Filter Stories - Coffee Documentaries

This episode explores why 30 cents a kilo is trivial for a large farm and unaffordable for a small one, the strange power imbalance that lets roasters define quality when nobody asks a winemaker what yeast they used, and how producers can talk to buyers who think starter cultures are cheating.

Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.

Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing. 

 

Please spread the word about Filter Stories!

 

Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast)  and Lucia (@lluciasolis) - and tag us in an Instagram story. 

 

Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter

Stay up to date with Lucia through her newsletter

 

Write a review on Apple Podcasts

 

Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify

 

Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories

Related podcast episodes:

Lucia:

#72: Planning Your First Coffee Fermentation Trials? Start Here. 

#76: How Commercial Microbes Threaten The Coffee Industry

#80: How Microbiology Can Explain Beginner's Luck

James:

Filter Stories - Coffee Quality, Part 1: The birth of specialty coffee flavours

 

People mentioned in the episode:

Lester Lerner, Old Willow Coffee, Colombia 

Victor Chala, Palma Rosa, Colombia 

Fridolin Stocker— Mount Sunzu, Zambia

Shyira washing station, Rwanda

Evangelos Filippatos, La Cabra

La Cabra, Copenhagen

Helen Riley — Novonesis

Gunne Øregaard — Novonesis

Franz Zeimetz — Lost Origin Coffee Labs, Panama

Alejandra Rodríguez Delgado — Hacienda San Pedrito, Puerto Rico

Gustavo Arroyo — Rancho Contento, Puerto Rico

 

Resources: 

pH meter & buffer

Thermometer

Novonesis Pichia yeast

Novonesis Lactobacillus bacteria

Pressure washer

Fermentation Log Sheet

Yeast’s impact on the environment in research on vineyards

Sprudge Best Of Panama coverage

Lucia’s Fermentation Training Camp

Coffee Wet Mill Sanitize

Opciones para la desinfección del beneficio

 

Cabal Cafe Podcast en Espanol

 

Lucia's Favorite Tools:

Temperature Gun

Ambient Temperature Sensor

Temperature Gun

pH meter & buffer solution

 

The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:

 

The Coffee Quest | BWT | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro

 

Check out Standart, the award-winning coffee magazine. Get a free magazine and a free bag of coffee by clicking here.

Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses. 

Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here. 

Office coffee = easy recurring revenue. WMF’s Elevation 10 and Peak 50 do the work for you. Learn more here. 
 
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.

This episode explores why the specialty industry's obsession with exotic processing is a dangerous signal for farmers, five ways commercial microbes can make a farm more money, and what a well-run fermentation looks like on farms of very different sizes.

Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.

Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing. 

 

Please spread the word about Filter Stories!

 

Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast)  and Lucia (@lluciasolis) - and tag us in an Instagram story. 

 

Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter

Stay up to date with Lucia through her newsletter

 

Write a review on Apple Podcasts

 

Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify

 

Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories

Related podcast episodes:

Lucia:

#72: Planning Your First Coffee Fermentation Trials? Start Here. 

#76: How Commercial Microbes Threaten The Coffee Industry

#80: How Microbiology Can Explain Beginner's Luck

James:

Filter Stories - Coffee Quality, Part 1: The birth of specialty coffee flavours

 

People mentioned in the episode:

Lester Lerner, Old Willow Coffee, Colombia 

Victor Chala, Palma Rosa, Colombia 

Fridolin Stocker— Mount Sunzu, Zambia

Shyira washing station, Rwanda

Evangelos Filippatos, La Cabra

La Cabra, Copenhagen

Helen Riley — Novonesis

Gunne Øregaard — Novonesis

Franz Zeimetz — Lost Origin Coffee Labs, Panama

Alejandra Rodríguez Delgado — Hacienda San Pedrito, Puerto Rico

Gustavo Arroyo — Rancho Contento, Puerto Rico

 

Resources: 

pH meter & buffer

Thermometer

Novonesis Pichia yeast

Novonesis Lactobacillus bacteria

Pressure washer

Fermentation Log Sheet

Yeast’s impact on the environment in research on vineyards

Sprudge Best Of Panama coverage

Lucia’s Fermentation Training Camp

Coffee Wet Mill Sanitize

Opciones para la desinfección del beneficio

 

Cabal Cafe Podcast en Espanol

 

Lucia's Favorite Tools:

Temperature Gun

Ambient Temperature Sensor

Temperature Gun

pH meter & buffer solution

 

The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:

 

The Coffee Quest | BWT | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro

 

Check out Standart, the award-winning coffee magazine. Get a free magazine and a free bag of coffee by clicking here.

Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses. 

Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here. 

Office coffee = easy recurring revenue. WMF’s Elevation 10 and Peak 50 do the work for you. Learn more here. 
 
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.

This episode explores why coffee is only fifteen years into a fermentation revolution that wine and bread went through millennia ago, what's actually happening inside the tank when microbes multiply into billions on their own, and why farmers who used to ferment as fast as possible are now trying to do the opposite. 

Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.

Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing. 

 

Please spread the word about Filter Stories!

 

Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast)  and Lucia (@lluciasolis) - and tag us in an Instagram story. 

 

Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter

Stay up to date with Lucia through her newsletter

 

Write a review on Apple Podcasts

 

Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify

 

Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories

Related podcast episodes:

Lucia:

#72: Planning Your First Coffee Fermentation Trials? Start Here. 

#76: How Commercial Microbes Threaten The Coffee Industry

#80: How Microbiology Can Explain Beginner's Luck

James:

Filter Stories - Coffee Quality, Part 1: The birth of specialty coffee flavours

 

People mentioned in the episode:

Lester Lerner, Old Willow Coffee, Colombia 

Victor Chala, Palma Rosa, Colombia 

Fridolin Stocker— Mount Sunzu, Zambia

Shyira washing station, Rwanda

Evangelos Filippatos, La Cabra

La Cabra, Copenhagen

Helen Riley — Novonesis

Gunne Øregaard — Novonesis

Franz Zeimetz — Lost Origin Coffee Labs, Panama

Alejandra Rodríguez Delgado — Hacienda San Pedrito, Puerto Rico

Gustavo Arroyo — Rancho Contento, Puerto Rico

 

Resources: 

pH meter & buffer

Thermometer

Novonesis Pichia yeast

Novonesis Lactobacillus bacteria

Pressure washer

Fermentation Log Sheet

Yeast’s impact on the environment in research on vineyards

Sprudge Best Of Panama coverage

Lucia’s Fermentation Training Camp

Coffee Wet Mill Sanitize

Opciones para la desinfección del beneficio

 

Cabal Cafe Podcast en Espanol

 

Lucia's Favorite Tools:

Temperature Gun

Ambient Temperature Sensor

Temperature Gun

pH meter & buffer solution

 

The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:

 

The Coffee Quest | BWT | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro

 

Check out Standart, the award-winning coffee magazine. Get a free magazine and a free bag of coffee by clicking here.

Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses. 

Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here. 

Office coffee = easy recurring revenue. WMF’s Elevation 10 and Peak 50 do the work for you. Learn more here. 
 
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.

This episode explores how just a handful of cheap instruments can ensure quality is reproducible year-on-year, and the wastewater crisis poisoning rivers behind picture-perfect coffee farms.

Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.

Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing. 

 

Please spread the word about Filter Stories!

 

Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast)  and Lucia (@lluciasolis) - and tag us in an Instagram story. 

 

Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter

Stay up to date with Lucia through her newsletter

 

Write a review on Apple Podcasts

 

Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify

 

Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories

 

Related podcast episodes:

Lucia:

Making Coffee with Lucia Solis — How to De-Funkify your Naturals

Making Coffee with Lucia Solis — Germination: A Close Look at Coffee Drying

James:

Filter Stories: Why One Colombian Farmer Chose Specialty, and the Other Walked Away

 

People mentioned in the episode:

Lester Lerner, Old Willow Coffee, Colombia

Orlando Osorio, La Primavera, Colombia

Astrid Medina, Tolima, Colombia

David Velásquez, Los Naranjos, El Salvador

Jesús Antonio Chala, Finca El Silencio, Colombia

Victor Chala, Palma Rosa, Colombia 

Melissa de Gasperín, Rancho San Felipe, Córdoba, Mexico

Norberto Suárez, Boquete, Panama

César Marín, Chacra D'Dago, Peru

Manuel Matta, Santa Maria, Colombia

 

Resources:

Innovakit: canguaro (picking sleeves)

Pinhalense Cherry Floater

Pinhalense Vertical Pulper

Pinhalense Mechanical Dryers

Tolva — Plastic Vertical Hopper

Moisture Meter (Mid Tier)

Moisture Meter (High End)

Cenicafé Low-Water Wet Milling (Ecomill-type systems)

Flávio Borém Drying Research

DIY Moisture Maths (weight + fixed volume)

 

Lucia's Favorite Tools:

Temperature Gun

Ambient Temperature Sensor

Temperature Probe

pH meter & buffer solution

 

The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:

 

The Coffee Quest | BWT | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro

 

 

Check out Standart, the award-winning coffee magazine. Get a free magazine and a free bag of coffee by clicking here.

Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses. 

Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here. 

Office coffee = easy recurring revenue. WMF’s Elevation 10 and Peak 50 do the work for you. Learn more here. 
 
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off. 

Check out Standart, the award-winning coffee magazine. Get a free magazine and a free bag of coffee by clicking here.

Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses. 

Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here. 

Office coffee = easy recurring revenue. WMF’s Elevation 10 and Peak 50 do the work for you. Learn more here. 
 
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.

This episode explores the simple drying mistakes that compromise months of careful work, and the low-cost fixes that protect a coffee's shelf life and flavour.

Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.

Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing. 

 

Please spread the word about Filter Stories!

 

Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast)  and Lucia (@lluciasolis) - and tag us in an Instagram story. 

 

Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter

Stay up to date with Lucia through her newsletter

 

Write a review on Apple Podcasts

 

Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify

 

Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories

 

Related podcast episodes:

Lucia:

Making Coffee with Lucia Solis — How to De-Funkify your Naturals

Making Coffee with Lucia Solis — Germination: A Close Look at Coffee Drying

James:

Filter Stories: Why One Colombian Farmer Chose Specialty, and the Other Walked Away

 

People mentioned in the episode:

Lester Lerner, Old Willow Coffee, Colombia

Orlando Osorio, La Primavera, Colombia

Astrid Medina, Tolima, Colombia

David Velásquez, Los Naranjos, El Salvador

Jesús Antonio Chala, Finca El Silencio, Colombia

Victor Chala, Palma Rosa, Colombia 

Melissa de Gasperín, Rancho San Felipe, Córdoba, Mexico

Norberto Suárez, Boquete, Panama

César Marín, Chacra D'Dago, Peru

Manuel Matta, Santa Maria, Colombia

 

Resources:

Innovakit: canguaro (picking sleeves)

Pinhalense Cherry Floater

Pinhalense Vertical Pulper

Pinhalense Mechanical Dryers

Tolva — Plastic Vertical Hopper

Moisture Meter (Mid Tier)

Moisture Meter (High End)

Cenicafé Low-Water Wet Milling (Ecomill-type systems)

Flávio Borém Drying Research

DIY Moisture Maths (weight + fixed volume)

 

Lucia's Favorite Tools:

Temperature Gun

Ambient Temperature Sensor

Temperature Probe

pH meter & buffer solution

 

The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:

 

The Coffee Quest | BWT | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro

 

 

Check out Standart, the award-winning coffee magazine. Get a free magazine and a free bag of coffee by clicking here.

Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses. 

Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here. 

Office coffee = easy recurring revenue. WMF’s Elevation 10 and Peak 50 do the work for you. Learn more here. 
 
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off. 

Check out Standart, the award-winning coffee magazine. Get a free magazine and a free bag of coffee by clicking here.

Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses. 

Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here. 

Office coffee = easy recurring revenue. WMF’s Elevation 10 and Peak 50 do the work for you. Learn more here. 
 
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.