PASA Coffee: From Ordinary to Specialty · English
PASA Coffee: From Ordinary to Specialty — English
Follow the episodes in order for the best learning experience.
PASA Coffee: From Ordinary to Specialty is a beginner-friendly coffee podcast by PASA Coffee in Bur Dubai. Across 30 short learning episodes, we help everyday coffee drinkers understand specialty coffee from the ground up — beans, origins, processing, freshness, grinding, water, brewing methods, espresso basics, milk drinks, and home brewing. This series is made for beginners, home brewers, aspiring baristas, and coffee lovers in the UAE who want to move beyond ordinary coffee, one cup at a time.
14 published episodes
Episode list
Work through each lesson in order. Every episode builds on the last with clear, beginner-friendly explanations.
What Makes Coffee Specialty? | Beginner Series
In this beginner-friendly episode, we explore what makes coffee “specialty” and why it tastes so different from ordinary commercial coffee. You’ll learn about quality, flavor, sourcing, defects, and the basic idea behind specialty coffee in a simple and practical way. If you are a coffee lover, home brewer, or aspiring barista in the UAE, this episode is the perfect starting point for your journey into better coffee.
Watch EpisodeArabica vs Robusta | Beginner Series
In this episode, we explain the difference between Arabica and Robusta in a simple, beginner-friendly way. You will learn how these two coffee species differ in taste, caffeine, body, crema, bitterness, growing conditions, and price.
Watch EpisodeTravel the Coffee Belt: Ethiopia to Brazil
Travel across the Coffee Belt and learn why coffee grows best in tropical regions near the equator. This episode explains how altitude, climate, soil, and origin affect coffee flavour, and why coffees from Ethiopia, Colombia, Brazil, and other regions can taste so different. Perfect for beginners who want to understand coffee origin and how it helps them choose better specialty coffee.
Watch EpisodeAnatomy of a Coffee Cherry
Learn what a coffee cherry is and where coffee beans actually come from. This episode explains the main layers of a coffee cherry, including skin, pulp, mucilage, parchment, silverskin, and seed. A beginner-friendly foundation episode that helps explain how the coffee cherry affects processing, sweetness, acidity, flavour, and the final cup.
Watch EpisodeSeed to Cup Journey
Follow the full journey of coffee from a tiny seed inside a coffee cherry to the final cup you enjoy. This episode explains how farming, harvesting, processing, drying, milling, exporting, roasting, grinding, brewing, and tasting all shape coffee quality and flavour. Perfect for beginners who want to understand why specialty coffee depends on every step, not just roasting or brewing.
Watch EpisodeNatural Process | Beginner Series
Explore the natural coffee process, one of the oldest and most flavourful coffee processing methods. This episode explains how whole coffee cherries are dried with the fruit still around the seed, and how this affects sweetness, body, fruitiness, and final cup character. Perfect for beginners who want to understand why natural process coffees can taste fruity, winey, jammy, heavier, and more expressive — and why careful drying control is essential for quality.
Watch EpisodeWashed Process | Beginner Series
Explore the washed coffee process, one of the cleanest and most widely used processing methods in specialty coffee. This episode explains how the fruit is removed from the coffee seed before drying, how fermentation and washing create clarity, and why washed coffees often taste clean, bright, crisp, floral, and tea-like. Perfect for beginners who want to understand how washed process coffee differs from natural process coffee, and why it is loved for origin clarity, acidity, and elegant flavour.
Watch EpisodeHoney Process | Beginner Series
Explore the honey coffee process, a processing method that sits between washed process and natural process. This episode explains how the coffee cherry skin is removed while some sticky mucilage remains on the seed during drying, creating a cup that can taste sweeter, smoother, fuller, and more balanced. Perfect for beginners who want to understand why honey process coffee has more body than washed coffee, more clarity than natural coffee, and why drying control is so important for quality.
Watch EpisodeExperimental Processing: Anaerobic, Carbonic Maceration & Wet Hulling | Beginner Series
Explore the exciting world of experimental coffee processing. In this episode, we explain Anaerobic Processing, Carbonic Maceration, and Wet Hulling in a beginner-friendly way, showing how oxygen control, fermentation, drying, and regional traditions can create unique coffee flavours — from tropical fruit, berries, wine-like notes, and florals to earthy, spicy, heavy-bodied Indonesian coffees.
Watch EpisodeIntroduction to Roasting Levels | Beginner Series
Learn how green coffee becomes roasted coffee and why different roasting levels create different cup experiences. In this beginner-friendly episode, we explain light roast, medium roast, and dark roast in simple language, including how roasting affects acidity, sweetness, body, aroma, bitterness, and flavour. Perfect for coffee beginners, home brewers, barista students, and anyone who wants to choose beans with more confidence.
Watch EpisodeLight vs. Dark Roasts: What’s the Difference? | Beginner Series
In Episode 11 of the PASA Coffee Podcast Beginner Series, we continue our roasting journey and explore one of the most common coffee questions: what is the real difference between light roast and dark roast? This episode explains light, medium, and dark roasts in a simple, beginner-friendly way. You will learn why light roast is not weak, why dark roast is not automatically stronger, and how roast level changes acidity, aroma, body, bitterness, sweetness, and overall flavor. You will also learn how roast level affects brewing. Light roasts often work beautifully with V sixty, Chemex, AeroPress, and black filter coffee, while medium to medium-dark roasts are great for espresso, cappuccino, latte, flat white, Spanish latte, French press, moka pot, cold brew, and milk-based drinks. With practical UAE examples, from a flat white before work in Bur Dubai to a weekend V sixty at home in Dubai and an iced latte during the Dubai heat, this episode helps beginners choose the right roast for their taste, brewing method, and daily coffee routine. PASA Coffee Podcast — Beginner Series From Bur Dubai, helping you understand coffee one cup at a time.
Watch EpisodeCoffee Freshness and Degassing | Beginner Series
In Episode 12 of the PASA Coffee Podcast Beginner Series, we explore coffee freshness, degassing, bloom, staling, and proper bean storage. Freshly roasted coffee is important, but coffee can also be too fresh. After roasting, coffee beans release trapped carbon dioxide through a process called degassing. If brewed too soon, this gas can disturb extraction and make coffee taste sour, sharp, thin, or unbalanced. This episode explains why coffee needs time to rest after roasting, how CO2 affects brewing and espresso crema, why bloom happens in manual brewing, and how oxygen, moisture, heat, and light damage freshness. We also explain the purpose of the one-way valve on coffee bags and share practical storage tips for coffee lovers in Dubai and the UAE. Listeners will also learn a simple Freshness Window Test to discover when their coffee tastes best after roasting.
Watch EpisodeEssential Home Brewing Gadgets – Building Your Arsenal | Beginner Series
In Episode 13 of the PASA Coffee Podcast Beginner Series, we explore the essential tools every beginner home brewer should understand: digital scale, burr grinder, gooseneck kettle, French press, V sixty, and Moka pot. Learn why good beans can still taste bad at home, how measurement and grind size affect extraction, and how to build a simple home brewing setup without wasting money on unnecessary gadgets.
Watch EpisodeWhy Every Home Brewer Needs a Scale | Beginner Series
Learn why a digital scale is one of the most important tools for consistent home brewing. In this episode, we explain why scoops are unreliable, how grams improve accuracy, and how coffee-to-water ratios like 1:15, 1:16, and 1:18 help control strength, balance, and repeatability.
Watch Episode