Ran into the same thing with a client last year. What worked for me was keeping the mood board for the vibe and using the data just to narrow the final pick, so you get something that tested well but still feels like a real brand. Pure heatmap colors tend to look safe and forgettable after a while.

Honestly that roaster sounds like he was just flexing because he had an audience, and half the "rules" people swear by are just what worked for them on their setup. Chasing someone else's exact ratio and pour is a good way to end up with worse coffee than just dialing in what tastes good to you.

My buddy did the exact same thing with his old Xbox 360 games. His girlfriend talked him into selling like 40 of them to a game store, and he got maybe 80 bucks for the whole pile. A few years later he wanted to replay some old RPG he used to love and it was delisted everywhere, so he ended up paying almost that much just for one used copy on eBay. He still brings it up at least once a month lol. Something about having the shelf there just feels different, even if you never actually pull one out anymore.