Where is Scott Rao?

06/17/2026

☕️ COFFEE TIP OF THE DAY!! ☕️

What is in a comprehensive water test?

Beyond the basics of hardness, alkalinity, and TDS, if you are setting up a water-treatment system for a cafe, it is essential to know the levels of the following analytes: 

-Calcium (can cause scaling)
-Magnesium
-Sulfate
-Chloride (can cause corrosion)
-Heavy metals (iron, lead)
-Other metals (zinc, copper, aluminum)

If you use well water, you may also need to test for bacteria, pesticides and other biological contaminants.

I would never choose a water-treatment system for a cafe without first getting a comprehensive water test. Once you have the test results, deciding the best type of water-treatment system is easy. Without a test, you are just guessing. 

Test, don’t guess.

06/15/2026

Now back to our regularly scheduled program: fresh, washed Ethiopians have arrived, and we couldn’t be happier. If we could have purchased a whole container of this, I would have (we’d then be broke, but happy.)

Stephen from The Coffee Quest US found this lot and earmarked it for us, knowing we’d jump on it.

This year’s Ethiopian crop seems to be the best in some years. This coffee won’t last long 💨

www.getprodigal.com

06/14/2026

This shot, back in December, 2025, completely changed my view of what espresso could be. I’ve been criticized many times for saying I rarely enjoy espresso. My complaint has always been that espresso is nowhere near as clean as filter coffee.

The Better Vessel highlights how much better espresso can be, if the crema and some suspended solids and oils are removed.

Thanks, Michael Harris Conlin

Better Vessel available at www.scottrao.com

06/14/2026

05/11/2026

I’m thrilled to contribute to the first edition of the new coffee magazine ! Published by the lovely people of , the magazine features beautiful photography, a deep-dive into Lisbon’s coffee scene, and some wonderfully written articles.

I wrote about pre-batch espresso, as I felt I wasn’t receiving enough grief online this month 😅. More seriously, pre-batched espresso is a topic I get asked about often, and I believe the conversation around it tends to skip one salient point: pre-batched espresso, the way it is done at .coffee and in Australia, tastes *better* than fresh espresso. The reason is based in sound coffee science. Want to know more? Read the article …

Thanks to for opening my eyes to the profound difference between filtered and not filtered espresso. And hat tip to for recognizing ages ago that crema is, indeed, rubbish

05/10/2026

Excerpt from The Physics of Espresso by 

“Top: The temperature across the vertical layers of an espresso puck can differ by 30°C (54°F) for the first several seconds of a traditional shot. This means that the different layers contribute significantly different flavor profiles, an effect that would be furthered with a thicker espresso puck or shorter shot ratio.”

Notes from Scott:

I remember reading a 1998 blog post by David Schomer of  , in which he drilled a hole in the bottom of a portafilter basket and inserted a bead probe to measure the temperature at the bottom of the puck. Of course, I immediately tried the same experiment, and was shocked how low the temperature stayed until near the end of an extraction.

This is one reason lightly-roasted espresso can often be sour. The majority of espresso extraction occurs during the first 10 seconds, when the lower half of the puck averages about 50℃.

One way to “fix” this temperature gradient is to pull a blooming shot. In the second image, soaking the puck using a 30-second bloom homogenizes the temperature across the puck. The impact is greater than these graphs imply at first glance, since very little extract leaves the puck during the first 35 seconds of a blooming shot.

05/04/2026

I’m pleased to announce my roasting masterclass in Brussels during World of Coffee. Whether you roast on an air roaster or a drum, this class contains everything you’ve ever wanted to know about roasting. After working on almost 900 machines in my career, I’m ready to dive into the specifics of how to optimize any machine.

Class topics will include:

How to create a warmup and between-batch protocol for flawless consistency

Optimizing drum RPM, airflow, and BBP for different machines and batch sizes

How to use curves and data to improve roast quality and consistency

How to manage air roasters vs drum roasters

Sample roasting and cupping strategies for green selection

Roasting QC methods, including color measurement, weight loss, and cupping

Cupping of underdeveloped and light-but-developed roasts from Prodigal

endless Q&A

and much more

In recent years, I’ve added a lot of information and tips about air roasting, as well as how to differentiate approaches to washed and natural coffees. I will adapt the class as needed to your machine and experience level.

Tickets: $275 (Seating is limited, so this class will sell out well ahead of time)

See link in bio or www.scott.com for tickets

Date: Saturday, June 27

Time: 8am—11am

** Past attendees of my live seminars are entitled to 25% off. Email [email protected] for a discount code.

04/13/2026

Those of you at World of Coffee who tasted fresh-crop Finca Las Palmas bourbon aji, Las Delicias geisha, or El Renacer geisha know that these are special coffees.

Likewise, if you stopped by the booth and had a cup of the Ecuador Vinka honey sidra or Colombia Flor Blanca geisha, you had some of the best coffees at the show. 

This is the leanest time of year for fresh green coffee, but Regalia and Prodigal are pulling out all the stops to bring you fresh green. 

Note: just because a coffee is on a third-wave menu, it doesn’t mean a coffee is fresh. But our companies buy green directly from origin and have it shipped immediately after it is milled, we expedite green shipping, and buy small enough quantities of each coffee to run out of green well before the green can possibly taste aged.

Roasted coffee from fresh green doesn’t cost extra, so why not insist on the freshest green?

04/11/2026

Stop by Sunday morning 7–11 for some fantastic batch brews. No matter how busy it gets, we are going to attempt to prevent anyone from ever waiting more than five minutes.

We will have retail bags available, and from will be on hand to upgrade your coffee experience with his mineral wizardry.

We’d love to see you there!

03/30/2026

☕️ COFFEE TIP OF THE DAY!! ☕️ How to find the rough side of the filter


If you use a Pulsar or Pulsar Mini, Filter3, or a Hoop with my upgraded filter paper, all of those papers are “creped” on one side. Creped paper has been deliberately wrinkled, crinkled, or textured during manufacturing, resulting in a three-dimensional, wavy structure rather than a flat, smooth surface.

Creped paper provides faster flow with lower risk of clogging. Since the creped/rough side of the filter paper has more surface area than flat filter paper, it can catch more fines and can accommodate more holes for high flow. To achieve such flow with a flat surface would require larger holes, which would decrease flavor clarity. So creped filters can provide high flow, low clogging, and high clarity.

I have received more than 100 “How can I tell which side is rough?” messages over the past few years. Here are two suggestions to find the rough side: 

1. Rub the filter between your thumb and forefinger, then flip the filter over several times, rubbing between those two fingers. Flipping the filter should help make the textural contrast easier to detect.

2. If you still can’t feel the difference, look at the filter along its profile in front of a light bulb or a dark surface. The rougher side of the filter should look like it has small hairs sticking off of it.

Please share this post with others!

Thanks