James Hoffmann

James Hoffmann

@jameshoffmann.bsky.social

I mostly make things to do with coffee.

5.3K followers84 following82 posts

James Hoffmann reposted

Initially I was frustrated with the rise of self-checkout but I appreciated how stores passed the savings on to me rather than pocket the money, fire armies of workers & make me do a job I suck at. It’s also why I’m optimistic about AI! I have been kicked in the head by several horses.

I'm launching a newsletter! You can sign up here: thedripfeed.coffee What you can expect: - Essays and deeper dives on coffee topics that are at the front of my mind. - Curated links to interesting things, with some background on why they're interesting - what we're making

thedripfeed.coffeeTHE DRIP FEEDThe newsletter will be a mix of news, opinions, insights or occasional deep dives. They'll complement the videos, let you know what we've created recently and where you can find it if you missed it. D...

This won't be weekly because we all get enough email. I want you to look forward to receiving it and be excited to read it. Aiming for every 3 weeks or so. Honestly, I miss writing. I used to write about coffee for more than a decade before doing videos. Happy to be back at it!

James Hoffmann reposted

I wrote about the pervasive fear of mould and mycotoxin contamination in coffee. It's pushed by wellness influencers and "clean" coffee companies as a health hazard, but it's really not that big a deal. And in the end, these fears are just another way to put downward pressure on coffee farmers.

thepourover.coffeeOn the Unfounded Fears of Coffee ContaminationThe internet is full of warnings about the dangers lurking within coffee, whether it’s mould, mycotoxins, or other contaminants. The truth, however, is far more prosaic.

Thank you to everyone who shared or took part. We have over 2,000 responses from 69 different countries! We'd love to get to 3,000 (because round numbers!) - sharing this further would be amazing - thank you!

James Hoffmann@jameshoffmann.bsky.social

How long does it take for a barista to earn enough money to buy a cappuccino in their own coffee shop? What does that tell us about different economies and coffee cultures around the world? Work in a coffee shop? We'd love your input! forms.gle/DZFThBdjWi1g...

How long does it take for a barista to earn enough money to buy a cappuccino in their own coffee shop? What does that tell us about different economies and coffee cultures around the world? Work in a coffee shop? We'd love your input! forms.gle/DZFThBdjWi1g...

forms.gleThe Cappuccino Index SurveyHave you ever wondered how long you need to work to be able to buy one cappuccino from the café you work at? We did! We are running this short survey to look at how barista wages compare to actual pr...

I last did this survey maybe a decade ago and it was super interesting, and I really want to run it again to collect more data. Obviously, all the findings will be shared (the data is anonymous). Hopefully it can also help with benchmarking wages for baristas in different parts of the world too!

If you work in a coffee shop/serve coffee anywhere, I'd love for you to take 1 minute to share some info. If you don't, then any sharing with people who do would be very much appreciated. I want to try to get as much data from different countries as possible.

James Hoffmann reposted

new newsletter today about the shortsightedness of political films and how we interpret them featuring One Battle After Another, Parasite, Civil War, Eddington, and a Marxist-Maoist essay from Jean-Luc Godard goodones.beehiiv.com/p/the-myopia...

goodones.beehiiv.comThe Myopia of Political FilmsLooking at the message of One Battle After Another by examining Parasite, Civil War, and Eddington through Jean-Luc Godard's political film theory

I agree strongly with this. (Though the game of finding a sound professional's breaking point, by seeing just how incorrectly you can pronounce "lavalier" before they lose it, is quite fun)

Captain Disillusion@captaindisillusion.bsky.social

Lav. Just say it normal. "Lav." It's not an exotic space alien whose name is "l-AAH-v" despite being spelled "Lav." It's just lav. Lavalier. Lav. Like "sat nav." Lav.

I don’t know why this makes me as happy as it does, but this is the chart of views for my French Press technique video over the last year. Every little peak happens on a weekend, particularly on Sundays. There is often a notable peak on Christmas Day too!

Editing a video today (because the YT team are still on holiday), and wow - I do not miss editing my videos! I have been meaning to learn Resolve, but suddenly this is making me think twice about that because I'd forgotten the pain of staring at myself and cleaning up my endless mistakes!

I don’t release recipes very often, but when I do I find it surprisingly stressful. With the Tiramisu, the immediate response from lots of people was “I’m going to make this for my whole family for our Christmas gathering!”. That’s a lot of pressure!

It does feel good to finally wrap up two very long projects this month (The Decaf Project and the Tiramisu series). Lots more fun stuff planned for next year, and more experiments/new things/different topics too.

If you're happy to share - we'd love to get your tasting feedback on The Decaf Project Tasting (if you took part) forms.gle/44iFdEfNPc4p... (Submissions will stay open for a few weeks, because I know some folks are still waiting to find a good time to do it, or may be waiting on a delayed delivery)

forms.gleThe Decaf Project tasting feedback formThank you so much for taking part in the Decaf Project! We would love to hear your thoughts on your tasting experience. You will be taken through a short questionnaire collecting information about...

I hope everyone who took part in the project had fun! It was a big and tricky project, and we learned a lot to take into any future projects/collaborative tasting events. The whole thing soaked up a lot of resource (time, money and effort), because we are trying to make something with lasting value.

These kind of projects feel like a good kind of obligation that comes with having this weirdly large platform on YouTube. There are already ideas for future topics and projects, with the goal of being fun and also being a chance to taste and learn about something new and surprising.

James Hoffmann reposted

There is a phrase coined by the scientist and theorist Stafford Beer: “The purpose of a system is what it does”. It can give us a handy, if slightly generalised, way to view the coffee industry—and in particular, the relationship between multinational coffee brands’ marketing and their actions. ☕👇

thepourover.substack.comThe Purpose of the Coffee Industry Is What It DoesCoffee brands love to tout their ethics and human rights policies, yet the supply chain is still built on poverty. At some point, we have to judge the industry not by what it says but by its actions.