He perfect coffee There is a lot of science behind this. For example, many scientists have studied the chemical characteristics of ideal foam. After all, what would coffee be without good foam? Likewise, grinding is an important step that a rather curious pair of scientists recently wanted to explore: materials chemist and volcanologist.
Near Christopher Hendonfrom the University of Oregon and Joshua Mendez Harper, currently studying at the University of Portland. The two analyzed which coffee beans were ideal, and in the process tested whether the habit of some coffee drinkers in Spain was actually healthy. Moisten the grains before grinding them.
As a preview, yes: for perfect coffee it is recommended moisten the grains. But how much water is needed? Is one type of grain better than the rest? Let’s look at the conclusions of their study, recently published in a journal. matter.
Static electricity problem
The biggest enemy of perfect coffee is the static electricity generated during grinding.
We’ve experienced everything static electricity. For example, when we touch a car door or the handrail of an escalator and feel a spark. But why is this happening?
The answer is simple. The atoms that make up a substance are usually found in neutral state. That is, they have the same number of positive and negative charges, or in other words, the same number of protons as electrons. However, sometimes when they rub against each other, they can exchange electrons so that one loses, becoming positively charged, and the other gains, becoming negatively charged. This is what happens, for example, when we rub a pen on woolen clothing and then bring it close to pieces of paper. Pieces of paper stick to the pen because it has become electrifiedacquiring electrons from the wool, and can now attract pieces of paper as if it were a small magnet.
The problem is that the downloaded materials, be it negative or positive, they continue to strive for neutrality. Therefore, when in contact with other electrons, they tend to steal or give away those electrons that they lack or that they have extra. This electronic transfer evokes the famous spark How we feel when we touch a car door.
What does all this have to do with perfect coffee? The truth is that it’s a lot. When grinding grains, there is a lot of friction between them, which inevitably creates static electricity. This leads to grain sticking and even clogging. meat grinderresulting in a lot of waste and inefficient extraction of coffee aromas.
Scientific Tricks for Perfect Coffee
Static electricity is usually higher in very dry environments. Therefore there is a tendency towards moisten the coffee before grindingto avoid this as much as possible.
These scientists wanted to test how necessary it is to get the perfect coffee. And to do this, they first obtained a bunch of commercial and lab-roasted coffee beans that varied in origin, roasting time and moisture content. After, They measured static electricity in each batch after grinding, as well as the particle size of the freshly ground coffee and the taste of the finished product.
After grinding coffee twice, they discovered that most of the static electricity was not due to friction between the beans, as originally thought, but due to tear this. They saw it too the effect was stronger with darker and drier grains, compared to lighter ones. It’s unclear why this might be, but the study authors suspect it’s because more roasted beans are more fragile than lighter, less roasted beans, which still retain some of their moisture.
Indeed, humidity is the key factor.
With this in mind, it became clear that humidity was important, as already suggested. Therefore, the next stage of experiments was to moisten the grains with different amounts of water and check the static electricity generated in each case.
Thus, it has been observed that to obtain perfect coffee it is necessary to add 20 microliters of water for every gram of coffee. That is, half a milliliter for a regular cup of espresso.
What does a volcanologist have to do with perfect coffee?
One might wonder why one of the authors of the ideal coffee study is a volcanologist. And in fact, coffee grinding has quite a relationship with volcanoes.
In fact, lightning, which is often generated in volcanoes, is caused by sparks of static electricity created when dust particles rub against volcanic plumes. In addition, this study found that charge/mass ratio coffee beans is similar to the dust particles of these feathers.
So this coffee research can also be applied to geological sciences, when conducting predictive models of volcanoes, as well as landslides or water seepage into the ground. It’s much more than just the perfect coffee; Although for now, thanks to this research, we can make a better cup of espresso.
Source: Hiper Textual
