extraction

temperature coffee machine performance

How temperature effects coffee machine performance

Dr Monika Fekete looks at temperature-dependent variables and their consequences on grinder and espresso machine performance. On a chilly winter morning, hot cup of coffee in hand, I’m once again thinking about the many ways temperature has influenced the liquid I’m drinking.
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strong coffee

What makes a coffee strong?

Mocopan Coffee’s Babin Gurung on what coffee strength means and how to achieve it.  During my barista hustling days, customers often told me they liked their coffee strong. I had no problem adjusting to customers’ needs, but found many people had different ideas of what “strong” meant. Some of the things strength commonly referred to was more caffeine, darker roast, or sometimes, just bitter coffee. These ideas aren’t necessarily wrong, but here in the coffee world, when we say “strong”, we mean the strength of flavours contained in an espresso. 
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perception in coffee tasting

The power of perception in coffee tasting

Dr Monika Fekete investigates the role of minerals in brew water, asking whether they influence extraction or if it’s just our taste buds. “You must realise the power that water has,” explains Yanina Ferreyra, the recently crowned Australian Specialty Coffee Association Australian Brewer’s Cup champion. Reflecting on her journey, she stresses “water plays a gigantic role, but there is much left to discover. Working with water opens up lots of questions”.
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water temperature espresso extraction

How brew water temperature effects espresso extraction

Dr. Monika Fekete investigates the chemical and sensory effects of different brew water temperature on espresso extraction. Do you feel like a refreshing cold brew in the summer heat? Or what about an iced latte? Whichever you prefer, there are a range of factors that contribute to their unique tastes, and the temperature they are prepared at is certainly a big one. While it’s easy to appreciate the difference between cold and hot brewed coffee, it takes careful investigation to dissect how fine-tuning brew water temperatures can affect physical and sensory outcomes. 
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coffee science

How minerals modulate taste and their role in extraction

A truly outstanding brew depends on many factors falling into place at once. Carefully chosen and roasted beans need to work harmoniously with matching water and a strict brew method to extract and highlight desired flavours. Increasingly, brewers are focused on the impact water has on taste outcomes. According to 2017 World Brewer’s Cup Runner-up Sam Corra, one of the most important factors to brewing an amazing coffee experience is having a brew water that will best represent a coffee’s attributes. He notes, however, that one water formulation will not necessarily suit other coffee varieties, processes, and origins.
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