What does coffee body mean? How to brew or roast coffee with body?

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What exactly is body?

This is something that coffee lovers often talk about, and this item also appears on the cupping form. But do we really know what body is? Why do some coffees have more body than others? And how can we bring out the quality of body through roasting or brewing?

If you are not sure about the above questions, don’t worry, here are some answers about body.

Espresso is famous for its body

1

What is body?

Let's start with the basics: Body is the structure and texture of coffee. Scott Rao, in The Professional Barista's Handbook, defines body as "the weight or fullness of the beverage felt in the mouth."

Since body is an element of taste, it’s understandable that there will be differences. In The Coffee Dictionary, Maxwell writes, “It’s interesting to imagine a coffee that is light but has a viscous mouthfeel, or a coffee that is full-bodied but has a juicy mouthfeel.” Body is not something we taste, but something we feel. However, it can affect the overall flavor of the coffee, because flavor is a combination of many elements—taste, aroma, texture, and even sound and sight.

In the author's experience as a barista, body is one of the three main factors that coffee lovers seek (the other two are bright acidity and clear flavor).

Pour the brewed coffee

2

A richness that is difficult to explain scientifically

If we want to emphasize the richness of the brewed coffee, we need to know how to do it, and this is about extraction. Extraction is the process of extracting the flavor and aroma components from the coffee powder through the contact with water, and then brewing it into delicious coffee.

During extraction, substances are divided into soluble and insoluble. Soluble substances will be diluted in water, while insoluble substances are solids and oils floating on the surface of the liquid. These are probably protein molecules and fibers, while these insoluble substances, especially oils, are what increase the body of the wine.

Use V60 with filter paper to brew, this method will reduce the oil content in the coffee

3

Why do some coffees taste fuller than others?

There are many factors that explain why some coffees taste fuller than others. Some coffee varieties have body on their own, others have body due to processing, brewing techniques or filtration, and roasting characteristics can also create body.

Let’s look at these factors, starting with the green beans and working our way up to the final cup of coffee.

Some espressos have a fuller taste

4

Green beans with good body

Some coffee varieties are naturally more mellow than others. When I first started making coffee, I brewed a Maracaturra coffee from El Socorro, Guatemala. It has a peach flavor, a slight whiskey flavor when it cools, a caramel texture, and a round and full taste. I fell madly in love with this type of coffee beans.

On the other hand, the author thinks that the Pacamara variety he liked in the past is very good, with rich fruit flavors, mostly stone fruits, and good chocolate flavors. However, it usually has only medium body.

Then there’s Gesha, the most revered coffee in the coffee industry, known for its delicate, tea-like body, which creates a very different coffee experience from MaraCaturra.

Honduran Pacas variety ready for roasting

If you get a low-body coffee, you have three options: follow the low-body characteristics of this coffee and try to emphasize its body through processing, roasting, and brewing; or use blending beans to achieve better body.

Washed coffees tend to have a more delicate taste: clear and clean flavors over taste, while sun-cured coffees can be expected to have a heavier and rounder taste.

Honey processing is also linked to body. Generally speaking, the more pectin is retained on the outer layer of the coffee fruit during processing, the higher the body. Black honey processed coffee will have a syrupy taste and sweetness.

Freshly roasted coffee

5

How to bake for body?

The body of green beans can be enhanced or reduced through roasting, depending on how you want to play with the beans. First of all, one thing should be clarified. Darker roasting is generally considered to be more mellow, but as Matt Perger said, the color of coffee beans is not necessarily related to the degree of roasting. Roasting is a complex process that combines multiple conditions. Good roasters can control the temperature and emphasize the flavor characteristics they want through roasting.

For example, green coffee maker Sweet Maria's controls the time when roasting to first crack to emphasize the mellowness they want. If the process is done correctly, the development of first crack can increase the mellowness. The green coffee maker said in a post: "This syrupy taste is related to carbohydrates. The development of first crack increases the intensity of the mellowness."

In addition, Rob Hoos mentioned in his book "Controlling Coffee Flavor Characteristics" that if the roaster uses the Maynard reaction, more caramelized substances will be produced, in other words, the body of the coffee will be increased.

However, if the beans are over-roasted during roasting, this development can stagnate and the roasted coffee will have roasted defects. This will create a bland and monotonous beverage. There must be a balance of everything that happens in the beans during roasting in order to create a coffee with good flavor characteristics through roasting.

Roasted coffee beans cooling

5

How to get the mellowness

Since fat brings body, the fat left over from the brewing and filtering processes will have a big impact on the body of the brewed coffee, and these brewing techniques vary greatly.

Pour over coffee is usually done with a scale, which usually shows two extremes: high body and low clarity, and high clarity and low body. For example, coffee brewed with a French press has a high body, while pour over coffee, on the other hand, is generally clearer. The AeroPress is known for its flexibility in brewing: you can use it to brew a full body or a clear one, depending on your mood.

One of the reasons for the high body of the French press is the metal filter. The filter paper will absorb a lot of the oils in the coffee, while the metal filter allows the oils to filter into the coffee. The Chemex filter is the opposite of the French press. The coffee brewed from the Chemex filter has a clean flavor, probably because its filter paper is thicker. If you have both the metal filter and the filter paper, you have more flexibility in determining the taste of the brewed coffee.

Hand brewed coffee usually does not have a high body.

Of course, there is also espresso, which has a higher body because the ratio of coffee powder to water is higher than other brewing methods. Espresso also uses pressure rather than gravity to extract substances from coffee powder. This pressure creates Crema, and this golden brown substance floating on the surface is a combination of oil and caramelized substances, which is also the reason for creating the body.

You can create more or less body by adjusting the brew ratio or strength, but be careful about under- or over-extraction. Over-extracted coffee tastes hollow.

Don't forget that many drinks are made with milk, and the type of milk - whole milk, skim, soy milk or cow's milk - will affect the body. Good milk will increase the creaminess and sweetness of the drink.

Barista blending milk into latte

Good body quality sounds simple, but it is actually very complex, but the beauty of specialty coffee is that we can clearly know and control the flavor of the coffee.

So experiment with the information above, play around with body, and find the flavor profile you prefer in coffee.

Article translated from: https://www.perfectdailygrind.com

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