TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR COFFEE FOR FREE 

my family watching me not only buying specialty roasted beans every month, but now sorting the beans before grinding them as well as picking out chaff.

Waiting for the James Hoffmann colab: "Tasting chaff from the 1930's"

Here's a suggestion everyone can try at home. Sort a decent sized batch so you can come up with 30grams or more of defective beans, then grind and brew it up side by side with the good beans, just to know what it is you've removed, and to be able to understand what would be considered undesirable flavors.

My mother taught me this when I was 10. She worked for a large coffee broker/roaster in Germany in the 60's , and I have been doing this my whole life. Everyone likes the coffee I serve and wonders how I make such a good brew.

Dude, can't thank you enough for this! Removing chaff has elevated my cup to a whole new level. No joke. The difference is insaneee! THANK YOU

Thanks for taking the time to talk about this. So many channels just echo well-known information… but this is good stuff.

I think you’ve really tuned in your videos! The production, pace, and shot selection in this video are on point!

You are a legend LANCE, thanks for the knowledge that you share with us. Im thinking it is not just that, it is also the mood, the vibes, jokes ...you know? I really really enjoy my time watching and learning about coffee in this way! 👏

Thanks again, Lance ! we love you too !

This is how my morning routine doubles in duration...BUT all for the cause. Thanks Lance!

I saw this one trick from James Hoffmann, actually it was used in his blade grinder video, but essentially what you have to do is to spread your ground coffee onto a sheet of paper towel and some of the fines should get caught in it, so you end up with a cleaner cup. That means also dosing a little bit more every time to account for the loss though :)

Great video, can use the lesser beans to adjust/purge grinder

Great video Lance👏🏻 very practical and helpful, love it!

Another excellent video from your channel! Glad I found yall. Great content!

Excellent tips! Going to try this tomorrow. You rock brother!

Great video. Btw, I found that if I just take the Comandante receptacle off the bottom after grinding and hold it over the sink, rest my forearm on the edge of the sink, and shake gently but rapidly back and forth, most of the chaff flies out like popcorn, and I just have to stop a couple times and lightly blow the ones that don't fly out on their own.

Thank you very much. Can't wait to implement the tips in my coffee.

Loved the concept and loved the production quality on this one!

I absolutely love Ethiopian coffee but knew nothing about quakers. This was super helpful, looking forward to trying this out. Thank you!

Always learning new things here! I'll try it

Thanks Lance! I always learn something new.

Excellent tips....I will absolutely do this!

Got a mixed set of 3 light roast coffees, papaya/red fruit/grape fermentation. No matter how I brewed the cup, there was this strange bitterness and drying taste. I sorted the beans like you did and removed some chaff, couldn't get most of it out. Immediately saw an increase in sweetness, and less of the bitters, and more rich darker flavors. Glad to get more info on this, and you for sure helped me get better at brewing coffee. Best wishes and hope to keep seeing your content!

Appreciate your content. It's distinct and helpful. Thanks!

Love this video. Everyone can do this. No need to be a coffee nerd or spend money to improve your cup. 👌

I’m just getting into espresso but was wondering last week if chaff mattered in my aeropress, so this is super helpful thanks.

Thank you, Lance, for this great video!!! I was always wondering whether I should sort out the weird-looking beans, now I know!!! One of the most valuable videos!

Thank you Lance.

James Hoffmann is about to make a pour over exclusively with quakers and chaff 😂

Fantastic insight. We tend to pull out all our defective beans as best we can during the roast process, but like you say it is nigh on impossible to get them all out. Very interesting test results from the taste test. Cheers

I sort the coffee I roast and do it before and after roasting. The other thing you didn’t mention is insect damage. Hard to see, but often times there are tiny holes in the seed that can cause the coffee to taste off and roast unevenly.

Surprising just how close chocholate and coffee really are. "blowing out the chaff" is almost exactly what we refer to as winnowing in chocolate. There's a paper thin husk on each cocoa bean, roasting allows that to kind of separate. So then you crack the beans (break them in to nibs) then go over the cracked beans usually with a blow dryer to just blow the husks out (in larger operations there's a vacuum sorting system that allows the heavier nibs to fall while the lighter husks get sucked away) Just reminded me of that the way you were getting rid of the chaff was a much gentler way of winnowing, albeit just as messy.

I'm proud of myself! (New to the espresso world, like a month or so) and lately on my own learned the shake and blow method to remove chaff. I guess it's kind of a learned approach. I still feel proud of myself for figuring that out so soon 🥰🙌🥳

Thank you Lance for all the great coffee content you provide! I learned so much from all of your videos. Your production quality is getting better and better :)

15 secs in and I'm hitting the thumbs up button! You are such a charismatic guy!

Will be trying this when I go back home.

Never heard of either of these tips. Appreciate the share.

Finally, a specific use for my Kruve sifter that I have. I thought removing all the fines from my morning filter brew would sweeten things up - but no, it made the coffee dull. Will try just removing the chaf tomorrow.

Hi Lance, thanks for the great video as always. I have been recently think a lot about preinfusion and how it works. Could you please do a video about it regarding the theory and the difference between preinfused coffee and not preinfused as well as preinfusion times from 5 seconds to a crazy 20 or 30 seconds. Also, should you start shot clock at the time of preinfusion or at the first drop of coffee. So many question!!! Would love to hear more about this!

Great video, thanks for all the information.

Loved to see Hugo shine! He was born for this

This is fantastic info, and I had an immediate and significant improvement!!!

I picked out the Quakers in a Ethiopian Ardi coffee once and thought it was more boring and lost the wild fruit notes I liked about that one. When I added them back in to the next shot of espresso I thought it was better but I may have to experiment more with that.

Took 30 seconds today to pick through my beans and my afternoon aeropress was hugely improved. Thanks!

Lance: You don't need to do this for espresso Me making espresso: I'm fucking doing it.

Great work again!

Oh, so those are quakers. I've always wondered why some beans don't ever roast as neatly as most of the others. I always throw them away because they're often too light colored and I'm just afraid that they might break my grinder or something. As for chaff: I always use a fine mesh strainer after grinding to break up clumps. Sifting out the chaff was a neat little side effect of that and the sudden difference in cup quality the first time I did that was definitely big for me.

Fascinating - will be experimenting with suggestions, thnx!

my local roaster must screen the incoming beans, cause i can't find any defects/quakers in my bags... so glad i live in Maryland!

Great video! Looking forward to your thoughts on the Smart Espresso Profiler.

I tried blowing out the chaff this morning and I was blown away. The process was messy and I think I lost more than chaff. But it took a coffee I was unimpressed with and made it delicious. The video was supposed to improve my coffee for free but I just purchased a Kruve sifter. I've always wanted to try it but could never justify the cost and extra waste. I doubt it's something I'll do for every coffee but I'm looking forward to experimenting it.

Brewing the different kinds of flawed seeds separately would be very interesting too.

You bastard! 😊 Tried this with a washed Kenya from Passenger this morning and it really did make a difference. I would say it was subtle…but not really. Removing the chaff resulted in a noticeably cleaner, sweeter cup. Now I have to do this every morning!! 😖🤣

Yes! My french press immediately improved!

the audio is on point !

Thanks Lance... now making my coffee takes twice as long. But at least is tastes better :)

Thanks for the free stuff! 🤓☕️ Im probably going to cup some chaff now.

Super helpful video Lance! Thank you for the quality content, just picked up two bags of coffee from a local roaster yesterday evening and will be using these tips!

What's the exact procedure for removing the chaff with double grinding? How coarse should the first grind be?

I totally agree--I was floored the first time I sieved out the chaff. When I first started dipping my toes into specialty coffee, I'd assumed visible chaff on the beans was a feature of higher quality beans/roasting but especially during the early pandemic, the extra free time meant experiments which meant sorting out the chaff, and it improved clarity on a similar magnitude as upgrading to a better grinder.

Amazing!

Would have loved to see a best possible cup vs worst possible cup comparison with only the discarded beans

The audio quality of this one is top notch

Maybe this is the answer to my problems. I gonna try this.

I’m weirdly excited that you said “fishy green tea” because I’ve totally gotten that note from tea before!

I tried the chaff removal method this morning. The coffee was Onyx’s Kenya Gachatha AA. A lot of chaff. I think it tasted better but way too messy when blowing it out. Lost some coffee grounds too.

Perfect timing. I have a Kenyan coffee that my wife roasted beautifully that tastes great, but is the most difficult coffee I’ve used for pulling consistent espresso shots. Even with WDT, OCD, and meticulous prep, back to back pulls from a high-end machine can be ristretto or lungo with crazy channels. The crazy part is that every pull has tasted really good and interesting. This coffee is like a crazy, temperamental artist who might use gold or garbage as a medium, but always delivers great works. I don’t see many quakers, but there is a ton of chaff. I’ll try cleaning up my doses to see if I can get consistency. The roast is already spectacular and unbelievably forgiving. If I can bring it to the next level, this will be one of those coffees that I remember for a lifetime.

I just sorted through the beans in my canister and pulled out a lot of junk. I feel like a nerd, but it makes sense since I always sort through the beans I cook with.

I know the Niche isn’t your pick for drip methods, but one nice thing about the Niche cup is a lot of the chaff tends to stick to the sides of the top of the cup and you can easily scoop it out

Thank you very much

Thanks!

Very helpful video, thanks. But I would like more close-ups showing defects compared to regular beans. But even so, like it.

Hi Lance, what grind size are you using at the K-max for cupping? Thanks in advance.

Thanks, Lance! I'd be interested to see how you blow the chaff out on a single grind and how much of a mess it can make in the kitchen. Do you think you could make a "short" about that? I agree that double-grinding is too much to do every day.

Lance, you are the M.C. Hammer of coffee.

very interesting. Now I want to do a cupping with one sorted coffee and one using ONLY quakers

Lance buddy, the way I understand it, tipping generally occurs early in the roast with too high of preheat temp/initial gas setting, and won’t be visibly detectable once the coffee finishes roasting. If memory serves, the Mill City roaster videos covered this Nice idea to cup the chaff, I’m def gonna try it.

that coffee heart made my day ❤

Best vid yet.

What would be awesome, is a pdf with all your best examples (plus insect damage, etc) that we cod print off and refer back to

Almost forgot to click the thumbs up. Thanks for reminding me. 😉

Loving the daddy hoff outros

I spy with my eye 2 Lelits. I hope there’s a video this week comparing the two as I’m torn between the Bianca and Marax for a purchase next week.

great video!

great video! you motivated to me to separate the chaff again haha. grettings from argentina!

How coarse do you go with the initial grind to separate the chaff? Wouldn't that influence the beans negatively if you don't grind as fine later on?

I’m not sure when I stated following your content regularly. However, I can tell that your videos and the flow are greatly improved! Not to say this video is bad (definitely not) but your newer videos is just on a higher level 😁

What a funny man! :D I see you also have the 1zpresso mills, nice!

Amazing

Nice to see Hugo! Hey lance, could we use the cruve on the highest setting just to sort the silver skin off? Would love to see how you blow them away so i can visualize it better, too. Cheers e bom dia!

Would be awesome to see a video of an efficient method for getting rid of the chaff! I know you showed your way and talked about it a little, but they seem kinda tedious. Possible to find an easy way to do a whole bag all at once or something? And what product you could probably use to help with that?

Super nice. Thank U.

What the production quality 😮🤯

Lance, any plans to review the Ascaso Steel Duo? Would really like to hear your thoughts on it.

you removed a noticeable amount of fines when you separated the chaff. ray murakawa did the chaff test a few years ago using a kruve sifter to sort the fines back into the coffee, and had no noticeable difference. he also brewed the extracted chaff as a tea. of course every coffee is different but its an interesting video

After the last Micra video, when the opening music plays I can't help but imagine you beatboxing it

I roast my own in a Behmor, then remove the mesh drum and blow the chaff out with an Ego leaf blower on turbo. Makes for a much cleaner cup. Now I have to start sorting out the quakers and other defectives.

Lance, I have both those same hand grinders. How did you set the silver one up for chaff removal?

Quite fascinating and I'm definitely going to try it out, but I was hoping for more details on how to remove the chaff. I got some idea of how you do it from the video, but yeah. More details would be nice.

What’s the recommended steps/technique for double grinding?