Would you like a nice cup of coffee? See how cooking and baking emphasize this quality.

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It is often said that this cup of coffee tastes mellow. What on earth is the thickness of alcohol? Alcohol thickness also appears on the cup meter. But do we really know what alcohol thickness is? Why do some coffees have a higher alcohol thickness? How can we emphasize the quality of alcohol thickness by baking or cooking?

What is alcohol thickness?

Let's start with the basics: alcohol thickness is the structure and texture of coffee. In The Professional Barista's Handbook, Scott Rao defines alcohol thickness as "the weight or plumpness of the drink you feel in your mouth."

Since the thickness of alcohol is an element of taste, you can know that there will be differences. In The Coffee Dictionary's book, Maxwell writes, "imagine it would be interesting when you can feel light but sticky coffee, or full-bodied coffee with a juicy taste." Alcohol thickness is not what we taste, but what we feel. However, this can affect the overall flavor of coffee, because the flavor is a combination of many elements-such as taste, aroma, texture, and even sound and vision.

In the author's experience as a barista, alcohol thickness is one of the three elements pursued by coffee drinkers (the other two are bright acidity and clear flavor).

The thickness of alcohols that is difficult to explain scientifically

If we want to emphasize the alcohol thickness of coffee by brewing, we need to know how to do it, and that's when it comes to extraction. Extraction is in the process of contact with water through coffee powder, the flavor and aroma components are extracted, and then brewed into a good coffee.

During extraction, substances are divided into soluble and insoluble, soluble substances are diluted in water, while insoluble substances are solids and oils floating on the liquid surface. These are probably protein molecules and fibers, and these insoluble substances, especially oils, increase the thickness of alcohols.

Why do some coffees taste fuller than others?

There are many factors that can explain why some coffees taste fuller. Some coffee varieties themselves have a more mellow thickness, some are due to treatment, brewing techniques or filtration to make the coffee taste full, roasting properties will also create alcohol thickness.

Let's take a look at these factors, starting with raw beans all the way to the last cup of coffee.

Raw beans with good mellow thickness

Some coffee varieties themselves are thicker than others. When the author first started making coffee, he made an El Socorro Maracaturra coffee from Guatemala, which has a peach flavor and can drink some whisky flavor, caramel texture and round and full taste when cooled. Then the author fell madly in love with this type of coffee beans.

On the other hand, the author thinks that the Pacamara variety he used to like is very delicious, which has rich fruit flavor, mostly drupe fruit, and high-quality chocolate flavor. However, it usually has only a medium alcohol thickness.

Then there is the most admired summer in the coffee industry, which is famous for its delicate, tea-like thickness, which creates a very different coffee experience from MaraCaturra.

If you get a variety of coffee with low alcohol thickness, you have three choices: follow the low alcohol thickness of this coffee, try to emphasize its alcohol thickness through treatment, baking and brewing, or by blending beans to achieve better performance of the alcohol thickness of the coffee.

Washed coffee often shows a more meticulous taste: clear and clean flavor is better than taste. Sun-treated coffee can be expected to have a thicker and round taste.

Honey treatment is also linked to alcohol thickness, and generally speaking, the more pectin layer of coffee fruit is retained during treatment, the higher the alcohol thickness will be. Coffee treated with black honey will have a syrup-like taste and sweetness.

How to bake alcohol thickness

Raw beans can be strengthened or reduced by baking, depending on how you want to use the beans. First of all, let's be clear: a darker degree of roasting is usually considered to be a higher alcohol thickness, but as Matt Perger said, the color of coffee beans is not necessarily related to the degree of roasting. Baking is a complex process that combines a variety of conditions, and a good bean baker can control the temperature and emphasize the flavor characteristics they want through baking.

For example, raw bean merchants Sweet Maria's will control the duration of baking to emphasize the thickness of alcohol they want, and if the process is done correctly, the development of explosion can increase the thickness of alcohol. The raw bean merchant said in a post: "this syrup-like taste is related to carbohydrates, and the development of the explosion increases the strength of the alcohol thickness." "

In addition, Rob Hoos mentioned in his book controlling Coffee Flavor Properties that if bean bakers use the Mena reaction, they produce more caramelized substances, in other words, to increase the thickness of alcohols in coffee.

However, if the beans are overroasted during roasting, this development may stagnate, leaving the roasted coffee to produce a roasting defect, which in turn produces a plain and monotonous drink. Everything that happens in the beans during roasting must be balanced in order to make coffee with good flavor characteristics through roasting.

How to flush out the alcohol thickness

Since the grease brings alcohol thickness, the oil you leave in the cooking and filtration process will have a great impact on the caffeine thickness, and these cooking methods are very different.

A scale is usually used in hand flushing, which usually shows two extremes: high alcohol thickness but low cleanliness, high cleanliness and low alcohol thickness. For example, coffee brewed in a French filter kettle has a high alcohol thickness and low cleanliness; on the other hand, hand-brewed coffee is generally more clean. Philharmonic pressure is known for the elasticity of cooking changes: you can use it to flush out alcohol thickness or cleanliness, depending on your mood.

One of the reasons for the high alcohol thickness of the French filter kettle is the metal filter screen. The filter paper absorbs a large amount of oil in the coffee, while the metal filter allows the oil to filter into the coffee. Chemex filter cup is the opposite of French filter kettle, the coffee flavor is clean, probably because of its thick filter paper. If you have both a metal filter and a filter paper at hand, you will have more flexibility to determine the taste of the coffee.

Of course, there is espresso, which has a higher alcohol thickness because the proportion of powdered water brewed is higher than that of other brewing methods, and espresso will extract the coffee powder under pressure, which creates Crema, and the golden brown substance floating on the surface is a combination of oil and caramelized substances, which is also the reason for creating alcohol thickness.

You can create more or less alcohol thickness by adjusting the ratio of powder to water or strength, but pay attention to under-extraction or over-extraction, for over-extracted coffee tastes hollow, as Matt Perger mentioned at Barista Hustle.

Don't overlook the fact that many drinks are blended with milk, and the type of milk-full-fat, skim, soy milk or milk-can affect the alcohol thickness. Good milk will increase the milk fat and sweetness of the drink.

The thickness and quality of good alcohol sounds simple, but it is actually very complex, but the charm of fine coffee is that we can clearly know and control the coffee flavor.

So take a look at the information mentioned above and work on the alcohol thickness to find out your favorite coffee flavor.

Translated from Perfect Daily Grind

Translated by Cheng Zhen Coffee