Adventures In Coffee

Scott's Home Roasting Adventure

Can a secondhand popcorn popper really be used to roast delicious coffee…? The answer to that question may (or more likely, may not) surprise you! In Episode 6, Scott falls back in love with an old hobby as he embarks on a mission to separate the bean from the chaff with the IKAWA Home Roasting System. On a personal journey of coffee-roasting discovery, Scott learns to find the sweet spot between first and second crack, and reveals just how much difference the way your beans are roasted makes to the flavour in your cup. Respected roasting instructor Ildi Revi explains all about the significance of different “development” times and the Maillard reaction. Scott also decides to pit his roasting skills against those of the pros behind the Ikawa Home in the form of the ultimate taste test with 2018 World Barista Champion Agnieszka Rojewska. Can the self-proclaimed King of Caffeine out-roast a machine? Find out in Scott’s Roasting Journey. — Join our Patreon to support the show and win a free premium hand grinder! https://bit.ly/3vrispx Find your perfect roast with the Ikawa Home: https://bit.ly/3IdYVPc Follow Ildi Revi on LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/3FunuXs) and Agnieszka Rojewska on Instagram (https://bit.ly/3LWSd1G). Learn more about the Siemens EQ700 fully automatic espresso machine: https://bit.ly/3Ia8yy5 Take a screenshot and tell your friends about Adventures in Coffee! Tag our Instagram handles: James Harper / Filter Stories: https://bit.ly/2Mlkk0O Jools Walker / Lady Velo: http://bit.ly/39VRGew Scott Bentley / Caffeine Magazine: https://bit.ly/3oijQ91

May 10, 2022

31 min

Help! What is caffeine doing to me?

It’s every coffee drinker’s worst nightmare. You’ve rushed to that important morning meeting, but everything’s feeling a little hazy. You’re struggling to concentrate, and a nagging headache starts to creep in before you know it. Then it hits you — you haven’t had your daily caffeine fix! So what is it about this mysterious substance that can derail your whole day if you don’t have it? In a bid to find out, James conducts a cruel experiment with Scott and Jools, depriving them of coffee for 24 hours. Producer man James bothers clever people to get to the bottom of what caffeine is and what it does to our bodies and brains! Danielle Gulick from the Morsani College of Medicine explains how your morning cup can change your thinking. Lindsy Kass from the University of Hertfordshire tells us how some people can get away with a double espresso right before bed. Professor Jonathan Morris reveals how it’s not just humans who get a buzz from caffeine. Ultimately we seek to find out: Do we really need to worry that an extra cup of coffee could be the end of us? Join our Patreon to support the show and win a free premium hand grinder! https://bit.ly/3vrispx Check out our wonderful caffeine experts online, including Lindsy Kass’ on Twitter (https://bit.ly/3Ou0k7y), Danielle Gulick (https://bit.ly/3K3Xpzh) and Jonathan Morris on Instagram (https://bit.ly/37eMS3F). Listen to the A History of Coffee podcast (https://bit.ly/2NArChO) and read Jonathan’s book, Coffee: A Global History (https://amzn.to/3dihAfU). Follow Sibling Cafe in Cardiff (https://bit.ly/3L4YDLQ) on Instagram and taste Perky Blender’s decaf produced by Angele Ciza in Burundi (https://bit.ly/3rGPlOr) Learn more about the Siemens EQ700 fully automatic espresso machine: https://bit.ly/3Ia8yy5 Find your perfect roast with the Ikawa Home: https://bit.ly/3IdYVPc Tell your local barista about Adventures in Coffee! Our Instagram handles: James Harper / Filter Stories: https://bit.ly/2Mlkk0O Jools Walker / Lady Velo: http://bit.ly/39VRGew Scott Bentley / Caffeine Magazine: https://bit.ly/3oijQ91

April 26, 2022

45 min

Spotting Greenwashing In Coffee

Ever noticed how your “carbon neutral” coffee tickles the taste buds just that little bit more than your bog standard brew? From coffee producers to cafes, the industry is falling over itself to show us how much it cares about the future of our planet. But all is not always quite as it seems… So in this episode we’re delving into the murky world of “greenwashing.” What is it? What’s being done about it? And with so much else going on in the world, is it really that big of a deal? To help guide us through all the greenwashing grey areas, Jools and Scott are joined by environmental journalist David Burrows who goes in search of elephants and tigers in the cafes of Edinburgh. Miles Lockwood from the Advertising Standards Authority reveals how some alternative milk companies have been found to be greenwashing. And we learn when to be smug and when to be sceptical in the face of an environmental bombardment. Armed with these tips, we hope you will be able to spot greenwashing next time you buy your coffee! —-- Join our Patreon to support the show and win a free premium hand grinder! https://bit.ly/3vrispx Check out David’s writing on Foodservice Footprint (https://bit.ly/3qqBnQK) and follow him on LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/3u8yq8V) Follow Elliot Day (https://bit.ly/3NRMmvS) and Bean & Bud on (https://bit.ly/3LCl7DC) on Instagram. Find your perfect roast with the Ikawa Home: https://bit.ly/3IdYVPc Learn more about the Siemens EQ700 fully automatic espresso machine: https://bit.ly/3Ia8yy5 Tell your local barista about Adventures in Coffee! Our Instagram handles: James Harper / Filter Stories: https://bit.ly/2Mlkk0O Jools Walker / Lady Velo: http://bit.ly/39VRGew Scott Bentley / Caffeine Magazine: https://bit.ly/3oijQ91

April 6, 2022

36 min

Bang for Buck When Buying Coffee Gear

Dear listener, beware! When it comes to buying coffee-making gear, ‘upgrade-itis’ is real. And it’s been hitting the pockets of coffee lovers everywhere. Early symptoms include questioning whether to stick or twist, bewilderment at the range of choice, and uncertainty if spending those extra pounds on your kit can be tasted in your morning cup. But, dear listers, fear not — because help is at hand. In this episode, Jools figures out where that golden sweet spot is when buying grinders, espresso machines and filter coffee set ups. Are the savings from hand grinding beans worth the elbow grease? Can you really get a machine to make quality espresso for less than £300? And what’s the point of an automatic filter brewer? Coffee expert and Youtuber Lance Hedrick dials in from the Onyx Coffee Lab in Arkansas, USA, to help Jools and Scott identify the issues of diminishing returns. So roll up your sleeve as we help you stave off that expensive ‘upgrade-itis’ before it’s too late! — Join our Patreon to support the show and win a free premium hand grinder! https://bit.ly/3vrispx Check out Lance’s videos on Youtube - Modding espresso machines with PID sensors: https://bit.ly/3qokWUq Upgrading burrs sets in your grinders: https://bit.ly/3ipPvEN Listen to our previous AIC about buying an espresso machine: https://bit.ly/369Aogp Follow Lance Hedrick (https://bit.ly/351RcW2) and the Jester’s Tower (https://bit.ly/3N7wXY4) on Instagram. Learn more about the Siemens EQ700 fully automatic espresso machine: https://bit.ly/3Ia8yy5 Find your perfect roast with the Ikawa Home: https://bit.ly/3IdYVPc Join us at the London Coffee Festival! Send us an email - adventuresincoffeepod@gmail.com Tell your local barista about Adventures in Coffee! Our Instagram handles: James Harper / Filter Stories: https://bit.ly/2Mlkk0O Jools Walker / Lady Velo: http://bit.ly/39VRGew Scott Bentley / Caffeine Magazine: https://bit.ly/3oijQ91

March 22, 2022

32 min

The Dark Side of Coffee Roasting

Close your eyes, and imagine taking a sip of thick espresso. What flavours would you hope are dancing on your tongue? Dark chocolate? Caramel? How about lemon? What if the coffee is so acidic, you may as well be sucking on lemon juice? This acidity is often the result of roasting a coffee quite lightly, and specialty coffee loves this acidity. But the weird thing is specialty coffee isn't obsessed with acidity because they necessarily enjoy acidic flavours. It goes waaaaaay deeper. So deep in fact it's caused massive Twitter brawls where a celebrity food columnist even sparred with a gang of self-proclaimed coffee punks. Scott takes Jools on a coffee roasting journey, starting at the darker times in coffee, and how it evolved into the light roasts of today by speaking with Sonja Bjork Grant (Icelandic roaster and World Barista Judge) and Nick Mabey (co-owner of Assembly Coffee Roasters). At the end, we ask the question: were the coffee punks right to be so focused on lightly roasted coffee? — Join our Patreon to support the show: https://bit.ly/3vrispx Follow Nick Mabey (https://bit.ly/3Mwpu4m), Assembly Coffee (https://bit.ly/3sM618c), Sonja Bjork Grant (https://bit.ly/3tFMqpz), Jakub Klucznik (https://bit.ly/3Knl3Hh) and Saint Espresso (https://bit.ly/3IPaxsc) on Instagram. Learn more about the Siemens EQ700 fully automatic espresso machine: https://bit.ly/3Ia8yy5 Find your perfect roast with the Ikawa Home: https://bit.ly/3IdYVPc Join us at the London Coffee Festival! Send us an email - adventuresincoffeepod@gmail.com Tell your local barista about Adventures in Coffee! Our Instagram handles: James Harper / Filter Stories: https://bit.ly/2Mlkk0O Jools Walker / Lady Velo: http://bit.ly/39VRGew Scott Bentley / Caffeine Magazine: https://bit.ly/3oijQ91 Lightning and rain sound effects courtesy of Free Sound Library - https://bit.ly/3vKcfHv

March 8, 2022

34 min

Busting Coffee Myths

Dear Listener... We asked what YOU wanted to hear when we returned, and we LISTENED... so we're kicking off Series Three by busting some coffee myths! The coffee world is absolutely filled with fables! Although we couldn't smash them all, the triple-threat of Scott, Jools and James take on the top three myths and separate the bean from the chaff to bring you the truth! Is the fridge the best place to store your coffee? Jools gets on the line to Samo Smrke - an actual Coffee Scientist - to find out if that's fact or fiction. Scott sniffs out the truth to discover if coffee has more flavour and aroma compounds than wine and chats to 2017 World Barista Champion Dale Harris - whose whole winning routine is based around sensory analysis! James drills deep into the tale of coffee being the second most traded commodity in the world after oil, and gets the lowdown from Mark Pendergrast - best-selling author of Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World. Did the AIC Team fracture some coffee folklore? Are they who you’re gonna call for Myth Busting?! Prepare yourself to be surprised at what they discovered in this episode! — Join our Patreon to support the show: https://bit.ly/3vrispx Follow Dale Harris (https://bit.ly/3JLKqT2), Samo Smrke (https://bit.ly/3IdrfRz), Lauren De Silva (https://bit.ly/35eaas8) and Omotesando (https://bit.ly/3IbLb7u) on Instagram. Read Mark Pendegrast’s book, Uncommon Grounds: https://bit.ly/3s6EFt8 Sign up for the 2022 Barista League's High Density (free!) conference here: https://bit.ly/3BjAI78 Find your perfect roast with the Ikawa Home: https://bit.ly/3IdYVPc Learn more about the Siemens EQ700 fully automatic espresso machine: https://bit.ly/3Ia8yy5 Tell your friends about Adventures in Coffee! Our Instagram handles: Scott Bentley / Caffeine Magazine: https://bit.ly/3oijQ91 Jools Walker / Lady Velo: http://bit.ly/39VRGew James Harper / Filter Stories: https://bit.ly/2Mlkk0O

February 23, 2022

33 min

Coffee's Ticking Time Bomb

Sri Lankan coffee has delicious notes of chocolate and caramel. But it’s basically impossible to find, and we’re going to bet you’ve never drank it. But why is Sri Lankan coffee so hard to find? It shouldn’t be because Sri Lanka has the perfect climate to grow coffee, and was once one of the biggest coffee growing countries in the world. But Sri Lanka was the victim of an ecological ticking time bomb. And this bomb is still sticking, and is going to explode again. Producer man James takes Scott and Jools on an adventure back in time, across Ethiopia, Yemen, Sri Lanka to trace the origins of this ticking bomb, and what it’s going to take to defuse it. — Come join our Patreon Community to be entered into a draw to taste Sri Lankan coffee roasted by Hansa Coffee: https://bit.ly/3vrispx Read Stuart McCook’s excellent book, Coffee Is Not Forever: https://bit.ly/3320rob Listen to James’ stories about El Salvador on his Filter Stories channel: https://spoti.fi/3Lcnuhg Help other people find the show by leaving a rating on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3JYduHY Help others find the show by creating a screengrab of this episode on your podcast player and sharing it on your Instagram stories. Tag us and we’ll reshare it! Scott Bentley / Caffeine Magazine: https://bit.ly/3oijQ91 Jools Walker / Lady Velo: http://bit.ly/39VRGew James Harper / Filter Stories: https://bit.ly/2Mlkk0O A massive thanks to Lawrence Goldberg of Hansa Coffee, Ajantha Palihawadana, Professor Stuart McCook and Harm van Oudenhoven.

February 7, 2022

43 min

Wine Experts Teach Us Their Secrets

Picture this: you're at the supermarket, perusing the wine aisle (after checking out the coffee one, of course), trying to choose between a £8 Spanish Rioja and a £10 French Merlot. Sound familiar?! In this episode, we’re decanting the secrets of the wine world with Susie and Peter, creators of the Wine Blast podcast! Scott and Jools don’t know much about wine but realise their biggest questions about it are the same ones they get about coffee. I.e. is really expensive wine is worth it? How much cash should you splash to get the tastiest tipple without breaking the bank? And of course… what's the best way to store wine?! Susie and Peter tell all! However, a simple wine tasting session could never be enough for Scott and Jools. Instead, they throw the gastronomy gauntlet down as they challenge the Masters of Wine to tell the difference between cheap coffee and the really good stuff. But Susie and Peter return the battle, testing our hosts' pallets with super expensive wine and supermarket plonk! How will AIC vs Wine Blast turn out in the duel of the drinks? ----------- Join Susie & Peter on a wine adventure on their Wine Blast podcast: https://bit.ly/3Gc7aKw Take this survey to tell what you want to hear in Series 3! https://bit.ly/3lEZisx Come join our Patreon Community to support the show: https://bit.ly/3vrispx Discover how much CO2 is produced in each litre of Oatly compared to cow's milk: http://bit.ly/3aidSA3 Help other people find the show by leaving a rating on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3JYduHY Follow us on Instagram! Scott Bentley / Caffeine Magazine: https://bit.ly/3oijQ91 Jools Walker / Lady Velo: http://bit.ly/39VRGew James Harper / Filter Stories: https://bit.ly/2Mlkk0O Coffees and wines featured in this episode: Supermarket coffee - Sainsbury's Fairtrade Colombian Coffee, Taste the Difference, 227g for £3.50 https://bit.ly/33iFPaJ Mid-priced specialty coffee - Origin Coffee Coffee Roasters, Los Altos, Washed coffee from Nicaragua, 250g for £8.00 https://bit.ly/3tiT9H4 Best of Nicaragua coffee - Origin Coffee Roasters, Washed Casona Geisha from Mierisch family in Nicaraguan. No longer for sale. £5 wine - Viña del Cura Rioja 2020, 13% (was £5 at time of recording, now £6.75, Tesco). https://bit.ly/3qYLjQd £12 wine - Marqués de Riscal Rioja Reserva 2016, 14.3% (from £13.99, Majestic) https://bit.ly/3q9TASh £30 wine - López de Heredia Viña Tondonia Rioja Reserva 2009, 13% (From £26.50, Majestic) https://bit.ly/3nbF22x

January 11, 2022

44 min

About the podcast Adventures In Coffee

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