You Oughta Know #28
In this issue: The Spinoff stole my story idea; Science proves spritzing ya bean is good for you; Robusta prices hit 15-year high; Decaf rules.
Nau mai hoki mai - welcome back to the one, the only, You Oughta Know.
Christmas is nearly here and everyone is furiously getting all the things done. It’s totally natural to want everything to be perfect, but it’s only one day. Make sure you take the time out to enjoy a cuppa - it’ll be worth it.
In this issue: The Spinoff stole my story idea; Science proves spritzing ya bean is good for you; Robusta prices hit 15-year high; Decaf rules.
The Spinoff stole my idea - drinks coffee and writes about it (lol)
I know I didn't invent the concept of the power rankings, but this one feels a bit on the nose… (see here, and here).
Anyway, backed by the resources of a proper media company, The Spinoff purchased ALL of the canned coffee available right now, and tried them. Lucky for some.
Check it out if you want to re-read content you already get here (lol).
Give ya bean a spritz - science
Giving your beans a bit of a spritz of water, reduces the mess around your grinder. This has been a well practiced hack for a while now, and one that I've been using for a few years. It even has a name! The RDT - Ross Droplet Technique.
Some smart people in lab coats wanted to see if there were any other benefits from adding water to beans before you grind, and it sounds like there might be.
The benefit we all mainly do it for, is to remove the static electricity in the beans so we have less mess from the grinder.
But now, it’s believed that removing the static can actually make espresso coffee shots run longer - ie take longer to pull. By up to 50%. It also increases extraction - ie the amount of the goodness that we get out of coffee and into the cup.
Given that the key ingredients to a great cup of coffee is water, beans, and the time the water interacts with those beans, this study might just help to unlock the key to better, more consistent coffee.
You can read the study here - it’s free!
Check out this video from James Hoffmann, who interviews the author of the paper.
Robusta prices are hitting 15 year highs
Back in July, I said that robusta might just be the savior of coffee. Its known for being high-yielding, easy to grow, less impacted by climate change. Plus, it’s getting tastier.
I was excited to see that robusta prices are hitting 15-year highs. Unfortunately, rather than it being a result of massive popularity, it appears to be on the back of climate related impacts.
As reported by NASDAQ:
High prices are good though, as it’ll encourage farmers to grow more of it, increasing innovation and improving the quality.
Keep an eye out on more expensive instant coffee coming to a supermarket near you.
The decaf tasters series was a massive hit
I went along to the New Zealand Specialty Coffee Association’s latest tasting event - Taster Series V4 - decaf.
It was such a great event, I wrote about it. Go check it out.
Merry Christmas
Have an absolutely mad Christmas.
The Magic Roast will be back next week for a 2023 year in review!
Keep it classy.
