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What affects the taste of coffee

Our company has many years of experience working with coffee beans, we have roasted and tasted hundreds of varieties of coffee. They also studied the experience of other specialists, read dozens of books. We communicated and studied the feedback of our colleagues and customers. So let's try reflect on the topic of what affects the taste of coffee.

Why can coffee be bitter?!

There are several factors that lead to this, including dirty brewing equipment, poor quality coffee grounds, or not having the correct coffee to water ratio. If you want to know why coffee has a sour taste and how to get rid of it, or how to make coffee always tasty, we will tell you about it below.

Before finding ways to eliminate bitter or sour coffee taste, you need to understand why coffee is bitter. So, if the coffee tastes sour or bitter, it might be related to the following:

• dirty brewing equipment;
• low-quality coffee beans (with Mammy Coffee - this reason can be fixed immediately exclude, because we roast only high-quality coffee beans from the freshest harvest!)
• incorrectly selected coffee grind;
• incorrectly set brewing time or water temperature;
• failure to observe the proportions of coffee and water.

Once you determine which of these points is causing the problem, it will be easy for you to eliminate it and improve the overall coffee brewing process.
After learning about what can cause an unpleasant aftertaste in coffee, you can move on to finding solutions to eliminate each individual point. We offer our advice on how to make coffee taste good:

1.  Clean the coffee brewing equipment.

Make sure your brewing equipment is clean if you want to make your coffee less bitter! If you do not clean the coffee machine regularly, residues from each brewing accumulate and affect the taste. All utensils used in the preparation of coffee must be thoroughly cleaned after each use. If you brew coffee in an electric coffee maker or coffee machine, you need to clean all its systems and filters in a timely manner as indicated in the instructions, using appropriate means to remove coffee oils. If you prefer to prepare coffee in a geyser coffee maker, a classic coffee maker or a French press, then be sure to wash such a device with hot water and non-aggressive detergents. grease-dissolving detergents and wipe dry with absorbent towels after each preparation. It is also necessary to thoroughly clean the coffee strainer for the dzeva, and to remove fatty coffee deposits from the walls of the cup. Remember that crowded on on the walls of dishes and coffee machines, coffee oils add very unpleasant rancid notes to the drink, and the more of them, the worse the taste of the finished drink.

2.  Follow the correct storage of coffee.

To make the prepared coffee drink better, store the coffee in an airtight container with with a tight-fitting lid so that no extra air molecules seep in, away from direct sunlight and heat. Do not put coffee beans in the refrigerator or freezer, as moisture can spoil the beans and affect the taste of the coffee. A small life hack - try to keep the can with coffee as full as possible, then there will simply be no room for excess air.
Knowing the rules of storage and following them, you can really change the taste of the finished drink.

3.  Follow the rules for grinding coffee beans.

If you grind coffee beans before brewing, it gives coffee the best taste and aroma The only drawback here can be that you can always make a mistake with the grinding size. To make the coffee taste less sour, make sure that the grind of the coffee beans is not too fine. Otherwise, it can lead to excessive coffee extraction, which, with in turn, will lead to a bitter aftertaste. Also, make sure you are using the correct grind level for your particular brewing technique.

When you order our coffee Mammy Coffee
(ARABICA, ROBUSTA або AUTHOR'S COFFEE BLENDS), you can immediately order the necessary grinding from us.

4.  Follow the exact proportions of coffee and water.

Failure to observe certain proportions of coffee and water during brewing can spoil any cup of espresso or other coffee and affect its taste.

The fact is that during the preparation of coffee, hot water dissolves in the ground beans chemical compounds that give the finished drink the same taste and aroma. But for a good taste of the drink, only a certain amount of these compounds can be extracted from the grains - both their excess and lack can spoil the taste of the finished drink. If too much of these substances get into the drink during brewing, the coffee will turn out to be too bitter, without soft velvety notes characteristic of properly prepared coffee, and if too little, then the taste of the drink will be sour and flat, without saturation and softness .

Of course, everything depends on personal taste preferences and the type of coffee drink you are preparing, it is simply recommended to observe the optimal ratio of coffee and water separately for each case.

5.  Use high-quality water.

Under no circumstances should you use untreated tap water to prepare coffee. Not only does it contain a decent amount of impurities that are far from the most useful for health, but they also have a negative effect on the taste of the finished coffee. The best option for making coffee is purified or bottled water. It is also not recommended to use artificially softened and distilled water for making coffee, as it also spoils the taste of the finished drink.

6.  Water temperature.

The temperature of the water when brewing it is no less important for the good taste of coffee. For optimal extraction, the coffee maker should maintain the temperature at 90-95 degrees Celsius. Colder water will make the coffee insufficiently strong and saturated, and too hot will lead to a loss of coffee quality. If you brew coffee in a French press, let the water cool for half a minute after boiling, and only then pour it over the ground coffee beans. It is also not worth allowing the coffee to cool completely after brewing - a warm or even hot drink will always be tastier than a cold one. Brewed coffee, by the way, is most often drunk when its temperature drops to 60 degrees Celsius - most coffee lovers believe that it is at this temperature that it is the most complete the taste and aroma of the drink is revealed.

7.  Duration of preparation.

The taste of the drink also depends on how long the water is in contact with the ground coffee. The optimal duration of coffee contact with water during the preparation process for drip coffee makers is about 5 minutes, for French presses - 3-4 minutes, for espresso coffee makers - about 30 seconds.

Of course, we can't know everything - there are many more factors in the taste of coffee. And delicious coffee is the creation of the hands of a person and a professional in his field - a person who grows, cares for, collects, roasts coffee beans, prepares... Everything ultimately depends on the Person!

Enjoy your coffee!!!!
MAMMY COFFEE