Amazing Coffee, According to Science- Tips to Improve Dialing-In Your Coffee

Thank you very much to Dr. Samo Smrke for taking some time to swing by the studio for this video! In it, we discuss science-based approaches to dialing in your coffee, whether espresso or filter coffee. I hope you find the discussion as helpful as I did! Let me know in the comments below if anything revealed surprises you or goes against what you thought you knew!
Follow Dr. Smrke on IG where he posts super helpful tips frequently:
@samosmrke
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[@LanceHedrick]

Make sure to hit that like to show some love to Dr. Smrke and get this video up in that algorithm! Always a pleasure having him with me to make accessible the most current understanding of coffee scientifically. Hope you enjoy, and make sure you see the pragmatic section at the end!

[@m-artiiii]

Lance alone: "Daddy Hoff" Lance with Dr. Smrke: "our friend James Hoffman"

[@AnotherAyushRaj]

they were just roomates

[@animeshthakur5693]

Love the joyrney your hair has taken over the years, always keeping us on our toes

[@dylanevans5644]

Haircut so fresh it's different in the thumbnail to the vid!

[@elliotrichards6948]

Thanks for always taking the time to share your knowledge and love for coffee with such amazing presentation! also love the hair, it fits you well

[@LanceHedrick]

Thank you! Was nervous about it, tbh. First comment about it and is kind! Thank you!

[@fabilemusic9992]

You could try even a bit shorter. If you don’t like it it’ll grow fast

[@billwinter8386]

@@LanceHedrick Was wondering if we were going to talk about the elephant in the room! It does look good!

[@phonodj]

We love Samo Smrke. We need way more of his knowledge. Please do a long video on water chemistry with him.

[@vberthiaume]

Ohh yes amazing idea!!

[@vberthiaume]

I love Dr. Smrke so much!!! Really useful simple explanations

[@andersriis4316]

Number one thing on this year’s wishlist - Lance's T-shirt! pour, break, clean, slurp... so damn cool! Whereever you can get such a t-shirt... TAKE MY CARD!🤑

[@odinallfather8241]

Love the hair bro! I've been cutting mine short forever! So easy to care for! Thanks for the great content! I am a big fan of science in my life. Thanks!

[@LanceHedrick]

Appreciate that! I tend to grow mine for a few years then shave it. Then start again hahaha

[@TheBigDean18]

@@LanceHedrickI literally have been doing thing, except I don’t shave it I just get a short cut that I can style, every salon I go too looks at me like I’m a different person afterwards lol

[@quantitativecafe]

Wonderful interview! So often, it seems like the information we receive is biased by a need to appear sensational or revolutionary. It's refreshing to hear from Samo, who seems to have a consistently nuanced and fact-based view of coffee.

[@0whitestone]

Awesome video, as always. You have improved my coffee experience so much already, but I love having more knowledge to put into practice! Thank you for putting out so much great information.

[@ericletasse5129]

Very informative! Really like the idea of being able to identify which acids work well for the individual palate and tinkering with said variables. I’ve ground too fine that made an amazing aroma but bitter taste as well as brewing a difference of 5 degrees Celsius that changed the taste of a cup. Love the idea of changing a variable a day to dial in bag. Thank you!

[@davidluncan]

Looove this science based content, thanks for sharing this insight. We need more!!

[@jameshaulenbeek5931]

I always approach a recipe (for anything) as a suggestion or starting point. Even with baking, you can always play around and change things.

[@GeelongVic7140]

Thanks to both of you for a very informative "Master Class" on the basic chemistry of extraction for taste. Bravo.

[@michaelculshaw-maurer1596]

Really love the video! I especially liked the point that not all EY is the same, and extracting more of an undesirable compound can be detrimental to flavor, while yielding "better" numbers. One thing I push back on a bit is the mantra to only ever change one thing at a time. This is obviously important if you're trying to understand the *impact* of a variable, but it can really limit you if your goal is to get to the best approach for a given coffee. There are so many variables in coffee brewing, and it's entirely possible your starting place is waaaaaaay off from the ideal point. If you only ever vary one parameter at a time, you might still be stuck in this non-optimal zone. If you vary a bunch of variables and your coffee ends up much better than before, then congrats, you've got a new, better starting point! From here, you might want to try varying one variable at a time. To geek out a bit, this is in the realm of multi-dimensional optimization. If you're stuck in a local but not global maxima, a small step size is never going to get you out of that zone. A bit of coverage of your parameter space can make the finer tuning more fruitful. Over time, I think you develop an understanding of both the single-variable changes as well as the more dramatically different zones for starting places. I think both types of knowledge are important, but it can be easy to get sucked into a hole trying to finely dial in an approach that is really far from optimal.

[@error.418]

This is 100% the video I've been waiting for, thank you!

[@LanceHedrick]

Hope you enjoy!

[@GGuevaraP]

Thank you Lance and Dr. Smrke both. Loved this format of video 🎉

[@dacoffeeplace7894]

awesome video, something that was absolutely needed as 99% of home barista's dial in by numbers and not by what really counts, extraction/taste!

[@jsmit9484]

Short hair looks surprisingly good on you!

[@nyizawhtet8152]

You guys are the best to learn from. Thanks Again both of you.

[@LanceHedrick]

Thank you! So glad you enjoy it

[@JordyValentine]

Super interesting seeing the results from the acid titration, never thought about testing coffee before.

[@georgechrysaphinis6761]

Brilliant conversation. Kudos.

[@noahhadder7226]

You are becoming my go to channel for coffee, Lance. The new hair rules. Thank you, sir. Keep up the great work!

[@TRDFanatic]

Dr. Smrke WE LOVE YOU!!!!! You’re ok too Lance. 😂😂😂 I kid I kid. Love the hair!! Hipster Lance got an upgrade. You look amazing!!!! Keep being authentic and awesome! Your viewers appreciate you immensely….and those clippers 😂😂

[@Java_CM]

Cool video! It would have been interesting to see how Dr. Smrke brews a pourover and espresso and maybe compare preferences with your own.

[@kitapuk]

Very professional video. Thanks!

[@mads-hk6oy]

nice haircut! video is right on time for my own journey in this hobby. cheers!

[@theprettydamned]

So interesting. I'm very lucky - a local roaster produces a consistently good espresso blend of Brazil beans, super sweet, chocolate and easy to make tasty - if a shot comes out in 20 seconds, it's a bit thinner but nice. If it comes out in 45 seconds, it's still nice. But this video will definitely make me think more about my fruitier, more acidic pourover brews.

[@espresMod]

very interesting episode, thank you

[@Jahloveipraise]

Love the hair lance! You look so good dude love the short look

[@bt18]

You talked about acids and bitter compounds. What about sweetness? Aren't there sugars in the coffee too? Where do they come in?

[@antoinemorcos1321]

Wow this is so interesting about the acids and all the molecules in the bean. Thx guys.

[@LanceHedrick]

I am always so excited to chat with Dr. Smrke about whatever he has been up to haha

[@antoinemorcos1321]

@@LanceHedrick would be nice actually to put down a sort of “methodology” to prepare the best expresso in the most optimal way.

[@frozenriver1111]

i love this super scientific coffee analysis videos

[@Essem-H]

@LanceHedrick Really informative. Gave me a lot to think about when dialing in. Could I get more info please on the sweetness extraction? The how and when and how to optimize it in particular with the Aeropress. (I have a 1zpresso Q2S heptagonal btw)

[@adammurphy188]

Awesome video, more Dr. Smrke 🙌

[@XeonX__ASMR__METAL-experiments]

THANK YOU

[@crashandrise]

Return of the GOAT

[@marioneto50]

Great video Lance! You're looking good BTY!

[@heftyjo2893]

I like experimenting with my grind settings when dialing in espresso. I start off with a very coarse setting on my 1zpresso X Ultra on the upper end of the espresso range, which is like 70 clicks. So, the first shots are just gonna be like 30 grams out in under 10 seconds. But that first tasting of this quick, under-developed shot is like the baseline taste. And then I make the grind a few clicks finer and then pull another shot and give it a taste test. And I feel like I hit the sweet spot of the grind for that particular bean when the coffee's flavor just goes from Bleh to Zig in your mouth. And that moment when the coffee flavor wakes up always happens within just a couple of clicks on the grinder. So, like 57 click is...Meh. But then 55 clicks is just suddenly an explosion of floral and fruity tones. And as soon as the that taste change happens I stop right there and consider that the sweet spot for the grind of that particular bean.

[@EricPetersen2922]

Sleve is looking fantastic Lance👍👍 Coffee is good too☕️😃

[@The_Catman_Dont]

Great video as always, fade looking nice!

[@jeffjones6667]

cant explain it but I've been letting little bit of what first dribbles out after preinfusion go down drain then put glass under , then ristresso or stop early ( all based on standard 18g / 30sec recipe....then i scrap or spoon off most of crema after settles briefly.....smoother over all i think

[@ffsolutions9442]

Damn it Lance, I need to go to bed and you drop a new video!? How dare you! Love you man, you are freaking Amazing!!! ❤❤❤ Espresso and science making love is the shit I'm here for! ☕

[@LanceHedrick]

Haha thanks for the support, friend!

[@Alyosiki]

the video was good, but someone with the short hair was even better. Love your new look, Lance

[@ThePwig]

Love your hair, Lance. Looks great.

[@LanceHedrick]

Thank you so much!

[@joabjoelhernandez2114]

Doctor (Samo) Bloom and Burr Man are back 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@LanceHedrick]

Heck yeah!

[@bozoc2572]

Lance getting buffed :)

[@cottagecheese1000]

Good one, like it, thanks

[@vitriolicAmaranth]

I'd point out that apart from following a recipe to avoid dialing in for one reason or another, the peaks can be due to approximation, ie "when I dial in I think it's around here on average" (or "this is my starting point," which may apply.for example that it's on one end or the other of a ratio, grind size, etc, ie "this is the smallest/largest I ever go," meaning it can actually be two very different kinds of data), because you'll dial in differently based on factors that change _every day_ like the age of the beans, but the question was not "what are the precuse numbers you used this morning?" You have to choose something, so why pick an arbitrary number like an 18.72 gram dose with 34.2 gram output in 26.95 seconds? That should not be something you routinely do every day, and there was not an option for "I dial in so it changes every day" (nor should there have been, to elucidate anything other than how many people dialed in versus how many people follow a recipe in the results). So your answer, if that's what your morning coffee happened to be this morning and sometimes you go a little longer than that, should be something like 18 gram dose and 36 gram output in 27 seconds, estimating an average. Also, as I recall, important factors like grind size were not on the survey, but I could just be forgetting. I doubt most people actually know their grind size anyway; you don't need to know the measurement to dial in relative to a starting position.

[@HaveAGoodHeart]

Eye opening. Tks

[@ralphimbrogno9239]

Great video!

[@m.andre824]

Good watch! Thank you lancey imy great haircut

[@itsjaynguyen]

What tasted the best for me was when I slow grinded and it came out super fast. I had like 40g in 12seconds

[@LanceHedrick]

Chasing flavor is king

[@seitenryu6844]

Taking notes is huge. It's easy to experiment and forget to do it.

[@jonathus48]

Thank you very much for the video! Really interesting! Is it possible to share the links or the names of the published papers? Also a question to Dr. Smrke, I am curious to know which espresso machine and grinder you have 🙂 if you want to share of course! Thanks a lot!

[@wretchedpkmn]

Hey Lance, do you feel like if all grinders had ideal psd/minimal fines, you'd lean more towards going finer instead of coarser in general? I ask because I know you go for 80% of the coffee's potential as a rule of thumb, but I think the doc's emphasis on going finer is more for those people who want to strive for that 90-95%. On a side note, I've gone way finer since I started slow feeding(thank you for that) (also since starting blind shaker for espresso cause that flow rate goes up like cray cray) and I've been trying everything else I can to go as fine as possible.

[@CasualTryhard]

Lookin great Lance! Thank you for your genuine enthusiasm and willingness to share your knowledge

[@bretf5371]

Decrease the background music volume a few DBs the next time…just a little. You also got a lot of hiss during your open mikes, like your noise reduction was trying to over compensate.

[@machineslave3]

This was all great, but what grinder does he recommend? For rrrreeeeeal…jk. Great information!

[@DigitalicaEG]

I wonder how often Lance gets recognized on the streets of Portugal

[@LanceHedrick]

It's a small city. So I often see baristas around town. Since I mostly hang out at cafes, it does happen somewhat frequently as a tourist city. But walking around town, not very often.

[@battlemorph]

Wondering if you've explored the depletion of hydrogen to deuterium (and its amount) in water stored in the presence of electromagnetic fields yet?

[@LanceHedrick]

Bit of light reading I was gonna do tonight.

[@vitriolicAmaranth]

Everyone knows deuterium makes better espresso due to its subtle natural sweetness and heavier, more expensive handfeel. Heavy espresso is to die for. But how cheaply can we introduce deuterium to our workflow? Great line of inquiry.

[@battlemorph]

@LanceHedrick Apparently, just the electromagnetic field from one's heart next to a glass of water for 10 minutes is enough to change the water structure.

[@R3yne]

Invited a Dr. and got a Dr. haircut, big move ❤😂

[@DarkPa1adin]

Love you new hair🎉

[@djispro4272]

Considering that Samo Smrke and (maybe) Scott Rao are coming to the Prague coffee festival, will you come too?

[@LanceHedrick]

I will not be there, no

[@RedwoodEmpire925]

God bless 🙌

[@MrRichman18]

What would be the respective effect on acidity and astringency with a change of grind size?

[@Kevin-vg9xs]

Will it be a good idea to use PH as a parameter for measuring the acidity and comparing the dialing in? I'm curious how big the difference will between under-extracted and over-extracted...

[@briers9]

Can someone explain why some of my best tasting (to me) shots come from my starting point, where I dial in a new bag (usually from Kenya/Rwanda - I like fruity beans), I always set the grind size larger to not choke a shot and waste a coffee. It flows fast, 1.2.5 or 1.3 in like 18-22 seconds and its lovely. However I can get a new bag and repeat the same starting point and it's sour, astringent or salty kinda. I guess thats the complexities of different beans and methods?

[@petermcguire4769]

OMG Lance! You chopped your hair! (I did the same about 2 months ago after 4 years of growth)

[@MedjoolingDate]

Which cafe color carafe is that? 🤩

[@tim_f_jones]

Do do dooo do… Science!

[@x.zubayrkhandwalla1965]

Yo Lance, unrelated comment to the video but any chance you can hook us up with a review of the Profitec Move? Should be a competitor to the Silvia X and i’m wondering how they stack up!

[@red_disc]

Coffee demystified 😂

[@zeropuckprep]

High acidity espresso led us to layered shots of espresso. We microdose acidic coffees on top of chocolatey espressos. Unblended. Whole flavors taste better. Let the blend occur in the cup. 🦑

[@jpk.mp3]

ayy, the cut lookin fresh 💇

[@cheekster777]

Thank you Lance. ☕️

[@Vicar307]

When will we see the restored machine Dr Beer made?

[@LanceHedrick]

Just got it in! Will plumb it in and film within 2 weeks

[@gotjazz84]

did i miss it or did you not talk about the (not taste based) sensation of sweetness in coffee? That's what I chase on medium dark roasts and it seems to be connected to some of the harder to extract compounds....

[@LanceHedrick]

There is no scientific conclusion on what is causing the perception of sweetness.

[@damland1357]

i like the shirt ;)

[@andyadm98]

A bit offtopic, Is it normal to have inconsistent results during the extraction when using a completely new grinder?

[@LanceHedrick]

Absolutely. Needs a bit of seasoning time

[@andyadm98]

@@LanceHedrick thanks for the reply Lance! I bought the DF64 gen 2 and I was pretty unhappy because of the inconsistent times (about 5-6 seconds) during the extractions . Now I know what to do.

[@thomascee]

Love the haircut! That must be soo much easier 😂 Fantastic video as always ☕️

[@PCCoooler]

So, nothing new under the sun, extract higher when too acidic and lower if too bitter?

[@LanceHedrick]

Not necessarily, no.

[@PCCoooler]

@@LanceHedrick hm. I thought that was the main takeaway, that the acidic compounds are the more easily soluble, and you're balancing that with the more bitter ones that are harder to get out.

[@ferologics]

what role does varietal play in this?

[@gregc8822]

Final Dr tip: experiment with ratio and temperature…. Having cited grind as most important this seemed counter-intuitive?

[@LanceHedrick]

Grinder*

[@UTOOOOOOOY]

Love the hair brother, suits you both ways.

[@pdxrunner]

Yea first

[@LanceHedrick]

Nailed it

[@limp6986]

Whats the song name at the beginning of the video?

[@stefanosbousdekis]

Hair is awesome!

[@pilske20]

I am the first, second!

[@cameron5980]

tell us about the fake atms in porto

[@LanceHedrick]

Hahahahaha not fake. Just euronet sucks and has massive fees

[@ujlt7198]

Amazing coffee according to religion video when?

[@wakeawaken430]

Lance, you should try beardstache

[@734baggins]

I cut off my ponytail too, Lance. Too much hair in the shower drain for you? Asking for a friend…

[@xStar24x]

Noo where's Lance Hair-drip :(

[@EvanDelay]

The long haired coffee aficionado club will be cancelling Lance’s membership. Joking aside Lance, the haircut looks great.

[@LanceHedrick]

If that's all it takes to not have frizzy hair 98% of days, I'm down

[@Essem-H]

New hair, new flair. EDIT: Nope just saw the thumbnail. It's just tied up. Why am I even discussing this? 😅

[@LanceHedrick]

It's shaved!

[@Essem-H]

​@@LanceHedrickOh snap.. I see that (now having watched more than one second of the video 😂). I do a similar cut as well #TeamAerodynamic

[@SamS-cb5ep]

@@LanceHedrickyou look great! It really suits you!

[@Emresinho]

Whyyyy 😭

[@LuisTrevino1337]

When more is too much

[@pranjalchauhan323]

But... the curls were onnnn fleak.

[@LanceHedrick]

Only when I did them. 99% of the time they were a frizzy mess

[@andreibordeianu]

Did you buy this guy or was he gifted? 😂

[@jordanmckay7037]

Fifth