A brief introduction to the methods of brewing coffee at home

Many young friends, including some old people, of course. They are very strange to coffee, and whenever they talk about making coffee, they find it very difficult to understand, thinking that it is a very skilled and complex activity. The Chinese tend to generalize the production of freshly ground coffee with the word "boil". Well, for these friends, I will try my best to introduce this issue to you here.

First, why should coffee be "brewed"

If you know a little bit about coffee, you must know that coffee is roasted by raw beans at high temperature into the brown beans that we are all familiar with. So why can't coffee just like tea, pour these beans into a pot and boil them, or soak them for a while to make a cup of strong coffee?

We know that coffee is different from tea, it is a seed. Its density is much higher than that of tea, so it can't be eaten directly. It needs to be baked at high temperature, which is actually puffing. Because only the lignocellulosic structure of extruded coffee beans can be opened. Aromatic substances remain in crispy roasted (expanded) coffee beans. Coffee beans become larger and denser, and this process is necessary, otherwise we will not be able to get the taste of coffee (how coffee flavor is formed during roasting, which is too complex to go into detail here).

After the coffee is roasted, it needs to be crushed. The purpose of crushing is to increase the contact area between hot water and coffee powder. This will cause more aromatic substances to be extracted. We call this phenomenon increasing the extraction rate. Therefore, the whole coffee beans can not be completely extracted from the taste of coffee, so the coffee beans can not be boiled directly.

The next step is to use water to extract the taste of the coffee from the coffee powder, which in turn has the color of the coffee. So we have to drink a cup of coffee, coffee beans need to go through: puffing-crushing-extraction, can be obtained. So coffee needs to be "brewed".

Can coffee be "brewed"?

If we define "boiling" as heating water to 100 degrees and keeping it at that temperature for a long time, then coffee cannot be brewed. Because the source of flavor in coffee (aromatic oil) will be destroyed in the process of "boiling" at high temperature for a long time. Therefore, about 92 degrees Celsius is the ideal temperature for coffee extraction. So whether you are soaking (French pressure pot), or using a coffee machine, or siphon pot and other appliances, the water temperature of extracted coffee can not be higher than 96 degrees Celsius. So coffee can't be brewed in this sense.

In this way, in the production of filtered coffee, we can clearly see that the coffee should be brewed instead of being boiled like porridge. We use a variety of heat sources to heat only the water used to extract coffee, rather than directly boiling the mixture of boiling water and coffee powder (Turkish coffee is outside the scope of this discussion).

Third, why instant coffee doesn't need to be made

It can be clearly seen from the production process of instant coffee that raw coffee beans are extracted in specific containers after puffing and crushing (but instant coffee is called extraction in this process) into concentrate, filtered, and then dried in two forms, which is why instant coffee is divided into hot-dried instant powder and freeze-dried instant powder. At present, the vast majority of instant coffee in the domestic market is hot and dry instant powder. But in any case, the solid powder we get is exactly the solid soluble substance of coffee. The wood fiber (coffee grounds) of the crushed coffee beans has been filtered out after the preparation of the extract. So instant coffee doesn't need to be brewed. Because the solid soluble substance of coffee is easily dissolved in water. But freshly ground coffee we need to filter out the coffee grounds after the coffee is extracted.

Fourth, freshly ground coffee can be "brewed" several times

Many friends often complain that coffee is more expensive than tea, because tea can be brewed repeatedly, but coffee can only be brewed once. There are also some friends who do not give up and extract the coffee many times. We say that this coffee can only be extracted once, but the coffee brewed after the first time can no longer be called coffee. Because there is a lot of caffeine in the brown water, or some scorched substances. We call this brown water Dirty Water. In fact, the standard method of drinking black tea in the West is only soaked once.

How to choose coffee beans and utensils

Coffee machines (utensils) serve coffee beans; coffee beans serve human taste, and the order of this relationship is irreversible. First of all, we need to know clearly what kind of coffee we like, and find suitable coffee beans and utensils according to this location. For example, if you don't like strong coffee, the espresso made by mocha pot, semi-automatic and fully automatic is not suitable for you!

So the first relationship is: taste determines the choice of utensils beans! Let's take a look at the effect of roasting depth of coffee beans on taste. Usually, the caffeine with deep baking degree has high thickness and low acidity, so it is more suitable for espresso. On the contrary, the alcohol has low thickness and acidity is obviously suitable for siphon, pressure and electric drip filtration to make filtered coffee. For example: Brazil, if the medium-roasted 85-90 shades are suitable for filtered coffee.

Normal pressure and electric drip filtration

In order to be more targeted, I will tell you according to the classification of appliances. Let's talk about French pressure and electric drip filtration first. Blessed are you who use these two utensils. In a sense, all coffee beans are applicable. What you need to know is your own taste characteristics. You can choose different coffee according to your own taste preferences.

French pressure kettle

Friends who use French pressure and electric drip filter, coffee becomes more life-oriented! What you are concerned with is the coordination of baking and taste. If you have a heavy taste, you should choose coffee that is moderately deep-roasted. If you like mellow and low-bitter coffee, then medium-roasted Latin American coffee will suit you, while African coffee is for those who like the sweet and sour taste of fruit!

Manual brewing and siphon pots

Manual brewing and siphon pots are more suitable for making individual coffee, and the quality of coffee beans is very high. Some friends are willing to compare these two instruments, which one is better. It should be said that it is normal for these two kinds of appliances to make the same kind of coffee with different tastes, because the different principles and the higher requirements for the professional skills of the users of these two kinds of appliances make the two kinds of instruments seem a little mysterious.

For those ordinary friends who use hand brewing and siphon pots, the problem becomes much easier, and it is a wonderful thing to make and enjoy it in the way you are used to. The different taste characteristics of Latin American coffee, African coffee and Asian coffee will make everyone's coffee life rich and colorful. At that time, the delicacy of coffee was far more affordable than the title of talent, so let coffee be enjoyed.

Mocha pot and Italian machine

For mocha pots and Italian machines, it is recommended to use blended coffee in terms of coffee choice. You can also choose a medium-and-deep-roasted single coffee. This kind of utensils are suitable for making coffee with high concentration, and if you choose a moderately roasted coffee, its acidity will make many friends unhappy. So what kind of utensils to make what kind of coffee to meet different taste needs.

How to choose bean grinder

Bean grinder plays a very important role in family coffee life, unless you buy coffee powder, you can't avoid grinding beans.

Electric bean grinder and manual bean mill

Coffee grinding is basically after the preparation work before brewing coffee has been done, the last process is to grind coffee. Do not grind a large number of coffee beans into powder and save them at home. We say that coffee should be finally ground before brewing, the reason is that the biggest enemy of coffee is oxygen, and the biggest weakness of coffee is that its aroma is volatile. Then it is necessary to increase the speed of grinding and shorten the time it takes to expose it to air. Seriously, it is recommended to use an electric bean grinder to grind coffee at home. Convenience and durability, at least to ensure that the coffee powder is not oxidized, the aroma is not easy to volatile requirements. At the same time, the grinding is as uniform as possible.

With regard to the manual bean grinder, its biggest advantage is that it is very interesting and fun. If you can rotate the handle of the manual bean grinder at a faster speed, you can also improve the grinding speed. However, the uneven grinding of the manual bean grinder is real and difficult to solve. This is determined by its principle and structure.

Select the roughness and fineness of grinding according to the apparatus

Introduce to you the method of selecting the grinding thickness of several kinds of instruments. It is recommended to grind the kettle coarsely, because it takes a long time to soak; the mocha kettle and semi-automatic kettle are thinner, but not powdery, but have fine particles; electric drip filtration can be determined according to the taste, if it is thicker, it is finer, if it is lighter, it is thicker. Assuming that all the conditions do not change, please mention it, only change one link. Such as: the same kind of coffee beans, the same water temperature, the same amount of water are unchanged, the thickness of finely ground coffee alcohol is higher, on the contrary, the acidity is bright.

Manual brewing, siphon pot, if I say medium grinding fineness, I am afraid you think what I said is not detailed. But it must depend on the player's habits and production genre. The uniformity of grinding is a relative index. There is no absolute uniform grinding machine in the world, but the proportion of coarse and fine particles is more or less different. Let's not dwell on this too much.

The difference between manual and electric small bean grinder

Bean grinder plays a very important role in family coffee life, unless you buy coffee powder, you can't avoid grinding beans.

We say that the most important indicator of coffee grinding is the speed and uniformity of the grinding. The so-called evenness is a relative index, and there is no so-called absolutely uniform grinder at present, so the evenness we are talking about refers to the thickness of the vast majority of ground coffee. Of course, the uniformity of professional coffee mill is better. But if you do not intend to spend so much money, but only want to use a hand mill or a small grinder to grind coffee, the grinding fineness you are adjusting is only a reference value, that is, most powders should be at this fineness. Therefore, friends who use manual bean grinders should observe the thickness of coffee powder after grinding coffee. Judging by the fineness of most coffee powder, it sounds a bit troublesome, but it's the only thing we can do for a grinder such as a hand mill.

It is a fact that a small electric bean grinder (such as a small grinder) grinds coffee with poor uniformity. Therefore, it is suggested that when grinding beans, it seems to shake up and down while grinding beans, such as drawing lots in a temple. The aim is to make the coffee beans as uniform as possible, but only as much as possible. But the biggest advantage of this machine is its fast grinding speed, which retains as much aroma as possible. However, the grinding speed of the hand mill is slow, and the aroma will volatilize a lot. If you must ask me to compare the advantages and disadvantages of these two kinds of bean grinders, I can only say that radish and cabbage have their own preferences. I would rather choose a small grinder, at least it can retain the aroma to the maximum extent.

What we have said so much is to pave the way for future operations. We say that the degree of grinding will be closely related to the extraction time and directly affect the taste. For example, if you grind coffee with a hand mill or a small grinder, the proportion of coffee is more thick, so if you want to get a mellow taste, you need to increase the soaking time. On the contrary, if the fine proportion accounts for more, and you want to pursue bright sour fruit and low-bitter coffee, then you must shorten the soaking time.

Having said so much, we must be on the premise of a previous condition before this conclusion can be established, that is, it is assumed that all the conditions do not change, but only one link. Such as: the same kind of coffee beans, the same water temperature, the same amount of water are unchanged, the thickness of finely ground coffee alcohol is higher, on the contrary, the acidity is bright.