coffee education

If you only upgrade one bit of coffee kit, make it the grinder. I worked that out fiddling with a cheap secondhand one on an office floor years ago, and I still think it’s the most boring thing you’ll buy and the one that does the most work. What your grinder is doing for you, or not doing, depending on how cheap it is.

For years the espresso rule was simple: grind finer for a stronger shot. A landmark study in Matter tested that and found the opposite past a point, because too fine and the water just channels straight through the puck. Here’s what the team found, how sure we can be about it, and what it means next time you pull a shot at home (for me: not that much, but it can save you costs potentially… and its really interesting!)

A few of you guys asked how roasting actually works, so here it is: green beans, first crack (aka “who put popcorn in my roaster?”), and the day I turned perfectly good coffee into expensive braai charcoal. Part science, part art, occasionally part disaster.