Balzac, a French writer who drank 50,000 cups of coffee, taught you how to drink coffee!

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Everyone drinks coffee in different ways.

Some people must drink in the morning, have another drink in the afternoon, and do not refuse to come in the evening; some people who drink after noon may not be able to sleep at night. Some people are cool and black coffee, the stronger the bitter, the better; others like a hot latte, thick milk and coffee, taste that dense taste. Some people finish the coffee immediately; others can last a cup for an afternoon. It seems that the character of this person can be seen more or less from the way he drinks coffee.

As long as you like it, each way has its own taste to enjoy. Speaking of which, who cares how you like to drink coffee? Let's take a look at how Balzac, a famous 19th-century French realistic writer, drank coffee:

I'm not at home, I'm in the cafe; I'm not in the cafe, I'm on my way to the cafe.

-- Honore de Balzac

You may not have read Balzac's work, but you must have heard this famous saying in the coffee world. Balzac wrote in a short article entitled "Coffee is my pain and joy":

"... The effectiveness of coffee weakens over time. Italian composer Rossini and I have the same experience in this regard. He once told me, "the mental stimulation time limit of coffee lasts 15 to 20 days at most. If you are lucky, it is just enough to finish an opera." If you drink coffee after this period, the pick-me-up effect will drop sharply. "that's a very true remark! But connoisseurs have a way to prolong the mental stimulation of coffee.

My trick is to gradually increase the concentration of coffee. In the first two weeks, drink one cup at a time, then two cups at a time, the coffee powder should be gradually ground, and then drink with hot water, you will get enough mental stimulation and ingenuity.

In the third week, we will begin to reduce the amount of brewing water, and the coffee powder should be ground more finely than in the previous two weeks, but it should be soaked and extracted slowly in cold water to maintain the brain's combat strength after drinking it.

If the work is not finished and you can't stop your brainpower, you must do something special. Coffee powder should be ground to the finest, the amount of water should be as little as possible, double the amount of coffee powder, two cups at a time, the body is strong enough, might as well drink three cups at a time, the brain can maintain sharpness for a few more days.

Finally, the old man also found another shocking and tragic brain-awakening trick, which he only dared to introduce to the world to try. Those who are qualified to try must be super energetic, with thick black hair, black spots on the skin, broad and thick hands, and legs like a wide and narrow bowling bottle. The practice is not difficult, coffee grinding to ultra-fine, high dose, no water or less water, empty stomach to swallow. Coffee enters the empty stomach sac and begins to attack the hungry stomach wall, like food craving for gastric juice to digest; coffee tosses the stomach wall to find gastric juice, just as a priest pleads with God; coffee hits the details of the stomach, like a horse whipping a horse. The spark immediately reached the brain-in an instant, everything became flexible and ingenious ideas emerged.

... A friend had to finish the handover work the next day. I didn't teach him a trick to wake up with coffee. As a result, he was poisoned and lay soft on the bed. Everyone took care of the bridegroom in every way. This gentleman is tall and thin, with sparse blond hair, thin legs and small hands. No wonder he tastes as thin as paper and can't stand the coffee. The old man misjudged the man and taught the wrong man. "

In fact, there are many similarities between brewing coffee and making tea, and they all have the feeling of "an expert watching the doorway and a layman watching the hustle and bustle". If you have not played by yourself, you will always feel that there are so many guys at first glance, or very fastidious, as if it is very complicated and difficult. In fact, the principle is very simple, but if you want to pay attention to it, you will pay attention to it forever.

Let's start with Balzac coffee today and talk about extraction. After all, curiosity is the same as curiosity, and this fat man does not drink so much coffee for nothing, and he still has some advanced concepts about the extraction of coffee. Why would you say that?

The main results are as follows: 1. The coffee concentration can be controlled by adjusting the ratio of grinding degree to powder water.

"... My trick is to gradually increase the concentration of coffee. In the first two weeks, drink one cup at a time, then two cups at a time, the coffee powder should be gradually ground, and then drink with hot water, you will get enough mental stimulation and ingenuity. We will begin to reduce the amount of brewing water in the third week. "

Here Balzac mentioned a key point of coffee extraction: the finer the coffee powder is ground / the less water is brewed, the higher the concentration of the extracted coffee.

In fact, when you want to extract something with water, there are only a few factors: water temperature, amount of water, amount of powder, grinding thickness, extraction time, water quality and what kind of beans to use. These are the main causes of the general cooking method.

It is a common physical common sense to understand extraction in this way: the higher the water temperature, the higher the extraction efficiency; the less water / powder, the higher the extraction concentration; the finer the grinding, the more contact area and the higher extraction efficiency; the longer the extraction time, the more matter is dissolved.

So we can see that Balzac's technique is to first grind the coffee powder more and more finely, and then reduce the amount of brewing water, so that the coffee concentration is getting higher and higher.

2. Low water temperature combined with fine grinding and long extraction time can avoid bitter taste and higher caffeine extraction rate.

"Coffee powder should be ground more finely than in the previous two weeks, but it should be slowly soaked and extracted in cold water to maintain the brain's combat strength after drinking it. "

what the hell! Isn't this cold coffee? It turns out that Balzac began to promote cold coffee two centuries ago.

Thus it can be seen that the fat man is still thinking about the taste. If you want to extract extra-strong coffee, soaking it in hot water for a long time may dissolve more caffeine, but it will be more bitter and scorched. On the other hand, the cold extracted coffee, which is soaked and extracted slowly in cold water, can avoid bitter taste as far as possible, and can also dissolve a lot of caffeine!

You know, caffeine was only discovered and purified by the German chemist "Friedrich Ferdinand Runge" in 1819 (just in Balzac's time), when Balzac had already explored the extraction properties of caffeine. However, "cold coffee contains a lot of caffeine" is still a cold knowledge in the 21st century.

When it comes to cold coffee, we have to mention the temperature of the water. In Balzac's tutorial, "slowly soak and extract in cold water" is right. The lower the temperature, the slower the extraction rate of coffee, the longer the extraction time and the finer the degree of grinding.

But the aroma of coffee, or want to extract coffee oil, a certain high water temperature is necessary. On the other hand, the high water temperature will make the bitter and astringent taste obvious. Therefore, according to your favorite taste and needs, it is necessary to properly adjust the water temperature and the amount of water / coffee powder. If you don't know how to start, you can start with a water temperature of 90 ℃, and then try a little higher or lower yourself. The lower the water temperature, it is recommended that the overall cooking time can be extended, and vice versa.

You see, through Balzac's almost drug-addicted way of drinking coffee, we can simply understand the most basic causes of coffee extraction.

Balzac once said that "30,000 cups of coffee is the end of my life," but according to experts, Balzac drank about 50,000 cups of espresso in his life, an average of 6 to 7 cups a day! Coffee's like drugs! The master draws inspiration and nourishment from coffee, which is similar to self-torture. Although it is not enough, it is amazing.

To be honest, Xiaobian feels that if you change to a barista to teach guests this way of drinking coffee, it is to find shi, but if your pursuit of coffee is its caffeine and refreshing effect, Balzac's drinking method can give you a reference.

Now, do you know why most people don't become famous writers? I drank less coffee!

END