[you don't know coffee] Coffee beginner Q & A collection must be collected!

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In order to become a coffee expert, you must first understand some basic knowledge. here are the questions that often arise in the process of coffee beginners' learning.

[set of questions]:

one

I am a novice. What kind of coffee is suitable for me?

A: the taste of coffee is suitable for both beginners and veterans. Each kind of coffee has its own characteristics, even the same manor coffee, different years of processing, the taste will be different. Even if the same coffee is baked by different people, the roaster is different, the roasting process is different, and the roasting degree is different, the taste of coffee will be very different. Different utensils are used when brewing, and the brewing process is different, which will also cause different taste. When choosing coffee, newcomers can try more, African, American, Asian, do not be afraid to drink or do not like to drink, only after drinking a certain amount of coffee, will slowly find their favorite type.

two

What is individual coffee?

A: single coffee refers to coffee made from coffee beans from a single origin, called single coffee, also called boutique coffee.

three

Is black coffee a single cup of coffee?

A: black coffee refers to coffee that does not add any sugar and cream. Yes, a single product is black coffee, but black coffee is not necessarily a single product. Some blended coffee is also suitable for hand brewing and siphon, because it has nothing to do with the single product. So sometimes we say that this combination is also good, in theory, this sentence is wrong, but people are used to saying so.

four

What is fancy coffee?

A: fancy coffee is commonly seen as cappuccino, latte and mocha. The coffee is made by using Espresso as the base, and then making foam from milk through steam, plus other additions. Fancy coffee is made with mixed beans to make the taste more balanced and rich. Cappuccino and latte are different in practice and do not belong to two types of coffee, so don't put the coffee name in the fancy style into which kind of coffee.

five

How do you classify coffee?

A: individual coffee and blended coffee are made from one single kind of coffee and the other from multiple beans. The general single product and espresso is different in practice, one is the general hot water extraction, the other is through steam pressure extraction.

By region, African beans, American beans, Asian beans.

six

Is the coffee made by the American drip filter is American coffee?

A: American coffee is made of Espresso and water, and the American trickling principle bought by beginners is probably not the same as hand brewing, which is different from real American coffee.

seven

What kind of utensils are suitable for brewing individual coffee?

A: it's too much. You can make a single cup of coffee by hand, a French press, a siphon pot, a smart cup, or Elle pressure.

eight

Are all domestic coffee beans imported?

A: the main coffee-growing areas in China are Yunnan and Hainan. In addition, most of the coffee beans are imported.

nine

For beginners in coffee, do you choose hand mill or electric mill?

With regard to the relatively uneven hand grinding, mainly because of the design of the grinding plate, most of the hand grinding uses a tapered knife, which is characterized by fast but uneven grinding, and the relatively uniform grinding is parallel sharpening, but parallel grinding is also characterized by slow speed, that is to say, it takes 3-5 times more time to grind the same number of grams of powder, so hand grinding basically does not use parallel grinding. Parallel grinding knife, you can think of the stone grinding of flour in rural areas, by adjusting the distance between the upper and lower grinding plates to control the powder thickness, high precision and uniform grinding. Most of the hand grinding is a tapered grinding knife, which is grinded through the channel of the daughter grinding plate, because of the great difference between the upper and lower parts of the grinding knife, the grinding speed is fast but the precision is low. Hand bean grinder because there is no scale prompt, so to change a thickness, such as from the normal pressure to the thickness of the siphon pot, you need to grope for adjustment, wasting some time and beans. The price of the entry-level hand mill is very cheap, and the editor suggests that if you are not sure that you will like coffee, just try not to invest too much first, you can upgrade if you like it. Therefore, the entry-level hand bean grinder, do not buy too expensive, I think about 100 yuan can, silver friends can ignore this part of the price, but then the high-end is mainly conical knife, the improvement of evenness is not obvious.

ten

Why is the coffee sour? Why is the coffee so bitter?

A: the sour and bitter of coffee has a lot to do with roasting. To put it simply, the shallower the baking is, the more sour it is, and the deeper the baking is, the more bitter it is. For the same kind of coffee, different roasters want to express different things and different roasting degrees, resulting in some sour and some bitter. But not all coffee is suitable for shallow or deep roasting, there is usually a general baking range, as long as it falls within this range, it will taste good. For example, Yejia Xuefei coffee, from the end of the first explosion to stop baking before the second explosion, will have a good taste, just depending on what you like, but few people bake it until the second explosion is dense. Manning, on the contrary, most people are used to baking it to the point where the second explosion begins and ends.

eleven

Why doesn't the coffee smell good?

A: coffee is not a sesame, nor is it a sesame oil, let alone an essence. In fact, the aroma of natural coffee is not as strong as you think. The aroma of coffee is only one of the indicators to measure the quality of coffee. The aroma of different coffees is indeed different, some are stronger, some are weaker. The aroma of coffee is also different under different roasting degrees. Deeply baked beans may make you feel more fragrant. But it is also wonderful to carefully experience the fresh aroma of lightly roasted coffee. The aroma of light-roasted coffee may be weak before it is ground and brewed. Once it is ground into powder and brewed with hot water, the aroma will be "glowed". Many novices used to buy the kind of deep-roasted commercial beans, open the package, there may be some "rich flavor", but that is not necessarily the aroma of good coffee.

twelve

Why do you buy coffee beans of different sizes? Poor evenness?

A: first, the uniformity of coffee beans is definitely not good if they are different in size and heated when roasting; second, some coffee beans are sun-treated, mixed with beans of different maturity, and the uniformity of roasted coffee is not good; third, beans in some countries are not graded according to bean size, that is, they are not filtered by sieve, so the beans themselves are not uniform in size. Fourth, some estates mixed with different varieties of coffee, mixed together, even after the sieve filter, because the varieties are different, the degree of heating will be different, will also lead to poor uniformity after baking.

To sum up, some coffee beans have different sizes and poor evenness, which are beyond our control, but some are the characteristics of some kind of coffee, such as Yejia Xuefei, Harald and other coffee, especially in the light roasting degree. Coffee such as Kenya and Colombia usually has good size and evenness. But there are exceptions, such as Manning's beans, although the raw beans are also slightly poor, but the taste is very good. Therefore, beginners need to accumulate a lot of experience in order to really distinguish what beans should be what is reliable. If you are too lazy to study, then do not worry too much about the appearance of beans, after all, coffee is to drink, not to see. There are also Italian beans, which are mixed with beans with different baking degrees, and there will be differences in size and evenness. In addition, your beans can be different in size and poor in evenness, but there should be no foreign bodies such as stones, branches or a large number of mutilated beans.

thirteen

How can I keep the coffee I bought?

Answer: if you can't finish it in a short time, you can seal it in a cool place. You don't need to put it in the refrigerator. Take out the right amount every time you drink it.

fourteen

How long is the shelf life of coffee beans?

A: coffee beans are sealed and can't be drunk for a few months. the main reason is that with the passage of time, the taste of beans is getting worse and worse. It is recommended that your beans should be eliminated within 3 months if they are well preserved. It is better to finish it within 1 month.

fifteen

Do you need to "raise" the beans you get?

A: in fact, coffee beans can be drunk as soon as they are roasted, but with the passage of time, the taste of beans will change. Generally speaking, it will reach a peak on the 7th day, and then it will become more and more "insipid", and the exciting taste will be smoothed out by time. I suggest that if you want to drink the taste with better flavor, you still need to raise the beans, and then drink them at different times of the month to feel the changes in the taste of the beans.

sixteen

How coarse should the powder of hand punch, siphon kettle, French press, Philharmonic press, mocha kettle, etc.

A: this description is not intuitive in language, and many people still don't understand it after listening to it.

* rough grinding: the size is as big as coarse sugar, suitable for filter coffee.

* medium grinding: gravel-shaped, the size is between coarse sugar and granulated sugar, suitable for trickling (filter paper dripping) cooking.

* Fine grinding: size as fine granulated sugar, suitable for distilled coffee pot, electric coffee pot, mocha pot.

* very fine grinding: the size is between salt and flour, suitable for Espresso, Turkish coffee, because household grinders can not grind this texture, generally must buy ready-made grinding powder, so if you want to enjoy Espresso at home, it is best to drink a large amount of fresh coffee.

seventeen

What is the ratio of water to powder, please?

A: there is no standard answer to this. If everyone has different preferences for concentration, the proportion of gouache is different. But there is an approximate proportion for reference, such as 10 grams of coffee powder, brewing 150~160ml coffee, if you think the coffee made at this ratio is light, put more powder or less water. This is just a simple adjustment method, the factors that affect the thickness of the coffee, as well as the thickness of the powder, water temperature, brewing time and so on.

eighteen

Do you have coffee that is not sour, bitter and mellow?

A: as mentioned above, coffee is sour in light roasting and bitter in deep roasting, so is it possible that moderate roasting is neither sour nor bitter? I haven't baked this kind of coffee so far. In fact, bitterness is one of the basic flavors of coffee. Without these two flavors, coffee will be missing something.

nineteen

The coffee is out of oil, good or bad?

A: usually, deep-roasted coffee will produce oil, even if the beans just out of the pot do not produce oil, after a few days, the beans may begin to produce oil, which is a normal phenomenon. For oil-bearing beans, pay attention to preservation and eat as soon as possible.

twenty

How to tell whether coffee beans are good or bad?

A: the simple three-word summary is "smell, see, peel". Put the coffee beans close to your nose and take a deep breath to see if you can smell the coffee beans. If so, it means the coffee beans are fresh enough. If the aroma is small or not, or even has a greasy taste, throw the coffee beans in the trash. Observe your coffee beans carefully, determine the origin and variety of coffee beans, and make sure that the coffee beans are roasted evenly; take a coffee bean and peel off its clothes! If the coffee beans are fresh, they are loose and crispy. If the coffee bean is not fresh, it takes a lot of effort to poke away a bean.

twenty-one

What is the best water temperature for brewing coffee?

A: it is often seen that many people will directly use boiling water to brew coffee. In fact, this kind of water is not very suitable, and the taste of the brewed coffee will be too bitter and not easy to import. The water temperature that is really suitable for brewing coffee is about 85 degrees Celsius to 92 degrees Celsius. If the water temperature is too low, it will taste sour. On the contrary, if the temperature is too high, it will be bitter, because the water with higher temperature will have more coffee powder extract. Although it is generally believed that the more the extract is, the stronger the flavor is, but it is not the best taste, and there may be miscellaneous flavors dissolved into it.

twenty-two

When brewing coffee, what is the ratio of water to coffee powder?

A: hand-brewed coffee has become more and more popular in recent years, but some people still don't know much about the ratio of coffee powder to water, or they are still groping to adjust it. In fact, the best powder-to-water ratio is 1:13-1:15, that is, 10 grams of coffee powder, it is recommended to use 130cc-150cc water, the extracted coffee tastes best. However, some people will use a method to make the coffee taste more layered. For example, today, 20 grams of coffee powder is used, but only 280cc water is used to brew it, and finally 20cc's boiled water is poured into it. Since there is only 280cc in the water passing through the coffee powder, according to reason, this cup of coffee will be more full-bodied, but when mixed with 20cc's boiled water, it can unlock the original rich flavor and make the taste more layered. As for the powder-to-water ratio of espresso is different from that of hand-brewed coffee, we often hear that Espresso is also paired with three terms Single, Double and Ristretto. These all represent different concentrations of coffee. The usual Single is about 9 grams of coffee powder will pour out 30cc coffee; Double is 18 grams of coffee powder washed out of 60cc coffee. As for coffee with a Ristretto of about 14 grams and 16 grams, the taste and phase will be thicker than that of Single.

twenty-three

Will filter paper affect the taste of coffee?

A: yes. Filter paper is also divided into different grades, poor quality filter paper, sometimes will dissolve the taste of the pulp into the coffee, so it is recommended to blanch the filter paper with hot water first, so as to avoid the smell of the paper. In fact, at present, there are quite many kinds of filter paper on the market, such as hemp, bamboo fiber, cotton, and high-grade Japanese and paper; the fiber length of filter paper will affect the taste, and some thicker filter paper can also correct the taste of coffee, such as American Chemex filter paper, because it is thick enough to filter out most impurities, it may taste better than using other filter paper. If the beans you buy today are not ideal, you can use filter paper to change the taste, and if your coffee beans are good, you can use general filter paper.

twenty-four

What's the difference between French coffee and filter coffee?

Answer: coffee is made by hand with filter paper, because it absorbs oil and tastes brighter and clear. on the contrary, using French-pressed coffee, the extracted coffee retains rich oil, and the floating oil flowers can be faintly seen, so the taste will be a little thicker. but also because the pore diameter in the pot is too large, it tastes more pink. In addition, there is a similar concept of French pressure on the market, called Philharmonic pressure, because of its small aperture, low residual powder, and the ability to drink coffee with a full taste, it is also loved by many people.

twenty-five

How to avoid brewing coffee with mixed flavor?

Answer: the liquid of 5g-10g coffee at the end has a lot of miscellaneous taste, silver skin also has astringent taste, and defective beans also have miscellaneous smell, bad water has miscellaneous smell, uneven grinding also has miscellaneous taste.

twenty-six

Can the milk from the manual milking machine be used to pull flowers?

The answer is yes. Let's first look at the simple deconstruction of espresso. Espresso has two basic features, that is, the upper layer is a layer of coffee-like foam, and the bottom is black coffee liquid. This kind of coffee can be used to make lace coffee. So all we have to do is to fill the coffee cup with black coffee about 30ml, then use the beaten milk foam, pour in a little bit, and then stir it well with a spoon, and the white milk foam on the surface becomes a "coffee-colored foam", and it floats on top of the black coffee. Next, we can use milk foam to pull flowers, I have tried N times, ah, the effect is good. However, the coffee made with this kind of liquid is too light, and the flowers with strong layers have limitations, so we can only try it and do not promote it. Of course, it's good to practice your hands in this way from time to time.

twenty-seven

Why is the milk foam not fused? The degree of fusion mainly depends on the following two points:

1. The pressure of the steam rod. The air pressure of the steam rod will cause the foam to tumble to varying degrees in the process of frothing. The higher the air pressure, the higher the degree of fusion.)

2. The exquisite degree of milk foam. (the finer the foam is, the less air is contained in a single bubble, the higher the density and the less buoyancy; the rougher the foam is, the more air it contains, the lower the density and the greater the buoyancy. If the milk foam is relatively rough, the milk foam will float quickly on the surface of the milk and the degree of fusion is lower; if the foam is more delicate, the speed of the foam floating on the surface of the milk will be slow and the degree of fusion will be higher.)

twenty-eight

How can I mix the milk well?

Is the milk and milk foam, how to mix it well, pull flowers, a pour is not all white? Temperature. Temperature is important. When you foam, put your empty hand on the flower cup to feel the temperature of the milk. When you feel very hot and can no longer be placed on the flower jar, it will make the foam too hard. The hard foam looks stiff, and it doesn't mix with the coffee when you pour it into the coffee, but accumulates on top of your coffee like fluffy beaten cream. If you play a little longer, it will be layered, 90% of which is flowing milk, and a thick hard foam lid floating on it. When you pour it into the coffee, the milk will flow out of the flower cup first. So if you want to mix milk and foam well, temperature is the key. Do not put the foam for too long after playing, otherwise it will be stratified.

twenty-nine

How to make more and meticulous milk foam?

On how to make a good milk bubble, here provides a stupid milk bubble method, that is, pour half of the milk into the steel cup, let the steam pipe and the milk perpendicular to the center or the edge of the steel cup, then let the steam head just touch the surface of the milk, then turn on the steam to 1pm 2, do not move the steel cup, slowly close when the milk reaches 50 degrees, close at 60 degrees, and finally the temperature will reach 66 degrees. In this way, you can make a good cup of foam.

thirty

What kind of Italian machine do you want to use for milking?

Generally speaking, there are steam heads with three, four and five holes in the machine, and as long as they are a little familiar with them, they all make good milk bubbles. However, the amount of steam produced by the machine, the degree of dryness and wetness of the steam, and the size of the stomata still have an impact on milking.

thirty-one

Why do you use water to practice milking?

First, as we all know, water is transparent, which allows you to see more clearly how the vortex is formed. The second is to better master the number of holes in the play of different milk bubbles! Third, beginners should remember to use a thermometer when you fail to beat the milk foam into a thin shape, and the temperature cannot be better controlled, then the coffee you make is unstable. You may hit the milk foam once or twice out of ten times, but that is not a stable quality.

thirty-two

What's the difference between steam milking and manual milking?

First of all, the hand-beaten foam cannot be compared with the steam of the machine at all. The fineness of the steam makes its milk foam very delicate and slippery, and the radiation surface of the steam is wide, so the milk foam will be more uniform and mix better. The hand is mainly squeezed through the small hole of the filter screen, and the milk foam is thicker.