Key factors affecting coffee brewing: extraction time

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Nowadays, the friends who are learning coffee are so cute and eager to learn. Based on the universality of the questions asked, today I will share with you the extraction time that I am most often asked about!!

When brewing, we can imagine that there are fat and thin flavor particles in the coffee. Which do you think is easier to be washed out of the cage of coffee powder by water, fat particles or thin particles?

When brewing, the acidity, aroma, taste, and bitterness can be thought of as particles of different sizes. They take different times to dissolve and be extracted, so at different points in time during coffee extraction, the proportions of the particles are different, causing the coffee to taste different.

Relationship between relative extraction intensity and time

When brewing at the same extraction time, the relative strength of the various types in the coffee liquid will be different, which can be compared through sensory experience during tasting.

■Acidic substances are relatively light or small, and can be extracted in larger amounts in a relatively short period of time.

■The aroma and flavor, due to the amount of coffee present, closely follow the acidity and reach the peak of extraction intensity.

■Ultrafine powder plays an important role in the secondary peak of aroma and flavor.

■A fatter body or sweet substances will take longer to extract before they become noticeable.

■Once the extraction intensity of a certain type of coffee substance reaches its peak, the performance of other types of substances will be masked (so there will be a feeling of increased sweetness and decreased acidity).

So, back to the question: Which is easier to be washed out by water, fat particles or thin particles?

Compared to sour substances, sugar particles are larger in size, so they are extracted more slowly (or take longer to extract).

Simply put, small flavor particles can be dissolved quickly and brought into the coffee liquid, while large substances will be slower. Therefore, by controlling the brewing time, you can determine the ratio of fat and thin particles in the coffee liquid, and thus determine the proportion of flavor or taste.

During the brewing process, if you want to highlight the sweetness, you can try to extend the brewing time to allow the sweet substances to have enough time to be extracted; if you want to highlight the acidity, you can try to shorten the brewing time; if there is a bitter taste in the coffee that you don’t like, you can also try to shorten the brewing time.

I hope this simple explanation will be helpful to everyone! If you have any questions about brewing, please continue to leave a message to the editor~

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