What is the reason why the brewed coffee is weak? Why is there insufficient extraction by hand? Is there any relationship between the ratio of powder and water and the concentration of coffee?

Widowed! Be careful! It was not the cry of a frog, but the amazing reaction of a friend after drinking a cup of coffee as light as water. Of course, Qianjie doesn't rule out the possibility of being a single person.

It is a very common phenomenon that the flavor of the coffee is too strong or too weak, not only the rookies who have just started, but also the old coffee people who have dominated the coffee field for many years. Therefore, Xiaobai friends do not have to worry, this is a "routine" thing. Compared with the strong taste, the coffee is too light and too watery, which is a situation that many Xiaobai friends will trigger more frequently. So how should we adjust when this situation occurs? I don't know it doesn't matter ~ Qianjie will share it today, what is the cause of the weak coffee, and what is the corresponding solution?

Why is the coffee made so weak? When you think that the taste of coffee is light, it means that there is a shortage of substances in this cup of coffee, which can not support enough taste, so there is a bad experience of light taste and empty taste. There are two factors that can trigger this situation. the first is what we talk about every day: "insufficient extraction".

When we extract coffee, we will apply the extraction formula corresponding to the bean to extract. Because the substances present in coffee are not always pleasing, we need to limit the release of these unpleasant substances by controlling parameters. The parameters such as time, grinding, water temperature and the ratio of powder to water are the main objects that we need to control, and they all complement each other. In the extraction process, they will provide different extraction efficiency from different angles, so that the water as a solvent can dissolve flavor substances in an appropriate amount.

If there is a deviation in one of the parameters in this formula, it will directly affect the overall extraction efficiency, resulting in the water as a solvent can not extract a sufficient amount of material. Then coffee will be because of too few substances, the flavor is not prominent, the taste is not obvious, this is what we often call "insufficient extraction". Insufficient extraction of coffee in addition to light taste, there may be salty, astringent and other negative experience.

Problems like this are easy to solve, as long as you find the factor that affects the extraction and correct it! Qianjie still recommends time as the criterion of judgment. For example, in front of the street to cook a 15g coffee beans, hot, cooking time will be set at about 2 minutes. When the cooking time is much less than two minutes (the difference is more than 10 seconds), it means that the grinding is probably caused by too rough grinding, then we need to fine-tune the grinding to correct the problem of insufficient extraction. If the time is still weak after more than two minutes, then it is likely to be caused by the low water temperature, so raising the water temperature appropriately at this time can improve the situation of insufficient extraction. (note: everyone uses different appliances and the amount of powder. Here in Qianjie, the extraction time is determined according to the equipment and the amount of powder used, so 2 minutes is for reference only.)

However, if the grinding or water temperature is uncontrollable, in this case, we can correct the missing extraction efficiency by improving other parameters. For example, if the grinding is too rough, but because it is pre-grinding or the bean grinder can not be finer, then we can choose to increase the water temperature of cooking or prolong the extraction time (subsection or filter cup can be solved). In order to get a higher extraction rate, reduce the impact of insufficient grinding, and so on, it is the same reason that a similar situation occurs in other aspects.

Another situation that can lead to low concentration of coffee is that the concentration of coffee is too low, which is still different from underextracted coffee. As Qianjie said in yesterday's article, because the flavor substances in coffee are limited, when we use too much hot water for extraction, we will not only extract miscellaneous flavors and other substances that should not be extracted, but also dilute the concentration of coffee. Because there is only so much matter, the more water is added, the thinner it is diluted.

(in the picture, the coffee extracted with the ratio of 1:17 and 1:15 powder water respectively, it is obvious that the coffee on the right is thicker because there is less water, and the soup is darker. The coffee on the left is lighter because there is more water and the concentration is diluted.) this situation is easy to solve! Let's first taste this light cup of coffee to see if there is any over-extraction, that is, if there is any miscellaneous taste or obvious bitterness in the coffee. If so, then we only need to directly reduce the proportion of powder to water, we can correct the effect of light. For example, if you reduce it from 1:17 to 1:15, you don't have to worry about whether the extraction needs to be corrected. If there is no mixed taste or bitterness in the coffee, it means that when we modify the ratio of powder to water, we also need to improve the extraction efficiency of other parameters of coffee. Otherwise, after shortening the ratio of powder to water, the extraction time will also be reduced. Time is also an important member of the extraction formula. When using the powder-to-water ratio of 1:17, there is no miscellaneous, astringent and other negative taste in the coffee, which means that the overall extraction efficiency of 1:17 powder-water ratio combined with other parameters is just right! At this time, if we directly adjust the ratio of powder to water, it means that the extraction efficiency will be reduced, and coffee is prone to insufficient extraction. Therefore, it is necessary to improve other extraction parameters to supplement the extraction efficiency!

In general, it is necessary for us to understand the underlying logic of coffee extraction. As long as we chew through the extraction logic, no matter what happens to our brewed coffee, we can immediately find the problem and correct it in time, whether it is too strong or too weak.

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