Bean On Bar

04 — LEARN

Coffee education that helps you
buy and brew better.

Bean On Bar should not only identify a bean. It should teach you what the label means, why a coffee might taste the way it does, and what to change when the cup misses.

Start learning Try brew guidance
LEARNING PATH

Read the bag → choose the bean → brew with intent → adjust the cup.

Each guide is written for drinkers, travelers, cafe regulars, and curious beginners—not just coffee professionals.

QUICK MAP

Eight skills that make coffee
less mysterious.

Use these as standalone lessons or as explanations behind the app’s scoring, brewing, and travel recommendations.

01

Read a coffee bag

Know which label details actually help you predict the cup.
02

Roast date

Freshness is useful, but “freshest” is not always best.
03

Processing

Washed, natural, honey, and anaerobic in plain language.
04

SCA scores

Use scores as evidence, not as a personality replacement.
05

Price per gram

Compare value across bag sizes, countries, and currencies.
06

Choose a brewer

Match V60, Switch, Orea, or Origami to the bean and your taste.
07

Grind microns

Understand microns without pretending grinders are identical.
08

Fix the cup

Sour, bitter, thin, hollow, muted, or boozy: what to change next.

01 — HOW TO READ A COFFEE BAG

Look for signals,
not poetry.

A good label reduces uncertainty. It tells you where the coffee came from, how it was processed, how fresh it is, and what the roaster thinks you might taste. Marketing language is fine, but transparent information is more useful.

Strong signals

Origin, region, farm or producer, variety, process, roast date, roast profile, tasting notes, weight, and price.

Helpful context

Elevation, lot name, harvest season, recommended brew recipe, green buyer notes, or traceable producer story.

Weak signals

Vague words like “premium,” “smooth,” or “artisan” without supporting details. Nice branding does not guarantee a good cup.

Bean On Bar use

The app extracts these fields first, then scores the bean based on transparent label signals and evidence you provide.

02 — ROAST DATE

Fresh matters, but resting
matters too.

Roasted coffee releases carbon dioxide. If you brew too early, especially for filter, the cup can taste sharp, gassy, or uneven. If you wait too long, aromatics fade and the cup can become flat.

0–3 daysOften too fresh

Can be lively but unstable. Better for cupping experiments than judging the final character.

5–21 daysFilter sweet spot

Many light-to-medium filter roasts open up here. This is a good starting window, not a law.

10–35 daysEspresso window

Espresso often benefits from more rest because gas makes extraction and crema less predictable.

After 6 weeksStill usable

Not automatically bad. Expect less aroma; grind finer or use immersion to recover body.

03 — PROCESSING

Processing shapes the cup
before roasting begins.

Processing is how fruit is removed from the seed. It can influence clarity, sweetness, body, fruitiness, fermentation, and perceived acidity.

Washed

Clean, bright, transparent. Good when you want origin clarity and crisp acidity.

Natural

Fruit-forward, heavier body, sometimes berry-like. Can be exciting or a little wild.

Honey

Between washed and natural: rounded sweetness, texture, and gentle fruit.

Anaerobic

Controlled fermentation. Can bring tropical, winey, boozy, or candy-like notes.

04 — SCA SCORES

Scores are evidence,
not destiny.

SCA-style scores are usually based on cupping quality. They can indicate technical quality, but they do not know your taste preferences, brew method, water, grinder, or mood.

80–84Specialty baseline

Can be very enjoyable, especially if fresh, well roasted, and aligned with your preferences.

85–87Strong signal

Often more expressive, cleaner, or sweeter. A good range for daily exciting coffees.

88+Rare or standout

Potentially exceptional, but still check process, roast date, price, and whether you like the flavor direction.

05 — PRICE PER GRAM

Compare value with
one honest number.

Different bag sizes make coffee pricing hard to compare. Price per gram gives you a clean baseline before considering rarity, shipping, cafe markup, and personal enjoyment.

Price per gram = bag price ÷ bag weight

Example: a $28 bag at 200g is $0.14/g. A $32 bag at 250g is $0.128/g, so it may be better value even though the sticker price is higher.

  • Use the same currency when comparing.
  • Separate shipping from bean price when possible.
  • Rare varieties and competition lots may cost more for valid reasons.
  • A cheaper stale bag is not better value if you will not enjoy it.

06 — CHOOSE A BREWER

Pick the tool that fits
the bean and the day.

Brewers are not personality tests. They are different ways of controlling flow, contact time, heat, bypass, and texture.

V60

Great for clarity and aromatics. More sensitive to pouring and grind consistency.

Hario Switch

Forgiving hybrid immersion/percolation. Useful for sweet, even cups and travel routines.

Orea-style flat bottom

Fast, even extraction and good sweetness. Useful for modern light roasts.

Origami

Flexible and expressive. Paper choice changes flow, body, and clarity.

07 — GRIND MICRONS

Microns describe particles,
not your grinder’s soul.

A micron is one-thousandth of a millimeter. It helps describe grind size, but grinder burrs, alignment, fines, bean density, roast level, and calibration all change how a setting behaves.

Coarser

Usually faster flow, less extraction, lighter body, and less bitterness. Too coarse can taste sour or hollow.

Finer

Usually slower flow, more extraction, more body, and more bitterness. Too fine can taste dry or harsh.

Use as a range

A recipe saying “700 microns” means “start near this zone,” not “every grinder should taste identical here.”

Track outcomes

Save grinder setting, drawdown, and taste. Your history becomes more useful than generic charts.

08 — FIX THE CUP

Bad cups are feedback,
not failure.

Change one variable at a time. If you change grind, temperature, ratio, agitation, and brewer all at once, you will not know what helped.

Sour / sharp

Extract more: grind finer, use hotter water, extend contact time, or pour with more agitation.

Bitter / dry

Extract less: grind coarser, lower temperature, reduce agitation, or shorten drawdown.

Thin

Increase dose, grind slightly finer, or use a brewer/recipe with more body.

Hollow

Check water, grind distribution, and ratio. Hollow cups often need better balance, not just more extraction.

Muted

Use fresher coffee, cleaner water, a sharper grind, or a recipe with more clarity.

Boozy

For heavy ferment coffees, lower extraction slightly or choose immersion to soften edges.