Does the quality of the cup also affect the flavor of coffee? Which material and shape is better for coffee?

You may have many mugs at home, and you should also have the cup you like or are most used to. In addition to pleasing to the eye, or the cup has a special meaning to you, what you need to consider is actually the material. Drinking coffee from cups of different materials will affect the flavor of coffee due to differences in thermal conductivity. This paper introduces the difference between ceramic cup and glass cup.

Heat preservation effect

The thermal insulation effect of ceramic is better than that of glass, although the thermal insulation effect also depends on the shape of the cup and the surface area of coffee exposed to the air, but the material will directly affect the heat loss due to evaporation.

The cup itself will absorb heat because of conduction, and then dissipate heat through convection. Combining the comparison of heat conduction and convection, the heat dissipation of ceramic will be lower than that of glass.

I believe it has been learned in physics and chemistry before that "conduction" is the heat loss caused by the direct contact of two materials, one of which is colder than the other. Because ceramics have more pores than glass, heat is transmitted more slowly in ceramic cups, which become thermal insulators and slow down the heat loss caused by heat conduction.

Convection is the loss of heat through contact with air. Once the temperature of the cup itself rises, it loses heat through convection. On the other hand, this causes the glass to pass through conduction in order to absorb more calories from coffee. Ceramics have higher specific heat than glass, which means that ceramics lose heat more slowly than glass through convection.

Using two kinds of cups of the same shape and size, the heat loss caused by convection in ceramic cups is about 11.1% slower than that of glass cups. To put it simply, ceramic cups have a better heat preservation effect than glass cups.

Recycled glass is more environmentally friendly.

From the point of view of environmental protection, the materials of glass and ceramics are not as simple as the heat preservation effect, and both have their advantages and disadvantages.

First of all, glass can be recycled, but ceramics usually cannot be recycled (technically, some ceramics can be "degraded and recycled" and added to other ceramic products, but usually inferior ceramics resulting from degraded recycling are not usually used in the manufacture of cups). From the point of view of environmental protection alone, glass has less burden on the environment than ceramics.

On the other hand, ceramic is lighter than glass, so it consumes less fuel when it is transported. Although the weight difference between a glass and a ceramic cup is almost negligible, if the whole truck is loaded with thousands of cups, the difference will be obvious.

It has been suggested that if the environment is the primary consideration, we can use cups made of recycled glass or buy lighter ceramic cups to reduce the burden on the environment.

Cups of other materials

Copper

There are not only copper cups, but also hand pots and various copper cups. Copper has better heat preservation performance, which can slow down the cooling rate of coffee, and iced coffee can also keep cold. The disadvantage is that it is troublesome to maintain and preserve.

Stainless steel

Stainless steel material is not easy to break and deform, good heat transfer and heat resistance are long used in all kinds of kitchen supplies. In order to reduce the temperature loss, the coffee cup made of stainless steel usually has a double-layer structure, light weight and convenient preservation, so it is suitable for outdoor activities.

Titanium

Titanium has the hardness of steel, but its weight is less than half that of steel, and it is easy to use without rusting. It is heat-resistant and easy to carry, and its shape is similar to that of ordinary mugs, but the disadvantage is that the price is high.

When choosing a cup, do not only consider the appearance of the cup, in addition to the heat preservation effect, but also take into account the impact on the environment. In addition, the narrow mouth of the cup, it is more difficult to fully feel the flavor of coffee, because coffee can not spread to the whole tongue. The wider the cup rim touches the mouth, the easier it is to taste the flavor of coffee.