The Path of Invention

What I knew was that if you brewed your coffee at lower than boiling temperature it tasted sweeter. I had learned that from a little slip of paper that was packed in a Chemex coffee maker that we bought twenty years earlier.

Source: First Alan Adler Invented the Aerobie. Now He’s Created the Perfect Cup of Coffee — Backchannel — Medium

Alan Adler invented the Aeropress coffee maker, which really does make an amazing single cup of coffee, without knowing a damn thing about coffee.

The key to invention isn’t necessarily being a SME on something, but instead, being open to solving a problem. Adler noted that trying to make a single cup of coffee in a drip machine resulted in a poor experience. With the goal of making a better single cup of coffee, he became the SME.

If there is a problem that interests you, don’t exclude yourself from exploring it because you aren’t the most knowledgable person in the room on the topic.