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It seems like every app these days, from Spotify to Steam, shows you a “Year in Review” or a “Wrapped”, as some call it. My (excellent) coffee app of choice, Beanconqueror¹ doesn’t do this, so I figured I would make my own.²

my year in coffee, 2023

This year I started to broaden my understanding of coffee outside of the home brewer lexicon. I learned more about processing methods, varieties, how different countries farm coffee, and better ways to troubleshoot tricky beans.

What I look for in coffee and roasters has also shifted. Now when I buy a bag of beans, I’m looking for interesting, hopefully exceptional, coffee from a roaster that pays a high price and whenever possible, deals directly with the farmer.

TLDR; This year I finally started to realize that not all specialty coffee roasters are created equal.

the coffees

I had some amazing coffee this year. Unlike Spotify Wrapped, where your favorite song is the one you keep going back to, your favorite coffee might be something you drank for a mere 125 grams.

I’m not sure it makes sense to list a “favorite” coffee but a few standouts (in no particular order) I had this year were:

• Finca Tamana, Colombia from Tim Wendelboe
• Agustina Villanueva, Peru from Metric
• Hermenegildo Marin, Mexico from Passenger
• Hamasho, Ethiopia from Sey
• La Minita, Costa Rica from George Howell

Throughout 2023, I dove deeper into the world of home espresso (specifically falling in love with turbo shots) and I bought a new filter grinder, the Fellow Ode Gen 2. I also got a new brewer (the Pulsar) and I started freezing more coffee.

But what I consider most valuable is the growth in my understanding of coffee. I brewed more high quality coffee this year than last and I started cupping which has helped my sense of taste improve immensely.

But enough reflection, let’s dive into the data. I looked at every coffee I bought and brewed in 2023 excluding blends.³

number of bags

In 2023 I tried 37 different single origin coffees and consumed about 9.6 kilos. Or an average of 26.3 grams per day.

origins

I was most excited to look at this part of the data. I have certain origins in my head, like Kenya, that I think are my favorite but the data tells me I there are other countries I keep going back to.

Colombia is by far that top pick followed by Costa Rica, and Ethiopia. Kenya, Peru, and Honduras fall in the middle of the pack.

I’ll also note that I really enjoyed that one coffee from Mexico.

varieties & processing

Common varieties were caturra, SL28, bourbon, pink bourbon (which I always thought was just okay), and Ethiopian landrace/heirloom.

And by a country mile, my most common processing method was washed. I only had around four coffees that were processed differently.

flavor profiles

This is possibly the most fun part of the year in review and a few standouts are clear.

Blackberry, orange, peach, and chocolate (plus some other sweet notes like sugar and honey). It’s no surprise to me that I enjoy sweet fruity cups. Blackberry is of course a common tasting note on Kenyan coffees. Peach and orange are two notes that can be tricky to fully bring out in a cup but when you do, they are delicious.

roasters

Clearly I like variety. This year I tried 21 different roasters. Most I only tried once but that doesn’t mean I won’t be back in the future.

Standouts here, with more than one bag, were George Howell, Sey, Passenger, and Metric. Honorary mention to Heart and Tim Wendelboe with two bags each.

I have a long spreadsheet of roasters I’m interested in trying; hopefully 2024 will bring even more variety.

brewing

This is where the data gets a bit noisy. I still record my brew data when I make coffee for other people, so not every brew logged is a cup I’m drinking.

Often I drink two coffees per day. Commonly a morning pourover then an espresso in the early afternoon. Many days I drink just one pourover; and rarely do I have three cups.

So, while Beanconqueror says I’ve brewed more espresso than pourover, I believe I’ve drank more pourover than espresso. My most common brewing method was V60 but the Pulsar managed to carve out about three dozen brews in the short time that I’ve had it.

spending

In 2023 I spent $781 on coffee beans with an average price of $24 per bag.⁴

wrap up & predictions

I wish I could go back and brew some coffee from earlier in the year with the knowledge I have now. I know I could do a better job with some of the dense, lightly roasted beans. But I can’t complain; each week I had several delicious cups with many truly stellar coffees.

Next year I expect a wider variety of roasters, more Pulsar brews, and more spending (sobs). But I expect I’ll still be drinking mostly sweet, fruity, washed coffee.

I should open myself up to trying more naturals and alternative processes though. And I look forward to expanding my tasting ability.

It will be exciting to compare future years back to this to see how my tastes change and develop.

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1. Understandable given the scope of the app and the one person development team. ↩︎
2. Beanconqueror let’s you easily export an Excel file of its data. From there I did a little Google Sheets work to sort through the data. ↩︎
3. The constant repeating of origins would make the data too noisy and besides, most of the blends I buy are for other members of the household. ↩︎
4. I got some samples for free so the total spend doesn’t incorporate all 37 bags. ↩︎