Will pulling flowers make the coffee taste better? Is flower pulling a necessary element in boutique coffee?

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Like to pull flowers is not only to take pictures to look good, but also to add milk sweetness and fullness to the coffee. But does pulling flowers really make coffee taste better?

Imagine walking into a coffee shop affected by the "third wave of coffee" and ordering a cup of flat white. The cup of coffee held in my hand is perfectly extracted and delicious. Wait a minute! Where are the flowers? Did the store make a big mistake? Or is it really no big deal?

Pull flower has become the basic element of boutique coffee, we look at it has gone beyond pure evaluation. It is indispensable. But apart from being good-looking, can pulling flowers bring other benefits to coffee? I decided to judge from six aspects how much good (or bad) it actually brings to coffee. Do you want to pull flowers or not in the future? This article will take you to find out.

Is flower pulling a necessary element in boutique coffee?

First, taste

As long as you mix steamed milk and Italian concentrate, you can make milk-based coffee, so the way it is mixed can greatly affect the flavor of the coffee.

In May 2005, Matt Perger, the leader of Barista Hustle, conducted a test on Lahua. He made two cappuccinos, two cups of milk in the same proportion as Italian concentrate, both cups with flowers, but he stirred one of the cups so that the milk was evenly mixed with the coffee (while ruining the surface), and then blindly tested the two cups of coffee himself. How did it turn out? If you want the taste of coffee to be coordinated, it may not be suitable for flower pulling. Pull flowers form a circle of pure coffee fat on the surface of coffee, showing contrast and symmetrical beauty, which may look good, but may affect the round flavor of coffee. But if there is no flower, Italian concentrated ordinary bitterness and mellow oil, can be paired with milk, leading to a rich, strong flavor.

However, there is a third option-you can draw beautiful flowers without making you "miserable" in your first sip of coffee. It is generally believed that Scott Rao is the person who promotes this third method: first, pour a little bit of milk with a high proportion, concentrate it a little bit, stir it well, remove the bitterness of coffee fat, and then finish it in the usual way. This removes the bitterness that occurs at the beginning of drinking. I think it will look better to pull flowers this way, because the brown tone of the coffee is more uniform.

Pulling flowers may be pleasing to the eye, but will bitterness destroy the good impression when you take your first sip?

Second, flavor experience involving multiple senses

Tasting a cup of coffee can be said to involve taste, aroma and taste, which create the flavor of coffee, but some people think that the flavor of coffee is not just these three points.

In an interview with coffee exchange platform Little Black Coffee Cup, SCAE Sensory Educations author Ida Steen said: "when some people write, they describe flavor as a multi-sensory experience, even including vision and hearing." In the SCAA blog, Olivia Auell also wrote about the influence of music:

"if you participated in Re:co Symposium this year, you may also have participated in the" music experiment ", in which subjects were asked to taste coffee with different types of music. Slow-paced, heart-touching concerts bring out the bitterness of coffee, while bright and lively music highlights sweetness. "

At the same time, a scholar published a paper at the University of Oxford in 2014, which pointed out that if the salad is arranged into a well-known painting, it can improve the "delicacy" of the meal, and the paper has also been published in the peer-reviewed journal Flavour.

So the flavor of this cup of white coffee in your hand is affected by many factors, including not only the flavor of the coffee itself, but also the smell of the surroundings (customers who wear too much perfume or hot food), the music played in the store, and even the pull pattern on the surface of the coffee.

Does this cup of coffee taste better because of flower drawing?

Third, hard work is worth it.

The gourmet distribution center, Michelin-starred restaurant, or any place where good food is served, attach great importance to the appearance of the food on the table.

The dishes meticulously presented to diners are not only good food, but also tell the appearance of the journey before the meal is served: a group of skilled people who deal with details carefully and try their best to make the best products. In their eyes, food is so precious that it is worth the effort.

Many studies have pointed out (including the aforementioned Oxford University paper) that carefully presented foods can increase the "CP value of food". Coffee has a similar effect, behind the beautiful flowers is the cohesion of painstaking efforts: some people who are very interested in coffee take time to practice and learn the skills of drawing flowers, and they make special efforts to present a cup of "color and taste" high-quality drinks. Of course, taste is very important. At the same time, baristas have to adjust the grinding thickness of coffee and fine-tune the formula of Italian concentrate, so that the coffee on the table is perfect.

But in theory, excellent flower pulling is indeed the fruit of the painstaking efforts of baristas.

Fourth, milk foam VS flower pull

One of the most outrageous dilemmas of pulling flowers is to make bad milk bubbles. I think you know what I mean: imagine baristas making inverted swans with roses, seemingly surprised, but the foam is less than 0.1mm. I can press the pot to make coffee and add warm milk. It all tastes the same.

The elaborate cappuccino, with delicious fine milk foam floating on the top, brings a unique feast to the tasters-a taste of the wonderful, intertwined taste and sweetness of the mouth.

I have always thought that it is a pity to sacrifice the taste for the beautiful flower, not to mention that the pattern will be deformed at the first sip, but as long as the baristas strike a balance, such a tragedy will not happen.

Good-looking flowers are used to set off delicious coffee, not to cover up bad coffee.

Fifth, the value of social media

Around the world, social media is indispensable to the coffee industry and to many coffee fans. For coffee shop owners, every "like" is very important, every sharing is good for the store, and publicity can attract new customers. But if you only focus on flavor and don't pull flowers at all, you'd better be prepared that your Instagram will only have two trackers: your mother, and the friend who is only tracking you based on affection, but only drinks tea.

In media like Instagram, users only have a visual experience. In order to attract people to track, it is very important to pull flowers, so that even if someone has not tasted your coffee, they can still be attracted to you and track you.

Is this a photo worth uploading and sharing?

Sixth, drawing flowers is art

If you have seen the work of the champion of the world flower competition, you will understand how amazing it can be. For these artists, pulling flowers is art, and coffee is only the medium for transmitting art (sometimes coffee is not even used at all, such as cold drink cream art). In fact, the judges of this competition do not care about the coffee itself, and the scoring criteria focus on vision: the creativity of pattern design, the drawing of patterns, the texture of milk bubbles in different drinks, and the comparison of flowers. These intricate designs take a long time to make (and may even use food pigment), and the coffee is cold before drinking it.

Apply this scene to a busy coffee shop-customers have to wait 30 minutes to get cool but beautiful coffee, the flower is completely inconsistent with the value of coffee. But apart from the coffee shop, this kind of flower drawing still has its value.

So how much can pulling flowers add to the value of coffee? Both the pros and cons' arguments are convincing, whether for or against Lafayette. Pull flowers can bring customers a better experience as long as they do not sacrifice the taste and taste of milk foam, and they are a good marketing tool for the industry, but I personally think that we should not forget this from beginning to end: inferior coffee cannot appreciate because of excellent flowers, but high-quality coffee can make up for ugly ones.

Translated from Perfect Daily Grind

Translated by Cheng Zhen Coffee

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