Is there a big difference in concentration extracted by a few tenths of a gram of powder? Why do I have to use an electronic scale to make coffee?

Friends who visit the store see the process of making concentration in front street, whether it is grinding or extracting coffee liquid, it will be measured by electronic scale. So he asked, "if you don't just make coffee, why should it be so accurate?" More powder, less powder, more liquid, less liquid, more time and less time, is there really a big difference in the taste of espresso?

It is only natural that this friend will have this problem. after all, there are two views on the Internet about "whether you need to use weighing when making coffee". One school believes that the extraction of coffee is very necessary, while the other holds the opposite view that it is the same whether it is weighed or not, but the concentrated taste will not be very different. So, today, Qianjie will share an experiment to see whether there is a big difference between different amounts of espresso, and whether it is necessary to use it.

In the extraction experiment, in order to more accurately capture the concentration differences extracted by different values, the front street of this experiment will be divided into two rounds, one using different amounts of powder to extract the same liquid weight, the other using the same amount of powder to extract different liquid weights, to see what kind of results the two rounds of experiments will bring to us. The first is the extraction experiment of different amount of powder. Three espresso will be extracted in the front street of this experiment. Since the concentrated extraction parameter set in Qianjie this morning is 20g, 40ml, then we will increase and decrease the amount of powder by 0.5g on this basis, but the liquid weight they extract is the same: 40ml. All right, without saying much, let's take a look at the results of the extraction.

Then Qianjie tasted three cups of concentrate respectively. First, the 40ml concentrate extracted from the standard 20g powder was very comfortable as a whole, with outstanding flavor, balanced sour and bitter taste, mellow taste, and sweet and sour flavor of whisky, butter cookies and berries. Compared with the previous cup, the overall feeling is less comfortable, the bitterness is more prominent, and the sour taste is less obvious, so the flavor is more or less whisky, butter cookies and dark chocolate with obvious bitterness. Finally, the espresso with 0.5 g powder extract is less pleasant than the first cup, not only is the taste not so thick, but the aftertaste is also very short, but relatively speaking, the sweet and sour flavor of berries will be more prominent. but as the temperature drops, its sour taste becomes more acute.

Then enter our second round of experiments, using the same powder, extract different liquid weights for comparison. Similarly, the parameters are adjusted around the parameters adjusted this morning, which is also 20g powder, and then extract the espresso liquid of 40ml, 35ml and 45ml respectively to see what kind of performance these coffee liquid will bring.

The detailed explanation was skipped directly, because the result was roughly the same as that of the first round, except for the good performance of the concentration made with the early tuning parameters, the other two cups showed an unpleasant taste.

So we know that there is a difference between the concentration of more powder and less powder, more liquid and less liquid, more time and less time extraction, and the source of this difference is that the taste balance of coffee is broken. What do you mean? To explain briefly, Qianjie Morning tune got the extraction formula of "20g, 30 seconds, 40ml" because the espresso extracted by this parameter has a well-balanced taste! Not only do not cover up each other, but also can help each other, so that all aspects of coffee have a very good performance. Each extraction parameter makes an important contribution to the taste of a cup of coffee, and they all contain each other. Once a parameter is changed, the whole extraction efficiency will be affected. Especially for sensitive Italian extraction, the effect will be more severe. When the extraction efficiency has been changed, it means that the amount of acid, sweet and bitter extraction will be different! Then the final extracted coffee is too bitter, too sour, or very thin. So, what do we do if we want to perfectly reproduce espresso that tastes as good as morning notes?

By the way, it is to completely reproduce the formula of delicious and concentrated extract! In order to do this, the existence of electronic weighing is absolutely necessary. If you don't weigh it, you don't know how much powder you are using and how much liquid coffee will be extracted. The small error is fine (such as 0.1 ~ 0.2g powder, 1~3ml coffee liquid), but if there is a big error of more than 0.5g powder and 4ml coffee liquid, then the taste will change greatly. Then a friend will ask, isn't this the result of feedback only when there is a comparison? If there is no comparison, can you drink so much difference?

Ah! This is really quite true, in the absence of comparison, naturally there is no way to feel too much gap, but! If it tastes good or not, everyone can still drink it. In the absence of measurement, every cup of coffee is Schrodinger's cat, good or bad depends on fate. If you happen to use less powder and more extract, under the superposition of multi-layer buff, the coffee can not taste good, unless your coffee is extremely deep-roasted, then, as long as you get enough extraction under the coffee full of scorched and bitter taste, then naturally there is not much difference, after all, it is bitter! But if the extraction is not enough, then the coffee will still have a more obvious sour taste. So that's why most coffee shops use electronic scales to measure the whole process, in order to ensure the stability of the products, so that guests can drink espresso and espresso as good as early in the morning! If you make it for yourself, you can do whatever you want. Of course, there are exceptions to everything! Because weighing reduces efficiency, some coffee shops use bean grinders and coffee machines instead of metering. But this will also produce some errors, but it will be much better than not having it at all.

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