Coffee 101
From bean to cup, demystified.
It's a fruit, some heat, and hot water doing its thing. We'll walk the whole trip — origin to your mug — one stop at a time. Read the top of each stop, or open every footnote.
Five stops. Same path, your pace.
Stop 1 / 5
Origin
Stop 1 / 5
Origin
Coffee is a fruit. The bean is the seed inside a cherry, grown up a mountain near the equator. Where it grew shapes how it tastes before anyone touches a roaster.
Takeaway: half the cup is decided on the farm.
The why
Variety, altitude, and processing set the ceiling. Washed beans read cleaner and brighter; natural beans turn fruitier and heavier. The roaster and brewer can only reveal or bury what origin already put there.Stop 2 / 5
Roast
Roasting is cooking. Green and grassy goes in; brown, sweet, and aromatic comes out. Lighter roasts keep the origin's character; darker roasts lean into the roast itself. Neither is better — it's preference.
Takeaway: roast level is a dial, not a quality score.
The craft
A roast, stage by stage.
Our logo is a roast curve — bean temperature over time. Here's what actually happens in the ~10–12 minutes from green bean to coffee, and how the bean changes colour along the way.
Charge
0:00 · ~200 °C drumRoom-temperature beans hit the hot drum. The probe reads high, then dives as everything equalizes. The clock starts here.
Turning point
~1:15 · ~90 °CThe lowest point — beans and drum reach the same temperature, then start climbing together. A consistent turning point means a repeatable roast.
Drying & Maillard
~5:00 · 150–170 °CMoisture bakes off, then the Maillard reaction takes over — amino acids and sugars browning into hundreds of aromatic compounds. This long climb is where most of the flavor is built.
First crack
~9:00 · 196–205 °CThe beans audibly crack as steam escapes. This is the gateway: green beans become coffee. Stop just after for bright and light; carry on for bold and dark. It's the moment the craft actually lives in — so it's where we put the bean.
Development
drop ~11:00 · 205–210 °CThe short stretch after first crack where acidity rounds into sweetness. Too short tastes grassy; too long flattens out. Then you drop the batch — a full filter roast runs about 10–12 minutes.
Charge
The why
The minutes after first crack (“development”) decide how much origin survives versus how much the roast takes over. Acidity drops as the roast deepens because chlorogenic acid breaks down in the roaster — that's why dark roasts read smooth and low-acid. And most of the complexity is the Maillard reaction, not caramelization.Stop 3 / 5
Grind
Whole beans stay fresh. Ground coffee goes stale in minutes. Grind right before you brew, use a burr grinder, and match the size to your method — coarse for a press, finer for pour-over.
1g coffee : 16g water. So 25g coffee, 400g water.
The why
Grind is the biggest lever you've got — finer means more surface area, so faster and higher extraction; coarser is slower and lower. When a cup tastes off, adjust grind first: finer if it's thin and sour, coarser if it's harsh and bitter.Stop 4 / 5
Brew
Brewing is hot water pulling flavor out of the grounds. Get the ratio and grind right and you're 90% of the way there.
Your first cup
French press — hardest method to mess up.
- Boil water, wait ~30 seconds.
- Coarse-grind 25g coffee into the press.
- Pour 400g water, stir gently.
- Lid on, wait 4 minutes.
- Press slowly, pour, enjoy.
Not sure which method? Pick one and we'll set your ratio.
The why
The bloom: fresh coffee outgasses CO₂ on first water contact — pour 2–3× the coffee's weight, wait 30–45s before the rest. Coffee older than ~4 weeks barely blooms (your freshness tell). Ratio (strength) and extraction (grind, time, temp, agitation) are independent levers. Golden Cup target is 18–22% extraction and 1.15–1.35% TDS — a ~1:16 brew lands mid-box. And new beans need to rest; if day-one coffee tastes flat, blame the rest, not the beans.Stop 5 / 5
Taste
What you taste is the sum of every step. Tasting notes are what the coffee reminds the taster of — not flavors anyone added. There's nothing in the bag but coffee. If “blueberry” feels like a stretch, that's fine — trust your own tongue.
The why
Acidity is emergent: 30+ organic acids, most below their individual detection threshold, combine into one impression of “brightness.” You're tasting the gestalt. The flavor wheel works inside-out — name the broad family first (fruity? nutty?), then drill to specifics.How to choose your coffee
Three signals on the bag.
Roast level
- Light — brightest, most acidity, most origin character.
- Medium — the balance point: sweeter, more body.
- Dark — boldest, lowest acidity, roast-forward.
Neither is better, it's preference.
Browse what we're roasting →Flavor notes
What the cup reminds you of — not added flavors. Work it broad to specific: family first (fruity? nutty?), then the specific note.
See where flavors come from →People to learn from
When you want to go deeper, these are the creators we trust — free, friendly, and genuinely good. Start with Hoffmann.
James Hoffmann
The best place to start — clear, calm, and genuinely beginner-friendly.
Lance Hedrick
Evidence-based brewing, explained without the snobbery.
Tetsu Kasuya
The 4:6 method, from the World Brewers Cup champion.
Onyx Coffee Lab
Short, no-nonsense brew guides for every method.
Barista Hustle
The science behind extraction, for when you get curious.
European Coffee Trip
Gear, guides, and trips to where coffee actually grows.
Whole bean, with a roast date. That's the freshness that makes everything above actually work.
No rules. Just brew.