CoffeeWiki
Your open guide to everything coffee — bean types, brewing methods, preparations, and history.
Whether you are pulling your first espresso shot or dialing in a competition pour-over, CoffeeWiki collects practical, no-nonsense guides to help you brew a better cup.
Explore by Topic
Bean Types
Explore the world of coffee beans — from Arabica and Robusta to heirloom varieties, processing methods, and how origin shapes flavor in your cup.
Brewing Methods
Learn how to brew great coffee at home with guides on pour-over, French press, AeroPress, cold brew, and other techniques for every skill level.
Preparations
Discover how coffee is prepared around the world — from espresso and cappuccino to Turkish coffee, iced drinks, and specialty café beverages.
Coffee History
Trace the story of coffee from its discovery in Ethiopia through global trade routes, café culture, and the modern specialty coffee movement.
Origins
Travel the Coffee Belt — from Ethiopia and Colombia to Sumatra and Yemen — and learn how terroir, altitude, and climate shape the flavor of every growing region.
Roasting
From green bean to first crack — understand roast levels, the chemistry of the Maillard reaction, home roasting, and how to keep roasted coffee fresh.
Equipment
Grinders, espresso machines, scales, kettles, and water quality — the gear that makes great coffee possible and how to choose it wisely.
Science & Health
The science behind the cup — caffeine and how it works, extraction chemistry, acidity, decaffeination, and what research says about coffee and your health.
Featured Articles
Coffee-to-Water Ratios for Every Method
The complete cross-method reference for coffee-to-water ratios — why weighing in grams beats scoops, how ratio interacts with grind size and roast level, starting points for pour-over, French press, AeroPress, drip, cold brew, moka pot, Turkish coffee, and espresso, and how to fix a cup that tastes wrong.
The Coffee Roasting Process: From Green Bean to Golden Cup
The complete journey of a coffee roast — drying, the Maillard phase, first crack at ~196°C, the development window, second crack at ~224°C — and how roasters use heat, airflow, and time to turn a grassy green seed into coffee.
A Guide to Coffee Varieties
A complete guide to the coffee varieties within Arabica — Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai, SL28 and SL34, Geisha, Pacamara and more — how a variety differs from a species, and why the plant's genetics shape everything from disease resistance to what ends up in your cup.
The Coffee Belt: Where Coffee Grows and Why
A complete tour of the Coffee Belt — the equatorial band where virtually all of the world's coffee grows — covering the growing conditions coffee demands, why altitude and soil matter, and what distinguishes every major producing region from Ethiopia to Indonesia.
Ethiopian Coffee: The Birthplace of Arabica
A guide to the coffee of Ethiopia — the genetic homeland of Arabica — covering Yirgacheffe, Sidama, Guji, and Harrar, the country's uncatalogued heirloom varieties, and the floral, berry-laden, tea-like cups that make it specialty coffee's favorite origin.
Pour-Over Coffee Basics
A complete guide to pour-over brewing with the V60, Chemex, and Kalita Wave — the gear you need, the ratios and grind sizes that work, a step-by-step recipe, and how to troubleshoot a cup that comes out sour, bitter, or slow.
Arabica vs. Robusta: What's the Difference?
A thorough comparison of the two coffee species that supply nearly all the world's coffee — how Arabica and Robusta differ in flavor, caffeine, chemistry, growing conditions, and price, and when each one belongs in your cup.
The Origins of Coffee
How coffee began — the Ethiopian forests where Arabica evolved, the legend of Kaldi and his dancing goats, the Yemeni Sufis who turned a wild berry into qahwa, and the drink's improbable journey from mystic ritual to global habit.
Latest Articles
AeroPress: The Versatile Travel Brewer
The AeroPress explained — how the standard and inverted methods differ, why its ratio flexibility (1:12 to 1:17) makes it the most adaptable brewer made, the case for lower water temperatures, and a reliable starting recipe.
Coffee-to-Water Ratios for Every Method
The complete cross-method reference for coffee-to-water ratios — why weighing in grams beats scoops, how ratio interacts with grind size and roast level, starting points for pour-over, French press, AeroPress, drip, cold brew, moka pot, Turkish coffee, and espresso, and how to fix a cup that tastes wrong.
Cold Brew: Slow Steeping, Smooth Results
How to make cold brew coffee at home — concentrate ratios from 1:4 to 1:8, steep times of 12 to 24 hours, dilution math, why cold extraction tastes so smooth and low in acid, and how cold brew differs from iced coffee.
Drip Coffee and the SCA Golden Cup
How to get genuinely good coffee from an automatic drip machine — the 1:16 to 1:17 ratios that work, what the SCA Golden Cup standard actually measures, why most machines fall short, and the habits that fix it.
French Press: Full-Immersion Brewing
How to brew French press coffee properly — the coarse grind and 1:15 ratio that work, the classic four-minute recipe, James Hoffmann's no-plunge technique for a cleaner cup, and why immersion brewing produces that famous heavy body.
Moka Pot: Stovetop Espresso-Style Coffee
How to brew great coffee in a moka pot — the fill-to-the-valve workflow, why you should never tamp, the hot-water start that prevents bitterness, and stopping the brew at the first gurgle.
Start Here
New to coffee? These guides are a great place to begin.
- Anaerobic and Experimental ProcessingSealed-tank anaerobic fermentation, carbonic maceration, co-fermentation, yeast inoculation, and other experimental coffee techniques — how they work, the wine-like and wildly fruity cups they create, and the debate over whether they enhance coffee or overwhelm it.
- AeroPress: The Versatile Travel BrewerThe AeroPress explained — how the standard and inverted methods differ, why its ratio flexibility (1:12 to 1:17) makes it the most adaptable brewer made, the case for lower water temperatures, and a reliable starting recipe.
- Affogato and Dessert CoffeesThe affogato, Irish coffee, Vienna's whipped-cream traditions, and the espresso martini — coffee's after-dinner repertoire and how to make each one properly at home.
- Coffee Comes to EuropeHow a suspicious Muslim drink conquered Christendom — the penny universities of London, the failed Ottoman siege that caffeinated Vienna, the Paris cafes that incubated revolution, and the coffeehouse's starring role in the Enlightenment.
- Brazilian Coffee: The World's Largest ProducerHow Brazil came to grow a third of the world's coffee — Minas Gerais and the great producing regions, the natural-processing tradition, mechanized harvests on the cerrado, and the chocolate-and-nut profile that anchors espresso blends everywhere.
- Coffee Freshness and Storage: The 7–21 Day Sweet SpotWhy roasted coffee is a fresh product — degassing, the 7–21 day peak window, why light roasts lose their florals fastest, and how to store beans (and when freezing actually makes sense).
- Burr vs. Blade Grinders: Why Particle Uniformity Is the Whole GameWhy burr grinders beat blade grinders for coffee — the physics of uniform extraction, flat vs. conical burrs, what to look for when buying, and the rare cases where a blade grinder is genuinely enough.
- Caffeine Explained: How It Works and How Much Is in Your CupHow caffeine actually works in the brain, how much of it lives in an espresso versus a mug of drip, why one friend can drink a double after dinner and sleep fine while another can't, and how the body processes it all.
Did You Know?
- Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world after crude oil.
- Espresso means "pressed out" in Italian — it refers to the brewing method, not a specific bean.
- The two most cultivated species are Arabica and Robusta, which taste noticeably different.
- Coffee cherries are fruit: each one typically contains two beans.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the ideal coffee-to-water ratio?
- A common starting point is 1:16 by weight — about 60 g of coffee per liter of water. Adjust to taste from there.
- Arabica or Robusta — which is better?
- Arabica is smoother and more aromatic, while Robusta is stronger, more bitter, and higher in caffeine. Neither is strictly better; it depends on the cup you want.
- How should I store coffee beans?
- Keep beans in an airtight container away from light, heat, and moisture. Grind just before brewing for the freshest flavor.
- Why does my coffee taste bitter?
- Bitterness usually comes from over-extraction: too fine a grind, water that is too hot, or brewing for too long. Coarsen the grind or shorten the brew time.