- 42 minutes 1 secondProducer Toolkit: Quality Assurance, Pt 2 - The basics of good water for coffee
This episode takes you through the basics of good water for coffee.
To objectively assess a coffee's quality, both producer and buyer need to taste it using the same water. But whose water standards should you choose? Why do roasters often get to define what the "right" water is? What would the coffee world look like if producers set quality standards instead of roasters?
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.
Related podcast episodes:
James:
- Filter Stories: How Heat Transforms Coffee Beans
- Filter Stories: How to Be a Better Taster
- Filter Stories: Getting Great Water, Step by Step
Follow us through our newsletters and Social media:
James' Filter Stories Instagram
People mentioned in the episode:
- Karla Boza — Jacinta Y Su Cafe, San Benito, El Salvador
- Paulino Quintero — Huila, Colombia
- Jesús Antonio Chala — Finca El Silencio, Colombia
- Thompson Owen — Sweet Maria's Coffee, USA
- Lahari Balireddi — ASG Coffee, Kenya
- Manuel Barsallo — Agrícola Geisha, Panama
- Lorenz Haschka — BWT water+more
Resources:
- Video: How to Make Cold Brew
- Physical Coffee Diary
- Digital App: Coffee Brew Log
- Digital App: Tasting Notes
- Sweet Maria's guide to roasting in a pan or popper, with video
- Sweet Maria's roasting on a pan or popper tip sheet
- Sweet Maria's air popper resources and video
- Filter Stories guide: Roasting your own coffee (English)
- Guía de Filter Stories: Cómo tostar tu propio café (en español)
- Guide to getting a good sample roast
- Video: How to Cup Coffee at Home
- SCA Cupping Workshop
- Video: How to use an Alkalinity Dropper Kit
- Buy a water test kit
- SCA Water Control Chart
- Water calculator to adjust alkalinity
- Make your Own Water for Coffee
- Video: Make your own water for coffee
- BWT bestmax PREMIUM (under-sink option)
- BWT bestbarista ROC COFFEE
- PDFs of CVA Form in 7 languages
- The SCA Coffee Value Assessment, Extrinsic Criteria List
- Digital App: Catador
- Digital: CVA in your web browser
Cover art: Nick Hafner
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT water+more | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro
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.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
12 October 2026, 3:05 am - 30 minutes 1 secondProducer Toolkit: Quality Assurance, Pt 1 - A practical guide to tasting and roasting coffee
This episode is a practical guide to tasting coffee, sample roasting and judging quality, built for small producers on a tight budget. That makes it just as useful if you’re early in your coffee journey and want to learn the basics without spending thousands on equipment, starting with a frying pan or a $30 popcorn popper.
If you work in coffee, it reveals the obstacles producers face when they try to discuss quality on equal terms with buyers in the global north.
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.
Related podcast episodes:
James:
- Filter Stories: How Heat Transforms Coffee Beans
- Filter Stories: How to Be a Better Taster
- Filter Stories: Getting Great Water, Step by Step
Follow us through our newsletters and Social media:
James' Filter Stories Instagram
People mentioned in the episode:
- Karla Boza — Jacinta Y Su Cafe, San Benito, El Salvador
- Paulino Quintero — Huila, Colombia
- Jesús Antonio Chala — Finca El Silencio, Colombia
- Thompson Owen — Sweet Maria's Coffee, USA
- Lahari Balireddi — ASG Coffee, Kenya
- Manuel Barsallo — Agrícola Geisha, Panama
- Lorenz Haschka — BWT water+more
Resources:
- Video: How to Make Cold Brew
- Physical Coffee Diary
- Digital App: Coffee Brew Log
- Digital App: Tasting Notes
- Sweet Maria's guide to roasting in a pan or popper, with video
- Sweet Maria's roasting on a pan or popper tip sheet
- Sweet Maria's air popper resources and video
- Filter Stories guide: Roasting your own coffee (English)
- Guía de Filter Stories: Cómo tostar tu propio café (en español)
- Guide to getting a good sample roast
- Video: How to Cup Coffee at Home
- SCA Cupping Workshop
- Video: How to use an Alkalinity Dropper Kit
- Buy a water test kit
- SCA Water Control Chart
- Water calculator to adjust alkalinity
- Make your Own Water for Coffee
- Video: Make your own water for coffee
- BWT bestmax PREMIUM (under-sink option)
- BWT bestbarista ROC COFFEE
- PDFs of CVA Form in 7 languages
- The SCA Coffee Value Assessment, Extrinsic Criteria List
- Digital App: Catador
- Digital: CVA in your web browser
Cover art: Nick Hafner
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT water+more | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro
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.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
12 October 2026, 3:00 am - 48 minutes 33 secondsProducer Toolkit: Price, Pt 2 - Discovering the true value of coffee
What is the right price for coffee? This episode shows what the journey of price discovery looks like from the perspective of a coffee farmer.
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.
Related podcast episodes:
Lucia:
#64: "What Kind of Coffee Lover am I? How Much am I Willing to Pay for a Cup of Coffee?"
James:
Filter Stories: The Hard Business of Selling Beautiful Coffee
Follow us through our newsletters and Social media:
James’ Filter Stories Instagram
People mentioned in the episode:
- Karla Boza — Jacinta Y Su Cafe, San Benito, El Salvador
- Julia Ortega, Finca Los Pinos, Puebla Mexico
- Edilberto Tovar — Finca La Esmeralda, Huila, Colombia
- Melissa de Gasperín — Rancho San Felipe, Veracruz, Mexico
- Diego Robelo — Aquiares Estate, Turrialba, Costa Rica
- Cristian Reyes — Finca El Rodeo, Santander, Colombia
- César Marín — Chacra D'Dago, Peru
- Gilberto Baraona — Los Pirineos, Usulutan, El Salvador
- Lalo Perez, Biofilia
- ASOPEP, Planadas, Tolima, Colombia
- Piedras Azules cooperative, El Salvador
- Agnes Thieleke, InterAmerican Coffee Europe
Resources:
- Record keeping and profitability analysis
- V-Hub (formerly Cropster Hub)
- Coffee Yield Calculator
- Cost-of-production calculator
- Fairtrade Verified Living Income reference prices
- Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide
- Chad Trewick interview on Bellwether podcast
- Heifer / ASOPEP / Fairtrade Tolima living income study
- Book: The Culture Map by Erin Meyer
Cover art: Nick Hafner
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT water+more | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro
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.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
28 September 2026, 3:05 am - 41 minutes 12 secondsProducer Toolkit: Price, Pt 1 - How the commodity 'C' market works
This episode explores the strange world of the C market, where movements in the Brazilian currency or rebels boarding a random container ship decide the worth of a Colombian farmer's coffee. Yet specialty coffee still uses this number to price the coffees it says are anything but a commodity.
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.
Related podcast episodes:
Lucia:
#64: "What Kind of Coffee Lover am I? How Much am I Willing to Pay for a Cup of Coffee?"
James:
Filter Stories: The Hard Business of Selling Beautiful Coffee
Follow us through our newsletters and Social media:
James’ Filter Stories Instagram
People mentioned in the episode:
- Karla Boza — Jacinta Y Su Cafe, San Benito, El Salvador
- Julia Ortega, Finca Los Pinos, Puebla Mexico
- Edilberto Tovar — Finca La Esmeralda, Huila, Colombia
- Melissa de Gasperín — Rancho San Felipe, Veracruz, Mexico
- Diego Robelo — Aquiares Estate, Turrialba, Costa Rica
- Cristian Reyes — Finca El Rodeo, Santander, Colombia
- César Marín — Chacra D'Dago, Peru
- Gilberto Baraona — Los Pirineos, Usulutan, El Salvador
- Lalo Perez, Biofilia
- ASOPEP, Planadas, Tolima, Colombia
- Piedras Azules cooperative, El Salvador
- Agnes Thieleke, InterAmerican Coffee Europe
Resources:
- Record keeping and profitability analysis
- V-Hub (formerly Cropster Hub)
- Coffee Yield Calculator
- Cost-of-production calculator
- Fairtrade Verified Living Income reference prices
- Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide
- Chad Trewick interview on Bellwether podcast
- Heifer / ASOPEP / Fairtrade Tolima living income study
- Book: The Culture Map by Erin Meyer
Cover art: Nick Hafner
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro
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.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
28 September 2026, 3:00 am - 43 minutes 21 secondsProducer Toolkit: Marketing & Sales, Pt 2 - Navigating trade shows
This episode explores what a trade show actually feels like for a farmer who flew in on money his community pooled together, why a sausage dog opened a door that hundreds of cold emails couldn't, and why learning English may be a better investment for a farmer than a longer fermentation.
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.
Related podcast episodes:
Lucia:
- #54: Visiting Producers, Advanced Tourism & The Coffee Hunter (farm visits, the buyer relationship)
- #56: Pranoy Thipaia (finding export markets, expo advice)
- #65: To Blend or Not to Blend? Wine Vintages, and Harvest Update (sales strategy, consistency over novelty)
- Cabal Cafe Podcast en Espanol
James:
Follow us through our newsletters and Social media:
James’ Filter Stories Instagram
People mentioned in the episode:
- Diego Robelo — Aquiares Estate, Turrialba, Costa Rica
- Cristian Reyes — Finca El Rodeo, Santander, Colombia
- Cristian Reyes — Personal Instagram
- Catherine Bedoya — Eje Cafetero, Colombia
- Hamsini Appadurai — Sangameshwar Coffee Estates, Chikmagalur, India
- Melissa de Gasperín — Rancho San Felipe, Veracruz, Mexico
- Edilberto Tovar — Finca La Esmeralda, Huila, Colombia
- Desnudo Coffee (Austin) — Austin, Texas, USA
- Alejandro Rodríguez Delgado — Hacienda San Pedrito, Puerto Rico
- César Marín — Chacra D'Dago, Peru
- Karla Boza — Jacinta Y Su Cafe, San Benito, El Salvador
Resources:
- Algrano — Producer Sign Up
- The list of 144 international trade shows
- Clases Gratis de Inglés en linea - USA Learns
- Clases Gratis de Inglés en linea - Voa News
- English Accent Training
- The SCA Coffee Value Assessment, Extrinsic Criteria List
- PDFs of CVA Form in 7 languages
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro
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.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
14 September 2026, 3:05 am - 37 minutes 9 secondsProducer Toolkit: Marketing & Sales, Pt 1 - The power of story
This episode explores why specialty coffee is a luxury business that runs on story more than 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.
Related podcast episodes:
Lucia:
- #54: Visiting Producers, Advanced Tourism & The Coffee Hunter (farm visits, the buyer relationship)
- #56: Pranoy Thipaia (finding export markets, expo advice)
- #65: To Blend or Not to Blend? Wine Vintages, and Harvest Update (sales strategy, consistency over novelty)
- Cabal Cafe Podcast en Espanol
James:
Follow us through our newsletters and Social media:
James’ Filter Stories Instagram
People mentioned in the episode:
- Diego Robelo — Aquiares Estate, Turrialba, Costa Rica
- Cristian Reyes — Finca El Rodeo, Santander, Colombia
- Cristian Reyes — Personal Instagram
- Catherine Bedoya — Eje Cafetero, Colombia
- Hamsini Appadurai — Sangameshwar Coffee Estates, Chikmagalur, India
- Melissa de Gasperín — Rancho San Felipe, Veracruz, Mexico
- Edilberto Tovar — Finca La Esmeralda, Huila, Colombia
- Desnudo Coffee (Austin) — Austin, Texas, USA
- Alejandro Rodríguez Delgado — Hacienda San Pedrito, Puerto Rico
- César Marín — Chacra D'Dago, Peru
- Karla Boza — Jacinta Y Su Cafe, San Benito, El Salvador
Resources:
- Algrano — Producer Sign Up
- The list of 144 international trade shows
- Clases Gratis de Inglés en linea - USA Learns
- Clases Gratis de Inglés en linea - Voa News
- English Accent Training
- The SCA Coffee Value Assessment, Extrinsic Criteria List
- PDFs of CVA Form in 7 languages
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro
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.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
14 September 2026, 3:00 am - 32 minutes 32 secondsProducer Toolkit: Fermentation, Pt 3 - Is using yeast cheating? And who decides?
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:
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
Lucia's Favorite Tools:
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro
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.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
24 August 2026, 3:10 am - 35 minutes 50 secondsProducer Toolkit: Fermentation, Pt 2 - The case for avoiding exciting fermentations
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:
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
Lucia's Favorite Tools:
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro
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.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
24 August 2026, 3:05 am - 22 minutes 32 secondsProducer Toolkit: Fermentation, Pt 1 - Nature's lottery and coffee's 3,000-year lag
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:
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
Lucia's Favorite Tools:
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro
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.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
24 August 2026, 3:00 am - 28 minutes 28 secondsProducer Toolkit: Processing, Pt 3 - Critical instruments and poisoned rivers
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:
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:
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro
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.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
9 August 2026, 3:10 am - 30 minutes 40 secondsProducer Toolkit: Processing, Pt 2 - Drying mistakes that ruin coffee quality
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:
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:
The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:
The Coffee Quest | BWT | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro
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.
What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.
9 August 2026, 3:05 am - More Episodes? Get the App