Is altitude the only factor that determines the main flavor of beans?!

Introduction to Caxiang: it is often said that the altitude determines the flavor of beans. When it comes to beans with high altitude, the impression of outstanding flavor and mellow taste often comes to mind. However, is altitude the only factor that determines the main flavor of beans? Science has proved that this theory is not entirely trustworthy.

Did you ask the barista what kind of coffee tastes good? If you ask, the answer you get is bound to confuse you. You must have heard the word "altitude" more than once when the barista explained to you what kind of coffee tastes good. What does "altitude" have to do with the coffee we drink? Why is altitude so important for coffee?

Many people think that the altitude of coffee cultivation is very important. Many coffee-growing areas that began to grow coffee more than 50 years ago began to claim that their coffee was grown at high altitude. up to now, too many for-profit coffee traders often make up their own coffee to grow coffee for the mountains to deceive consumers. Just like many "alpine red rice" and "alpine tea" in China, they are all deceptive tricks. This makes people wonder whether the alpine coffee is made of fairies or "there are a group of Smurfs on the other side of the mountain and Haiti".

3000-6000 feet above sea level provide ideal conditions for coffee to grow: an average frost-free climate of 60-70 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the year, about 80 inches of moderate rainfall, and plenty of sunshine. Coffee beans grow slowly in cold mountain areas, but the slow ripening process makes coffee beans have higher sugar content, more interesting flavor and mellow flavor. High displacement at high altitudes produces more concentrated fruit flavors, and the best Arabica coffee growing areas have very fertile soil, often in volcanic areas.

However, science has proved that this theory is not entirely trustworthy. Although some scientific data prove that the flavor of highland beans varies according to altitude, some data do not prove this. Many people in the coffee industry, through their work experience, can prove that beans at different elevations do respond differently to cup tests. People in the coffee industry have found that the higher the altitude, the higher the acidity of beans and the more complex the taste spectrum. But surprisingly, there are still some low-altitude beans that are full of flavor.

All long-distance runners will tell you that the higher the altitude, the thinner the air. It's just that the higher the altitude, the lower the air pressure, which leads to a decrease in the amount of oxygen in the air. However, for plants, low pressure is not so important to them. So far, no one has ever experimented with the extent to which coffee trees are affected by changes in air pressure. Just like astronauts have to eat, will they change who they are because of what they eat? But some people have conducted a special study on the changes in the leaves of lettuce when they are planted at different pressure, and those people have not tasted the change in the taste of lettuce at all. Some people are bored to study that root vegetables represent the growth of radish under different pressures, except for what happens when the pressure is very low. So, leafy crops represent lettuce and root crops represent that there is no significant difference between radish and coffee, an embryonic crop, but after all, coffee berries are processed into raw beans, then roasted, and then brewed into a cup of delicious coffee. such a complex process shows that altitude will more or less affect the quality of coffee.

The change of atmospheric pressure is only one of the variables in terms of altitude. Another thing that may be overlooked is the temperature. The higher the altitude, the lower the temperature. It is already well documented on this point. Temperature has a great influence on the growth and cultivation of many crops, including coffee. So it seems that the altitude and thus changing the atmospheric pressure will not affect the taste of coffee, but the low temperature at high altitude is really affecting the coffee in our mouth.

To prove this, the impact of altitude on coffee cultivation must be considered globally, rather than ploughing. Because the ground pullout does not necessarily affect the temperature, but the altitude must. One of the important reasons is latitude. When the north-south latitude at the center of the equator increases, the temperature at the same place decreases. So the most striking example is that the climate in Hawaii at an altitude of 2500 feet (800m) is much cooler than that in Colombia at an altitude of 2500 feet (800m). As a result, coffee grown in Hawaii has higher acidity and more complex flavor. But this is by no means the case in Colombia, even though the elevation and ground level are almost the same. In this way, temperature is only one of the factors that affect the flavor of coffee, so it is very unscientific to look at the ground where coffee is grown. On the contrary, the interaction between altitude and latitude and their effect on temperature are the most important.

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