The Journal
Brew guides, origin reports, and things we got wrong.
We write this for people who already buy the coffee and want to get more out of it. No listicles, no “ten facts about espresso”, and no article that could have been written without roasting anything.
More from the roastery
Brew guide
One V60 recipe that works with every coffee on the list
Fifteen grams in, two hundred and fifty out, three pours. We use it for cupping and for breakfast, and it is the recipe we hand to anyone who says their filter tastes thin.
Equipment
Your grinder matters more than your brewer
We brewed the same coffee eight ways on a forty-dollar hand grinder and a hundred-and-eighty-dollar one. The gap was wider than the gap between a French press and a V60.
Origin report
Six hours from cherry to bed: inside a Rwandan washing station
At Gitesi, cherry is sorted, pulped, fermented and spread out to dry inside a single working day. That discipline is the whole reason the cup tastes of black tea and lime instead of compost.
Roastery notes
Why our espresso roasts come off the drum later
Development time, the temperature at first crack, and what actually happens to sweetness when you chase a very light espresso. Includes the two curves we use side by side.
Wholesale
Running a café menu on two coffees instead of six
A settled espresso plus one rotating single origin covers filter, batch brew and milk drinks. We walked through what it saves in waste, dial-in time and staff training.
Brew guide
Your water is most of the cup and you are ignoring it
Portland tap is soft and slightly alkaline, which flattens acidity. What we measured, what we add, and why a five-dollar sachet of minerals changed our filter more than a new grinder did.
Subscribers get these a week early, along with the roast schedule for the month. If you would rather just have the coffee, that is fine too — the journal is not going anywhere.