Why is the coffee sour?

Pay attention to coffee reviews (Weixin Official Accounts vdailycom ) and find a beautiful cafe to open your own shop

Today let us study the relationship between coffee and fruit acid, so that you can drink sour can also drink happy, cheeks salivation.

Coffee has four flavors: sour sweet Bitter salty

Each taste is also divided into different taste buds, coffee flavor wheel is the standard and basis for evaluating coffee.

Acidity is a taste that every coffee lover in Asia doesn't like; but acidity is a taste that every bean must have, and it depends most on the depth of roasting.

During the roasting process of coffee beans, sour substances will continue to increase, but as the roasting continues, the high temperature will decompose these substances, after a certain stage; the taste will have subtle changes; the coffee beans in small towns are generally controlled in a few seconds; continuing to roast will only reduce the sourness.

Medium-light roast-more sour

Moderately roasted-moderately sour

Medium-depth baking-low acidity

Heavily baked-almost no sourness; but bitter

With the evaluation of coffee sour taste and other three flavors by baristas, the sour taste slowly makes more people like and love, such as the town's Ye Jia Xue Fei; Ye Jia Xue Fei's biggest feature is the outstanding sweetness, which emits the sweet aroma of wine when brewing; the entrance is sweet and refreshing; there are lemon and citrus flavors.

Roasted coffee beans contain the most acid is quinic acid produced during roasting. Other citric acid, acetic acid, phosphoric acid, etc. are also a lot of content; the intensity of each acid concentration is different, coffee beans sour components and specific gravity and coffee beans contained in the composition is also related, choose what type of coffee beans will also affect the sour production to a certain extent...

Source of sour taste: coffee cherry fruit

I think a lot of people don't know that coffee originally looks like this, just like cherries, oily and shiny, and it feels delicious.

The seeds inside the red pulp are processed into green coffee beans. At this time, the green beans are green, like the seeds of ordinary plants. After roasting, they become coffee and black, and become coffee ripe beans sold on the market.

As you learn from basic biology, the purpose of the pulp itself is to provide seed nutrients, so in the process of planting, the original flavor of the pulp naturally affects the flavor of the coffee beans.

So at least understand that it is reasonable for coffee to have fruit acid, even if this is the real natural state, definitely not rotten or smelly acid.

After learning that sourness is not a sin in itself, try to let go of the stereotype of sourness. (Stereotypes are the biggest obstacle to learning new things)

The Possibility of Acidity: Comfortable Acid and Disagreeable Acid

Although sour taste is normal, it is not just sour, due to the coffee beans themselves, processing, transportation, storage, roasting, brewing and other factors, sour taste can also be divided into delicious acid, comfortable acid or unpleasant acid, nasty acid.

Quietly tasting, imagining, and comparing the sourness of coffee while drinking coffee is an important part of learning fine coffee.

Comfortable acids include: malic acid, citric acid, grapefruit acid, passion fruit acid, red wine acid, berry acid, cherry acid, citrus acid, peach acid, pineapple acid, black vinegar, red vinegar…etc.

Imagine the sourness of the fruit appearing naturally and characteristically in the mouth, enriching the layers of coffee itself, but gentle and not overly stimulating.

Annoying acids include: too strong acetic acid, smelly acid (expired), overfermented acid, stuffy acid, lactic acid (sweat acid), humic acid, etc.

If these sour tastes are placed in coffee, they will feel uncomfortable, and the generally annoying acid recognition is very high, and a little bit will spoil the whole cup of coffee, which is probably the main reason why most people have a bad impression of sour taste.

But pay special attention: the real fine grade coffee basically does not exist uncomfortable acid, these acids too seriously affect the taste, simply can not enter the fine coffee threshold.

So when drinking bad coffee, if you drink disgusting acid, please don't attribute the original sin to fine coffee. After all, there are too many unscrupulous businessmen who mess around now. To ensure that their mouth is clean and clean, or to identify guaranteed fine coffee.

Third, select the production area with medium acidity and baking degree

At first, when you are not used to drinking sour coffee, it is recommended not to completely avoid fruit acid. You can choose beans with medium or low acidity, so that your mouth can slowly get used to the changing fruit acid.

Producing areas: Africa beans acidity is generally higher, moderate in Central and South America, Asia is lower.

However, the above is only the most preliminary classification, because the terroir conditions of fine coffee are very different now, even if it is different producing areas and different manors in the same country, the sourness is different, so it is the most direct to ask clearly when buying or ordering single coffee.

In terms of baking degree, the sourness is less obvious with the increase of baking degree, so it is relatively safe to choose medium baking or above. Beginners should try medium baking or above, which is not particularly sour. It is a very good choice.

For example, vvcafe's Sumatra yellow man, blue lake man (Asia) are low acidity, Guatemala Bella Camona, sugar factory (Central America), Brazil Benedick (South America) are medium acidity beans, and use low acidity to blend complexity, it is very suitable for beginners who are not used to sour.

If the sourness of the medium roast is acceptable and you can experience the taste pleasure brought by the good sourness, you can cut it down slightly.

Choose or, you can blend sour, gradually let yourself fall in love with the wonderful fruit acid.

For example, vvcafe's lightly roasted Costa Rica Francesca, Panama Vulcan Divine Comedy or medium-roasted Panama Gallardo are slightly more sour, but still delicious representatives of radish.

IV. Brewing to adjust acidity

No matter what the equipment, in principle, a slight adjustment can still reduce the acidity, mix the acidity with the mellow taste and sweet taste to your favorite ratio, and it can even be said that this is the core concept of brewing.

Several of the variables that affect sourness include

Temperature: higher temperature sour significantly lower, but not too much, generally extraction between 90-92 degrees, increased to 95 degrees will significantly reduce sour.

♦ Grinding degree: In the case of fine grinding degree, the sour taste is less obvious; in the case of coarse grinding degree, the sour taste is more obvious, so it can be slightly refined to make the overall flavor slightly lower.

Water content: In fact, the amount of water has little to do with extraction, but in the case of a little more water, the sour taste is not obvious, but it will highlight the sweet feeling, so you can add 20-50c.c more water.

Time: In principle, it is a bit like the concept of grinding degree. The acidity is more obvious for a short time, and the acidity is less obvious for a long time, but don't exaggerate too much. It will still be bitter if it is overcooked.

5. How to deal with sour coffee?

Usually according to the third point to choose the appropriate production area, baking degree, basically can avoid acid to unacceptable coffee, but there will be so once and a half times, encounter like the senior so love fruit acid shop judgment error, a bite down or feel sour to frown how to do? Here are a few ways to manually adjust the acid to revive the coffee in front of you:

1. Slow drinking: sour taste varies with the amount of intake, so the impression of slow drinking sour taste will not be so obvious.

Often the first impression is scary, if a small number of mouthfuls feel less difficult to accept, taste buds can usually gradually feel sweet and other flavors, it is an interesting phenomenon of drinking to change flavor.

Why is coffee sour?

2. Maintenance temperature: first of all, coffee with high temperature, sour performance is weak, and if the grade is poor, sometimes there will be a sharp sour appearance after cooling, which is also the main reason why most people think coffee must be hot to drink.

Therefore, it is a good way for beginners who are afraid of acid to keep the temperature of coffee, but instead of returning it to the bar to reheat it, add a small amount of hot water to raise the temperature, which is also in line with the third adjustment method: add water to dilute.

3. Add water to dilute: In brewing adjustment acidity has been understood, the same fruit acid if the amount of water increases, the sour is less obvious, and will highlight the sweet feeling, which has been out of the cup of acid coffee in front of the same effect.

Therefore, you can ask the store for a cup of boiling water, add a small amount to the sour coffee (about 20c.c each time), can raise the temperature of the coffee, but also reduce the sour feeling, emphasize the sweetness, so that the sour taste is too irritating to reduce.

But pay special attention not to add too much hot water at a time, after all, the concentration will still affect the taste of coffee, 20c.c will change the composition of the whole cup of coffee, if still feel too sour, add a second time is not too late.

This step of adding hot water can be repeated 2-3 times, which is also a good way to experience the flavor changes of fine black coffee at different temperatures.

What about sour coffee?

4. Special attention-no sugar, cream, milk, whipped cream, any condiments you can find: if the coffee tastes bad, senior students do not object to you add sugar milk cover up, after all, some people think that a cup of more than 100 coffee will be Lei Gong (senior students because of bad things do not do less, so do not drink), but this is the coffee tastes bad, not the coffee is sour.

Coffee is very sour not necessarily bad to drink, may just drink not used to, but add sugar milk and other condiments, will directly destroy the sour taste, you can not drink the delicate fruit acid. And usually milk products encounter sour black coffee, the taste will become very disgusting, and even trigger the association of sour milk, so be sure not to add sugar milk.

Coffee, let many people nostalgia in it, taste a cup of good coffee, not only can make the morning have spirit, but also a taste of life.