#79: Farm First: Lalo Perez on Long-Term Coffee Health

#80: How Microbiology Can Explain Beginner's Luck

Jun 30, 202635 minSummary

In episode 80 of Making Coffee, Lucia Solis explores the intriguing concept of beginner's luck in coffee processing through the lens of microbiology. Reflecting on a listener's question about whether she would pursue a high-scoring passion project if she abandoned her minimalist, large-scale approach, Solis argues that her current focus on consistent, repeatable quality is not a limitation but a deliberate, challenging goal. Drawing parallels to her experience in the wine industry, Solis explains how new facilities often achieve high quality easily because they lack the established microbial populations found in older, high-volume processing plants. She likens these older wet mills to hospitals dealing with resistant bacterial strains, where "beginner's luck" fades as local microbes colonize the equipment, making it difficult to maintain quality without rigorous, invisible effort. Ultimately, she emphasizes that the true challenge in coffee is not chasing a 90-point micro-lot, but raising the baseline quality of larger, consistent batches. By prioritizing clean, defect-free processing, she believes producers can create sustainable value, echoing the evolution of the wine industry rather than chasing the fleeting success of untested methods.

#78: What Is Specialty Coffee? And Who Gets To Define It?

Mar 18, 202644 minSummary

In this episode of Making Coffee, host Lucia Solis offers a candid reflection on the realities of coffee production and the evolving, often exclusionary, definitions of specialty coffee. Following a challenging harvest, Solis shares her experience producing a series of four coffees—each fermented with different techniques—intended for an educational project on the role of microbes in processing. Solis critiques the social media-driven "gatekeeping" of what qualifies as specialty coffee. She observes that while the industry is growing, the criteria for entry often shift to favor specific trends, such as the use of exotic varieties, stainless steel bioreactors, and micro-lot volumes. Drawing on her expertise, she argues that these narrow expectations prioritize flashy marketing over sound agricultural practices and economic sustainability for producers. Through a deep dive into her own processing methods—including floor drying and shorter fermentation times—Solis advocates for "quiet, complex coffee" that emphasizes craftsmanship and replicability over artificial extremes. The episode serves as a vulnerable, insightful look at the tension between industry trends and the practical, daily realities of making high-quality, accessible coffee.