The goal of this blog is to create data visualizations and posts about my experiences with coffee and my quest to brewing the “perfect cup”!

My name is Tyler May and I have a passion for data analytics and a love of coffee.

Most of my life, I refused to drink coffee. I thought it was bitter, disgusting and it turned your teeth yellow. Several years ago, my girlfriend (now wife!) said “Sometimes I just want to relax and drink coffee with you”, so I attempted to drink coffee. I started off with the sugary and sweet drinks from Starbucks which my favorite was always a mocha. After a while, I decided that I couldn’t keep ordering Mochas without putting on 20 pounds so I switched to coffee. Coffee was still very bitter and gross so I would put cream and sugar into it to make it drinkable. I did that for a long time and then started a new job about a year ago. At the new job, my boss used a French Press daily for his coffee. I found the process of grinding (using a crappy Krups blade grinder) and brewing to be a lot of fun. I am a giant data nerd so I started keeping “stats” on our brewing and attempted to iterate on our methods to make the coffee taste better. I stopped using cream and sugar so that I could “taste the coffee better”. We spent a year experimenting with different variables like water to coffee ratio, how long we ground for, water temperature, steep time and many more. The biggest finding was that our grinder was not good at all!

From there, my wife and family bought me a few different coffee brewers and accessories to try out new brew methods and techniques. I currently have a V60, Chemex, Aeropress, French Press, Moka Pot and automatic coffee maker. I brew as often as I can and keep detailed notes on each brew. From reading this, you can tell them I am definitely a beginner when it comes to coffee! I have a lot to learn and I want to share my findings with those interested in Coffee!

Current Coffee Brewing Equipment

Automatic Drip Coffee System:

  • Cuisinart Grind and Brew

Pourover System:

  • Hario V60 #2
    • Hario Unbleached Conical Paper Filter

  • Hario Glass Pitcher

  • 6 Cup Chemex Brewer
    • Chemex Square Paper Filter

Immersion System:

  • Bodum French Press

  • Aerobie Aeropress

    • Able Metal Filter
    • Aerobie Paper Filter

Grinder:

  • Kinu M47 Hand Grinder

  • JavaPresse Hand Grinder

Kettle:

  • Hario Goosneck Kettle

General:

  • Contigo Insulated Mug

  • 2 Coffee Gator Cannisters

    • 20 oz
    • 16 oz

If anyone would like to collaborate, please contact me with one of the links below.