Skip to content
BrewnoteAll articles

About Brewnote

Plain answers about coffee, with the numbers attached — and a source for every one of them.

Last updated

Welcome to Brewnote — plain answers about coffee, with the numbers attached.

Most coffee writing on the internet has the same problem: it is confident about things nobody has measured. Articles assert that dark roast has more caffeine, that coffee dehydrates you, that cold brew is dramatically less acidic — usually without a source, and often without the claim being true. Meanwhile the questions people actually have, like why a cup tastes sour or how much caffeine is really in a pot, get answered with adjectives instead of figures.

We started Brewnote because coffee is well studied and the findings are freely available, so there is no good reason to guess. Our aim is simple: answer common coffee questions with measured figures, link every source, and say clearly when the evidence is thinner than the headlines suggest.

What we publish

37 articles across 6 topics, covering brewing technique, espresso, cold brew, roast levels, caffeine and the beans themselves:

  • Brewing — Ratios, grind, water and time — the four dials that decide how a cup tastes.
  • Espresso — What actually defines espresso, what a shot contains, and what you can do without a machine.
  • Cold Brew & Iced — Steeping cold for 12–24 hours makes a different drink from pouring hot coffee over ice.
  • Roast Levels — Light, medium and dark describe how far a bean went in the roaster — not its strength.
  • Caffeine & Decaf — How much caffeine is actually in a cup, a shot, a pot — and in decaf.
  • Beans & Origins — Where coffee grows, how the cherry becomes a bean, and what to buy.

Each article opens with a direct answer to the question in its title, because that is usually all anyone wants. Below that is the reasoning, the numbers, the sources, and the caveats.

How we work

The rules we hold ourselves to

  1. Step 1: Every substantive claim is sourced

    Figures come from peer-reviewed research, government agencies such as the FDA and USDA, standards bodies such as the Specialty Coffee Association, and industry organisations. Every source is linked so you can check our work, and every DOI is verified through Crossref before publication.

  2. Step 2: We say when the evidence is weak

    Several popular coffee beliefs are poorly supported, and a few are simply wrong. We say so, and we explain what the research actually found. Where a question genuinely has no good answer yet, we say that too rather than picking a side.

  3. Step 3: We give ranges, not false precision

    A great deal of coffee data is an average across a wide spread. Where the real-world range matters — and with caffeine it usually does — we give the range and explain what moves it, rather than quoting a single number as if it were a specification.

  4. Step 4: We distinguish measurement from taste

    Whether dark roast has more caffeine is a measurable question with an answer. Whether it tastes better is not. We try never to dress up the second as the first.

  5. Step 5: We correct things

    If we get something wrong, we fix it and we do not quietly pretend it never happened. Our Editorial Policy sets out the sourcing and corrections process in full.

What we do not do

  • We do not give medical or health advice. We report what agencies and researchers have published about caffeine, and we point you to a clinician for anything about your own health. Our Disclaimer covers this properly.
  • We do not take payment for editorial mentions, and we do not accept sponsored articles.
  • We do not run affiliate links or product review roundups. Where we mention equipment, it is to explain how it works.
  • We do not invent a personal narrative. Articles are published by the editorial team rather than under a fictional expert's byline.

Who we are

Brewnote is an independent publication run by a small editorial team. We are not a coffee retailer, a roaster, or a manufacturer, and we have no commercial relationship with anyone in the coffee trade. That independence is the point: it means we can report that a widely marketed benefit is unsupported without it costing us anything.

Articles are attributed to the editorial team rather than to a named individual. We would rather be judged on our sources than on a byline, and every claim we make is checkable against a link we have provided.

Our promise to readers

  • Always free. No paywall, no registration, no email required to read anything.
  • Sourced. Every substantive factual claim links to where it came from.
  • Honest about uncertainty. When the evidence is thin, we say so instead of writing around it.
  • Corrected. Tell us we are wrong and we will check it, and fix it if you are right.

Get in touch

Spotted an error, disagree with a conclusion, or have a coffee question we have not covered? We read everything. Email contact@trysix.online or see our Contact page.

Thanks for reading Brewnote.