CoLab: Prague : Christopher H. Hendon

Christopher H. Hendon is quickly becoming a well-known name within the world of specialty coffee, despite his lack of time behind a coffee bar: as a computational chemist, with special focus on applied chemistry and physics, he works closely with Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood to interface with the industry to solve real-world problems relating to coffee extraction. He attained his BSc Adv. (HONS) from Monash University, Australia (2011) and PhD from University of Bath, United Kingdom (2015), and now holds a post-doctoral position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studying the physical properties of new materials for catalysis, energy conversion and electrical conduction.

Chris’ talk, “A Taste of Physics”, was a rollicking introduction to the world of physics through the lens of one of coffee brewing’s many variables: grinding distribution. Featuring newly-conducted and as-yet unpublished research, this presentation also touches on how experiments are constructed and why we need more of them in coffee. Most excitingly, this talk and the subsequent conversations during social events at CoLab: Prague has since led to a call for baristas to contribute to a large-scale data set, presented by Chris at BGE’s Barista Camp in Riccione.

Chris and Maxwell have recently published a book, “Water For Coffee”, featuring some of their research together—you can find more information here!