How Does Coffee Extraction Help Create The Perfect Cup

Pour over coffee and wait for extraction

Do you want to improve the flavor of coffee? Everything becomes easier after understanding the extraction. You can effectively adjust the acidity, sweetness, and balance of coffee through the brewing and achieve a satisfying flavor every time.

This article tells you why you need to care about the degree of grinding, water temperature, bed depth, and other conditions.

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What Is Extraction?

In simple terms, extraction is the process of dissolving flavor and aroma substances from the ground coffee ground after roasting. When coffee is brewed, hundreds of substances are extracted from the coffee ground into the water.

These substances extracted into the water will have a direct impact on the coffee flavor and aroma. The substances that will dissolve in water during the extraction process usually include but are not limited to the following substances:

  • caffeine
  • Acidity (negative acidity that may produce bad acidity or positive acidity that turns into sweetness)
  • Grease (viscosity)
  • Sugar (sweetness, consistency)
  • Carbohydrates (stickiness, bitterness)

As long as you can master how these substances are extracted, you can brew good coffee more stably.

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How Does The Extraction Affect The Taste?

The substances in coffee are not extracted at the same rate and time point. The first to be extracted will be the fruit flavor and acidity, followed by the sweetness and balance perception, and finally, the bitterness.

Insufficiently extracted coffee will not have a sweet taste, and the bitterness will not be enough to support the balance of the coffee, and it may have a stinky sour taste.

Over-extracted coffee will have a strong bitter taste, and the bitter taste may mask the sweetness and acidity of the substance.

But as long as the extraction is well controlled, the flavor of the coffee can be balanced.

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What Is The Perfect Extraction?

You may have heard of the extraction rate, and some people measure the "total dissolved solids TDS" as the basis for the extraction results. In simple terms, this is how many substances are extracted from the coffee into the water, usually between 18% and 22%.

But remember that each type of coffee has its own flavor characteristics. Instead of pursuing specific "perfect data", it is better to focus on extracting the substances that make coffee delicious.

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How To Control Extraction?

In order to get the best flavor of coffee, you need the correct extraction rate.

If your coffee doesn't taste right, as long as you understand how to control the extraction, you can eliminate the obstacles you encounter at the moment.

Is the coffee too sour? The extraction may be insufficient, causing you to drink more acidity in the coffee. Try to extend the brewing time or grind the coffee finer.

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Is coffee too bitter? It may be over-extracted. Try to grind the coffee coarser or shorten the brewing time to slow down the extraction speed.

It is also necessary to avoid unstable extraction, which means that the extraction rate of some coffee grounds should not be relatively high, resulting in the result of under-extraction and over-extraction in the brewed coffee. This can also cause problems because you can't control or replicate the flavor of this cup.

You can adjust the extraction to adjust for these undesirable factors. If the coffee beans are left for a long time, you can grind the beans a little to speed up the coffee extraction rate and make the coffee flavor more complete.

Dark roasted beans will be easier to dissolve substance because the longer roasting time will make the coffee bean structure looser. Just remember that the extraction of dark-roasted coffee is coarser than that of light-roasted coffee.

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Variable Factors That Affect Extraction

The dissolution rate and extraction will be affected by many factors, excluding the uncontrollable factors such as the characteristics of coffee varieties. What we can adjust is the grinding size, water temperature, brewing method, etc. Let us see how these variables affect the extraction and coffee flavor.

Variation Factor One: Grinding Size

1. The finer the grind, the faster the coffee extraction speed because the surface area of ​​the ground-contacting water becomes larger.

2. Fine grinding may make the extracted coffee have a bitter taste because a large amount of substances are extracted quickly.

3. Coarse grinding may make the coffee flat and tasteless because the extracted material is not enough to support the coffee flavor.

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The fine ground coffee ground has a smaller gap, which means that there is less space for hot water to flow through. Using hand-brewed drip coffee will increase the brewing time, so you need to reduce the amount of coffee. And this can also be achieved by extending the brewing time to achieve the same effect, not necessarily grinding.

The finner ground is also more susceptible to water flow. This means that you must pay special attention not to let the fine coffee ground be piled too high by the water when making coffee. When the ground of small particles is affected by the water flow and is not soaked, it will be extracted. Less than these ground situations.

The grinder must be carefully selected. Low-quality and cheap grinders will form a lot of fine ground. If the fine ground is not sifted out, the brewed coffee may become turbid. Because these fine ground particles are too small, they are extracted very quickly, resulting in a lot of unpleasant flavors being extracted.

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Variable Two: Brewing Time

The longer the brewing time, the longer the extraction time. Usually, short brewing time will be more acidic, and long time will be bitter. This is also the change in the brewing method.

Espresso usually uses a very short brewing time to allow water to pass through the tight coffee ground through pressure. This brewing method is suitable for finer grinds, allowing water to quickly pass through the coffee ground with sufficient surface area for extraction. The French filter press requires a longer brewing time, so it is generally recommended to use a coarser grinding to slow down the extraction speed and avoid bitterness.

But these two examples are just normal situations, and the espresso brewing time can be adjusted for a few seconds, which will affect the extraction. The brewing time can also be used to make up for the lack of brewing. Some people will use medium grinding to brew French filter press pots to pursue more complex coffee flavors.

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Variable Three: Water Temperature And Water Quality

The ideal water temperature for brewing coffee is around 90°C. It is easiest to dissolve coffee flavors into the water at a temperature close to boiling.

When the water temperature is higher, the extraction speed will be faster. If the water temperature is too low, the extraction time will be longer, and some substances may not be extracted at low temperatures. This is why cold brew coffee takes a long time to make, and the taste of the same coffee made cold brew is better than hot brew. The flavor of coffee is much softer.

The Specialty Coffee Association recommends water for brewing coffee. Still, the most important thing is that it has a neutral pH and does not contain pollution factors that affect the flavor of the coffee.

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The minerals in the water contribute to the extraction of coffee. Magnesium ions help to extract fruit and a stronger flavor, and calcium ions may increase the full-bodied taste. However, if there are too many minerals in the water, the extraction effect will be reduced, which will affect the flavor of the coffee.

Commercial coffee machines have a device for filtering water. If you have doubts about the water quality used for brewing coffee, try to use filtered water or commercially available bottled water to brew the coffee and compare the difference in taste.

Variable Four: Bed Depth

Regardless of whether it is brewed by hand or in a coffee machine, brewing is extracted by pouring water on the coffee bed. The coffee bed is just like other variables, and the most important thing is stability/consistency.

Suppose the coffee ground is unevenly accumulated or soaked unevenly. In that case, the water will produce a channel effect when flowing through the coffee ground, and the coffee will be extracted in the path that creates the channel, but other parts will not be extracted. Because water will flow towards the place with the least resistance, this is the same as espresso filling first and then extracting. If we do not fill the pressure, the water will flow from a place with more air, resulting in uneven extraction.

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The water injection speed is too fast, or the water flow is irregular, which may cause some coffee grounds to be washed up to the height of the filter cup, and these high grounds cannot be extracted because they are higher than the waterline. This usually occurs in fine coffee grounds. On the ground, and when you pour water in the middle of the bed, the coffee ground is pushed against the wall of the filter cup by the water flow.

These are pushed to a high place, and the ground that leaves the extraction environment will not be able to extract, resulting in inconsistencies in each brew. In order to avoid this situation, the coffee bed should be leveled before brewing. You can also consider using the drip or stirring method to ensure that the coffee ground is evenly soaked.

Pay attention to how deep the coffee bed is. A bed that is too shallow may cause the water to flow too fast and cause insufficient extraction. If the bed is too deep, the contact time between water and coffee will be too long, which will lead to excessive extraction.

Extraction combines a variety of variables. If one variable is adjusted, other variables may be affected. Understanding the extraction operation will help you effectively control the flavor of your coffee and find out the multiple possibilities of coffee flavor through the adjustment of variable factors.

In summary, what to pay attention to is the grinding size, brewing time, water temperature, and any other variables that may affect the extraction. When you find a method that suits you, try to replicate these variables and keep the result of each brewing stable.

Or use this parameter as the basis for the brewing experiment. Consistent extraction is the key to delicious coffee, so you will not be afraid of bad taste every time. Don't be afraid to adjust. Try to make better changes.

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