Coffee Chat with Brewing Coffee Manually

Editor's note: I am starting a new series on this blog. Every so often, I'm going to feature an interview with a coffee blogger. In these interviews, I want to learn about how other coffee bloggers approach their work, and how they go from an idea to a final post.

I write a lot about coffee and I have great fun doing it. I hope this series can inspire other passionate coffee lovers to start their own blogs or to otherwise share their coffee journeys.

Without further ado, let's get into the first interview. This interview has been lightly edited for typos.

For my readers who are new to Brewing Coffee Manually, could you tell them what your blog is about?

The blog is mostly about manual coffee brewing or making coffee without an automatic coffee maker. There is also a lot of general coffee information and I actually have a post upcoming on an automatic coffee brewer.

Why did you decide to start blogging about coffee?

I started blogging about coffee because I was interested in coffee and wanted to try my hand at building a website. It came at a time of my life where I had a lot of time and I wanted to try something new. I was also curious about coffee and I believe that the best way to learn about something is to tell someone else about it.

How do you decide what topics to cover on your blog?

I keep a running list of content ideas in a notebook. Whenever I read something that interests me or think of something coffee related that should be explored or explained, I make a note. If there is stuff I want to get down right away, I will jot down some quick thoughts and the trajectory I want the post to go on a separate page.

Another way I get post ideas is from product reviews. I have a lot of coffee brewing equipment I can write about. People will also occasionally send me gear and if I think it is something my readers will find value in, I will write a post about it.

How do you go from an idea to a final blog post?

Each post usually starts as an outline for me. I will figure out the big picture of what I want to say and the content I want to cover. Then I will slowly (sometimes really slowly) add in the information to the outline parts.

Sometimes I will have 3-5 word documents open on my computer as I pick away at different posts. The other thing I have found helpful is making an editorial calendar. This way I can plan out my posts in advance. Without an editorial calendar, I find my ideas stay ideas and I don’t produce new content.

I read one of your posts where you cited two PhD's perspectives on freezing coffee. How do you go about research for your posts?

It really depends on the type of post. Brewing methods and guides are generally made through a series of experiments as well as researching what other people are doing with the brewing method. Sometimes I will just sit down and write a post based on my past experiences with coffee.

If there are things outside my knowledge base, I take to the internet and read as many articles as I can about the subject. I will then sift through what I have read and try to present what I feel is relevant to the post I am writing. I try to include the sources at the bottom of my post if I relied on them heavily for information.

Do you edit your blog posts? If so, how often do you edit them?

Up until recently, I have not spent much time going back and revising old content. Since the blog has been around for awhile, I have started updated content. This is a slow process but I try to comb through a couple each month.

You've written a lot about different brew methods. Which one is your go-to?

My go-to brewing method is the Hario V60. Embarrassingly enough, I have yet to write a brewing guide for the V60.

If you had to choose, what is your favorite region for a good brew?

It is so hard to choose a particular coffee region. I have always been partial to the Central America region.

You can read John's blog at brewingcoffeemanually.com. He also has a list of mugs on his blog that he uses. This was the inspiration behind my Mugs page.