Is coffee bitter? Is it sour? How does the coarseness of coffee powder affect the flavor?

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Is the coffee bitter? Is it sour?

Many people think bitter means strong coffee, and strong coffee means fragrant coffee. When we meet such customers, we will patiently explain the flavors. Strong coffee does not necessarily mean fragrant coffee, and bitter coffee does not necessarily mean bitter coffee. But for someone who has never studied coffee, this flavor wheel is quite appropriate! When you drink coffee, you can feel its flavor.

In this regard, many enthusiasts, especially those who have just started to learn coffee tasting, can start learning hand brewing from Brazilian, Mandheling, and Yirgacheffe, which have more prominent flavors .

• Brazil represents the flavor of the American region;

• Mandheling represents the flavor of Asian production areas;

• Yirgacheffe African-origin flavor;

Everyone wants to drink delicious coffee that is sweet and smooth, with an explosive aroma and a long aftertaste, and they hope to drink such coffee every time.

There are many variables that affect the taste of coffee: time, temperature, brewing equipment, etc., but the most important key to brewing good coffee, in addition to good beans and good equipment, is the coarseness of the grind.

The beans and utensils have been selected. Today, let’s talk about the degree of grinding. How finely should the coffee beans be ground?

Taking the Fuji coffee grinder as an example, the best coarseness of hand-brewed coffee powder is between 3 and 4 scales, and fine sugar can be used as a reference:

When talking about the grinding size of coffee, many people often say "the size of salt" or "the size of fine sand".

When I saw these descriptive words, I didn't know the exact range. In fact, the most accurate way is to grind a little bit yourself. By comparison, Mandheling is probably "as coarse as fine sand", Ice Drop is "as coarse as granulated sugar", and medium-light roasted Yirgabi sugar is a little coarser.

The right coffee grain for better tasting coffee

The secret to good coffee is extraction, but what does extraction really mean? Extraction is the process by which the flavor and aroma of coffee beans are released into water and combined with it, resulting in a delicious cup of coffee.

However, these flavor and aroma substances all represent a certain flavor, some substances bring sweetness, some bring bitterness, some bring fruity flavors, and some bring astringency. These substances will also be extracted at different points in time.

Medium-fine powder ≈ white sugar (the most common white sugar in supermarkets is a little bigger than that). Generally, hand brewing will end up with medium-fine powder, because medium-fine powder is very commonly used, so if you love coffee, you should try your own coffee grinder more to find the medium-fine powder that suits you best.

Todd, the 2014 and 2016 American Brewing Champion, told the author that the order of substances extracted from coffee is:

Sourness, sweetness, bitterness, and finally astringency.

This means that by controlling the extraction rate, you can control how much of the substance will dissolve into the coffee. In other words, you can determine the flavor of the coffee. Whether you are hand pouring or brewing espresso, this is the basic principle for creating a brewing recipe, and the grind size is of course also a consideration, which will affect the brewing.

Image source: Come Ture

Different origins, varieties, and processing methods will affect the taste of coffee. Here is a reference to street coffee beans:

Personal experience:

Look at the altitude: At relatively low altitudes, the beans are loose in texture and not resistant to extraction. Usually, these beans can be ground medium, such as Brazil and Mandheling . At high altitudes, the beans are hard in texture and resistant to extraction, and usually medium-fine grinding is used, such as Panama, Costa Rica, Yirgacheffe, and Kenya.

Look at the roasting degree: Deep roasting such as Brazil, Mandheling, medium grinding

For a light or medium-light roast, use a medium-fine grind.

Look at the date: Usually, medium-fine grinding is used when the bean growing period is around 7-14 days, and coarse grinding is used when it exceeds 1 month. The specific parameters still depend on the beans.

When we use the V60 filter cup, the powder layer is thicker and the contact time between the powder and water is longer. Usually, fine powder tends to gather at the bottom, and long-term soaking can easily extract bitterness. Therefore, the amount of fine powder must be controlled. If the fine powder of the same scale is too much at home, you can use a powder sifter to keep the fine powder within a certain range.

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