Are you buying the right Coffee Beans? (Beginner's Guide to Coffee)

Coffee beans are one of the most confusing items to purchase, so over the past several weeks, I bought 20+ different kinds of coffee at different price points, visited a local roaster, tried roasting my own beans at home and tested a bunch of types of coffee in order to understand the flavor and price differences of coffee beans.

SOURCES:
📗 On Food & Cooking, Harold McGee
📗 Food Chemistry, Belitz et. al.

MY FAVORITE KITCHEN GEAR

⏱ TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Intro
3:18 Thank you to AeroPress!
4:45 Coffee Roasting Takeaways
8:12 How does the price of coffee change?
13:34 How does roasting create the flavor of coffee?
20:22 Green Coffee Taste Test
25:47 How do you find coffee beans you'll love?
27:57 How is coffee processed?
32:45 How is coffee harvested
37:03 How is coffee grown?
44:45 Conclusion: Flavor, Price, Exploration
47:20 Carve outs

MISC. DETAILS
Music: Provided by Epidemic Sound
Filmed on: Sony a6600 & Sony A7C
Voice recorded on Shure MV7
Edited in: Premiere Pro

Affiliate Disclosure:

[EthanChlebowski]

Notes, reflections, corrections & additional links:

Hey everyone! This was by far one of the most fun and challenging videos I've made to date. I'm sure there are going to be a ton of questions and comments on this video because the world of coffee is constantly evolving and a lot of what coffee you enjoy does come down to personal preference.

Also, let me just get ahead of this question:

Q: Why did you use a blade grinder?!
A: I only used the blade grinder for the green coffee taste test. Green coffee is extremely hard and dense unlike porous roasted coffee so I didn't want to ruin my burr grinder that was used for all of the other coffees in this video.

Now while this is fairly comprehensive video, it is also really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to learning about coffee. My ultimate goal with this video is to help YOU explore coffee beans you'll love. I think the best way to do that is by explaining the fundamentals from a price and flavor perspective so you can make an informed decision when you are tasting and shopping for coffee. Remember, all of us have our unique human biases when it comes to coffee:

1. Some of us only drink espresso and espresso drinks
2. Some of us use milk and sugar
3. Some of us like coffee black
4. Some of us only drink iced coffee

Because of this I decided to focus this video specifically on the beans, because without the beans we don't have coffee, so logically, it makes sense as the first place to start.

That being said, I'd love to do a video specifically on the fundamentals of brewing where we dive into:
- Water (Ph, mineral content)
- Grind size
- Bean Ratio
- Extraction (refractive index)
- Brewing methods (espresso vs filter)

So if you want to see that video, we can make it happen (maybe with some other coffee channel's help 👀)

[hg.chetan]

My family have been growing coffee for more than a hundred years.
Currently, we get about 30$ for about 100 lb of dry coffee berry, which after processing turns into 60 lb of green coffee, which gets exported for approx 100$ per 100lb, which eventually gets sold for anywhere between 300$ to 3600$ per 100lb.
So, middle men plus processing takes the coffee from 20c/ lb that we get to average of 5$ / lb.
Wish my family we in the business of processing/exporting as the hardest part and the riskier part is growing but the least paid is the farmer.

[matthew]

This channel and video is a PRIME example of why learning via video is so valuable. Large volume of information is compactly, yet digestibly presented with high-quality production value! Perfection!

Edit: spelling and grammar.

[jasonkhoury]

My friends want you to do an "Is expensive beer actually worth it?" video where you get progressively more drunk as filming goes on lol.

[ryanwilson_canada]

I'm a bit spoiled. One of my really good friends is a café owner who imports, and custom blends different ones, and roasts in house. I'm usually the guinea pig for his different blends, and roasts he is testing, before he will sell it. I usually skip sponsor spots, but I will admit I absolutely love my aeropress, I've had it for about ten years now. I use it all the time, not shilling for them, I honestly just really like it, I even sent one to a friend in Washington state

[dorfkindisch]

Specialty Roaster here to say that you can in fact measure and precisely define roastdegree!
A roast degree analyzer is a Small device that measures how much light gets reflected by the roasted coffee beans and gives you a value along the AGTRON scale.
25-45 translates to your typical dark roast, 50-65 would be medium and from 70 upwards you‘d call it a light roast.

Of course no two coffees roast the same but when you end the roast at the same temperature at similar roasting times you can get in a fairly narrow AGTRON range.

Apart from that, this Video really serves as a exceptionally well crafted entry Point for everyone dabbling into the vast world of coffee, so thanks!

And also congrats on the AeroPress sponsorship!

(P.S. If this video happens to get new people into coffee… please prioritize good quality coffee over unneccesarily expensive gear 🙏🏻
You‘d be suprised how far a ordinary frenchpress, a plastic V60 Dripper or the advertised AeroPress combined with a decent handgrinder can get you!)

[gorandjalevski]

I didn't hear one of the most important factors that can significantly impact the taste of coffee: Grinding! As an espresso and cappuccino enthusiast at home, I noticed a dramatic improvement in the taste of my shots after investing in a good grinder. It's not just about the grind size but also the consistency that a quality grinder provides. Therefore, a high-quality grinding machine is essential for achieving barista-level coffee. Maybe a French press might be more forgiving, I don't use it. Anyway, thank you for the great video.

[eckroattheeckroat]

Ethan, do you every worry about the "Pepsi Challenge" effect when sip testing for these videos? Pepsi wins the sip test over Coke, because people prefer the sweeter, more citrus-y cola in an isolated sip, but drinking a full glass is a very different experience where many people far prefer Coke. New Coke was designed to win the Pepsi challenge but it was so cloyingly sweet and citrus-y it was unpalatable to drink a whole can. When I see cupping sip tests I always think of the failure of new coke and wonder if you're really finding your preferred coffee, or if the process is artifically pushing you into the "Pepsi" of the coffee world.

[LanceHedrick]

Stoked to see you covered coffee! Excited to watch!

[bluecobaltsteph]

Starbucks over-roasts their beans. They do it on purpose because people mistake it for being “deeper.”

[Druggid]

Ethan you're absolutely killing it this last year with the videos. I love the single topic videos packed with information, comparisons and food porn. These videos have helped me change the way I look at certain foods.

[maxwallhausser]

FRESHNESS!!! Ethan, can't believe you didn't talk about this. It's the one take away I make sure to tell the coffee curious who may not know. It will give them a huge jump in the quality of coffee they're drinking every day. It's a critical component of buying your coffee for home. Make a follow on video. Roasted coffee is best within 2 weeks!!!!

[juliaspanos]

I treat these deep dive videos like the superbowl 😂 I got YouTube up on the living room TV, got my cup of coffee, and a spread of snacks. Please keep up these videos dude, hands down your channel is better than cable!

[KoffyKraft]

My first comment ever with this account!😊. But I had to go back and login into a proper account to post here, because it only seemed fair
I came into specialty coffee only on 2019, though I’ve been drinking coffee, and I liked them all that while, all my life.

I learnt a lot from online resources shared by professionals, and seeing this makes me wish I’d seen this two years ago…,
There may be stuff you left out, I don’t care, and there may be stuff the old me would not understand either.
But you have offered a lot in such a small space of time and visuals.
As a coffee grower, processor, roaster and brewer ( yes I do all of it, and natural too while I’m at it ) I admire the way you touched points in every domain. This can be a small springboard for someone who latches on, it’s to be expected that only less than 2% would see this as basic inspiration. But for a whole lot of others such as me from 5 years ago, this is a great learning experience

[thumbtak]

I find that light, medium, and dark is more a way of getting a taste profile. Not really how light, medium, or dark, it is. I use that as a starter, but I do not use that as the final reason why I buy it.

[RyB]

Great video. As someone who’s spent a portion of my career in training personnel, I love your use of focused objectives and review.

[nonfungiblemushroom]

I can see James Hoffmann watching this video and then going into full blown Heisenberg mode, showing up at Ethan's house and uttering "Stay out of my territory..." before backing away into the darkness of the night.

Also, I know it's an ad, but I've been using an Aeropress since about 2010. I even just made a cup with mine while starting this video. I hate how fake sponsorships are but honestly, it's my favorite way to brew. The company was created by the guy who made the Aerobee flying disc. He sadly sold the Aeropress and it does seem like the current owner is more interested in maximizing profits, charging about twice these days as in 2010. It's still worth the price of admission, things work amazing and last ages.

Also get a good hand grinder! I bought an 1zpresso JX grinder 3 years ago for about $110. The performance is incredible compared to anything electric in a similar price point. Quieter too and it's really not that hard to grind 15-20g of beans by hand. Nothing has really changed in terms of performance and it feels like it will last many more years.

[MylonPruett]

I feel like everyone here needs to meet James Hoffmann
His channel is AMAZING and wildly nerdy in the best way possible.

[michaelhudson]

Great work @EthanChlebowski . As a grower, I think you had a key point with "geisha is whats popular now, who knows what people will like in five years". I'm currently planting out over 20 mind blowing and little known varieries from ethiopian landrace strains like WushWush and Papayo, Sudan Rume, naturally decaf "Laurina Bourbon", Abisinian Java, Yemenese Mocha, chiroso, Venezuelan Monte Claro and criollo, and even some rare and unique Libericas and Canephoras. Im still searching for a few. Namely C. Liberica Excelsa, C. Stenophyla, C. Eugenoides, and the Jember crosses between Liberica and arabica. But not Geisha. Geisha took so long to be "discovered" because nobody liked the flavor until a hype cycle started in Panama around some sort of floral acidity obsession. But real specialty coffee flavor is just getting started. I focus on naturals to exentuate the complex flavors nacent in each variety from our organic regenerative agroforestry project. Anarobic is interesting. Although "anarobic fermentation" is a redundancy. But my take is that coferment is essentially flavored coffee. Still, I may eventually experiment with resting or coprocessing coffee with porcelain and criolle cocoa beans or pulp. its a big world out there. Keep up the good work Ethan! Btw, most coffee your drinking is actually part Robusta, as most comercial crops are now hybrids from the Timor cross. (Usually derived from catimore or Sarchimore) Which are, in my humble opinion, utter crap. Beautiqueen, over productive plants with a profile of cardboard with sawdust and cocoa powder. Its something like 80% of "100% arabica" coffee in the US.

[MeriaDuck]

Water, beans, grinding and brewing method are all quite important.

I love my aeropress and pour overs.