Filter Stories

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Filter Stories

Love coffee? Love podcasts? Filter Stories is a documentary podcast revealing the untold stories hidden in your cup of coffee.

12/01/2026

Ever wonder why the filter coffee you make at home tastes worse than filter coffee from a cafe?

Oftentimes, it’s the fault of your tap water! But what can you do to fix it?

The solutions here will help you take one giant leap from bad water to great water.

If you want to understand why these solutions work (and how the SCA landed on their water guidelines) there’s a podcast episode waiting for you. Link in bio.

And remember, there’s no one perfect recipe for water because different people like different flavours. But getting closer to the centre of the SCA’s ‘bullseye’ is usually a step in a better direction.

31/12/2025

I’ll be presenting a lecture at about history and science of coffee roasting, and how roasters can choose the right machine for their needs.

If you’re coming, let me know. I’d love to see you there ☕️

19/12/2025

For the longest time, coffee was dull and bitter. Then a small group of people changed everything.

This new three-part mini-series traces how coffee “quality” came into being. We travel back to the 1960s and ’70s, meet the pioneers who realized coffee had distinctive flavors, and follow how their personal preferences slowly hardened into a movement, a form, and eventually a global definition of “quality.”

But that same idea of quality has, at times, closed doors for the people with the least power in the supply chain. We hear from producers whose lives collided with this myth of universality, and look toward the still-evolving CVA as a possible way forward.

I’ve been working on this story, on and off, for two and a half years, and I’m honestly just relieved to finally have it out in the world.

This episode doesn’t have a sponsor. So if you enjoy it and want to support my work financially, you can do that at Ko-Fi.com/FilterStories (link in bio).

Happy listening!

12/12/2025

Filter Stories was featured in The New York Times!

podcast editor, Emma Dibdin, praised Filter Stories for its deep research and sound design.

I’m so honoured that all the work I put into the show is recognised.

Read the article for yourself link in bio) and check out the other podcast listed, including my friend and collaborator ’s podcast and my old show, Adventures in Coffee.

Huge thanks to everyone who has listened, shared, and supported Filter Stories along the way ❤️

03/12/2025

Join us on Thursday, December 12th, at 5pm at .coffee!

I’m excited to be hosting a rather unusual cupping: tasting coffees before and after decaffeination. It’s a rare chance to see what really happens to flavor during the process.

These samples come straight from my recent trip to Mexico, where I visited , one of the region’s leading water-process decaf plants and recorded stories for an upcoming Filter Stories series.

I can’t wait to see you there!

27/11/2025

We all know water noticeably changes your coffee flavours. But what kind of water, in terms of hardness and alkalinity, should you aim for?

Swipe through to learn how to read your local water report, convert the numbers, and figure out whether your water is on point.

Want to learn more about alkalinity and hardness? Follow the link in Bio and listen to the episode Water for Coffee, Step-by-Step. 🎧

13/11/2025

Just wrapped up a day visiting Descamex, the decaffeination plant in Córdoba, Mexico. 🇲🇽

Super fascinating seeing how coffee is decaffeinated using their Mountain Water Process—only water, no chemicals.

One of the highlights? Holding a chunk of pure caffeine extracted from the process 😳. It’s so concentrated that if you actually took a big bite of it, it would kill you. Wild.

Then came the cupping! I tasted the same coffees before and after decaffeination. Six origins, different processes. On the whole, I found the decaf flake flavours were a little less intense, more tea-like, but very pleasant. And surprisingly, one slightly aged coffee actually improved! The decaf process stripped away its baggy defects completely.

All this is part of a project I’m working on with Lucia Solis for an upcoming series on coffee farming. I learned a ton—and left with a deep respect for the science behind decaf.

Huge thanks to the Descamex team for making this all happen. 🙏☕️

03/11/2025

This Saturday, 11am at the Brussels Coffee Show ☕
️
I’m super excited to present a live Filter Stories podcast episode exploring how espresso culture was born. We’ll look into the history, the science, and the gorgeous design ethos that made it all possible.

The birth of the specialty coffee movement is deeply intertwined with the history of espresso. Let’s explore our origin story together!

(And who knows… there might even be a piano on stage 🎹)

25/10/2025

Ever wondered why your kettle looks like this?

The answer’s floating in your water. Hard water, full of minerals, leaves behind limescale when boiled. Too much of it builds up fast. But too little and your water becomes corrosive.

There’s a sweet spot: just enough hardness to protect your kettle and brew better coffee.

🎧 Learn how to find it in Getting great water for coffee, part 1. Link in bio.

14/10/2025

I’m coming to HOST Milan! Let me know if you’re around and let’s catch up. DM me.

It’s a flying visit - Friday and Saturday, then off to Mexico and Colombia for recordings for my next podcast series on coffee farming!

30/09/2025

Ever been disappointed by a coffee which you hoped would be acidic but actually tasted flat?

The culprit might not be your beans, grinder, or technique. It’s your water. Specifically, the alkalinity.

Hit the sweet spot and your coffee has just the right brightness and balance. That’s when it comes alive.

🎧 Dive deeper by listening to my podcast episode ‘Getting great water for coffee, part 1’ on Filter Stories. Link in bio!

24/09/2025

Last week I had the privilege of spending a fantastic day in Copenhagen with and her partner Nick.

We were invited inside one of the world’s most advanced microbial research facilities, . A facility worth hundreds of millions of euros where microbes are created drive fermentations in coffee and elsewhere. Most of it was top secret (no photos allowed 👀), but some highlights include:

- Standing inside a microbial storage room kept at –55°C ❄️ Within 30 seconds you couldn’t feel your fingers…
- Interviewing leading microbial and flavour experts on the beahaviour of microbes and how they change flavour.

I wrapped up my Copenhagen visit with a cupping at , where their roaster and I tasted two coffees from Lucia’s own farm, one fermented with Novonesis yeasts and one with limited fermentation.

Huge thanks to the and for their great perspectives!

All of this will feed into a future episode I’m producing with Lucia on coffee fermentations — made especially for farmers. Stay tuned.

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