The Physics of Filter Coffee

I love this book. Overall, the book is very technical and a basic understanding of chemistry goes a long way. Without that, I don't think this book would make sense and you'd struggle with a lot of concepts. I'm 90% through the book and he really breaks everything down to a formula. It is simply data driven. There is of course some opinion but he also makes that very clear whenever he voices it. Coffee flavor after all at the end of the day will always have some opinion. The book starts early on with definitions so you have the fundamentals. It carries on to the composition of water and how that affects the coffee. This is where you'll need the basics of chemistry and provides tables if you want to build your own custom water for coffee as well as providing the most common water recipes. You'll then study everything there is to know about grinders and exactly how they affect the flavor and extraction of your coffee. It carries on like this throughout the book providing the formulas he uses to come to the conclusions he provides. This book is for the super geek who wants to know everything there is about coffee. While the book is mainly focused around filter coffee, it provides some useful insights about espresso as well. Overall, the book is fantastic and in the end ties all the data together with practical application. With this knowledge, it's very easy to figure out how to improve your coffee as it breaks down each of the variables (and there are way more than I realized) involved and gives you the knowledge of how they are all related. You can then easily adjust variables knowing what the projected results will be and so can get your daily brew to taste the exact way that you want.

I'm not just a consumer of the black liquid... I am interested of every aspect of the journey to the perfect cup of coffee. I don't work in the industry but I research every day. Iquit going to the Big Box coffee shop after the way they treated OUR Boys in Blue... so I set out to find out what their secret was to a silky smooth cup of coffee. After months of research, I discovered why when I bought their ground coffee and took it home... it didn't taste the same.. Hint: it is the Water... NOT the coffee! Even their employees aren't told this. Look up David Beeman - consultant - Global Customized Water. Afterall, coffee is 98% water. I then created my own water recipe over the next few months. Now people tell me that my coffee is as good if not better than that Big Box slinger of coffee. This book is not for the curious... it is a deep dive into the depths of coffee and the Why's and How's! If this interests you too... this is the best book available on the subject! Hope you find it as informative and interesting that I have. I wish I had known about it at the beginning of my journey - Good Luck with yours!

It’s science heavy, yet well explained. I am a bioengineer yet it still thought me new, fascinating things. I think that anyone would get something out of it, just keep in mind it is aimed at the geekier-minded.

It is a great read and really gives you a full understanding of coffee.

Bought it to understand the science better so I can make better V60s. It is accomplishing just that.

Great book with detailed explanation about different aspects of brewing coffee