The Knowledge
Guides
Plain, practical writing on coffee.
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7 guides
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- What extraction isExtraction is water dissolving flavor out of coffee, in a rough order over time. Pull too little and the cup tastes sour; too much and it turns bitter. Taste tells you which way to move.
- The bloom-focused V60 methodA repeatable V60 recipe built around a deliberate bloom: 15 g coffee, 250 g water, 93 to 94 °C, staged pours, then adjust by taste.
- Reading a roast curve: RoR, DTR, and AgtronA deep-dive on reading a coffee roast curve: rate of rise, development time ratio, and Agtron color, and why curve shape matters more than absolute numbers.
- Naming what you tasteA plain-language guide to describing any coffee: the six sensory axes (aroma, acidity, sweetness, bitterness, body, aftertaste) and how acidity differs from sourness.
- What specialty coffee meansSpecialty coffee is a quality and transparency standard, not a price tier. Green coffee that scores 80+ on the cupping scale, plus traceability, care, and freshness.
- Ethiopia, the birthplace of arabicaEthiopia is where Coffea arabica comes from. A guide to its highland regions, its washed and natural coffees, its heirloom varieties, and why the cup tastes floral and tea-like.
- Where the name Bunchum comes fromThe name Bunchum traces to al-Razi, the Persian physician behind the earliest known medical reference to coffee, around 922 CE.
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