#002 - Bean Base 2.0 & Future Updates
This blog post was written with a wonderful cup of Ethiopia Adame roasted by S&W Craft Roasting. 100% verified banger.
Published 14 May 2024 - 3 minute read
Hello Reader.
Three months have passed since the initial release of Bean Base and since then, the database has evolved from a small catalog full of bugs, into a humming 3000 coffee bean machine. This past week, I released Bean Base Version 2.0 which included load time optimizations, new and powerful filtering options, and roaster quick links.
Here is a summary of the changes implemented in Bean Base 2.0.
Load Time Optimizations
Hands down the biggest drawdown of Bean Base was its slow load time. In the past, on desktop, the database took around 10s to load and on mobile, more than 20s+. After a lot of research, tweaking, and website plugin magic, I have reduced desktop load times to less than 1s and mobile to around 3-4s. A much needed improvement.
Tasting Note Filtering Overhaul
In a perfect world, there is no war and coffee roasters utilize standardized tasting note terminology to describe their coffee bean taste profile. Unfortunately this isn’t a perfect world and we will continue to see subjective tasting notes like “stroopwafel” and “frangipane” wondering if our brew ever achieved what the roaster intended. Subjective tasting notes create a unique problem in Bean Base, when trying to search for taste profiles, and unless you specifically wanted “stroopwafel” notes, looking up “caramel” won’t exactly give you every single option available that could have that same taste profile.
In order to make searching tasting notes actually usable, I have cataloged over 600 different tasting notes found in Bean Base and classified them based on 22 generalized taste profiles. For example, “stroopwafel” is classified as Caramel & Sweet while “frangipane” is classified as Nutty, Creamy, and Sweet. Now, searching for coffee beans through tasting notes will yield you a much more diverse set of options rather than the specific word.
Preset Filters & Quick Links
Lastly, I have updated the database to be filtered through URL get parameters. Essentially this allows preset filter options when a user opens a URL and can also be manually modified by a user. This option is still in its infancy, but for now I have included quick links into the Coffee Roaster database to search specific coffee roasters beans in Bean Base.
The Future
As I continue to catalog thousands of coffee beans from coffee roasters around the world, my excitement of coffee and the scope of this project has increased beyond my expectations. Here are a few of the major projects I am working to bring to the coffee world in the near future.
- Coffee Varietal database to define and catalog the hundreds of coffee plant varieties in Bean Base.
- Coffee Processing database to breakdown processing protocols to be more searchable and easy to understand.
- A detailed description of each coffee roaster in this database.
- 68 new coffee roasters into Bean Base shown below.
Loffee Labs has always been a personal outlet to learn more about coffee and understand the deep nuances. Burn out is always on my mind and I hope to counteract it by taking a few moments to reflect on my work through these blog posts and chats with fellow coffee lovers. On that note, if you would like to have a chat, I welcome you to comment down below or contact me directly through email.
Thank you reader and may you drink your best coffee!
First! (Testing comment section)
Awesome work! Looking forward to picking out my next bean.
Thank you! Hope you find it helpful!