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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.

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.

19/08/2025

I’m shocked and saddened by the sudden passing of Jason Grube.

I met Jason in Seattle back in the early days of Filter Stories, before I even had a logo. Eight years ago, I was completely unknown, just a random person who wanted to make audio documentaries about the specialty coffee world.

Even though he was really busy, Jason gifted me his time and energy to create the Filter Stories logo. His support helped my podcast so much, and I was always in awe of his kindness and design brilliance.

I’m also angry at how he passed away. We both shared a huge love for cycling. I have the fortune to live in Germany where it’s relatively safe to cycle. Jason had the misfortune to cycle in the USA, a country dominated by cars, and that is what ultimately took him away from us.

Jason was a very special person, and he didn’t deserve to be taken away by a lack of basic cycling infrastructure. I will continue to fight for safer, cycle-friendly streets across Berlin and beyond.

You can contribute to the GoFundMe to help support his surviving wife and children. Link in bio.

06/08/2025

Same country, same road, same port—totally different costs.

It’s easy to assume all coffees travel the same. But when it comes to preserving flavor and traceability, specialty takes a very different path—and it shows up in the numbers.

Hear the full story on the Filter Stories podcast episode ‘Farm to port: why specialty costs more.’
Link in bio.

11/07/2025

Would you work harder for 60% more pay?

That’s the question I asked in Huila, Colombia, after meeting Andrés, a young farmer running Finca Monte Bonito (). He could earn significantly more growing specialty coffee—but he doesn’t.

So I dug deeper. And what I found wasn’t about laziness or lack of passion. It was about risk, tradeoffs, and invisible barriers that shape who’s incentivized to grow specialty.

🎧 Tap the link in bio to understand why some farmers choose specialty over commodity.

27/06/2025

If specialty coffee pays more, tastes better, and helps the environment—why don’t more farmers grow it?

To find out, I traveled to Colombia’s Huila region and met two producers whose choices couldn’t be more different. One is betting everything on specialty. The other walks away.

Their reasons have less to do with passion or hard work—and more to do with invisible starting conditions that shape every farmer’s future.

Tap the link in bio to listen.

19/06/2025

I’m heading to World of Coffee Geneva! 🛤️🚄

If you're around and want to talk coffee, stories, or just share a good cup of coffee—DM me!

Also, swing by booth 1843 (right by the SCA Community Lounge) to join me for a cupping with . Details to follow!

13/06/2025

In Brazil, coffee is often sold cheap, fast, and in bulk. But Vicente Pereira is trying something different by trying to grow only specialty coffee.

But where can he go for the best prices? He’s tested a lot of avenues! Local buyers, exporters, direct trade, even shipping his own container. Which of these gets him the prices he needs to keep his farm long-term sustainable?

🎧 Listen now — The hard business of selling beautiful coffee on the Filter Stories podcast (link in bio).

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