Why does coffee smell like alcohol? Does coffee contain alcohol? Why are some coffees so strong?

As we all know, we can often drink wine from coffee, such as red wine, champagne and whiskey, which has become a common flavor in coffee.

However, some friends who do not know much about coffee will be more concerned about the question of "can you drive after drinking such a cup of coffee with a strong alcoholic flavor". It can be said that they are a group of good citizens who abide by the traffic rules. You can rest assured that regular individual coffee does not contain alcohol, no matter how strong the smell of alcohol is, it is also a non-alcoholic drink. After all, alcohol evaporates very quickly at room temperature, not to mention coffee beans that stay in a 200 °C stove for so long. So the smell of alcohol that we drink from a single cup of coffee does not come from alcohol. (only single black coffee with nothing added)

"if it doesn't come from alcohol, why does it smell like alcohol in coffee?" Qianjie believes that this is the curious point of many friends. In fact, Qianjie as early as "is the flavor of coffee metaphysical?" "it is mentioned in this tweet that most of the smell we feel from everything comes from aroma. For example, strawberry flavor comes from strawberry flavor, and orange flavor comes from orange flavor. The aroma of flowers, fruit, wine and other flavors we feel from the coffee are all because the coffee beans produce some of the same aroma components as the corresponding food after roasting, so we can associate the specific food through this aroma.

Of course, in addition to the aroma, the taste and taste of coffee will assist us in the association of wine (scientifically called aroma synergy). In other words, the reason why we can feel the smell of alcohol in coffee is that coffee has the same aroma components as wine after roasting, and then combined with its taste and taste, we can feel the smell of wine from coffee (it can also be said to be wine).

But not all coffee will show alcoholic aroma, because it is closely related to the growth and processing of coffee.

First, the planting environment and variety genes we all know that the sugars in raw coffee beans are the key substances for the formation of aroma. They will be converted into other substances in the process of treatment and baking, including B, alcohols and other substances that make up the aroma of the wine. There are two main factors that determine the sugar content of a raw coffee bean, the variety gene and the planting environment.

Breed genes determine the upper limit of coffee beans. Arabica, for example, contains twice as much sugar as Robusta, so it has more aroma. While the planting environment determines the degree of development of coffee beans, there are many influencing factors here. Qianjie takes altitude as an example. When coffee beans are planted at higher elevations, the greater the temperature difference between day and night at high elevations, will prolong the ripening time of coffee beans, which allows them to accumulate more sugar before ripening. The more sugar accumulates, the more aroma and flavor the beans naturally produce after being processed and baked.

Treatment when the coffee fruits are ripe, they will be picked and transported to the processing plant for treatment to remove substances other than beans. And treatment is the key link to determine whether coffee beans can produce the aroma of wine! On this point, we can see the clue directly from the attribution of the wine on the flavor wheel.

It can be seen that red wine and whisky are classified as fermented, while their right house is fermented and ripe, respectively, because the aroma of wine is mainly produced by microbial fermentation, and the same is true for coffee. Coffee beans will be fermented in the process of treatment, and different treatment methods will make the degree of fermentation of coffee beans different. The more coffee beans are fermented during treatment, the higher the concentration of wine aroma it forms. So that's why the aroma of wine is often found in coffee, such as sun, honey and anaerobic treatments, because they are relatively fermented.

Third, the baking process, as mentioned at the beginning of Qianjie, will convert the substances stored in coffee beans, so Qianjie will not mention it again. But interestingly, based on the fact that the coffee beans have been processed, the depth of roasting can determine the aroma characteristics of the wine, such as whether the wine is of a fresh or heavy type. Because the front street said, wine flavor is aroma, taste, taste, a common flavor characteristics, and the degree of roasting affects the taste and aroma performance of coffee, will naturally have a certain impact on tonality.

For example, the 90 + Juliet Rose Summer in the Qianjie bean list, before it was put on the shelves, Qianjie baked several Juliet with different baking degrees for cup testing, in order to select the curve from which the flavor performance can be best played. Then because it is a heavy anaerobic treatment of coffee beans, so it has a more prominent aroma of wine. Through the cup test, we can drink that the aroma of the wine emitted by the shallow baking is very fresh, which is similar to the light type of champagne, while the aroma emitted by the medium baking is thicker, which is close to that of the wine.

In addition to the above "upstream industry" will make coffee beans produce wine aroma, some coffee extraction methods can also have the same effect. It's just that what they change is not the coffee beans themselves, but the extracted coffee. Ice drop coffee, for example, is a very good example.

If you have tried ice drop coffee, you will know that the aroma of ice drop coffee is extremely strong, even the coffee beans without alcohol flavor will have a strong wine aroma after making ice drop coffee. This is mainly because of the special extraction method of ice drop coffee! Ice drop coffee is a kind of coffee extraction method which is filtered with cold water, but the coffee can not be drunk immediately after extraction. It needs to be put in the refrigerator and refrigerated for several hours before it can be enjoyed. Because in the process of cold storage, the coffee will slowly ferment, producing more substances to improve the taste and taste. The aroma of wine is produced by fermentation of coffee in the process of cold storage.

When the coffee bean itself has more alcohol aroma, or the longer the fermentation time, then the resulting ice drop coffee will have a stronger wine aroma. To sum up, you can know why even if the coffee does not contain alcohol, it will still have alcoholic aroma. Qianjie still needs to be reminded again. The above only refers to black coffee with nothing, excluding those coffee made with extra wine.

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