Professional coffee introduction and tasting knowledge sharing: Why do different cups taste different?

As the saying goes, a good horse is matched with a good saddle, and a good tea is put into a vat. As the main container for holding coffee, the influence of different designs of cups on tasting has gradually attracted people's attention. Some coffee shops even spare no effort to create a coffee cup set specifically for production to create a dual experience of vision and taste buds.

Just like wine, the cup shape has a certain impact on the sensory experience of coffee. Therefore, which cup to choose for drinking different coffees has gradually become the focus of many enthusiasts. Today, let's put aside the price for the time being and compare it through experiments to see what the effect will be if the same pot of coffee is drunk with different cups.

First, we need to reach two points of consensus:

1. Qian Jie believes that the definition of a coffee cup should be born based on coffee making. As long as it is a container that can hold liquids, even pots and pans at home can be called a "coffee cup", so there is no good or bad. In terms of merit, only the one that suits you is the best.

2. Coffee is the leading role, and cups are just a supporting role. When a cup of coffee has been extracted, no matter the price of the container used, the size, thickness, depth, material, and shape of the cup, it will ultimately not affect the flavor substances contained in it. Therefore, when the coffee has been over-extracted or under-extracted, then even if you use the most expensive cup to drink it, it will not help.

What is the difference between the taste of different cups drinking the same pot of coffee?

Due to the wide variety of coffee tasting cups on the market, Qianjie only targets the mainstream cup mouth types and selects three more common styles for comparison, namely open type, straight type, and closed type. During the process, the front street will record the flavor in conjunction with smelling the aroma of coffee, high temperature and low temperature tasting.

In order to get more reference information, Qianjie will use three coffee beans for experiments. One is the deep-roasted Qianjie Lanshan No. 1 to feel the mellow, body, and balance (brewing parameters: powder amount 15 grams, powder-to-water ratio 1:15, brewing water temperature 87℃, grinding degree is EK43s scale-10.5 grids/75% sieving rate of China standard sieve, three-stage water injection);

The second one is the moderately baked Qianjie Xizhao, which has a strong aroma of flowers and fruits and a rich and solid sweet and sour texture (brewing parameters: powder amount 15 grams, powder and water ratio 1:15, brewing water temperatures 91℃ respectively, grinding degree is EK43s scale-9.5 grids/China standard sieve 82%, three-stage water injection)

The third one is a lightly baked Guixiacun red label, which mainly exerts its light floral fragrance, acidity and aftertaste (brewing parameters: powder amount 15 grams, powder and water ratio 1:15, brewing water temperature 91℃ respectively, grinding degree EK43s scale-10 grids/China standard sieve 80% sieving rate, three-stage water injection).

During the smell stage, all three coffees showed similar trends: the aroma of coffee in the open cup was fleeting and quickly became the lightest group in the three cups; the aroma concentration of the straight cup was in the middle and did not change much; the aroma of the closed cup was the richest, and the aroma of each bean was expressed.

The flavor performance of Lanshan No. 1: The straight cup has the most concentrated flavor, high concentration and mellow body; the closed cup has obvious sweetness, clear and soft; the open cup is generally light, slightly sour, and lacks mellow.

Flavor performance of Chinese claws: The open cup is biased towards the acidity of citrus and stone fruits, with a little tea feeling; the closed cup has the highest sweetness and tastes like ripe grape juice; the straight cup maintains a good sense of balance in terms of aroma and taste and is comfortable from beginning to end.

The flavor of Guixia Village Red Label: The straight cup has a strong fruit aroma, a solid taste, and a astringent tea flavor on the end; the aroma of the closed cup is not obvious, but the caramel feeling is outstanding; the open cup has a relatively clear layer, and you can drink bright fruit acid and slightly fermented aroma at high temperatures. After cooling down, you will have the tonality of citrus and black tea.

Why does the cup affect the taste of coffee?

The structure of the human tongue makes us feel different sensitivity to various flavors. Under normal circumstances, the tip of the tongue and edges are more likely to feel salty taste, the base of the tongue is for bitter and spicy taste, and the front of the tongue is more sensitive to sweet taste., the sides of the tongue against the gills are often stimulated by sour taste. When we combine it with the above record of flavor comparisons, we can draw a general conclusion.

Open cup, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, large in diameter, and inclined outward at more than 45 degrees on the edge of the cup. When drinking coffee, the contact area between the liquid and the air is the largest, so the aroma runs fastest. The larger tilt angle makes the coffee liquid the smoothest when entering the mouth, and at the same time it is the most dispersed. It first flows through the side of the tongue and the tip of the tongue., so it is easier to capture the subtle changes in the sweetness and sweetness of the fruit and the flavor when tasting medium and light roasted coffee. It is suitable for African beans such as Qianjie Huakui and Qianjie Xiaokao Tomatoes.

For straight cups, the diameter from the mouth to the middle is basically the same. Some will be perpendicular to the table and the cup body will be higher. The linear design allows coffee liquid to flow into the mouth in a concentrated manner, which has a greater impact on the senses of the entire mouth. Especially at medium and high temperatures, it has the highest flavor concentration and a full and solid taste, which can better express the mellow degree., caramel aroma, so it is more suitable for deep-roasted coffees such as Qianjie Manternin and Qianjie Huilan.

The closing cup is mainly reflected in the fact that the top of the cup is folded inward and the belly bulges outward, allowing the aroma to be released in the widest place, and then gathered at the mouth of the cup, which is more conducive to smelling the aroma. Many red wine glasses use this type of closing design.

When drinking coffee from a closed-up cup, we must first raise our chin so that our lips can be concentrated forward. At this time, the coffee liquid will preferentially land on the front of the tongue, which is more sensitive to sweetness, and then distribute it in the mouth., so the aroma it provides will be weak, but the sweetness will be the highest. So to highlight its advantages, Qianjie believes that it is best to use beans with flavors such as candied fruit (dried fruit), toffee, ripe fruit, and fermented aroma, such as medium-baked coffee such as Qianjie Xizao and Qianjie strawberry candy.

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