Q&A Coffee Podcast with Scott Rao

Channel Details

Q&A Coffee Podcast with Scott Rao

Q&A Coffee Podcast with Scott Rao

Creator: Scott Rao

Beginner and advanced questions about coffee brewing and roasting.

EN-US United States Hobbies

Recent Episodes

100 episodes
Colombia, 2025

Colombia, 2025

 
















2025-09-01 12:03:55 Duration unknown
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Coffeehouse Stories, Part 3: The Snakeman

Coffeehouse Stories, Part 3: The Snakeman

 




















2025-08-06 23:29:42 Duration unknown
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Coffeehouse Stories, Part 2: fight for survival

Coffeehouse Stories, Part 2: fight for survival

 




















2025-05-25 13:18:40 Duration unknown
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Coffeehouse Stories, Part 1: Ed's Study Aid

Coffeehouse Stories, Part 1: Ed's Study Aid

 




















2025-03-25 11:43:46 Duration unknown
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REVOLUTIONARY NEW SHOWER SCREENS

REVOLUTIONARY NEW SHOWER SCREENS

  




Decent Espresso has done it again. This time, they’ve revolutionized shower screens. 
The new “dimples” a...

2025-03-12 11:24:45 Duration unknown
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The twin myths of “easier to extract” and “overextraction”

The twin myths of “easier to extract” and “overextraction”

 




















2025-02-02 04:26:13 Duration unknown
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ADVANCED HOOPING

ADVANCED HOOPING

 




















2024-12-13 16:31:35 Duration unknown
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A Deep Dive into Cup of Excellence

A Deep Dive into Cup of Excellence

My sincere thanks to Peter Jones of Idle Hands Roasting and Trident Cafe, and to Benjamin Paz of Beneficio San Vicente, for their help with this post....

2024-11-13 08:17:00 Duration unknown
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Color Measurement: Best Practices

Color Measurement: Best Practices

  



Given that coffee color is the best predictor of flavor, color measurement is a useful tool in roasting quality contro...

2024-10-24 09:03:10 Duration unknown
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Introducing the Ceado Hoop

Introducing the Ceado Hoop

 




















2024-09-15 02:06:50 Duration unknown
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Pros and cons of various roast-control systems

Pros and cons of various roast-control systems

There are currently a few ways to control roasts; from most common to least common are: 

gas valve % (power settings)
inlet tempera...

2024-09-02 10:25:43 Duration unknown
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Viva Colombia

Viva Colombia

 




















2024-06-25 11:17:17 Duration unknown
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The Bias Against Blends

The Bias Against Blends

The names “holiday blend” and “house blend” don’t exactly get the pulses of third-wave consumers racing. Blending has tremendous potential to mold or...

2024-06-03 04:10:46 Duration unknown
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How the Decent evolved to make delicious espresso easier

How the Decent evolved to make delicious espresso easier

 



Disclaimer: I’ve worked with Decent Espresso from the start, helping to plan and design the DE1. I may be biased, but e...

2024-05-23 08:10:43 Duration unknown
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Prodigal QC Protocols

Prodigal QC Protocols

 
















2024-05-07 11:34:14 Duration unknown
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Quakers and Optical Sorting

Quakers and Optical Sorting

When we started Prodigal, I took a leap of faith on an optical sorter from Alibaba. I don’t think I have to tell you the rest of that story 🤕.  After...

2024-03-06 15:25:10 Duration unknown
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How to approach brewing different coffees

How to approach brewing different coffees

Each week at Prodigal we get a few messages along the lines of “how should I brew x coffee?” These messages imply some confusion about coffee brewing....

2024-02-26 17:30:18 Duration unknown
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New! Prodigal Monthly Subscription

New! Prodigal Monthly Subscription

 




















2024-02-26 16:42:31 Duration unknown
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Coffee and happiness

Coffee and happiness

 




















2024-01-04 03:19:31 Duration unknown
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2023 Holiday Coffee-Gift Guide

2023 Holiday Coffee-Gift Guide

 




















2023-12-02 09:18:20 Duration unknown
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What I've learned from no-bypass brewing

What I've learned from no-bypass brewing

Lessons from Pulsar and Filter3

A few years ago, Jonathan Gagné coined the term “no-bypass brewing.” The phrase refers to brewers that fo...

2023-11-09 03:31:48 Duration unknown
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WHAT CHANGED IN COFFEE OVER THE PAST 30 YEARS?

WHAT CHANGED IN COFFEE OVER THE PAST 30 YEARS?

When I was in Rotterdam in August, I had coffee with my friend Han. She asked me two interesting questions when I told her I had been in coffee for 30...

2023-10-06 10:19:22 Duration unknown
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Consistency in Roasting

Consistency in Roasting

 




















2023-09-20 04:01:35 Duration unknown
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NextLevel Pulsar Recipes and Recommendations

NextLevel Pulsar Recipes and Recommendations

 




















2023-09-14 11:01:46 Duration unknown
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The happy medium amount of fines 

The happy medium amount of fines 

In the past few years, several well-known coffee experts, scientists, and grinder manufacturers have measured and publicly discussed grind particle-si...

2023-09-06 23:05:00 Duration unknown
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Preventing Workplace Injury as a Barista: a guide

Preventing Workplace Injury as a Barista: a guide

A while back, Kody reached out to me to discuss workplace injuries among baristi. He offered to write this guest post to hopefully help baristi avoid...

2023-08-16 21:28:21 Duration unknown
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My two-week espresso education on the road

My two-week espresso education on the road

Serving coffee at Sweet Spot Kaffee in Munich
I recently spent two weeks with John and Bugs from Decent Espresso, doing demonstrations of the DE...

2023-08-13 09:50:17 Duration unknown
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Demystifying Water for Coffee

Demystifying Water for Coffee

 




















2023-06-04 10:23:19 Duration unknown
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RESTING ROASTS: IS FRESHER BETTER? 

RESTING ROASTS: IS FRESHER BETTER? 

“Resting” coffee after roasting is a hot topic, and apparently a confusing one at that. Around the time the Loring became popular and more third-wave...

2023-05-29 14:15:52 Duration unknown
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A Comparison of IMF vs Loring

A Comparison of IMF vs Loring

 




















2023-05-18 13:35:28 Duration unknown
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Sample Roasting

Sample Roasting

Photo courtesy of Dear Coffee Buyer by Ryan Brown
Since starting Prodigal, I’ve been thinking a lot about sample roasting. Sample roasting is...

2023-03-25 07:20:48 Duration unknown
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HOW TO BE A BETTER CUPPER

HOW TO BE A BETTER CUPPER

Ahead of the launch of Prodigal, Mark and I cupped for a minimum of one hour each morning. Having such a routine allowed us to calibrate well after cu...

2023-03-09 02:14:01 Duration unknown
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Prodigal Update: month two  and a discussion of roast quality vs roast style

Prodigal Update: month two and a discussion of roast quality vs roast style

Lessons from the first month
We received multiples more inquiries than we had coffee available. Some of that was due to us deciding some of our...

2023-02-02 16:07:34 Duration unknown
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Prodigal week one: lessons and confessions

Prodigal week one: lessons and confessions

“Transparency,” like “sustainability,” is a word thrown around too often. Let’s face it, very little in modern society is truly sustainable. Likewise,...

2023-01-09 18:19:06 Duration unknown
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HOLIDAY COFFEE GIFT GUIDE

HOLIDAY COFFEE GIFT GUIDE

 




















2022-12-06 04:00:21 Duration unknown
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LOTUS WATER DROPS: How to use them, and a great hack to find the best water for your coffee

LOTUS WATER DROPS: How to use them, and a great hack to find the best water for your coffee

 




















2022-12-01 15:17:55 Duration unknown
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Score inflation, and my failed quest to find 88s

Score inflation, and my failed quest to find 88s

Last month I posted a request on Instagram for 88-point coffees, with the promise to promote any samples that I (and a Q-Grader friend) scored 88 in a...

2022-09-26 11:07:09 Duration unknown
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WHY ROASTER AUTOMATION IS NOT YET A SUCCESS

WHY ROASTER AUTOMATION IS NOT YET A SUCCESS

Many people wonder why roaster automation is not better or easier. I’d like to discuss the current state of automation and the difficulty of creating...

2022-07-20 03:34:44 Duration unknown
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Misguided Maillard Mania

Misguided Maillard Mania

One challenge in roasting is when a roaster makes a single change from batch to batch, tastes a difference, and then declares that one aspect of that...

2022-07-12 21:18:52 Duration unknown
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MacGyver is Alive and Well

MacGyver is Alive and Well

I’ve had access to an old Probat electric sample roaster recently at a friend’s roastery. The machine is a bit of a dinosaur, and needed some serious...

2022-06-11 05:13:55 Duration unknown
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