Is water temperature really that important to a cup of coffee?

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In the brewing process, water and coffee will undergo some complex chemical reactions, and the water temperature will directly affect the extraction rate of different components in the coffee during brewing. Water extracts quinic acid, amino acids and tannins, caffeine, oils and other substances from coffee. During the brewing process, different stages produce different reactions: caffeine, for example, is extracted at the initial stage of brewing; fruit acid is extracted at the beginning, followed by sweetness, followed by bitterness at the last stage.

So how on earth does the water temperature affect it? The higher the temperature of the water, the faster the extraction rate, many different factors will affect the flavor of coffee, brewing should be very careful to control the extraction rate.

In the high temperature stage, the control of extraction will be difficult, and some undesirable flavors and ingredients will be released quickly. High temperature will quickly coking fine coffee powder, the industry will generally use "too high", "charred coffee" to accurately describe the use of high-temperature extraction, extraction flavor control defective coffee. What if the temperature is too low? If the water temperature is not enough, the coffee can not be extracted correctly, and the extracted coffee will have a little astringent and sour taste.

But low water temperature also has a way to make good coffee, which is to prolong the soaking time of water and coffee powder. For example: cold extract coffee-put the ground coffee powder into a container containing cold water at room temperature, then store it in a cold storage environment for 20-48 hours, remove and filter it, and ice drop coffee-use ice to extract coffee powder at a low temperature for a long time. For the coffee extracted in this way, because there is no high temperature environment, some of the substances in the coffee have not been completely extracted, so it avoids a lot of bitterness and miscellaneous tastes. on the contrary, the coffee has a smooth taste, a touch of acidity and sweetness, which makes the coffee taste juicy and accepted by more people.

Prolonging the extraction time and adjusting the grinding degree may not well compensate for the low water temperature, which will still give the coffee a strong acidity and low alcohol thickness. This is because acid is the first substance to be extracted, and without the precipitation of fat and the proper extraction of sweetness and bitterness, a cup of coffee cannot have a balanced taste. Therefore, it is very important to use the correct water temperature.