Is the coffee a little sour? Why does the coffee taste sour? Where does the sour taste of a single product come from?

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Is the coffee a little sour? Why does the coffee taste sour? Where does the sour taste come from?

First, the source of sour taste: coffee cherry fruit (coffee cherry)

I think many people don't know that coffee originally looks like this, just like cherries, it tastes delicious.

The seeds in the red pulp are coffee raw beans after treatment, at this time the raw beans are green, like the seeds of ordinary plants, they have to be roasted before they become brown and black, and become the coffee cooked beans sold on the market.

If you have learned the basic biology, you know that the purpose of the pulp itself is to provide seed nutrients, so in the process of planting, the original flavor of the pulp will naturally affect the flavor of coffee beans.

So at least first understand that the reason why coffee has fruit acid is reasonable, even this is the real natural state, definitely not rotten or stinky acid.

After understanding that sour taste is not a sin in itself, we try to put aside the stereotype of sour taste. Stereotype is the biggest bottleneck that hinders learning new things.

Caffeic acid

Second, the possibility of sour taste: comfortable acid and annoying acid

Although the sour taste is normal, it is not just sour. It is caused by many factors, such as coffee bean itself, treatment, transportation, storage, baking, cooking and so on. Sour taste also has delicious acid, comfortable acid or bad acid, annoying acid.

To calmly taste, imagine and compare the sour taste of coffee when drinking coffee is an important process of learning fine coffee.

Comfortable acids include: malic acid, citric acid, grapefruit acid, passion acid, red wine acid, raspberry acid, cherry acid, citrus acid, peach acid, pinetic acid, black vinegar, red vinegar. Wait.

Imagine that the sour taste of fruit appears naturally and distinctive in the mouth, enriching the level of coffee itself, but soft and not too exciting.

Why is coffee sour?

Unpleasant acids include: too strong acetic acid, stinky acid (expired), overfermented acid, stuffy acid, lactic acid (sweat acid), humic acid. Wait.

If you just imagine the sour taste in the coffee, you will feel uncomfortable, and the acid recognition degree of the general nuisance is very high, which will spoil the whole cup of coffee a little bit. I am afraid this is the main reason why most people have a bad impression of the sour taste.

But pay special attention: the real quality coffee basically will not have uncomfortable acid, these acids are too serious to affect the taste, can not enter the threshold of boutique coffee.

So when drinking bad coffee, please do not attribute the original sin to high-quality coffee. After all, there are too many unscrupulous businessmen messing around. To protect your mouth from being tarnished, or to recognize guaranteed high-quality coffee.

Third, select the producing area and baking degree with medium acidity.

When you are not used to drinking sour coffee at first, it is recommended not to avoid fruit acid completely. You can choose beans with medium or low acidity and let your mouth get used to the changing acid in your mouth.

In terms of producing areas: the acidity of beans is generally high in Africa, moderate in Central and South America, and low in Asia.

But the above is only the most preliminary classification, because now the local conditions of fine coffee are very different, even if the sour taste of different producing areas and different estates in the same country are different, so ask clearly when buying or ordering individual coffee. Is the most direct.

In terms of baking degree, with the increase of the degree of baking, the sour taste is less obvious, so it is relatively safe to choose the above baking, and it is a good choice for beginners to first try to bake the producing areas that are not particularly acidic.

For example, vvcafe's Sumatra Huang Man and Blue Lake Man (Asia) are all low sour, Guatemala Bella Carmona, Sugar Mill (Central America), and Brazil Benedict (South America) are beans with medium acidity and blending complexity with low acidity, which is very suitable for beginners who are not used to sour taste.

Sour coffee

If the medium-baked sour taste is acceptable and you can feel the pleasant taste brought by the good sour taste, you can cut it down a little further.

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

For example, vvcafe's shallow baked Costa Rican Francesca, Panama Vulcan or medium-baked Panama Galado are all slightly more sour, but still delicious.

Fourth, cooking to adjust the acidity

No matter what kind of equipment, in principle, a little adjustment can still reduce the sour taste, sour taste, mellow taste, sweet taste to synthesize your favorite proportion, it can even be said that this is the core concept of cooking.

Several variables that affect sour taste are

Reduce the sour taste of coffee

♥ temperature: higher temperature sour taste is obviously lower, but not too much, generally extraction between 90-92 degrees, raised to 95 degrees will significantly reduce the sour taste.

♦ degree of grinding: when the degree of grinding is fine, the sour taste is not obvious; when the degree of grinding is rough, the sour taste is more obvious, so it can be slightly refined to make the overall flavor slightly lower.

♣ water quantity: the amount of water actually has little to do with the extraction, but when the amount of water is a little more, the sour taste is less obvious, but it will highlight the sweetness, so you can add 20-50c.c more water.

♠ time: in principle, it is similar to the concept of grinding degree. The acidity of short time is obvious, while the acidity of long time is less obvious, but don't exaggerate. Overcooked will still be bitter.

Fifth, how to deal with sour coffee?

Usually, after choosing the appropriate producing area and baking degree according to the third point, you can basically avoid coffee that is too sour to accept, but once and a half, when you encounter a shop that loves fruit acid as much as an upperclassman, what if you still feel sour enough to frown? Here are a few ways to manually adjust the acid to revive the coffee in front of you:

1. Slow drink: the sour taste varies with the quantity of the entrance, so the impression of the sour taste of slow drinking will be less obvious.

It is often the first impression that scares people to death, and if it is not so difficult to accept after a small number of mouthfuls, the taste buds can usually gradually feel sweetness and other flavors, which is an interesting phenomenon that changes the flavor of drinking.

two。 Maintain temperature: first of all, the sour taste of coffee with high temperature is weak, and if it is a single product with poor grade, there will sometimes be irritating and sharp sour taste after cooling, which is the main reason why coffee must be hot to drink.

Therefore, it is a good way for beginners who are afraid of acid to keep the temperature of the coffee, but not to return it to the bar to reheat it, but to add a small amount of hot water to increase the temperature, which is also in line with the third adjustment method: dilute it with water.

3. Dilution with water: it has been known in brewing and adjusting acidity that if the amount of acid increases, the sour taste is less obvious and will highlight sweetness, which is also effective for sour coffee that is already out of the cup.

Therefore, you can ask the store for a cup of boiling water and add a small amount to the over-sour coffee (about 20c.c each time), which can lift the temperature of the coffee, reduce the acidity, emphasize sweetness, and reduce the sour taste that is too exciting.

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

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

What about sour coffee?

4. Pay special attention-it is strictly forbidden to add sugar, cream, milk, whipped cream, any seasoning you can find: if the coffee tastes bad, the seniors do not object to adding some sugar milk to cover it up. after all, some people think that pouring out more than a hundred cups of coffee will be chopped by Lei Gong (seniors don't drink because they don't do less bad things), but this is bad coffee, not sour coffee.

Coffee is so sour that it is not too bad to drink, but the addition of seasonings such as sugar milk will destroy the sour taste directly, and you will not be able to drink elegant and delicate fruit acid. And usually dairy products encounter sour black coffee, the taste will become very disgusting, and even cause the association of sour milk, so be sure not to add sugar milk.