams Coffee Roasters in Berlin - Instagram
Arnaldo Rodrigues - LinkedIn



The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:

BWT Water and More
Marco Beverage Systems
ROEST
Sustainable Harvesthttps://bit.ly/3NGRFA6
Mahlkönig


The Science of Coffee is a spin-off series from James Harper's documentary podcast Filter Stories

We're back with another series of The Science of Coffee!

Across 10 science stories, narrative audio producer and coffee professional James Harper takes you on a journey into coffee's hidden microscopic secrets.

James has spent the last year traveling to Central America, Greece, Norway, Switzerland and interviewing dozens of the world’s leading coffee scientists. This insights will help you appreciate coffee more deeply and make even better coffee at home.

We'll explore organic coffee growing, delve into the science of roasting, uncover optimal storage and grinding techniques, enhance your tasting skills through sensory science, and share James' journey towards thinking more like a scientist.

Press the Subscribe button so you don't miss future episodes! https://bit.ly/3TdDnHO

Follow James on Instagram: https://bit.ly/2Mlkk0O

The Science of Coffee is a spin-off series from James Harper's documentary podcast Filter Stories: https://bit.ly/3ajoT5e

The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
BWT Water and More
Mahlkönig
Marco Beverage Systems
Sustainable Harvest
ROEST

America is coffee-obsessed. From Central Perk’s red couch being the centre of major plot twists in Friends to the fact the average American drank more than two cups a day.

And the conventional explanation is pretty straightforward: an English colonist introduces coffee to Jamestown in 1607. 150 years later Americans rebel against the British by throwing tea chests into Boston harbour and drinking coffee becomes their patriotic duty. Oh, and of course who won the civil war? The side that had the coffee.

But, actually, the truth is much more surprising, and reveals a much more counter-intuitive story of America.

In this final episode of Series Two of A History of Coffee, we offer you a story of America through the lens of a black drink, another black drink, a third black drink and perhaps even a fourth.

A History of Coffee is a collaboration between documentary maker James Harper of the Filter Stories coffee podcast and Jonathan Morris, Professor of History and author of ‘Coffee: A Global History’.
Don't miss future episodes by pressing the 'Subscribe' or 'Follow' button in your podcast player.

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Please spread the word about A History of Coffee!

Follow us on Instagram - Jonathan (@coffeehistoryjm) and James (@filterstoriespodcast) - and tag us in an Instagram story.

Write a review on Apple Podcasts (http://apple.co/3jY42aJ)

Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify (https://spoti.fi/3K2h4RQ)


This free educational content for the coffee community was made possible by Rancilio, manufacturers of professional Italian espresso machines for your home and coffee bar for almost 100 years
(https://bit.ly/3U3oLMz)


Read Jonathan’s book, ‘Coffee: A Global History’ (https://amzn.to/3dihAfU)

Listen to other coffee documentaries on James’ Filter Stories podcast (https://bit.ly/3ajoT5e)

Download all episodes of this second series right now by subscribing to the ‘A History of Coffee’ podcast channel (http://bit.ly/2NArChO)


Learn how Brazil massively expanded output in episode three of the first series of A History of Coffee: Coffee Catches Fire (https://bit.ly/2NArChO)

Brew up some Yaupon Holly! (https://bit.ly/40R6IuY)

Discover Deb Hunter's All Things Tudor podcast (https://bit.ly/3L5OZet)

One morning back in the ‘80s, Howard Schultz walks out of his Milan hotel, stumbles into an espresso bar, and fundamentally changes coffee history.

He discovered (and then popularises) the iconic, timeless Italian coffee experience: Rich thick coffee, an affordable price and great theatre.

But this Italian ritual is surprisingly young, so young that Howard Schultz was in school while some of it was being developed!

In this third episode of Series Two of A History of Coffee, we show you why for most of Italy’s history, coffee was thin, expensive, dull to watch…and that’s if you were lucky enough to even be drinking the real stuff at all!

A History of Coffee is a collaboration between documentary maker James Harper of the Filter Stories coffee podcast and Jonathan Morris, Professor of History and author of ‘Coffee: A Global History’.

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Don't miss future episodes by pressing the 'Subscribe' or 'Follow' button in your podcast player


Please spread the word about A History of Coffee!

Follow us on Instagram - Jonathan (@coffeehistoryjm) and James (@filterstoriespodcast) - and tag us in an Instagram story.

Write a review on Apple Podcasts (http://apple.co/3jY42aJ)

Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify (https://spoti.fi/3K2h4RQ)


This free educational content for the coffee community was made possible by Rancilio, manufacturers of professional Italian espresso machines for your home and coffee bar for almost 100 years
(https://bit.ly/3U3oLMz)


Read Jonathan’s book, ‘Coffee: A Global History’ (https://amzn.to/3dihAfU)

Listen to other coffee documentaries on James’ Filter Stories podcast (https://bit.ly/3ajoT5e)

Download all episodes of this second series right now by subscribing to the ‘A History of Coffee’ podcast channel (http://bit.ly/2NArChO)


Go deeper into the story of espresso machines:

James' science podcast about Espresso Machine Technology

Neapolitan coffee maker (https://bit.ly/3zZCivl)

Espresso at 1906 World’s Fair in Milan (https://bit.ly/3MOX7kQ)

Rancilio's Museum, Officina Rancilio 1926 (https://bit.ly/3Q7vqTI)

"La Cornuta" espresso machine (https://bit.ly/41uBryd)

Rancilio's Berlin Showroom, the BER Rancilio Station (https://bit.ly/3mD0lNA)

Haiti was once the biggest, most profitable coffee growing region in the world.

But today Haiti is one of the world’s poorest nations where you can’t get a bag of Haitian beans delivered to Berlin in a week for love nor money.

In this second episode of Series Two of A History of Coffee, we show you how colonialism and racism dragged Haiti into poverty, and the role of coffee at the centre of it.

Be warned: this episode contains graphic descriptions of violence.

A History of Coffee is a collaboration between documentary maker James Harper of the Filter Stories coffee podcast and Jonathan Morris, Professor of History and author of ‘Coffee: A Global History’.

-----------

Don't miss future episodes by pressing the 'Subscribe' or 'Follow' button in your podcast player


Please spread the word about A History of Coffee!

Follow us on Instagram - Jonathan (@coffeehistoryjm) and James (@filterstoriespodcast) - and tag us in an Instagram story.

Write a review on Apple Podcasts (http://apple.co/3jY42aJ)

Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify (https://spoti.fi/3K2h4RQ)


This free educational content for the coffee community was made possible by Rancilio, manufacturers of professional Italian espresso machines for your home and coffee bar for almost 100 years
(https://bit.ly/3U3oLMz)


Read Jonathan’s book, ‘Coffee: A Global History’ (https://amzn.to/3dihAfU)

Listen to other coffee documentaries on James’ Filter Stories podcast (https://bit.ly/3ajoT5e)

Download all episodes of this second series right now by subscribing to the ‘A History of Coffee’ podcast channel (http://bit.ly/2NArChO)

A coffee shop is a lot more than just a place to drink coffee. The seats and sofas encourage you to invite a friend, and chat.

And chatting is powerful: ideas that emerge from these caffeine-fuelled conversations give birth to modern finance and even the founding of great artistic and scientific institutions.

Meanwhile, other ideas threaten those in power, and have led to many attempts to ban coffeeshops (and even coffee itself!) these last 500 years.

In the first episode of Series Two of A History of Coffee, we show you how the coffee shop changed the world, and we ask whether it still has what it takes to upend society.

A History of Coffee is a collaboration between documentary maker James Harper of the Filter Stories coffee podcast and Jonathan Morris, Professor of History and author of ‘Coffee: A Global History’.

-----------

Don't miss future episodes by pressing the 'Subscribe' or 'Follow' button in your podcast player


Please spread the word about A History of Coffee!

Follow us on Instagram - Jonathan (@coffeehistoryjm) and James (@filterstoriespodcast) - and tag us in an Instagram story.

Write a review on Apple Podcasts (http://apple.co/3jY42aJ)

Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify (https://spoti.fi/3K2h4RQ)


This free educational content for the coffee community was made possible by Rancilio, manufacturers of professional Italian espresso machines for your home and coffee bar for almost 100 years
(https://bit.ly/3U3oLMz)


Read Jonathan’s book, ‘Coffee: A Global History’ (https://amzn.to/3dihAfU)

Listen to other coffee documentaries on James’ Filter Stories podcast (https://bit.ly/3ajoT5e)

Download all episodes of this second series right now by subscribing to the ‘A History of Coffee’ podcast channel (http://bit.ly/2NArChO)

We're back with more stories about the tiny psychoactive seed that changed the world and continues to shape our lives today.

In Series Two, we reveal how the invention of the coffee shop revolutionised societies, why colonialism, racism and coffee have kept once prosperous Haiti poor today, how Italy's revered espresso culture was created, and we debunk many myths around America's supposed love affair with coffee.

If we want to make coffee a more equitable industry that’s also kinder to the environment, a place to start is understanding the stories and systems that put the coffee into your cup this morning.

Press the ‘Subscribe’ button so you don’t miss future episodes. Listen to all the episodes at once on the A History of Coffee podcast channel.

A History of Coffee is a collaboration between documentary maker James Harper of the Filter Stories coffee podcast and Jonathan Morris, Professor of History and author of ‘Coffee: A Global History’.

Follow us on Instagram! Jonathan Morris @coffeehistoryjm and James Harper @filterstoriespodcast.

This free educational content was made possible with the support of Rancilio, manufacturers of professional Italian espresso machines for almost 100 years.

Join us live at the London Coffee Festival 2023! We have three time slots for you to choose from: Saturday, 22 April, 11:00-11:30 and 14:30-15:00, and Sunday, 23 April,14:30-15:00.

Imagine you’ve got a cup of coffee in front of you. You haven’t tasted it yet. You therefore don’t know what it tastes like, right?

Wrong. Some scientists argue that you actually do know what it will taste like (more or less), and the act of tasting simply confirms what you have already imagined it will taste like. And that’s because a growing body of research is revealing that sight, sound and touch all affect your expectation of a coffee’s flavours.

In this episode, I explore how certain sounds might make your coffee taste sweeter, while other sounds translate to bitterness. And I expose how some cafe owners might be ruining the flavours of the high-end specialty coffee you paid for without even realising it.

In the second half, I show you why so many of our scientific questions about coffee are going unanswered. I take you deep into the future of coffee science by explaining who’s doing research into coffee science, why they’re doing it, how much it costs and how you can get involved.

----------

Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!

Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify

Explore the technology behind Fiorenzato’s AllGround home coffee grinder


Get more involved in coffee science!

Buy Brita Folmer’s The Craft & Science of Coffee

Read the Specialty Coffee Association's 25 Magazine for cutting edge insights into coffee science, business and sustainability, including Charles Spence’s article on sonic seasoning

Partner with the Coffee Science Foundation

Explore Felipe Reinoso Carvalho’s sonic research, including Diego Campos’ winning World Barista Championship routine

Apply to study at the UC Davis Coffee Centre
Do an online course with ZHAW’s Coffee Excellence Centre
Subscribe to Barista Hustle and complete their online coffee courses

Become a member of the Barista Guild, Coffee Roaster’s Guild, Coffee Technicians Guild and attend their events!


Connect with my very knowledgeable guests

Charles Spence - Academic profile
Fabiana Carvalho - Instagram
Janice Wang - LinkedIn
Felipe Reinoso Carvalho - LinkedIn
Chahan Yeretzian - LinkedIn
Bill Ristenpart - Academic profile
Peter Giuliano - LinkedIn
Jenn Rugolo - LinkedIn
Giulia Bagato - LinkedIn
Denis Girardi - LinkedIn


The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations

BWT Water and More
Marco Beverage Systems
Traboccahttps://bit.ly/3CBkp6X
Eversyshttps://bit.ly/3exvlKS
Oatlyhttps://bit.ly/3T3nmUQ
Fiorenzato

When was the last time you picked up a cappuccino with a mountain of foam perched on top? Maybe these are the cappuccinos you make every morning at home.

I personally really, really dislike them! The foam is cold, raspy, and gets in the way of the actual coffee liquid.

How much better would your mornings be if, instead, your cappuccino had that creamy, silky “microfoam” you find in a specialty coffee cafe?

In this episode, I take you deep into the bubbles of latte foam to show you what makes them, what destroys them, and how you can craft mouth-melting lattes.

Along the way I also settle the big debate: what is the actual difference between regular Oatly and Oatly Barista Edition!?

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Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee!

Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story
Write a review on Apple Podcasts
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify

Try Oatly Barista Edition (this episode’s sponsor) for yourself


Go deeper into latte foam science!

Measure your latte foam’s bubble size!
Marvel at tetrakaidecahedra foam for yourself
Check out Steven Abbott’s brilliant science websitehttp://bit.ly/3FjXz6w
Learn how to create microfoam with Lance Hedrick
Study milk science with Barista Hustle’s online courses


Connect with my very knowledgeable guests

Steven Abbott - website
Rituja Upadhyay - LinkedIn
Nidhi Bansal - LinkedIn
Thom Huppertz - LinkedIn
Sofia Eldhe - LinkedIn
Toby Weedon - LinkedIn


The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations

BWT Water and More
Marco Beverage Systems
Traboccahttps://bit.ly/3CBkp6X
Eversys
Oatly
Fiorenzato