Lately, I’ve been getting more serious about my coffee—not just drinking it, but actually paying attention to how I make it. I realized that every time I brewed a cup, I was basically winging it: random grind sizes, whatever water temperature felt right, pouring however I felt that day.

The result? Some cups were absolutely amazing, others… not so much. 😅

The Lightbulb Moment 💡

So I decided to start keeping a coffee brewing log using a simple markdown template in Joplin. It’s basically a structured form where I jot down all the details:

• ☕ Bean origin & roast date
• ⚖️ Grind size & brewing method
• 🌡️ Water temperature & timing
• 👅 Detailed tasting notes

Being able to see exactly what I did for each cup is where the magic happens.

The Results Are In 📊

Now, instead of guessing, I can look back and say:

• “Ah, this Ethiopian brew at 94°C with a medium-fine grind was chef’s kiss“
• “Hmm, maybe that bloom time was too long”

It’s like having a roadmap of my coffee journey—each entry helps me fine-tune the next one.

What I’ve Discovered:

✅ My coffee has actually gotten better
✅ I’m spotting patterns in what works for certain beans
✅ Small tweaks lead to huge flavor improvements
✅ It’s genuinely fun to see how my notes evolve over time

Ready to Level Up Your Coffee Game? 🚀

If you’re into coffee and want to step up your brewing game, I highly recommend starting a brew log. It turns every cup into a mini-experiment—and trust me, some of those experiments taste incredible.

Since I use Joplin as my note-taking app, I asked ChatGPT to create a markdown template that’s been incredibly useful. Here’s the complete template:

📋 Coffee Brewing Template

Copy this template and fill in the placeholders with your brewing details:

### Coffee Details

- **Coffee:** [Coffee Name] ([Roaster]) — [Origin / Process]
- **Roast date:** [YYYY-MM-DD]
- **Dose (coffee):** [grams] g
- **Grind:** [Grinder] — setting [value] ([coarseness description])
- **Ratio:** 1:[ratio]
- **Water:** [grams] g total at [temperature]°C ([water source]])
- **Target yield:** [grams] g in cup
- **Target time:** [mm]:[ss]
- **Equipment:** [Brewer], [Filter type], Kettle [model], Scale [model]

### Brewing Steps

#### 1) Prep

- Rinse and preheat brewer and cup
- Add [Dose] g coffee; settle bed and make a small well

#### 2) Bloom

- Pour [bloom_water] g (≈2–3x dose) at [temperature]°C
- Swirl or gently stir to saturate. Bloom [bloom_time] s

#### 3) Main pours

- **Pour pattern:** [continuous or pulse pours]
- **Pour(s):** [e.g., 60 g to 60s, then 60 g every 30s until [total_water] g]
- **Agitation:** [swirl/stir/none]

#### 4) Drawdown

- **Target bed flatness:** [flat / slight dome]
- **Finish time:** [mm]:[ss]

### Tasting Notes & Adjustments

- **Grind adjustments:** [notes]
- **Taste:** [aromatics, acidity, sweetness, body, finish]
- **Next time:** [what to tweak]

📝 Example: V60 Brew (1:16 ratio, 18g dose)

Here’s how the template looks when filled out for an actual brew:

Coffee Details

• Coffee: Ethiopia Guji (Sample Roaster) — Washed
• Roast date: 2025-08-10
• Dose (coffee): 18 g
• Grind: Comandante C40 — 24 clicks (medium-fine)
• Ratio: 1:16
• Water: 300 g at 96°C (filtered)
• Target yield: 270 g in cup
• Target time: 02:45–03:00
• Equipment: Hario V60-02, Hario tabbed filter, Fellow Stagg EKG, Timemore scale

Brewing Steps

1) Prep

• Rinse filter; preheat brewer and cup
• Add 18 g coffee; tap to level and make a small well

2) Bloom

• 0:00 — Pour 45 g, swirl to saturate
• Bloom time: 35 seconds

3) Main pours

• 0:35 — Pour to 120 g in slow spiral; light center pour to settle
• 1:10 — Pour to 210 g
• 1:45 — Pour to 300 g
• Agitation: Gentle swirl after final pour, no stirring

4) Drawdown

• Target: Flat bed, finish around 2:50
• Note: If over 3:10, coarsen grind next time

Tasting Notes & Adjustments

• Taste: 🌸 Floral aromatics, 🍋 lemon acidity, 🍯 honey sweetness, medium body, clean finish
• Next time: Try 94°C for more clarity; if sour, extend bloom to 45s

Start Your Coffee Journey Today ☕

Give this template a try and see how it transforms your brewing! Each log entry becomes a stepping stone to your perfect cup.

Pro tip: Don’t worry about getting everything perfect at first—the beauty is in the journey of discovery. Happy brewing! 🎯

What is Jekyll?

Jekyll is a static site generator. It takes your text (written in Markdown), templates, and configuration, and builds a complete website—no database or backend required. It’s perfect for blogs and personal sites, and works seamlessly with GitHub Pages for free hosting.

Step 1: Install Ruby and Jekyll

Jekyll is written in Ruby, so you’ll need Ruby installed. On Ubuntu or Debian:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ruby-full build-essential zlib1g-dev

Add Ruby’s gem directory to your PATH (add this to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc):

export GEM_HOME="$HOME/gems"
export PATH="$HOME/gems/bin:$PATH"

Reload your shell:

source ~/.zshrc  # or source ~/.bashrc

Now install Jekyll and Bundler:

gem install jekyll bundler

Step 2: Create a New Jekyll Site

Pick a folder for your site and run:

jekyll new myblog
cd myblog

This creates a new folder with all the files you need. You should see a directory structure like this:

myblog/
├── 404.html
├── Gemfile
├── Gemfile.lock
├── _config.yml
├── _posts/
│   └── 2024-07-18-welcome-to-jekyll.markdown
├── _site/           # Generated site output (do not edit)
├── about.markdown
├── index.markdown

index.markdown is pretty much your home page, the landing page of your blog.

Step 3: Run Your Site Locally

Start the development server:

bundle exec jekyll serve

Visit http://localhost:4000 in your browser. You should see your new site!

Step 4: Customize Your Blog

• Edit _config.yml to set your site title, description, and social links.
• Add posts in the _posts/ folder. Each post is a Markdown file named like YYYY-MM-DD-title.md.
• Change the look by editing files in _layouts/, _includes/, and assets/css/.
• Add pages (like about.md) in the root folder.

Step 5: Add to Git and GitHub

Initialize a git repo and push to GitHub:

git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git remote add origin https://github.com/yourusername/yourrepo.git
git push -u origin main

Step 6: Enable GitHub Pages

• Go to your repo on GitHub.
• Click Settings > Pages.
• Set the source branch to main (or gh-pages) and the root folder.
• GitHub will build and host your site at https://yourusername.github.io/yourrepo/.

How This Blog Works

• Content: Posts and pages are written in Markdown.
• Templates: Layouts and includes control the look and structure.
• Collections: Custom folders like _art/ and _projects/ let you organize different types of content.
• Tag Cloud: Tags help organize posts and art; clicking a tag shows all related entries.
• Hosting: GitHub Pages builds and serves the site automatically when you push changes.

Next Steps

• Try editing or adding a post in _posts/.
• Customize your theme in assets/css/main.css.
• Explore Jekyll plugins for more features.
• By default the setup uses jekyll’s minimal theme, but you can find lots of nice themes in Jekyll Themes

If you have questions, check out the Jekyll documentation or reach out to me!

What You’ll Find Here

This blog serves multiple purposes:

• Professional Portfolio: Showcasing my development projects and coding exercises
• Creative Outlet: Sharing my drawing process and artistic journey
• Coffee Adventures: Documenting my favorite recipes and brewing methods
• Learning in Public: Sharing what I learn as I grow in my career

Recent Projects

I’m currently working on several exciting projects that I’ll be sharing soon.

Stay tuned for more content, and feel free to connect with me on GitHub or LinkedIn.