Why does the coffee taste sour? Where does the sour taste come from? How to adjust the water temperature of hand flushing to reduce the single product

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Why does the coffee taste sour? Where does the sour taste come from? How to adjust the water temperature of hand flushing to reduce the sour taste of single coffee?

First of all, let's look at the source of the sour taste of coffee. Coffee beans contain a lot of organic acids (such as quinic acid and chlorogenic acid, more chlorogenic acid benefits please enter here) will make the coffee taste sour. Acidity is a typical and anticipated part of coffee. It is a direct taste sensation that occurs under the edge of your tongue and on your upper jaw. Acidity provides a strong, distinct and active texture. Without acidity, coffee will tend to be monotonous.

Good coffee with high acidity is significantly accompanied by fruity aromas (this is what baristas often call sour, which is usually similar to the sour taste of a certain fruit). It is also fruit acid, and there are many categories (this is when the famous' flavor wheel 'comes in handy-the Chinese version of coffee flavor wheel can come in here). Cherry, grape, citrus, blueberry, lemon, etc., together will form a variety of characteristics of sour fruit.

Of course, there are good and bad acids in the 'sour' taste. Baristas are often heard to describe coffee with 'bright, lively sour taste', 'refreshing, lively and beautiful', 'soft acidity', 'moderate acidity' and so on. Bad acids include 'bad sour taste' (sharp sour taste like unripe fruit) or like overfermented fruit. These irritating sour and bad acid tastes are either particularly sharp, irritating to the throat or with a strange taste.

In the future, as long as you go to the cafe and hear the word "acid", don't immediately associate it with the irritating acid of lemon. If you can associate it with other sweet fruits and drink the sour coffee as flower and fruit tea, you can slowly appreciate the sour taste of different varieties of coffee from different producing areas.

Quality of raw beans & varieties:

There is a saying that affects the flavor of a cup of coffee, raw bean quality-variety accounts for 60%, roasting 30%, the remaining 10% is a difference in brewing utensils or methods. Often when buying beans with the store, the store will first ask the individual's taste preference (for example, can you accept a little sour taste? Wait, wait, wait. In fact, it is because different places have a preferred way of dealing with it (sometimes it has something to do with the local resources. For example, some sun-treated beans in Africa are treated in the simplest and primitive way because of the lack of water resources, as well as different climates, these factors will greatly affect the sour taste of the beans. Like sour coffee with rich taste changes, you might as well choose shallow roasted African beans and Central American beans, such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Yemen mocha, Guatemala, Costa Rica and so on. Consumers who prefer strong, sweet coffee can choose Asian deep-baked beans or aged beans, such as Manning in Indonesia, Java, Indian beans and Brazil in South America.

Different baking degrees:

The effect of different roasting degree on the sour taste of a cup of coffee is also very obvious. A simple rule was mentioned in the previous article: baking degree is inversely proportional to sour taste. The longer the baking time, the higher the degree of caramelization, and the more acidic substances (malic acid, citric acid and other organic fatty acids that cause sour taste) are destroyed, the less sour they are. The shorter the baking time, the lower the degree of caramelization, the less acid damage, and it is easy to make sour coffee (for more information on 'caramelization reaction', please visit here). Coffee beans of the same variety and the same producing area will also have different sour taste due to the different degree of roasting.

For example, Asian Indonesian gold Manning, everyone feels that the acidity is very weak, but in fact, different baking degrees are quite different, medium-shallow, medium-deep. This is why a professional bean baker can use the appropriate baking degree to produce a moderate sour taste (or remove some of the sour taste, leaving only what the baker thinks is appropriate) to make his coffee taste better. or better able to express the taste style that the individual wants to present.

Different cooking methods (water temperature):

The water temperature of brewing coffee can also affect the sour taste of a cup of coffee, especially hand-brewed coffee. The cooking method covers a wide range of areas. Different cooking utensils (hand flushing, mocha pot, French pressure, siphon, American coffee machine, etc.), grinding thickness, powder quantity, water temperature, brewing time and so on are all part of the cooking method. All of this is nothing more than focusing on the same thing: the extraction rate (for more information, please click here). Because the scope involved in this part is too wide, another article will be set up to discuss it later. Readers can start with a 'lazy man theory'. The most suitable range of water temperature for hand flushing is 88mur92 degrees. The higher the water temperature is, the more bitter it is, and the lower the water temperature is, the more sour it will be.

Low ← temperature and high →

Acid ← flavor → bitter

There are many aroma and taste elements in a cup of coffee, and the beans in the same producing area and manor will taste different according to the brewers. It is recommended to be curious, try the coffee brewed by different baristas, and then find the taste that best suits you. This is the so-called "taste trip"--