Scott Rao

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• Site scottrao.com His site: coffee books, consulting, and a blog on roasting and brewing.

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  • Sample Roesting 9 Aug 2026     In this post, I’d like to dive into our sample roasting system at Prodigal.  Why do we sample roast? If you want to cup samples before purchasing green coffee, you have two choices: ask suppliers for…
  • Crema is rubbish, 2026 edition 7 Jun 2026     In 2009, James Hoffmann famously stated “crema is rubbish.” His comments generated heaps of discussion for many years, but somehow, they didn’t have much lasting impact on how people serve or enjoy espress…
  • How to choose a grind setting 4 May 2026   Weber EG-1 grinder and “The Bird” brewer   I often get asked versions of “what grind setting would I use for a v60 and the xyz grinder?” There are a few problems with these questions: I’ve usually not used t…

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  • Bed depth: why it matters 11 Nov 2025     As third-wave coffee has evolved over the past 25 years, we’re probably at or near the extremes of a few long-term trends: roasts have gotten lighter, roasters use fresher green, on average, than ever befo…
  • Colombia, 2025 2 Sept 2025   View fullsize   Last week I had the fortune to visit Colombia, this time spending a few days in Nariño and Medellin. Mil gracias to Adriana of Inconexus for hosting Philip and me in Nariño. Despite a stomach…
  • Coffeehouse Stories, Part 3: The Snakeman 7 Aug 2025     Some of you may not know that I owned several cafes from the mid-90s to 2012. Somehow, the most interesting life stories and people I’ve met came from that first cafe in the 90s.  Our all-time most in…
  • Coffeehouse Stories, Part 2: fight for survival 26 May 2025   This is an ai’s rendition of my former cafe. Ai doesn’t konw not to put green coffee in direct sunlight :0   When I moved to Amherst, MA in 1994 to open Rao’s Coffee Roasting Company, I had hoped for a warm…
  • Coffeehouse Stories, Part 1: Ed's Study Aid 26 Mar 2025     At 22, I left university and decided to open a coffeehouse. With about $10,000 to my name, and no idea where to put the business, or how to fund it, I packed up my car, left LA, and drove across the countr…
  • REVOLUTIONARY NEW SHOWER SCREENS 13 Mar 2025     Decent Espresso has done it again. This time, they’ve revolutionized shower screens.  The new “dimples” and “freckles” shower screens prevent water from merging into just a few streams, as happens wit…
  • The twin myths of “easier to extract” and “overextraction” 2 Feb 2025     There are a few common utterances about coffee that perplex me. One is blaming “overextraction” for bitter or astringent brews, despite their extraction levels not being high. The other is calling some cof…
  • ADVANCED HOOPING 14 Dec 2024     Now that I’ve used the Ceado Hoop brewer for several months, I have a few tips to share with readers. Although the Hoop produces beautiful extractions more easily than any other brewer, every brewer has a…
  • A Deep Dive into Cup of Excellence 13 Nov 2024 My sincere thanks to Peter Jones of Idle Hands Roasting and Trident Cafe, and to Benjamin Paz of Beneficio San Vicente, for their help with this post. If you enjoy this post and want to help increase awareness of Cup of…
  • Color Measurement: Best Practices 24 Oct 2024     Given that coffee color is the best predictor of flavor, color measurement is a useful tool in roasting quality control. There are many color meters on the market with similar utility. I don’t have a stron…
  • Introducing the Ceado Hoop 15 Sept 2024     Like many of you, I’ve seen the Ceado Hoop here and there, and never paid much attention to it. But when my friend Alessandro of Aroma Cofffee in Bologna brewed a Hoop of a Prodigal coffee for me this summ…
  • Pros and cons of various roast-control systems 2 Sept 2024 There are currently a few ways to control roasts; from most common to least common are:  gas valve % (power settings) inlet temperature  exhaust (environmental) temperature PID curve management    &n…
  • Viva Colombia 26 Jun 2024     I recently spent twelve days in Colombia. It was an unforgettable trip, full of learning, beautiful scenery, wonderful hospitality and new friends. I’d like to share a bit of my experience with you. I visi…
  • The Bias Against Blends 3 Jun 2024 The names “holiday blend” and “house blend” don’t exactly get the pulses of third-wave consumers racing. Blending has tremendous potential to mold or improve coffee flavor, but has an unfortunate reputation among many c…
  • How the Decent evolved to make delicious espresso easier 23 May 2024   Disclaimer: I’ve worked with Decent Espresso from the start, helping to plan and design the DE1. I may be biased, but everything in this post is factual. Having a software background, John designed the DE1 to be…
  • Prodigal QC Protocols 8 May 2024     I’d like to share a brief overview of the quality-control protocols we use at Prodigal. I think you’ll find them interesting, and probably a little extreme. We take great pains to buy and roast the most de…
  • Quakers and Optical Sorting 7 Mar 2024 When we started Prodigal, I took a leap of faith on an optical sorter from Alibaba. I don’t think I have to tell you the rest of that story 🤕.  After Mark spent months on Whatsapp with the manufacturer, only to re…

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  Link verified 5 Sept 2026.