Coffee Knowledge Hub

How do you bring customers back to your cafe, week after week, season after season? With a well curated coffee menu. George Shutt, head of coffee at Harris + Hoole gives a pragmatic masterclass in drink developmentfor cafe operators. With tips on creating drinks that are on trend, delicious, on brand and good for business. Who is this episdoe for? Anyone looking to ignite their menu, learn how to develop drinks, or understand which trends to adopt or ignore.George Shutt Harris+HooleAdditional discussions and insights on the https://coffeeknowledgehub.com

Most cafés don’t have a coffee quality problem—they have a training problem. Kathie Hilberg breaks down what makes barista training effective, when roaster-led education is enough, and when a more advanced approach is needed to grow both people and performance.Andrew Tolley sits down with Kathie, a seasoned barista, educator, competition judge, and specialty coffee professional with 15 years of industry experience. Together, they explore the real return on investing in training. If you’ve ever wondered whether staff education is worth the cost, how to build confidence behind the bar, or why great coffee can still fall short without the right team, this conversation offers practical answers.Why training can improve quality, service speed, and customer confidenceWhere cafés can access training, from roasters and independent educators to online resources and in-house programsHow to choose the right training format for your businessWhat makes a great trainerWhy foundational barista skills still matter in an age of automationHow to train employees who don’t drink coffeeWhy clear SOPs and consistent training materials help teams perform betterHow reliability, curiosity, and a willingness to learn can support career growthKathie also shares her own career journey—from competing as a barista and Brewers Cup competitor to judging, leading with the BGA and SCA, educating coffee professionals, and moving into specialty tea with Spirit Tea. Her story offers valuable insight for anyone considering their next step in coffee, hospitality, sales, or education.For café owners, trainers, and baristas who want to build stronger teams and better coffee programs, this episode is a practical look at how skills, systems, and people work together.Where to find Kathie: Instagram: @kaffeinehilberg@Totally dissolved podcast (spotify, apple etc)Find more insights from this show on the https://community.coffeeknowledgehub.com/

On the surface, this is a niche topic about a single attribute in the sensory evaluation of coffee. In fact the removal of balance from sensory scoresheets underpins much of the updated conception of how coffee professionals can subjectively and objectively evaluate the sensory experience of coffee. If you're a cupper who is alarmed at the assertion that scoring coffee 80+ to make it specialty is subjective, rethinking balance could open a door to a new understanding. If you're a cupper who is upset that there is no longer an objective overall score for coffee, Peter argues that the subjective experience is a higher order experience, hard to quantify, but is still critical for the sensory evaluation of coffee.This conversation between Andrew Tolley and Peter Giuliano traces “balance” from its origins as a wine term, which Ted Lingle imported into coffee cupping in the 1980s as part of the *Coffee Cuppers Handbook*. We discuss its quiet removal from the Coffee Value Assessment (CVA) system as a result of feedback from a survey of 1,600 cuppers through to its current, softer echo in World Coffee Championship “taste experience” scoring.This podcast episode of the Coffee Knowledge Hub Podcast covers:-history of balance as an attribute in coffee- with new and diverse tasting experiences — from traditional specialty coffees to trendy, innovative styles — how we can build standards for different environments- how we can bring different modalities into the tasting experience to better capture the overall perception of a coffee- how we can communicate with customers and serve balanced, consistent coffees for different audiencesPeter and Andrew close the episode by diving deeper into practical tips for cafes to deliver a balanced, consistent espresso to their customers. So definitely stick around until the end.And if you have read this far and just want to know what balance is: It was defined as the interaction of flavour, aftertaste, acidity, and mouthfeel. Where a higher scoring coffee had all the positive impressions that the cupper expected and none of these dominated or detracted from another in a negative way. The cupper would score it 6-10 based on their impression. Find the link to the podcast episode in our bio or listen to it on your favorite podcast platform.If you like the Coffee Knowledge Hub Podcast, please make sure to subscribe, comment, follow or leave a review.LINK

Is the specialty coffee industry going through an identity crisis, or just growing pains. We zoom in and out on the industry at different parts of the value chain to better understand what is happening in the specialty coffee industry. Rob Stephen has a 30+ year career in coffee. He is co host of the Coffee Memo, CEO of Covoya Specialty NA, an SCA Board Director and past SCAA president amongst many other things. This conversation was candid and expresses our own views, not organisations we are affiliated with. It will give many coffee professionals something to think about. Green coffee identity (25 magazine, full report also available)Watch and chat on the coffeeknowledgehub.com

Darleen Scherer has  zoomed in on what makes businesses stand out from the crowd since her first job in advertising in the 90’s and through her coffee career that started in the early 2000’s. In this episode we discuss why you need to differentiate your business, how to identify what you makes you special and how to weave your brand identity throughout your business. Darleen Scherer has a career spanning 30 years across advertising, coffee and brand strategy. You can learn more from Darleen through her weekly Linked In newsletter, her website , substack and the coffee knowledge hub.