Coffee rookie doubt? Why do the same coffee beans have different flavors?

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The reason why hand-brewed coffee is very hot is that it has a sense of ritual, a sense of experience and personalization, and high playability. In this era of standardization and mass production, we need such products to give us a place where we can still feel the unique charm, that is, boutique coffee shops.

However, many friends who go to drink hand-made coffee, have you ever had the following experience? As a barista who makes coffee by hand, do you really understand coffee extraction? Today, the editor only starts from the discussion of hand-made coffee, after all, it is also the most common boutique coffee practice.

Do you know anything about hand-brewing coffee? Or have you been misled?

The editor once had such an experience: once when he was chatting with a barista in a coffee shop, he said, "the bean we have this time is a 'player bean'. It can give coffee players different tastes through different water temperatures and techniques. I can use this bean to make you two cups of coffee with different flavors. Recently, the editor once again heard such words: "I want to drink this Sakuran, can you make me two cups, but can you have a different flavor?" "the first thing that comes to mind is to make a cup at high temperature and one at low temperature.

At first glance, there is nothing wrong with it, but it is a common problem in making coffee by hand-making 2 cups of coffee with different flavors. For coffee rookies or new baristas, they still feel very powerful.

But the question is, why does the same coffee bean have different flavors? Isn't the flavor of coffee written on the bag? Haven't all the flavors been measured when the cup is tested? Or can not achieve product consistency and find a high-end reason to prevaricate?

We need to know that the flavor of a cup of coffee is determined by the variety, planting environment, treatment, and roasting. Baristas brew coffee only to show its flavor in the coffee liquid, not to change it! Therefore, there is no saying that a coffee bean has two different flavors, and if you insist, it should be understood that the content of a cup of coffee is different under different extraction rates and concentrations.

As for flavor, baristas can explore how to show the best flavor expression of a cup of coffee by comparing brewing. For example, in the example of Sakuran above, we use

The fragrance of flowers extracted at high temperature is very obvious, and it shows the taste of scented tea.

Low temperature extracted coffee shows tropical fruit and cantaloupe flavor.

However, after careful analysis, there are all these flavors, only some are strengthened and some are weakened, so please do not understand that this coffee can make different flavors, the above flavors exist in the cup test, we just choose how to express them.

When roasting, the flavor of a cup of coffee has been determined, you want to change the grinding degree, water temperature, filter cup, method, etc., to make a "different" flavor does not exist, you can do, just can show the flavor of this coffee more or less.

As a result, we can adjust our cooking to achieve a more perfect extraction by understanding the picture below. Coffee flavor in the circle to find a similar flavor description, and then you can see the outermost ring brewing correction proposal to adjust your next cup.

It is a compulsory course for baristas to modify the flavor and taste of coffee by changing the brewing parameters one by one or at the same time. Before each brewing, you should think: how to cook this kind of coffee in front of you? Coffee brewing is not only a technology, but also an art.

For example, our new bean, [Nicaraguan Black Honey treatment], has done three experiments to find the best way to cook it. Before this time, we have done a cup test of the coffee to understand the basic flavor performance of this coffee.

Utensils: V60 filter cup

The ratio of powder to water is 1:15 and the extraction is divided into three stages.

The extraction time is the same: 2 minutes 10 seconds.

In the first cooking, the editor used the water temperature of 90 ℃ and the grinding degree of Fuji 3.5. the flavor was herbs, caramel and berries, but it was found to be sour, fried melon seeds, thin taste and suspected of insufficient extraction.

The second time, the use of 92 ℃ water temperature, small Fuji 3.5 degree of grinding, flavor reflected in caramel, nuts, spices, sesame, but appeared bitter and astringent, a little dry throat, indicating excessive extraction.

The third 91 ℃ water temperature, the grinding degree of Xiao Fuji 3, finally reflects the flavor consistent with the cup test report, the coffee taste is full, and there are fermented aroma and toffee sweet, and finally determine the brewing parameters.

Above, it is obviously incorrect to say that the editor can use the same cup of coffee to flush out three flavors. It is just changing the brewing parameters to correct the flavor of the coffee (or looking for the best flavor performance combination). For most people who are not roasting coffee, with reference to the information provided by the roaster, you can better show the coffee you buy by comparing brewing.

If you have the conditions to bake your own coffee, the flavor information provided by raw bean merchants will be discussed. Roasting can really change the flavor trend of coffee, and different roasters will create the best flavor expression of a coffee bean according to their own understanding of this coffee.

I hope the above words will be helpful to you. In the next issue, we will talk specifically about how to change the brewing parameters (techniques) to find the best flavor combination of coffee. Please pay attention!