The Little Coffee Know-It-All

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
PART ONE: THE BEANS

100% ARABICA—SO WHAT?
WHAT’S SO IMPORTANT ABOUT HIGH-ALTITUDE COFFEE?
WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT SHADE-GROWN COFFEE?
COFFEE IS THE SEED OF A FRUIT?!
IS ONE ROUND PEABERRY BETTER THAN TWO FLAT-FACED BEANS?
WHY DOES MY ROASTER TALK ABOUT CHERRY PROCESSING?
CAN YOU TELL ME THE FLAVOR PROFILE OF THE COFFEE FROM LOCATION X?
WHY DOES A COFFEE PLANT PRODUCE CAFFEINE?
COFFEE CAN RUST?
HOW DO I REALLY KNOW THAT’S KONA COFFEE?
THAT COFFEE WAS EATEN BY AN ANIMAL?
PART TWO: THE ROAST

WHY IS A COFFEE BEAN JUST A TINY TEST TUBE?
ARE YOU AFRAID OF DARK ROASTS?
WHAT DO I CALL THIS ROAST LEVEL?
WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY COFFEE FRESHNESS?
HOW DO I KEEP MY COFFEE FRESH?
HOW IS COFFEE DECAFFEINATED?
WILL A DARK ROAST KEEP ME UP AT NIGHT?
WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH ACRYLAMIDE?
IS THERE MORE TO KNOW IF I’M A HOME ROASTER?
PART THREE: THE BREW

DOES COFFEE BREWING HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH CHEMISTRY?
HOW DO I KNOW I GOT IT RIGHT?
WHY CAN’T I CALL IT A SIPHON BREWER?
WHAT KIND OF GRINDER SHOULD I OWN?
HOW DO I GET THE MOST BUZZ FROM A CUP?
PART FOUR: THE CUP

WHAT’S THE BEST COFFEE IN THE WORLD?
WHY DOES THIS COFFEE TASTE DIFFERENT THAN IT DID LAST TIME?
HOW CAN I OUTSMART MY OWN HEAD?
WHY DOES THE BAG SAY WOOD AND SPICE BUT I TASTE EARTHY?
HOW COME MY TEXTBOOK GOT THE TONGUE MAP WRONG?
IS THAT CHEESE IN MY COFFEE?
CAN I DRINK COFFEE WHEN I’M IN OUTER SPACE?
WHY DOES COFFEE SEND ME STRAIGHT TO THE BATHROOM?
WILL DRINKING COFFEE DEHYDRATE ME?
REFERENCES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
INDEX
INTRODUCTION
THE LITTLE COFFEE KNOW-IT-ALL
Why this book?

People are crazy about coffee. They read coffee blogs, trade magazines, and books and
attend conferences, trade shows, and coffee schools. They buy all kinds of coffee brewers,
grinders, and related paraphernalia. They discuss the nuances of cherry processing,
roasting, storage, and brewing at every opportunity. They’ll even wait in line for twenty
minutes for a $10 cup of coffee! And these are just ordinary people, not coffee
professionals!
Coffee has become a worthy hobby and intense passion for all sorts of people. People
want to learn as much as they can about coffee and they want answers to all sorts of
questions brewing in their heads. What, then, is more appropriate than providing answers
to some of those questions in a fun way that doesn’t feel too much like a high school
classroom? While there are many coffee books available, this one is different. It attempts
to look at myriad coffee ideas and explore them using scientific principles, scientifically
acquired data, and peer-reviewed publications. Even though the scientific method isn’t
foolproof and there are other ways of acquiring truth and knowledge, science has
generally proven to be a good way of exploring the world.
The scientific method

The scientific method involves learning about a topic, generating a hypothesis, testing the
hypothesis, analyzing the results, and drawing a conclusion. This is all done as objectively
as possible and according to rules and principles that allow others to scrutinize the
process. Science, at its core, is about capturing variation and understanding that variation
mathematically. In the natural world, there is variation: Human height varies, leaf weight
varies, color varies, sugar levels vary…. By examining many randomly selected
individuals in a population, you can get a sense of what the average value for a trait is
within that population and how much variation (distance from the average) exists. The
more individuals you measure, the better you’ll understand that population. As an
example, measuring the heights of ten people and averaging them will probably give a
poor value for average human height because the variation will be so large. But measuring
the height of 1,000 people will produce much more accurate values of the variation and
the average.
Ultimately, scientists ask the question of whether two populations are the same or
different. They do this by measuring the average values for a trait in each population and
then calculating how much the variation overlaps between the two populations. Depending
on how much overlap exists, the populations are considered different (although, different
is never absolute; scientists always calculate a probability of making an error). All of this
calculating is done using the mathematical field of statistics. Often, scientists create the
different populations they are interested in studying. They may add fertilizer to one field
but not another or give three groups of dogs different levels of medication. They strive to
control all the sources of variation that might influence the populations so that when they
finally measure what they’re interested in, the difference between the populations is a
result of their manipulations, not an event related to something else.
Limitations of science
The scientific method isn’t perfect because the world is not simple and scientists aren’t
perfect. They are human, after all, and prone to all the blessings and curses that entails!
There are all kinds of reasons why an experiment may not produce answers that make
sense or why one experiment contradicts the results of another experiment. Some
experiments, for example, may not be designed and executed well. In other cases,
scientists may make mistakes, sources of variation can be difficult to minimize, and some
situations are so complex that the experiment may not be able produce unambiguous data.
Moreover, complex situations often require the expertise of specialists from different
scientific fields or the use of technologies and techniques that aren’t yet perfected, none of
which may be available to every research team because of resource constraints (time,
money, personnel…).
So, science isn’t perfect. Still, it has a proven track record (cell phones, vaccines, and
space ships are some good examples), and it can help us better understand the world
around us. The following pages rely on science, with all its beauty and imperfections.
You’ll discover that scientists haven’t answered all the questions we will be exploring or
they haven’t answered them very well and, often, we’ll have to make some educated
guesses to fill in the holes in our knowledge. I’ll attempt to be as accurate and transparent
as possible, but we may learn something new tomorrow that will make what I’ve written
today invalid. Please, bear with me. After all, I’m just a scientist!
Coffee quality
Coffee quality is discussed and referred to often on these pages. However, because it is a
fairly complicated topic, we’re not going to spend time discussing what coffee quality
means, how we think about quality, or who gets to define what good and bad quality are.
Instead, I’m going to proffer a very simple definition that we can use throughout the book.
High quality coffee is coffee that excites coffee geeks. It tends to have acidity and
complex flavors that most people don’t expect to taste in coffee. Decent quality coffee is
coffee that tastes like coffee and not much else. Poor quality coffee has something
evidently wrong with it like a moldy or sour flavor.
Disclaimer
All the facts in this book are based on data taken from the scientific literature. In case you
want to go to the source yourself, I’ve included citations that either have the actual data or
are review articles that discuss it. I have not included a comprehensive literature review on
any topic. Rather, I gathered literature, summarized it for you, and cited some sources that
I feel are particularly useful, canonical, or representative. I can’t promise I’ve read
everything out there on every topic. In fact, I guarantee it; my command of Spanish and
Portuguese and my access to the plethora of literature published in those languages is
pretty poor.
There are places and even sections of the book where I take some liberty with statements I
make. Every so often, I have to make an educated guess on the science of something for
which I couldn’t find data. You’ll recognize these instances when you see them, as I use
language that suggests doubt or supposition.
Once in awhile, I move into storyteller mode. I tried to make every paragraph relate
directly to science and data but it didn’t work so well. So, some sections are more
background and less science. In addition, some sections are a synthesis of ideas in which I
take time to connect the dots, so citing sources for everything wasn’t always possible.
Lastly, you’ll quickly discover that I’ve mostly stayed away from the field of medicine. It
isn’t that there isn’t exciting stuff out there about coffee and human health. Rather, it is a
topic that is well-covered elsewhere, and I don’t want to reinvent the wheel. Also, and
perhaps more importantly, I’m not a medical doctor. I’m not very comfortable interpreting
data and journal articles, and I would just as soon spare us all the awkwardness of writing
about things I know very little about. If you take issue with anything I’ve written, I
welcome you to contact me and engage me in conversation!
PART ONE
THE BEANS

100% ARABICA
SO WHAT?
THE LITTLE COFFEEKNOW-IT-ALL
MOST COFFEE SOLD AS SPECIALTY OR GOURMET COFFEE OFTEN IS PROMOTED AS BEING 100% ARABICA. THE
IDEA IS THAT THERE IS SOMETHING BETTER (TASTING) ABOUT ARABICA COFFEE THAN OTHER COFFEE. MOST
OF THE TIME, THIS IS TRUE!
Arabica refers to a specific species of coffee: Coffea arabica. It is celebrated in contrast to

its relative, Coffea canephora, also known as robusta. These species are the two common
commercial species out of the 124 species in the genus Coffea. This genus is a member of
the Rubiaceae family, which contains the delightfully aromatic gardenia and the
unpleasantly aromatic, but purportedly healthy, noni species.
Arabica coffee is the most commonly grown species of coffee around the world. It has
always been considered to be the best tasting coffee species. In fact, it is nearly
unanimously considered to produce a tastier cup than robusta. So, why would anyone
grow robusta, then?
Well, for one thing, there are many positive agronomic traits, and robusta has some that
help it grow in different environmental conditions than arabica, in addition to having some
very handy disease resistance. Historically, it has been considered easier to grow and more
robust (hence, robusta!). Oh, and it has about twice as much caffeine as arabica. So not
only does it give your body more bang per cup, but its hardiness can make it cheaper to
grow; cheap caffeine is good caffeine.
The differences between robusta and arabica can be a bit surprising once you discover
that robusta is not necessarily a cousin of arabica, but possibly a parent! Sometime in the
African past, pollen from C. canephora or C. congensis not only landed on the stigma of a
C. eugenioides flower (the other parent), but helped successfully create a new species
which we know and love as C. arabica (canephora and congensis are so closely related
that we aren’t sure which one is the father). Like any child, arabica inherited traits from
both parents. Clearly, good taste came from mom’s side of the family.
In the United States, most coffee consumed is arabica. However, the lower price of
robusta and its bonus caffeine content still make it popular in some market segments
where it is blended with arabica. It is a rare event that U.S. roasters use robusta, as it has
been demonized as too foul tasting to be considered specialty.
In the past few years, however, some specialty roasters have been exploring the idea
that there may be robustas fit for the specialty market, but they must be sought after and
discovered. And, farmers need to be encouraged to grow them with the specialty market in
mind. The essence of their philosophy is twofold. First, robusta plants have not been
treated with the same level of care and attention on the farm and in the mill as arabica has
been. Consequently, the unpleasant taste of arabica beans is merely a result of lazy
farming and processing, not an inherent genetic roadblock. Second, coffee drinkers have a
narrow definition of how coffee should taste and if they expanded their horizons, they will
find robustas that are quite interesting and complex. Thus, it is very possible that
exceptionally tasting robustas exist, but we have to find them, create them, or accept them
as they are. Currently, though, arabica rules the US market and it will be some years
before that changes.
Kingdom:
Plantae
Subkingdom:
Embrophyta
Order:
Gentianales
Family:
Rubiaceae
Subfamily:
Ixoroideae
Tribe:
Coffeeae DC
Genus:
Coffea
The coffee plant is a member of the Rubiaceae family. Quinine, the malaria-fighting drug derived from the bark of the
Cinchona species, is related.
WHAT’S SO IMPORTANT
= ABOUT =
HIGH-ALTITUDE COFFEE?
IT IS PRETTY COMMON TO HEAR PEOPLE TALK ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF GROWING COFFEE AT HIGH
ELEVATIONS. ADVERTISEMENTS FOR MOUNTAIN-GROWN COFFEE DATE BACK MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS, AND
COFFEE COMPANIES STILL BRAG ABOUT COFFEES THAT COME FROM HIGH ELEVATIONS. IT MAKES YOU
WONDER IF THERE’S SOMETHING MAGICAL ABOUT MOUNTAINSIDES OR BEING FAR AWAY FROM THE SEA.
As it turns out, the scientific data is equivocal on the subject. Some research demonstrates
a difference in taste as elevation changes while some does not. Many people in the coffee
industry, including this author, have noted that different altitudes produce different cup
profiles; coffees grown higher up tend to be more acidy and complex while lower
elevations tend to be more intensely coffee flavored. If there really is a difference in
elevation, what’s going on?
Any athlete will tell you that the air is thinner at higher altitudes. This is because at
higher altitudes there’s lower air pressure (the weight of all the air that presses down on
everything), which means less oxygen is present in any given breath of air since it isn’t
compressed as much as air at lower altitudes. Plants, however, don’t seem to mind this.
While nobody has tested the effects of different air pressures on coffee plants, researchers
doing space research (astronauts need to eat, right?) have shown that lettuce leaves
changed somewhat when grown in different air pressures. However, none of the research
examines the taste. Radishes, on the other hand, barely responded at all to different air
pressures (unless the air pressure was very, very low). More interesting, the flavor of
radishes and some chemical markers that stand in for flavor didn’t change when the
radishes were grown in different air pressure conditions. Lettuce (leaves) and radishes
(roots) are different types of plant organs than coffee (seeds), so it is hard to draw a strong
comparison from these examples. However, considering the nature of the changes in
lettuce and the fact that coffee is a seed (organisms tend to be conservative when allowing
things to influence their children), it is unlikely that air pressure is influencing the cup
quality of coffee.
A change in air pressure is only one of the differences noticed at higher altitudes. The
temperature also drops at higher elevations. It has been well documented that temperature
affects many aspects of plant growth and development across a range of species, including
food plants like coffee. As air pressure doesn’t seem to be too important in influencing
coffee’s taste, it is reasonable to assume, then, that the change in temperature at higher
elevations is what is influencing our brew.
To support this, we must consider that, across the globe, temperature is influenced not
just by elevation. A major factor is latitude. As the distance from the equator increases,
temperatures at a given elevation decrease. So, 2,500 feet (762 m) above sea level in
Hawaii is a much cooler climate than 2,500 feet (762 m) above sea level in Colombia.
Whereas coffee grown in Hawaii at that elevation can be acidy and complex, it is rarely
found to be so in Colombia, even though the elevation is the same. While many factors
influence the flavor of a cup of coffee, the temperature at which it grows seems to be one
of them. Thus, looking at elevation alone is not very useful, rather, the interaction of
altitude and latitude and their influence on temperature is what matters.
Altitude and latitude do matter, but it’s their influence on temperature that affects your favorite brew.
“I like coffee because it gives me the illusion that I might be awake.”

LEWIS BLACK
WHAT’S SO SPECIAL
= ABOUT =
SHADE-GROWN COFFEE?
IT SEEMS SILLY TO ASK WHETHER A PLANT NEEDS SUNSCREEN. MOST PLANTS WE ARE FAMILIAR WITH JUST
GROW UNDER WHATEVER LEVEL OF SUNLIGHT TO WHICH THEY ARE ADAPTED. IF THE RIGHT CONDITIONS
EXIST, THEY’LL GROW. IF THE WRONG CONDITIONS EXIST, THEY WON’T GROW. PRETTY SIMPLE, RIGHT?
Not quite. Humans found coffee growing in the forests of Ethiopia and Sudan. These
plants were happy enough with the low light levels of the forest understory. They didn’t
produce much coffee, but they produced enough that people found it worthwhile to farm
the coffee deliberately. For the vast majority of coffee farming history, most coffee was
always grown under the shade of trees because farmers struggled to keep plants healthy
when they grew them in full sun. With the advent of synthetic fertilizers and then the
Green Revolution, farmers discovered they could grow healthy coffee in the full sun. It
was easier to grow and the trees produced much more coffee than they did in the shade.
How does this work?
Coffee, just like any plant, needs light, just as it needs water, nutrients, and carbon
dioxide. Light often serves other purposes in plants in addition to being an ingredient for
life. For many plants, light also serves as a signal to the plant. The light quality, quantity,
and intensity can all convey information to a plant. This information can lead to a variety
of changes in the plant.
Flower production is one factor that seems to be directly affected by light. Coffee
plants exposed to lower light levels produce fewer flowers than plants exposed to higher
light levels. With more flowers comes more coffee fruit and more coffee seeds. Thus,
growing coffee in the shade produces less marketable product than growing the same plant
in full sun.
When the plant produces more fruit than it otherwise would because of excess light, it
requires more water, nutrients, and carbon dioxide. If nutrients aren’t available in
sufficient quantities, the whole plant suffers because it can’t sustain the nutrient demand of
the fruits. Short-term symptoms of nutrient deprivation include chlorotic (yellow) leaves
followed by premature fruit ripening, then leaf and fruit drop. When this happens, not only
is the current harvest affected, but the next harvest is as well. The only way to recover is to
stump or heavily prune the trees and forego any harvest the following year.
So, in the shade of trees, coffee produces a small amount of fruit that can be sustained
by the available nutrients. The only way to successfully grow coffee in full sun is to
supplement the soil with sufficient nutrients (more water is needed, too, but the increase is
smaller). When synthetic fertilizers became available, farmers realized they could grow
coffee healthily, easily, and profitably in full sun. While full-sun coffee can also be grown
successfully in an organic coffee production system, it is difficult and expensive. Thus,
most farmers who grow organically have shade trees to help mitigate the plant’s nutrient
needs.
Shade trees completely change the biological makeup of a coffee farm in all kinds of ways.
In summary, full sun coffee produces more coffee than shade coffee but it requires
more inputs to make it successful. Actually, it isn’t that simplistic! Having or not having
shade trees completely changes the agricultural and biological system of a coffee farm in
all kinds of ways. Shade trees interact with the soil by adding nutrients via the
decomposition of leaf litter, holding it in place (thereby preventing erosion), producing
root exudates, and possibly bringing water from deeper regions to higher regions via
hydraulic lift. Farms with a larger diversity of shade tree species tend to harbor a great
deal of biodiversity, from ants to birds, whereas full sun farms tend to have relatively little
biodiversity. Shaded systems encourage some pests and diseases while suppressing others.
Also, shaded systems tend to have fewer weeds (since weeds tend to be sun-loving).
Finally, shade trees can provide additional resources to farmers, like firewood or food.
There is also the question of whether shade (or light) has an influence on the flavor of
the coffee. There is a romantic notion that because shaded coffee ripens slower and it can
be part of a harmonious, complex, biodiverse system that it will taste better than coffee
grown in full sun. The available data is noisy, meaning, some research shows a bit of a
difference in taste while other research shows no difference in taste. Thus, one can
interpret the data both ways. Taken all together, this scientist (who has done research on
this very topic), concludes that the amount of light in which a coffee grows has no
influence on its taste.
So, does coffee need sunscreen in the form of big trees? No, it can do just fine without
it, so long as the farmer is able to supply it with the resources it needs. There are, however,
many reasons why a farmer might choose to cultivate their coffee under shade trees.
Optimizing potential yield, though, is not one of them.
COFFEE IS
THE SEED OF A FRUIT?

THE FUNNY THING ABOUT SUPERMARKETS IS THAT EVEN THOUGH THEY MAKE OUR FOOD VERY ACCESSIBLE
AND MORE AFFORDABLE, THEY ALSO TEND TO OBVIATE OUR NEED TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT WHERE OUR
FOOD COMES FROM AND HOW IT IS PRODUCED. CONSEQUENTLY, MOST PEOPLE PROBABLY HAVE MINIMAL
KNOWLEDGE OF PLANTS, PLANT PARTS, AND HOW THOSE PARTS PRODUCE SOMETHING WE CAN EAT. WHEN IT
COMES TO COFFEE, IT IS EVEN LESS LIKELY WE’D KNOW ABOUT ITS ORIGINS, ESPECIALLY SINCE MOST OF US
DON’T LIVE IN THE TROPICAL LOCATIONS IN WHICH COFFEE IS PRODUCED.
The coffee that we drink is made from a seed found inside a fruit that grows on a shrub (or
tree, if you let it grow big enough). The fruit, botanically a drupe, is often red when ripe
(some varieties ripen to yellow, orange, or pink). Coffee fruits are often called cherries
because they are approximately the size and color of fresh cherries (Prunus avium and P.
cerasus). In between the seed and the outer skin are four other layers: the silverskin,
parchment, mucilage, and pulp. All these layers have corresponding scientific terms that
allow botanists to compare the seeds and fruits of different species to each other. In
botanical lingo, the parts of a coffee fruit are called the embryo (this is what actually
becomes the plant; the first leaves to emerge are called cotyledons); endosperm (the major
part of the seed that acts as an energy and nutrient source for the embryo once the seed
germinates); integument (the silverskin, which is a very thin layer covering the seed);
endocarp (the parchment, which is the innermost layer of the fruit); mesocarp (the
mucilage and pulp/flesh—this is typically the edible part of most fruits); and epicarp (the
outer skin).
Since coffee has a mesocarp, it seems fair to wonder whether or not it can be eaten.
Yes, it can! If this is the case, why don’t we ever see the fruit in the market place? The
answer is that the fruit just isn’t all that tasty.
Coffee fruits are not very tender and thus require a good deal of chewing to break them
down. They are a bit bitter and a little astringent, though less so than an unripe banana.
They are sweet, particularly the mucilage, but not sweet enough that you’d want to eat
them over an apple (though if you remove the fruit and just suck on the mucilage, which
adheres to the parchment, the sugar intensity is quite high and pleasant). While there’s
even a little bit of caffeine in the fruit (0.36 to 1.3 percent of the fruit weight), it isn’t
enough to be convincing. The unremarkable taste isn’t unreasonable, really, as humans
have spent time selecting for good tasting coffee seeds, not good tasting coffee fruit.
“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.”

T. S. ELIOT
This isn’t to say people haven’t tried many ways to make use of the fruit. I’ve heard
lots of stories of kitchen experiments: coffee fruit wine, beer, pie, smoothies… Yet,
nobody has seemed to have found anything that is worth producing on a commercial scale.
Researchers have even looked into using the fruit as cattle feed, but that didn’t take, either.
Up until recently, the only thing the coffee fruit is regularly used for is as an herbal tea.
In fact, historians believe the fruit was consumed as a beverage before the seed was. When
the fruit is dried, it can be rehydrated with hot water to produce a mild-tasting, fruity
beverage. Currently in the United States, it can be found at various specialty coffee
roasters, sold under the fancier name of cascara, a Spanish word meaning “shell” or
“husk.” Some retailers blend it with other herbs to increase the taste complexity of the
final beverage.
In the past decade, the coffee fruit has come to be seen and used as a nutraceutical. The
fruit is high in anti-oxidants and companies have begun extracting these compounds for
use in a myriad of medicinal products. Coffee fruit extracts have appeared in beverages,
pills, and skin creams.
If we consider other foods we eat, it really isn’t a surprise that the coffee fruit doesn’t
have much gustatory value. There are very few examples of foods where we eat both the
flesh of the fruit and the seed. Why should this one be any different?
IS ONE ROUND PEABERRY
= BETTER =
THAN
TWO FLAT-FACED BEANS?
BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER. AT LEAST, THAT’S HOW THE SAYING GOES. WHEN IT COMES TO
PEABERRIES, THOUGH, IT JUST MIGHT BE TRUE. THE TRUTH IS, WE DON’T REALLY KNOW.
Inside the coffee fruit, two seeds typically develop. As the seeds enlarge and mature, they
push against each other. The result of this pushing is the flat face of a coffee seed. On
every coffee tree, a percentage of the cherries contain only a single seed. With no
opposing seed in the cherry, the lone seed has no flat face. Rather, it is entirely round,
almost pealike. This seed is called a peaberry. The percentage of peaberries on a given tree
varies, but most of the time it is 4 to 8 percent. There have been several reports, however,
of trees that produce percentages from 30 to 35 percent.
Why peaberries occur is not known, though many scientists over the years have
speculated on a variety of possibilities. These include genetic factors, plant age, climatic
conditions, poor pollination, and nutritional deficiencies. Scant research exists that
examines any of these potential influences. Ultimately, some kind of malfunction occurs at
the cellular level, which prevents the growth of the seed. The malfunction could occur
prior to fertilization. For example, the pollen tube—an organ that grows from a pollen
grain after it has landed on a stigma and whose purpose is to deliver its gamete to the
receiving gamete in the flower’s ovule—might be disrupted, preventing it from delivering
its package. Another possibility is that the gamete reaches its destination, but either the
female egg or the ovule itself are inviable, preventing fertilization. Alternatively,
fertilization may occur without incident, but the zygote or ovule aborts, leaving an empty
chamber behind.
What has become clear is that there is a strong genetic component to peaberries.
Offspring can produce different percentages of peaberries than their parents. Irradiating
seeds with neutrons or X-rays, then letting them grow into plants, increases the percentage
of peaberries. Even manually cross-pollinating flowers decreases the occurrence of
peaberries.
Peaberries have captured the imagination of coffee drinkers who seem quite happy to
pay a premium for them and roasters are just as happy to supply them. This suggests that
there is something different or special about the physiology, biochemistry, or taste of
peaberries. Unfortunately, there isn’t much research on the subject. Peaberries germinate
just as often as their flat-faced brethren. There are studies that show some biochemical
differences in the seeds when they are unroasted, but those differences largely disappear
after roasting. As for taste, no research, complete with statistical analysis, could be found
comparing flat-faced seeds to corresponding peaberries. In the literature where their taste
is discussed, peaberries are considered to taste the same or inferior to flat-faced seeds,
though the research was just anecdotal.
An important consideration with peaberries and taste is how they respond to roasting. A
round, somewhat uniform shape will interact with heat differently than an asymmetric
shape. If the heat transfer during roasting is different between the two shapes, resulting in
different roast profiles, then a taste difference could arise. If this is the case, then the taste
difference is an artifact of roasting, not the internal characteristics of the seed. I
hypothesize, then, that the taste difference would be fairly small and nothing of the scale
usually touted by retailer or consumers.
With the potential of no important difference, do peaberries warrant their higher price?
As peaberries do only occur in low percentages, they are rare; typical supply-demand
curves would suggest a higher price. In addition, while farmers have no control over their
occurrence, their maximum potential yield is never reached. Each percentage increase of
peaberries results in a 0.5 percent decrease in potential yield. This is just a numerical
difference. Peaberries tend to be smaller and weigh less than most flat-faced seeds,
making the yield, as measured by weight, even lower! Thus, farmers have a sense of being
penalized by nature and are keen to make up for the economic loss. Finally, at mills where
the peaberries are removed manually, there is an added cost of labor for that effort.
Although, large mills with lots of equipment typically have machines that sort coffee by
size, separating out the peaberries, and these mills incur no additional cost or effort.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if there is a statistically significant difference in the
biochemistry or taste of peaberries or whether they cost more to produce. If consumers
continue to pay a premium for them and believe them to be better, then they are better, at
least in the mind of the buyer.
WHY DOES MY ROASTER
TALK ABOUT
CHERRY PROCESSING?

AS THE COFFEE SEED IS THE PART OF THE COFFEE CHERRY THAT INTERESTS US THE MOST, WE HAVE TO
EXTRACT IT FROM THE FRUIT AND GET IT TO A POINT WHERE IT CAN BE ROASTED. ESSENTIALLY, ALL THE
LAYERS MUST BE REMOVED AND THE SEED NEEDS TO BE DRIED DOWN FROM ITS APPROXIMATE 50 PERCENT
MOISTURE CONTENT TO 9 TO 12 PERCENT MOISTURE CONTENT. WE CAN THEN DISCARD (OR FIND A USE FOR)
THE FLESH AND OTHER UNWANTED LAYERS. THUS, CHERRY PROCESSING IS A CRUCIAL STEP IN GETTING
COFFEE INTO A MUG. WITHOUT IT, THE COFFEE WILL NEVER BE READY FOR INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE.
Exactly how that happens is less important than doing it well. The pulp and mucilage are
high in water and sugar content—two attractive resources to microorganisms whose
overabundant presence during drying is suspected of negatively impacting the cup quality
of the coffee. Minimizing or eliminating their growth is a key aspect of cherry processing.
Ultimately, individual farmers decide how to process the cherries depending on the
available resources, cost of processing, the climate at the time of processing, the potential
of a price premium, and/or the desired taste outcome.
There are three common methods of cherry processing: natural, pulped natural, and
washed. There are variations on these but to go into them all is overwhelming. We’ll stick
to these three.
In the natural process, also known as the full natural or the dry process, the entire fruit
remains intact while the seeds are dried. The seeds are not removed until every layer,
including the seeds, has been dried. On farms where coffee is harvested mechanically,
many cherries are already dry when the coffee is harvested. These cherries, sometimes
called raisins, can be separated and sold as natural coffee.
The pulped natural process is one step removed from the natural process. The cherries
are pulped (the skin and fleshy pulp removed) and the seeds, still covered by the
parchment and mucilage, are dried. This process sometimes goes by alternate names, but
“honey” is the most common.
Did you know?

On average, about 100 gallons (378.5 L) of water are required to produce 20
grams (0.7 oz) of roasted coffee, enough to brew about one 11-ounce (325 ml) cup
of coffee.
The washed process (a.k.a. the wet process) removes not only the skin and pulp but
also the mucilage before drying down the coffee. There are several ways of doing this.
Traditionally, the mucilage is removed by fermentation, either by covering the coffee with
water until the mucilage is degraded or simply leaving the coffee to sit and ferment
without water (known as dry fermentation). The term “fermentation” is used because
microorganisms, naturally occurring on the coffee or in the environment, consume the
mucilage and degrade it via metabolic fermentation processes, though microbial enzymes
also play a role. When the mucilage is completely degraded and removed, we deem the
fermentation process complete. The fermentation process takes as few as six hours and as
many as forty-eight to complete, though typically it lasts twelve to thirty hours. The time
required depends on the volume of coffee, ambient air temperature, and temperature of the
water (if present) used for soaking.
An alternative method uses a demucilager/demucilator to mechanically remove the
mucilage just after pulping, eliminating the need for any kind of fermentation before
drying. A demucilager forces the coffee into a small space, causing the seeds to rub and
push against each other and the sides of the container. The pressure liquefies the mucilage,
allowing it to be washed away in a few minutes by the small amount of water added to the
process. Since water is used to rinse the coffee seeds upon completion, we call these
coffees “washed coffees.” Whether a washed coffee is fermented or demucilaged, the cup
quality tends to be similar.
It is well accepted by both the coffee industry and scientists that processing affects the
cup profile. A generality on perfectly pampered and accomplished processing on farms
where hand-harvest methods are used is that going from washed to pulped naturals to full
naturals creates an increasing intensity of sweetness, fruitiness (ferment to some), acidity,
and body. Some people suggest that the coffees become increasingly complex through this
progression.
On farms where coffee is mechanically harvested, the results of perfect dry processing
on cup quality aren’t as predictable. Natural processed coffees from these farms can be
more acidy and fruity than washed coffees, or they can be earthy and/or spicy.
“Coffee is a language in itself.”

JACKIE CHAN
A big question that is largely unanswered is, how does cherry processing affect coffee
quality? What is happening, biochemically, to create such organoleptically noticeable
changes in the same batch of seeds? Many people in the coffee industry proffer that the
sugars and “fruitness” of the mucilage and pulp diffuse into the seed. Unfortunately, this
hypothesis lacks any scientific data to support or refute it.
There is not much data to address what is going on with flavor as a result of processing.
Moreover, there is as yet no data linking specific coffee chemistry (green or roasted) to
organoleptic quality. So, even when changes in coffee bean chemistry are demonstrated,
there is no evidence to support that those differences are causing the tastes we experience.
The same coffee processed by different methods will present different amounts of a
variety of cellular molecules, dependent upon the processing method. Also, differences in
coffee bean metabolism have conclusively been shown between washed and full natural
coffees. It is not unreasonable to hypothesize that pulped naturals might fall somewhere in
the middle of these differences.
Two metabolic responses have been demonstrated. One is that the seed begins its
germination sequence almost immediately after being picked. If the presence of
germination-specific molecules (isocitrate lyase and β-tubulin) is measured in coffee
shortly after picking and daily until the seeds reach 12 percent moisture, differences are
seen between seeds that are fermented and seeds that are naturally processed. In washed
coffees, the amount of these molecules peaks a couple of days after harvesting and drop
significantly in about a week, whereas in natural coffees, the quantity of those molecules
peak a week after harvesting and slowly decline for another week or so. Two factors
explain these patterns. The first is that coffee pulp has inhibitors that slow down the
germination process. Second, washed coffees dry quickly and, consequently, quickly reach
a state of cellular quiescence. Full naturals, with greater mass and higher water content,
require more time to dry down to that quiescent state.
There are three common methods of cherry processing: natural, pulped natural, and washed. Notably, there is little
data addressing how processing affects flavor.
The second response is related to water stress. Natural processed coffees accumulate a
much larger amount of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a molecule known to occur in water-
stressed plant cells. As explained earlier, this disparity exists because the natural processed
coffees remain metabolically active for a longer time than the washed coffees.
These responses indicate a significant amount of metabolic activity that is captured by
just a few molecules, and the actual changes within the seeds go much farther than just
these molecules. It is reasonable to hypothesize that the differences in flavor from
different cherry processes stem from these metabolic processes. Yet, until more research is
done, we can only hypothesize as to whether the flavor comes from seed metabolism, a
migration of compounds into the seed from the mucilage and fruit, or both.
CAN YOU TELL ME THE
FLAVOR PROFILE OF
THE COFFEE FROM
LOCATION X?
THIS IS A QUESTION THAT EVERYONE ASKS AT SOME POINT. THE WINE INDUSTRY, THE GRANDDADDY OF ALL
SPECIALTY FOOD INDUSTRIES, HAS SPENT ITS LIFETIME BUILDING ON THE IDEA THAT WHERE A WINE IS
GROWN, REGIONALLY, IS NECESSARILY RELATED TO ITS FINAL TASTE. THE TERM USED TO DESCRIBE THIS IS
TERROIR. IT IS A FRENCH WORD MEANING “LAND” BUT ALSO “THIS SPECIFIC LAND” OR “LOCAL”. IN AN
AGRICULTURAL CONTEXT, IT REFERS TO EVERYTHING THAT PLAYS A ROLE IN THE PRODUCTION OF A CROP—
INCLUDING SOIL, CLIMATE, AND TOPOGRAPHY. THE IDEA IS THAT THE GESTALT OF A PLACE IMPRINTS A
PRODUCT AND THAT THE PRODUCT, NO MATTER WHERE ELSE IT IS PRODUCED, WILL NEVER TASTE QUITE THE
SAME ANYWHERE ELSE; THIS IMPRINT SUPERCEDES THE EFFORTS OF ANY INDIVIDUAL FARMER. THE COFFEE
INDUSTRY (AND TEA INDUSTRY AND CHOCOLATE INDUSTRY) TOUTS THE SAME THING: PLACE IS IMPORTANT.
IS IT?
To answer this, it helps to first understand all the different things that can influence the
taste of a coffee on the farm. Well, coffee is a bit unusual in that some relevant post-
harvest events occur that deserve to be considered. So, let’s consider all the events leading
up to the point where coffee can be roasted, as this is where it is a stable, tradable product.
As has been discussed elsewhere, within the English language, peer-reviewed scientific
literature, the following things have been proven to influence the taste of coffee: genetic
make-up, elevation (with some equivocation), pests/diseases, cherry processing, drying,
sorting, and storage. Notice the things we haven’t researched/can’t research, don’t seem to
play a role, or don’t have enough information to draw a conclusion on their effect: light
levels, health of the tree (having sufficient nutrients and water), soil type, source of
fertilizer, exposure to agrochemicals, plant age, and harvesting (though nobody believes
this isn’t acutely important). A cynical way to summarize our knowledge at this point is
that we don’t really know how to produce a good cup of coffee, rather, we just know how
to avoid screwing it up.
Did you know?
Coffee drinking has no effect on the risk of prostate, stomach, ovarian, and
pancreatic cancers. It seems to reduce the risk of liver, kidney, endometrial, head
and neck, breast, and colorectal cancers, but it may increase the risk of bladder
cancer.
It certainly seems to be the case that where and how a coffee is grown influences its
taste. Thus, there is a terroir for an individual farm. Is there a terroir to an entire growing
region, though?
There are seven categories of things that influence a coffee’s taste, each having
multiple variations, some of which might interact with each other, and nevermind the
other items we’re agnostic about but might need to be moved up in importance. That’s
quite a few potential influences. For the idea of terroir to hold true, then all these things
must interact in such a way as they can never be duplicated anywhere in the world.
Currently, at least eighty-seven countries produce coffee to some extent (not all of them
are commercial producers) and most of them have multiple regions growing coffee. Let’s
say ten regions per country for the sake of our discussion. The International Coffee
Organization estimates there are some 26 million farmers in the coffee business, which,
even if that were broken into six-member families, would leave 4.3 million coffee farms
on the planet. With eighty-seven countries, each with ten regions, distributed amongst 4.3
million farms, the number of farms per region is 5,977. Using these values and assuming
every farmer within a region is doing the exact same things to their farms, for terroir to be
true, there would have to be 5,977 unique coffee flavor profiles on the planet that are
recognized by tasters.
Did you know?

There are many ways to go from the fresh coffee seed on the tree to a dried,
green coffee bean. Each of them will influence the quality of the coffee.
That’s a pretty large number. While it is possible to generate that many combinations of
flavors based on the seven known factors mentioned above, it seems unlikely that there is
that much nuance in the world of coffee. Even more difficult to believe is that all the
farmers in a single region—even a single mountainside—are farming in the exact method.
This last idea seems the most relevant to me in this discussion. If all these factors can
influence a cup of coffee and each farmer has the freedom to farm and process their coffee
as they choose, it is very likely that the coffee from individual farms in a region are going
to vary from each other. If this is true, how true can terroir be?
I submit that regional terroir for coffee is an artifact of logistics and we are quickly
leaving it behind. The artifact is that for most of coffee producing history, all the coffees
from various farms within a region, sometimes even a country, were blended together.
This blending occurred post-harvest at the wet mill or at the dry mill. When so many
individual farms’ coffees are homogenized like this, the taste of the end product will be
some kind of average that accounts for all the coffees that went into it. Then, those coffees
were stored and shipped together (not always so well), giving them time to change and
equilibrate even more because of the time it took to get them to roasters elsewhere.
Terroir, then, was an artificially created phenomenon that arouse out of the logistics of
coffee processing, storage, and shipping, not out of the inherent magic of the climate,
topography, and farming.
This might just be a semantic argument because it is perfectly reasonable to let logistics
be represented in the taste of a place. Yes, at one point, coffees from a country or region in
a country probably had consistent flavor profiles and in places that still operate in such a
way, these profiles, likely still exist. However, the past few decades have seen
diversification in the coffee industry which suggests coffee terroir is no longer true.
One of the hallmarks of the specialty coffee industry is the celebration of individual
coffee farms. Coffees of a particular variety, from a particular farm, that used a particular
processing method can be easily found at specialty coffee roasters. These coffees are
celebrations of diversity within a particular place. Roasters are seeking and finding coffees
that they want to be different from the region’s norm. If these special coffees can be found,
how can there be an overarching influence of place on the cup profile?
The reality is that two farmers, separated by just a fence, can produce very different
coffees. If this is the case, which one represents the terroir of the region? If there are
hundreds and thousands of farmers in a region, all able to do their own thing, then who
gets the honor of having their coffee be the poster child for the region? As more and more
farmers are able to keep their coffees apart from farmers in their region and strive to
produce a rare coffee, the potential of terroir being true falls dramatically.
WHY DOES A COFFEE PLANT
PRODUCE
CAFFEINE?
Discovered in 1819, by German chemist Ferdinand Runge, the caffeine found in the coffee plant plays a useful role,
just not a critical one.
SO MANY OF US LOVE COFFEE BECAUSE OF WHAT CAFFEINE DOES FOR US. WITHOUT THE CAFFEINE, HUMANITY
MAY NEVER HAVE CONTINUED CONSUMING COFFEE AFTER THE FIRST INITIAL TRIES. (WHAT REASON WOULD
WE HAVE HAD FOR STUMBLING ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PROCESSING, DRYING, ROASTING, AND BREWING?)
BUT, WHAT DOES CAFFEINE DO FOR THE COFFEE PLANT? AFTER ALL, IT DOESN’T MANUFACTURE THE STUFF
FOR US AND IT REQUIRES ENERGY (AN IMPORTANT COMMODITY FOR ANY LIVING ORGANISM) TO PRODUCE IT.
Caffeine is considered a secondary metabolite. As opposed to primary metabolites,

secondary metabolites are not essential for plant growth and development. Rather, they
play some useful role, just not a critical one. Caffeine is found in all parts of coffee, from
the roots to the seeds and even in the xylem, the upward-elevator organ in plants. A
number of hypotheses have been posited for what caffeine can do for the coffee plant. It
could be an allelopathic agent, an anti-herbivory agent, a form of nitrogen storage, and/or
a pollinator stimulant.
Allelopathy is plant chemical warfare against other plants. Some plants produce
chemicals that can harm or kill seeds or plants, typically of other species. These
compounds, spread by the decomposition of leaf litter or exudation by roots and seeds,
influence the population dynamics of plants within a community; not all allelochemicals
kill all plants. Many researchers have demonstrated that caffeine is toxic to a number of
different plants. However, nobody has demonstrated caffeine’s efficacy in a natural
setting. Thus, just because it can kill some other species, there is no guarantee that it
would kill competitor plants in the forests of Ethiopia (where it evolved).
Caffeine is incredibly toxic to some insects and fungi (humans, too, in a high enough
concentration). So, it often argued that it is a defense mechanism from critters. This
hypothesis is supported by the fact that caffeine is produced in young, developing organs
that are more susceptible to insect attack. This is a logical hypothesis but it is incredibly
difficult to prove. To prove it inconclusively would require two nearly identical coffee
plants, with the only difference being that one produces caffeine while the other one does
not. Unfortunately, we are technologically incapable of producing these conditions, so the
experiment will have to wait awhile. If caffeine did evolve to protect against insects, it
was probably targeted against specific African insects. If it had been successful in
defending against them, then they are probably so inconsequential as pests that they
haven’t ever caught the attention of researchers.
Since caffeine has been found moving up through a plant and it contains four nitrogen
atoms, it is thought that it may simply be a way to store nitrogen until needed for a
specific purpose. What little research has been done on this hasn’t successfully
demonstrated this function.
Lastly, caffeine may be an incentivizing treat for pollinators, particularly honeybees.
Research has shown that honeybees’ long-term memory is improved after having caffeine.
Presumably, this would help the bees remember the flower they were enjoying and be
more likely to return to it in the future, thus helping the plants to cross-pollinate. While
this is promising research, it has yet to be tested outside the laboratory. In addition, it
wouldn’t explain why caffeine is synthesized in all the organs in the plant.
We will probably never know why coffee first developed caffeine. If we’re lucky, we’ll
find out why it has continued to do so. Of course, from the coffee’s perspective, caffeine
production has been a huge success. After all, because of that molecule, the human species
has spread the seeds of the plant to nearly every place on the planet in which they could
thrive!
COFFEE
= CAN =
RUST?
WHEN THINGS RUST, IT IS ALWAYS METAL THINGS—IRON, ACTUALLY. PLANTS CAN’T RUST AND COFFEE IS NO
DIFFERENT. COFFEE LEAVES, HOWEVER, CAN TURN RUST COLORED AND WHEN THAT HAPPENS, IT’S NOT A
GOOD SIGN. WHEN COFFEE RUSTS, IT IS BECAUSE A FUNGUS, HEMILEIA VASTATRIX, HAS ATTACKED IT AND THE
FUNGUS IS SPORULATING, OR PRODUCING SPORES THAT WILL MOVE TO OTHER LEAVES AND INFECT THEM.
There are many diseases that infect coffee, but none are as prevalent and difficult to
control as this one. (Coffee Berry Disease is pretty horrible, but it is still contained to the
African continent.) Almost every coffee producing region in the world has Coffee Leaf
Rust (roya, in Spanish), and they all struggle with controlling it. The rust attacks the
leaves and turns off any activity in a leaf where it touches. Very light infections simply
reduce the photosynthetic ability of a leaf. As infections become more intense, leaves die.
If many leaves on a plant are heavily infected, then the plant can lose all its leaves and any
fruit that is maturing since there are no leaves to sustain the fruit. The fungus doesn’t
actively attack the coffee we drink, it just prevents us from ever having coffee to drink.
There are some fungicides that can be used to combat the fungus. However, they are
expensive and have to be applied multiple times throughout the season. For small farmers
(which make up the vast majority of coffee farmers worldwide), the cost alone can be
prohibitive. For farmers with larger tracts of land, the cost is not inconsequential.
Moreover, many farms are planted on steep, mountain slopes that are difficult to walk on.
Imagine the difficulty of walking on a steep slope and spraying a pesticide at the same
time!
With fungicides being a poor option, the best solution is to plant varieties that are (at
least somewhat) resistant to the fungus. Unfortunately, there are no pure arabica lines that
are resistant. In the 1930s, by a highly unlikely fluke of nature, a natural cross between C.
arabica and C. canephora occurred, producing the offspring known as the Timor hybrid.
This plant, having genetic lineage of both species, was resistant to the rust. Once it was
discovered, it became the center of several breeding programs around the world. While the
disease resistance was a nice inheritance from its canephora parent, it also inherited some
of the undesired taste attributes. So, the breeding programs tried not only to improve its
agronomic traits but its quality traits, as well. Over the years, other hybrids were
discovered or made. These hybrids were, over many generations, bred with pure arabica
lines to further improve their taste. Now the world is populated with many of these
breeding program offspring.
The taste of these offspring has never managed to equal that of a pure arabica line, no
matter how many backcrosses have occurred. Still, these offspring are rightly called
arabica varieties because so much of their genetic material comes from the arabica
species. Currently, there are some recent releases that show a great deal of promise in
offering rust resistance and desirable quality.
Unfortunately, as with any disease, resistance is not a cure. The fungus is constantly
mutating and adapting. Many strains now exist that can attack not only some of the
hybrids but pure C. canephora lines, as well. So long as coffee is a crop, we will be in
constant flux with this and other diseases. It isn’t particularly fun or joyful, but it is the
way of life.
It was a hybrid featuring the genetic lineage from both Arabica and Robusta plants that became the savior for
breeding more rust-resistant coffee plants.
HOW DO I REALLY KNOW
THAT’S
KONA COFFEE?
THERE ARE TIMES IN LIFE WHEN YOU WANT CONFIRMATION THAT THE CONTENTS OF A PACKAGE REALLY
MATCHES WHAT IS ADVERTISED ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE PACKAGE. IS THE OLIVE OIL REALLY FROM ITALY? IS
THE SPARKLING WINE REALLY FROM CHAMPAGNE? IS IT TRULY MANUKA HONEY? THE REASON WE WANT TO
KNOW THESE THINGS IS BECAUSE THESE PRODUCTS ARE ALMOST ALWAYS MORE EXPENSIVE THAN THEIR
ALTERNATIVES.
Thus, if we’re going to pay more for them, we want to be sure we’re getting exactly what
we pay for (the issue of whether they taste as good as they’re supposed to is a topic for
another section). How do we prove the product is what it claims to be? Is the coffee really
from Kona, Hawaii?
In a perfect world, rare, special, or expensive coffees would taste so different that we’d
be able to verify their origins upon tasting them. But, being able to taste with that level of
precision is difficult and it requires extensive knowledge of coffees from all over the
world. Moreover, every coffee grown within a particular place must have a shared and
globally unique taste. Well, these prerequisites are never all met simultaneously, so, using
taste to confirm the origin of a coffee will never work.
Alternatively, a government can establish rules and laws for packaging and labeling
and expect its citizens to follow them. Most governments do this and they do their best to
enforce them with the limited resources available to them. However, there are always
clever miscreants, and a government’s power doesn’t exist past its borders.
What is needed is an objective, product-based method for determining where a coffee
was grown. All one has to do is discover the right chemical or combination of chemicals
that will fingerprint a growing location. If every fingerprint is unique, then one just has to
analyze any sample, match it to a fingerprint, and voilà!
Sounds easy, right? The actual lab work is usually fairly easy but discovering a
fingerprint is incredibly tricky. Many scientists, including this author, have worked on this
problem. Nobody has figured it out yet. There are two big hurdles to this problem. One is
settling on the right fingerprint and the other is being able to properly analyze the data to
ensure everything works correctly.
Scientists have tried all kinds of different analytical techniques and markers to build the
fingerprint: near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
(FTIR), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), solid phase microextraction—
gas chromatography—time of flight mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-TOF-MS), brewed
coffee volatiles, stable isotopes, elemental content, molecular compounds, and who knows
what else! The aim has been to find a very quick, cheap, reliable method that can detect
the right markers.
Most of these methods and chemical markers suit this purpose well and much of the
data is very promising. The data is promising because many of these methods allow the
detection of many signals or markers rather than a small handful. They can be 2,000
reflectances of light at different wavelengths, hundreds of volatile compounds, or dozens
of molecules. The more markers one has to create a fingerprint, the more likely that
fingerprint will be unique. Moreover, the current state of computer power and statistical
software packages allows for adequate analysis of all the data, so building a fingerprint
and testing its efficacy is relatively simple.
So, where’s the problem? The problem is twofold. One, there are never enough samples
in a dataset to build a truly robust fingerprint. Two, any given bean is, well, complicated!
Large datasets are important for statistical power and simply being able to paint the
right picture. The statistical analysis used in origin discrimination work requires many
samples for the analysis to work well. Many studies do the analysis with too few samples
and the numbers crunch well, too well, really. The end result is too perfect because so
many markers are being used to describe a small set of samples. The data is overfit.
Painting the right picture is just as important. If you want to be able to tell a Hawaiian
coffee from a Costa Rican coffee from a Rwandan coffee, you need many samples from
each location to capture the variation from that location. Now, with eighty-plus countries
in the world growing coffee and each country having many individual regions, acquiring
enough samples to paint the big picture is daunting.
As for coffee being complicated, there are just so many things that influence coffee’s
chemical composition. These include, but are not limited to, year of production, the
genetic makeup, the climate in which it grew, the nutritional health of the plant, the
fertilizer regime, ripeness at harvest, cherry processing method, storage of green coffee,
age of the green coffee, roasting, blending, and freshness. In order for a geographic
fingerprint to work, it must be able to account for all these compositional influences every
year across many locations!
I believe we have the knowledge and capability to build a geographic indicator system.
It may never be perfect but it probably could be effective a very high percentage of the
time. All we need are time, manpower, and adequate resources.
In the meantime, how do we know where the coffee in our cups is actually from? Trust.
Trust in all the people whose hands touched that coffee and belief that they acted with
integrity.
THAT COFFEE WAS
= EATEN =
BY AN ANIMAL?
AS THE STORY GOES, WHEN THE DUTCH FIRST BROUGHT COFFEE TO INDONESIA FOR COMMERCIAL
PRODUCTION, THEY FORBADE THE LOCALS FROM DRINKING THE COFFEE THEY WERE GROWING. THE LOCALS
DISCOVERED THAT A LOCAL ASIAN PALM CIVET (PARADOXURUS HERMAPHRODITUS) ATE THE CHERRIES BUT
DIDN’T DIGEST THE SEED. IN FACT, THE SEED PASSED THROUGH THE DIGESTIVE TRACT AND OUT THE OTHER
END. THE SEEDS COULD THEN BE WASHED, THE PARCHMENT REMOVED, ROASTED, AND PREPARED LIKE ANY
OTHER COFFEE.
Independent of the accuracy of this story, this coffee, known as Kopi Luwak (kopi =
coffee, luwak = the civet), has become a coffee phenomenon. Its rarity and consequently
exorbitant price has made it a product often talked about and sold in high-end markets.
Though, due to its price, few people have probably tried it.
Reactions to the idea of Kopi Luwak are wide ranging, as you might imagine. Few
people are keen on the idea of consuming anything that successfully passed through an
animal. Yet, others think the quality is significantly different and the social cache,
certainly, can’t be disregarded. Most members of the specialty coffee community are
vehemently against the coffee for its idea and its taste. As one notable industry expert once
said, “Kopi Luwak is coffee from assholes for assholes.”
Independent of public opinion, there’s more reason to ponder the source of the beans.
While the initial offerings of the coffee certainly came from the droppings of wild
animals, the dollar signs and popularity led more than a few proprietors to start keeping
civets in cages and feeding them almost exclusively coffee cherries. While this isn’t very
different from the way some chickens and cows are raised in the United States, it struck a
chord with consumers and became a lively news story for several weeks. Perhaps the idea
of an expensive luxury item coming from caged animals was simply too unsavory.
The real question is whether Kopi Luwak is actually different than coffee processed in
a more traditional manner. Does the trip through the gastrointestinal track actually modify
the seeds in a noticeable way, whether chemically or organoleptically? Fortunately, several
researchers have addressed this question and all have come to the same conclusion. Yes.
All the reports I read demonstrated that Kopi Luwak coffee is chemically different than
normal coffee. Most of the time, this was demonstrated by measuring the composition of
the volatile compounds of roasted coffee, though some research looked at a variety of
other physical and chemical markers instead. In addition, two studies concluded that the
taste of the Kopi Luwak was different than normal coffee.
While this all sounds very exciting, the researchers, unfortunately, were faced with
some challenges that I’m not sure they were aware of and their data, though interesting,
may not be as conclusive as anyone would like. A critical step in doing any experiment is
to hold all variables constant except the one in which you are interested. In not a single
study was this done. None of them were able to take the coffee from a single tree—even a
single farm—and ensure it was processed normally and via civet. Instead, they acquired
commercially available samples or samples from within a region. As we learned in the
previous section, just about any history or process can influence the chemical composition
of coffees, especially the volatiles. We have no way of knowing whether the differences
they found were from the actual processing or from any number of things such as genetic
make-up, fertilizing regime, storage conditions, or age.
The challenge of acquiring perfect samples is immense, for certain. Without using a
caged civet, it would be impossible to get proper samples. Their efforts should be
commended, but the data should be taken with a healthy dose of wariness. Nonetheless,
there are some aspects of the data that push me to think there is an actual chemical
difference between Kopi Luwak and normally processed coffees.
This applies, too, to the quality assessment of the coffees. Actually, those results are
even more difficult to accept as the quality of the sensory analysis leaves quite a lot to be
desired.
Independent of whether the coffee is truly different, there is plenty of room for
consideration of the animal welfare issues and whether or not any coffee is worth such a
high price tag. Like all things coffee, though, it is up to the consumer to decide and
nobody else!
Civets are small, nocturnal mammals native to tropical Asia and Africa. They are not true cats, but the civet family is
related to the cat family.
PART TWO
THE ROAST

WHY IS A COFFEE BEAN
= JUST A =
TINY TEST TUBE?
GREEN (UNROASTED) COFFEE IS NOTHING YOU’D EVER WANT TO CONSUME. IT IS HARD ENOUGH TO BREAK A
TOOTH, AND ITS TASTE LEAVES AN AWFUL LOT TO BE DESIRED. IN ORDER FOR IT TO BECOME SOMETHING WE
CAN GRIND AND BREW, FIRST IT MUST BE ROASTED. ROASTING COFFEE, AS IT TURNS OUT, INVOLVES SOME
PRETTY COMPLICATED CHEMISTRY.
When we visualize chemistry, it is quite common to picture a laboratory with test tubes
and various pieces of equipment. Mix the contents of two test tubes together and bam!
Something new is created! Rule number one about chemistry: if chemicals aren’t in the
same space physically, then they can’t react with each other. Rule number two: sometimes,
chemical reactions need a little help getting going and being sustained. This help can come
from external energy (heat, typically) or an enzyme (a molecule that facilitates chemical
reactions without being used up in the reaction and without requiring much, if any, energy
to push the reaction forward).
Roasting coffee satisfies both those rules. The bean itself is the laboratory and the cells
that make up the bean are the test tubes. The cell walls and the material within the cells
comprise the raw ingredients of all the chemical reactions that take place during roasting.
Roasting provides the energy source that begins and sustains the chemical reactions.
While there are enzymes of all sorts in the cells, their role in the creation of what we know
of as coffee is poorly understood. Most likely, enzymatic reactions don’t play a significant
role in producing the coffee we know and love.
Actually, a coffee cell is more than just a test tube—it is also a pressure cooker. Plant
cell walls are thick and durable. Thus, when the contents strive to get out, they cannot do
so easily. When the cell becomes heated up from roasting, some chemicals change from
liquids to gases and some new gases are formed. These gases will take up more space than
they did as liquids or solids, so they push against the cell walls, creating pressure, just like
a pressure cooker. While the cell walls eventually break from the pressure (more on this
later), the increased pressure conditions do help shape the roasting process.
Did you know?
While caffeine content might decrease somewhat as roasts get darker, the
difference is so small that a daily coffee drinker’s body would probably never
notice the difference.
A great deal of research has been produced on green coffee chemistry and roasted
coffee chemistry. Scientists have strived to identify the chemical reactions that occur
during roasting as well as identify the compounds in green coffee and the resultant
compounds that end up being created from the roasting process. To recount all that data
here would be fairly meaningless and it would bore us all to tears. The truth is, while some
groups of chemical reactions are known and lists of compounds exist, no nonscientific,
practical use for the consumer or small business yet has come from any of it.
In short, we don’t know much about what compounds in green coffee are important
precursors for specific compounds in roasted coffee. Nor do we know what compounds in
roasted coffee determine specific flavors for us. Yet, we know there are hundreds of
compounds in the green and roasted beans, some of which might make it into our cups.
We also know there are more than 1,000 volatile compounds in roasted coffee, less than
30 of which create the generic “coffee smell” experience, while others are recognizable as
specific aromas when smelled on their own. Unfortunately, we don’t know exactly what
makes coffee taste acidy or sweet or floral or what tastes like chocolate and blueberry are
connected to. When it comes to coffee taste chemistry, we’re still in the dark ages.
“Science may never come up with a better office communication

system than the coffee break.”
EARL WILSON
These details aside, we know not only that roasting is important, but it is important how
one roasts. At its simplest, coffee roasting is adding heat to coffee. However, how one
applies heat (what kind of roaster is used) and when heat is applied throughout the roast
have significant impacts on the final taste of the coffee. All modern roasters have at least
one temperature probe inside the roasting chamber. This probe measures the air
temperature at the location in which it is placed. When the chamber is filled and beans
cover the probe, the temperature registered is an approximation of the bean’s actual
internal temperature. This temperature can help inform the person roasting of what should
be adjusted during the roast and in future roasts. The manipulation of time and
temperature during roasting is called roast profiling, which can be illustrated on a graph
with a curve. The decision of what constitutes an acceptable roast profile is—or should be
—taste, although length of the roast and bean color are valuable metrics as well.
The roast profile curve can be used to help a roaster manipulate the taste of a coffee. It
can also be used to help us explore some basic coffee roast chemistry. When green coffee
is first put into the roasting chamber, the temperature drops precipitously—the green
beans are absorbing heat. Before too long, the temperature begins to stabilize and rise
again. During this rise, chemical reactions begin to occur as evidenced by the evolution of
novel compounds and a color change. Also, water is evaporated; coffee beans typically
have a moisture content of 9 to12 percent and, by the end of the roast, have about 2
percent moisture. In addition, some of that water likely takes part in chemical reactions.
The slope at which the temperature rises is very important to coffee roasters. The slope
is a measure of how fast the roast is progressing, with steeper slopes reflecting faster
roasting during this roast phase. Controlling the speed of roasting also controls the speed
of chemical reactions since it is a reflection of the amount of heat being added into the
system. However, what this means chemically is unknown.
Once the bean color is decidedly light brown, the beans begin to crack or pop and
undergo a size expansion. The cracking is the same phenomenon that happens to popcorn
kernels as they transition from kernels to popcorn and is much like a balloon popping from
being overfilled. Corn kernels pop because water, trapped inside, converts to steam. The
steam creates pressure that eventually breaks the cells, giving us popped corn. The cracks
in coffee are also caused by gases producing excess pressure and breaking out of the cells.
Carbon dioxide is likely the major gas contributing to this jailbreak, and water is presumed
to be fairly important.
Shortly after this crack, the roast could end and the coffee drunk. If left to continue, the
bean color progresses through darker shades of brown and eventually into black.
Somewhere between medium brown and very dark brown, the beans crack again. This,
too, is the result of gases breaking more cells. Carbon dioxide is the main culprit here, but
accomplices are certainly present.
Although we seem to know very little about roast chemistry, we actually know quite a
lot. We really lack knowledge of coffee flavor chemistry and how the two connect.
Current scientific instrumentation, computer power, and software are helping change this
dearth of knowledge. Advances are coming, especially as more people become both coffee
fiends and scientists. We just need to be patient!
Did you know?

Used coffee grounds can be used to generate biodiesel that can power cars, as a
substrate to grow mushrooms, and even converted into a potable, though not
necessarily tasty, alcohol!
ARE YOU AFRAID
OF
DARK ROASTS?
STRONG. BOLD. DEEP. HEAVY. DARK. THESE ALL TEND TO MEAN ONE THING IN RELATION TO COFFEE: A DARK
ROAST. THEY ARE PART OF OUR MODERN COFFEE LEXICON AND, OFTENTIMES, ARE SYNONYMOUS WITH
GOURMET OR SPECIALTY COFFEE. YET, ALMOST EVERY COFFEE GEEK STAYS AS FAR AWAY FROM DARK-
ROASTED COFFEES AS POSSIBLE. ARE THEY REALLY SO BAD WHEN SO MANY PEOPLE SEEM TO LIKE THEM?
WE’LL COME BACK TO THIS.
We already know that roasting green coffee turns it into something we want to drink. We
also know that how one roasts the coffee makes a difference. It shouldn’t come as much of
a surprise, then, that the final color of the coffee is relevant to our experience. The final
color is really a function of the roast profile, and it is best thought of in that way. However,
just referencing the roast color can be valuable as it often correlates to some bean
characteristics and sensory experiences. Beware, though, sometimes, the roast profile can
have an influence that beguiles the expectation of a particular roast level.
Coffee roasting is a function of temperature, as is cooking any food using heat. As the
temperature of the bean increases and roasting progresses, some chemical reactions
continue to occur while new ones come and go. The bean is continuously undergoing
chemical changes. Thus, a lighter roast is chemically different than a darker roast; this is
well researched by scientists and I’ll spare you the gory details. The only general category
of reactions worth mentioning is the Maillard reaction.
A Maillard reaction is one in which an amino acid (a component of protein) reacts with
carbohydrates (often sugars). There isn’t a specific end product from this reaction,
especially as the reactions continue to occur; compounds formed from the reaction can
react with each other, creating a dizzying array of complex molecules. Maillard reactions
are common in cooking and are responsible for much of the browning we’re familiar with.
Think seared meat and the crust of bread. And of course, think brown in coffee. The
brown compounds resulting from this reaction, called melanoidins, are significant in
coffee; they can comprise some 25 percent of the solid material in a cup of coffee. They
are also the likely source of any antioxidant behavior in coffee. While they likely
contribute to the flavor of coffee in some way (no research exists on it), we can only guess
at it in a roundabout way. Melanoidin content increases as roasts get darker (no surprise,
there!). So, it isn’t unfair to guess they may contribute to our sense of the difference
between lighter and darker roasts.
Recent research on a compound called N-methylpyridinium (N-MP, a degradation
product of trigonelline) is also worth mentioning. It seems to be a significant inhibitor of
gastric acid secretion in the stomach, potentially preventing nausea or indigestion—
something that happens to some unfortunate coffee drinkers. As its occurrence is directly
related to the destruction of trigonelline, its concentration in coffee increases as roasting
progresses. In other words, darker roasted coffees may make for fewer upset stomachs.
For most of us, what we most want to understand about coffee roast levels is how they
differ in taste. Coffee geeks have strong feelings about the roast levels they think are best
and consumers are no different. However, to anyone wanting to try something new, a little
guidance might be helpful. The literature repeatedly shows that as the roast level darkens,
acidity, fruity/citrus, grassy/green/herbal, and aromatic intensity decrease. Concurrently,
roasted, ashy/sooty, burnt/smoky, bitter, chemical/medicinal, burnt/acrid, sour, and
pungent flavors all increase. That’s a pretty grim picture but only because some of the
research examined extreme roast cases. What must be realized is that these flavors occur
on a continuum, with the intensity changing as the roast darkens.
Underroasted coffee is not very coffeelike. It tastes leguminous, herby, and nutty. This
taste happens just after first crack (see the section on coffee as a test tube) and lasts for a
brief time. Once it is roasted just past that, all the coffee’s soul is laid out for the palate.
All the nuance, complexity, and acidity that could be in the taste exist at this point. Very
light roasts are like puppies—full of verve and energy and spunk and sometimes just as
annoying. As the roast progresses, those flavors might disappear or mature or become
tempered. Coffee has many faces between very light roasts and approximately second
crack. When the second crack happens, the process of roast begins to creep in. Thus,
roasted, woody, smoky flavors begin to develop. From there, the process of roast becomes
more and more dominate, approaching an end result of a black, charred bean that closely
resembles charcoal.
There’s no right answer for how light or how dark any given coffee should be roasted.
Ultimately, the person roasting gets to decide, and she’ll likely make that decision based
on her personal belief of what best exemplifies the coffee in combination with what she
thinks her market desires. Give the same coffee to ten roasters, and you’ll get ten
somewhat different coffees.
WHAT DO I CALL
= THIS =
ROAST LEVEL?
AS WE FIND OURSELVES CARING MORE AND MORE ABOUT COFFEE, WE REALIZE THE ROAST LEVEL OF THE
COFFEE IS IMPORTANT TO US. SO, WHEN WE GO TO BUY COFFEE, HOW DO WE TELL THE SELLER EXACTLY
WHAT WE WANT? UNFORTUNATELY, IT IS A BIT MORE COMPLICATED THAN ANYONE FEELS IT SHOULD BE.
Simply using light, medium, and dark doesn’t make sense because of the lack of
agreement of what they mean; one person’s medium is another person’s light. Moreover,
light can encompass quite a range of colors. Names like city, full city, French, and
cinnamon are just as nondescript, as there’s no standard for what color they actually
correlate with. Terms like strong, bold, deep, and heavy are even more egregious, as they
either refer to the concentration of the brew (strength) or could possibly refer to its
viscosity. Clever marketing brought us these terms and every coffee professional wishes
these words would vanish from the roast level lexicon. Much to my dismay, I’ve never
come across any terminology that works particularly well for describing roast levels.
Is there a more objective method that could be used? Yes. In fact, there are several, all
of which are imperfect and all of which are distant and somewhat meaningless to the
typical coffee drinker.
We can be referential to the stages of roasting, and talk about roast level as the time
before or after first or second crack. To an experienced roaster and especially to one
familiar with a particular coffee (different coffees roast differently, as you’d expect), this
is a fairly useful method of communicating roast level. However, as the length of the roast
and events within the roast are, by definition, dependent on the roast profile, using the
cracks as reference points are only useful if there is some knowledge of the profile.
Another method that is often used by scientists is weight loss. As the roast progresses,
not only does the bean expand, nearly doubling in size by the end, but it loses a lot of
weight as moisture evaporates and solid matter is converted into volatile compounds that
leave the bean. Very light roasts will lose around 12 percent of their weight while very
dark roasts can lose as much as 30 percent of their weight. The minor drawback to this
system is that weight loss depends on initial weight, which is heavily influenced by
moisture content. While most green coffees tend to be in the 9 to 12 percent moisture
range, not all of them are, and if not stored well, their moisture content can change. A
coffee with a higher moisture content will have a greater weight loss than one with a lower
moisture content because more water (and the weight it added) will be driven off.
Did you know?

The first webcam was built in 1991 by computer scientists to keep track of how
much coffee was in the coffeepot in the Trojan Room, a computer lab at the
University of Cambridge.
This is fairly minor problem for small roasters because even in the extreme case, the
final weight loss between a high to low moisture content coffee will be pretty small. On
the other hand, roasters who roast very large quantities of coffees or roast particularly dark
may end the roast by quenching the coffee with a fine mist of water. While the expectation
is that the water evaporates immediately, thereby cooling the coffee quickly, some water
may remain and add weight back to the beans. In my opinion, the biggest problem with
this as a tool is that training consumers to calibrate colors to weight loss may never be
very successful; people just aren’t used to thinking of weight and color as parallel ideas.
The last method that can be used to talk about roast color is the actual amount of
lightness! More specifically, we can measure the amount of light reflected off the bean or
grounds and assign an arbitrary number to that particular amount of reflectance. This is
already a common practice in the coffee industry, and the arbitrary numerical scale already
exists. All one needs to make sense of it is a spectrophotometer, a machine that measures
the reflectance or transmittance of a specific wavelength of light, and the coding that
translates the number to a color. The latter part is simple, as one can create and even buy
already-made colored discs that correspond to the numbers. The hard part is that
spectrophotometers are expensive machines and usually only larger companies purchase
them. Just as tricky is the consumer side of things, much like with weight loss, few
consumers are going to learn which number corresponds to which roast level.
In the end, there is no perfect way of conveying roast level to someone else without
showing them the bean. So, we’ll just continue as we always have, using the tools we have
on hand. Hopefully, someone will come up with something better someday.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY
COFFEE FRESHNESS?
WE ALL WANT THE BEST POSSIBLE EXPERIENCE FROM OUR COFFEE. OBVIOUSLY, THIS MEANS IT OUGHT TO BE
FRESH. THAT SOUNDS GOOD, OF COURSE, BUT WHAT EXACTLY DO WE MEAN BY FRESHNESS?
The implication is that at one point in time, coffee is fresh but it loses that freshness and
becomes stale. Ultimately, we’re talking about a taste in the coffee that changes from good
to less good because it changes over time. Each coffee drinker probably has a different
standard for what level of staleness is unacceptable. That standard is based on their past
experience, their level of sensory acuity, and any number of things that might influence
their sense of freshness. So, for a well-trained coffee geek, staling may be noticeable a
week or two after roasting, while for a less discriminating consumer, it may be two to ten
months before they notice (or care) about a change in the taste due to staling. Thus, there
is no absolute definition, so we must discuss the issue with some generalities and wiggle
room.
The next step is to consider freshness in light of coffee chemistry. We’ve established
that roasting has an immense impact on coffee but it actually extends beyond the end of
the actual roast. The bean not only passively changes but chemical reactions continue to
occur. Some researchers have attempted to correlate these chemical changes to sensory
response. While some insight has been gained, there are so many factors to account for
that we only have a glimmer of the whole picture.
During roasting, many gases, or volatile compounds, are released or generated. The end
of the roasting process doesn’t mean the volatiles are no longer present. You know this
intuitively because anytime you smell coffee, you smell a gas that’s been released and is
no longer in the bean. In the first twenty-four hours after roasting, the bulk of gases,
composed mostly of carbon dioxide, are released from the bean. Over the course of
several months, more and more volatiles escape from the bean structure, which is why
coffee smells less intense over time. These volatiles that you smell are volatiles that you
won’t be drinking. Thus, the loss of these volatiles is a primary cause of staling. Since the
volatiles are trapped in the bean and must diffuse out, the size of the bean particles play a
significant role on their evolution. Smaller particles, with more surface area relative to
their volume, offer much shorter distances for the volatiles to travel. If coffee is ground
just after roasting, 26 to 59 percent of the carbon dioxide (and undoubtedly other volatiles)
will be released immediately, with the larger value coming from smaller bean particle
sizes that have a larger surface area to volume ratio.
The other primary cause of staling is the oxidation of compounds within the bean.
While lipids (fats and oils) have been the main purview of coffee oxidation research, other
molecules react as well and are surmised to play a role. Independent of the identification
of specific oxidation reactions, the data demonstrate that coffee exposed to oxygen stales
quicker than coffee not exposed to oxygen.
An indirect factor in coffee staling is ambient temperature. Higher temperatures
increase the rate of chemical reactions. Thus, the warmer the room, the faster gas
evolution and oxidation will occur. Also, higher levels of water activity (essentially, the
amount of water available to participate in chemical reactions) hasten staling. In other
words, exposure to humidity will allow coffee to absorb moisture, permitting bad things to
happen. While many a coffee geek suggests light is detrimental to coffee freshness, there
is no evidence to support this in the literature. However, as some wavelengths of light
contain enough energy to break chemical bonds (think UV and some plastics), it is
reasonable to moot that light can play a damaging role.
Researchers working on coffee staling chemistry have identified a number of volatile
compounds that either correlate with negative aromas or with negative aroma experiences.
Unfortunately, there is no agreement on any one compound or even the ratio of two
compounds that guarantees a successful measure of staleness. Part of the challenge is that
the roast profile, roast level, and coffee origin all influence the volatile composition and
thus makes finding definitive staling compound proxies difficult.
Interestingly, very few experiments that test the taste of coffee freshness (without any
chemistry component) seem to exist. Some use untrained panelists (i.e, regular consumers)
as their assessors while others use trained panelists to collect more refined data. As there
are so few studies from which to draw conclusions, there isn’t much of a story to tell.
Moreover, each study had a very unique purpose; generating data to help populate this
section of the book was not one of them. Thus, the next paragraph is going to be a bit
vague.
Average consumers, it seems, have a hard time telling the difference between coffees
that are fresh or just a few weeks old, whether they were stored on the shelf or in the
freezer. In other words, sometimes they can tell a difference and sometimes they cannot.
This suggests that coffees that are less than a month from the roast date are probably
perfectly acceptable to most consumers. On the other hand, with coffee far from the roast
date (nine or eighteen months), a trained panel can easily describe differences between the
coffees. Whether those differences are important (it was descriptive data, not preference
data) was not evaluated. A trained panel also seems to be able to identify coffees that were
stored under different conditions or are of different ages starting around three weeks from
the roast date (there was no statistical analyses in these reports, so it is difficult to be
definitive here).
It is certainly evident that some people can identify the changes in coffee as it ages.
Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer as to what “stale” means in terms of
days after roasting, nor do I think there ever will be one. Since the change in taste depends
on sensory acuity and personal preference, the answer will always lie with the drinker.
HOW DO I KEEP
= MY =
COFFEE FRESH?
YOU JUST PURCHASED A BAG OF COFFEE AND YOU NOTICE THAT JUST A LITTLE BIT ABOVE THE MIDWAY POINT
OF THE BAG THERE IS A SMALL HOLE! IF YOU SQUEEZE THE BAG, YOU HEAR GAS ESCAPE THROUGH THE HOLE
AND, HOPEFULLY, YOU SMELL SOMETHING WONDERFUL. WHY ON EARTH IS THERE A BELLY BUTTON ON THE
BAG? YOU ALREADY KNOW THE SIMPLE ANSWER: TO LET OUT AIR. OF COURSE, IT IS MORE COMPLICATED
THAN THAT. THAT HOLE IS PART OF A BIGGER DISCUSSION OF COFFEE FRESHNESS AND HOW BEST TO STORE
ROASTED COFFEE TO MAINTAIN FRESHNESS.
Presumably, since we know the major factors that cause coffee to stale— gas evolution,
high temperatures, oxidation, and humidity—we ought to able to control them to extend
the shelf life of the coffee. By teasing some of the data available in the myriad of research
on the topic, we can make some general statements that will help. However, without direct
research to support our hypotheses, and the ones of the coffee industry at large, some of
our conclusions will have to be educated guesses.
Let’s address each staling factor individually, starting with gas evolution. Since smaller
coffee pieces allow the release of more gas, keeping the coffee as intact as possible will
help. Thus, grinding coffee ahead of time is a poor practice. Rather, grinding should occur
just prior to brewing. The other potential way to slow down gas evolution (and all
chemical reactions) is to decrease the storage temperature; cooler temperatures slow down
chemical reactions and chemical mobility. Thus, storing coffee in the refrigerator or
freezer will accomplish this. Unfortunately, I can’t find any sensory data that explores
specific taste changes when stored at cooler temperatures.
Coffee geeks abhor the idea, but, at best, they have some personal, anecdotal evidence
to support it. Freezing coffee could run the risk of creating crystals that could shatter cells,
much like grinding. Freezing could also lead to freezer burn, which probably isn’t a flavor
anyone wants to introduce to a coffee. Arguably, the biggest reason not to store coffee in
the freezer is the risk of condensation forming on the beans as the beans come out of the
freezer. This water may then lead to a deterioration of the quality by hastening the natural
staling of coffee when the coffee is out of the freezer or by allowing ice crystals to form
on the coffee if it is returned to the freezer. Refrigeration doesn’t run the risk of crystal
formation, but the condensation is still an issue. Ultimately, individual drinkers will have
to decide this on their own, at least until some new research surfaces.
Preventing or minimizing oxidation reactions is as simple as keeping oxygen away
from the roasted coffee beans. Of course, with the atmospheric concentration of oxygen at
about 21percent, that isn’t so easy. Simply putting just-roasted coffee in an oxygen-
impermeable container and sealing it doesn’t solve the problem since the air trapped in the
container is full of oxygen. Besides, even if coffee were sealed up in a container, the
container would likely explode as a result of the pressure build-up from all the volatile
compounds being released! So, either the air has to be completely sucked out of the
container before it is sealed or all the air must be replaced with a gas that is completely
inert, like nitrogen.
I have no knowledge that any company packages just-roasted coffee and then evacuates
the air before sealing it, though it seems like a worthwhile strategy. Many larger roasters
do flush bags with nitrogen before sealing them. Some research supports this as an
effective means of extending the acceptability of the coffee farther from the roast date than
by using normal air.
Lastly, controlling the amount of water coffee is exposed to is fairly simple. If the
coffee is packed in an oxygen-impermeable container, then the container is also likely to
be water impermeable. After the container in opened, keeping the coffee in an air-tight
container that is waterproof should help minimize exposure to any humidity in the air,
although, if the air was full of moisture when the coffee was sealed or closed in a
container, then the container won’t offer any protection.
So, what’s the story with the bag and its belly button? The bags that have them are
made out of oxygen-impermeable materials. Generally, they prevent many gases from
passing through. Thus, as mentioned before, if freshly roasted coffee is sealed in a bag, it
is liable to explode. The belly button, more formally known as a one-way valve, is a crafty
device that allows gas to exit the bag but prevents any gas from entering. It is a release
valve; the carbon dioxide and other volatile compounds can escape but oxygen cannot
enter.
The one-way valve is a fantastic tool but it has its limitations. For one thing, unless the
air trapped in the bag while sealing it is replaced with something inert, preventing oxygen
from entering is irrelevant; the bag is already full of it (though the valve still prevents the
bag from exploding). Secondly, once the bag is opened by the consumer, any internal
protection is lost and the consumer must repackage the coffee as best as possible.
Ultimately, we aren’t able to prevent the staling process from occurring. At best, it can
be delayed. However, if coffee is drunk within a few weeks of roasting, the need to delay
staling is most likely unnecessary. After all, the freshly roasted coffee will still be pretty
fresh!
HOW IS COFFEE
DECAFFEINATED?
MORE THAN A FEW PEOPLE OUT THERE CAN’T FUNCTION WITHOUT A CUP OF COFFEE A DAY, IF NOT TWO OR
THREE CUPS. MOST COFFEE DRINKERS NOT ONLY RELY ON THE CAFFEINE IN COFFEE BUT THEY RELISH THE
ENERGY AND AWARENESS IT BRINGS. HOWEVER, THERE’S A DEDICATED GROUP OF DRINKERS WHO EITHER
DON’T WANT THE CAFFEINE OR PHYSICALLY CAN’T TOLERATE IT. SO, THEY DRINK COFFEE FROM WHICH THE
CAFFEINE HAS BEEN REMOVED.
As of now, there are no arabica varieties in cultivation with caffeine content that meets
international standards for what constitutes decaffeinated coffee. Thus, all decaf coffee
comes from manually removing it from ordinary coffee. There are four commonly used
solvents for doing this: methylene chloride, ethyl acetate, carbon dioxide, and water.
No matter which solvent is used, the beginning of the process is the same. Green coffee
beans are steamed or soaked in water to make the caffeine more available to the solvents
and to make it easier for the solvents to penetrate the beans. From here, two main
pathways exist: direct solvent extraction or indirect extraction.
In direct extraction, where methylene chloride and ethyl acetate are used, the wet green
beans are treated directly with the solvent for some eight to twelve hours. Then, the
solvent is removed and the beans are steamed (to help drive off any remaining solvent)
and dried before roasting. Unfortunately, these solvents don’t extract just caffeine. Thus,
other compounds, which may be related to quality, may also be extracted. This is one
reason why decaf has a historically bad reputation for quality (the other reason is that low
quality coffees were often used: junk in, junk out).
Carbon dioxide is a terrible solvent for caffeine under normal conditions as the
solubility of caffeine in it is low. This is not surprising, as carbon dioxide is a gas at room
temperature! However, if carbon dioxide is taken to its supercritical state—where it has
liquid and gaslike properties simultaneously—it improves, and if a bit of water is added, it
becomes much better. To take carbon dioxide to its supercritical point requires special
equipment to significantly increase temperature and pressure. The great benefit is that
supercritical carbon dioxide seems to selectively extract caffeine and not much else.
The indirect method allows for water to be the only solvent in direct contact with the
beans. Water can be used to extract the caffeine and other compounds and then the water
solution is treated with a solvent or passed through a filter to remove the caffeine, pulling
it away from the beans. The other compounds can then be returned to the coffee beans
before drying them down.
When water is the only solvent used, a clever trick is employed to prevent compounds
other than caffeine from being removed. The process begins with soaking the wet green
beans with water and then removing the caffeine from the solution, as in the indirect
method. Then, the beans are discarded! The solution, sans caffeine but with the other stuff,
is then the solvent used to extract the caffeine from the next batch of coffee. Doing it this
way means very little noncaffeine material is extracted by the solvent. Now, nothing has to
be returned to the coffee and it is believed that the end result tastes better.
There will always be a place for decaf coffee, as there will always be someone who
loves the taste of the coffee at all hours of the day but doesn’t want to deal with the
physiological effects of the caffeine. Modern decaffeinated coffees can have excellent
quality. Like all technology, the methods for removing caffeine are continuously
improving. Thus, expect the quality to improve even more.
“I was taken by the power that savoring a simple cup of coffee can
have to connect people and create community.”
HOWARD SCHULTZ
WILL A DARK ROAST
= KEEP ME =
UP AT NIGHT?
IT IS HARD TO NOT LOVE COFFEE FOR ITS CAFFEINE CONTENT. SURE, IT TASTES GREAT, BUT LIFE SEEMS SO
MUCH MORE DELIGHTFUL WITH AN EXTRA LIFT IN YOUR STEP! YET, SOMETIMES, YOU WANT THE CAFFEINE
BUT MAYBE A LITTLE BIT LESS THAN USUAL. SO, DECAF IS OUT OF THE QUESTION. IS THE SOLUTION TO DRINK
A DARKER ROASTED COFFEE? DO DARKER ROASTS HAVE LESS CAFFEINE?
The answer, unfortunately, is not clear. The available data are all over the place. Some
research shows that the concentration of caffeine increases with darker roasts while other
research shows that it decreases. Some research even shows no changes at all! What are
we to make of all this—how can we see completely opposite patterns with something that
seems so cut and dry? If we consider what we know about roasting and add to it some
details of how caffeine behaves in the universe, we might be able to guess at the answers.
As coffee is roasted longer and darker, it loses mass: gaseous molecules are created
during roasting and they leave the bean. Longer roast times produce more gases, which
mean lower weights. Some molecules in the beans, however, don’t change at all during
roasting. Consequently, as roast levels darken, these static compounds increase in
concentration. We can demonstrate this with an example using mythical compound q.
Let’s say the concentration of q in the unroasted bean was 5 parts q to 100 parts bean. In a
light roast, some of the bean vaporizes leaving only 85 parts bean but q stays the same. So,
now the concentration is 5 q/85 bean. If the roast darkens a lot, the bean may only have 75
parts left, making q much more concentrated merely because it could tolerate the heat!
This behavior would certainly help explain how the concentration of caffeine increases
in darker roasts. Its actual content remains constant while lots of stuff around it is leaving.
If this were always the case, then we’d always see an increase in caffeine concentration
with darker roasts. But, that’s not what we find.
Caffeine seems to be a fairly stable molecule in coffee. In other words, it doesn’t seem
to combine or interact with other molecules, though there isn’t any research exploring
whether this is true or not. However, it does have a quirky trait whereby it tends to not
obey the typical transition steps between phase changes. So, instead of changing from a
solid to a liquid to a gas, it often skips the liquid phase and turns directly into a gas, a
process called sublimation. Sublimation for caffeine can begin at 178°C (352°F). While it
is very difficult to measure the actual internal bean temperature during roasting, it is
simple to measure the temperature of the mass of beans, which is probably near the
temperature inside a bean. As most roasts easily exceed bean mass temperatures of 215°C
(419°F) and can go as high as 235°C (455°F), it is perfectly reasonable to suspect that
some caffeine in the bean sublimates and drifts away from the bean.
If this happens, then it explains the caffeine decrease as roasts become darker. In fact,
some research does indeed show that total caffeine content decreases with darker roasts.
What about the data that demonstrated no change in caffeine concentration in either
direction? Well, it is possible that both of those phenomena occurred simultaneously at
just the right levels as to maintain a constant caffeine concentration. I don’t think it is that
straightforward, though. There are several reports where beans were processed differently
or were of different quality grades and their caffeine contents were different. This suggests
that some kind of interaction between caffeine and biological and/or chemical processes
exists. The effect of this interaction may be the unpredictability of how caffeine behaves
during the roasting process.
At the end of the day, all this discussion of how the caffeine concentration is changing
is probably moot. In all cases, the changes in concentration are pretty small, amounting to
0.1 percent or less of a difference from the lightest to the darkest roast. Thus, in a
practical, real-world sense, on a per-cup basis, the amount of caffeine in a cup produced
from a very light roast compared to that of a cup produced from a very dark roast is pretty
small. It is so small, in fact, that a person who drinks a cup of coffee a day would probably
experience no physiological difference between the two cups based upon their caffeine
content!
Did you know?

Although Hawaii is the only U.S. state that produces significant amounts of
coffee, there is a small farm in California that grows some coffee.
WHAT’S THE DEAL
WITH ACRYLAMIDE?
AS WE KNOW, THE MAILLARD REACTION IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PRODUCTION OF A VAST ARRAY OF
MOLECULES. ONE OF THEM, ACRYLAMIDE, A PRODUCT FROM THE REACTION OF THE AMINO ACID ASPARAGINE
AND SUGARS, HAS RECEIVED AN AWFUL LOT OF ATTENTION SINCE 2002. WHILE HARMLESS IN THE
ENVIRONMENT, SOME STUDIES HAVE SHOWN IT TO CAUSE CANCER IN RATS AND, IN SITUATIONS WITH HIGH
ENOUGH EXPOSURE (TYPICALLY FROM AN OCCUPATIONAL SCENARIO), TO BE A NEUROTOXIN TO HUMANS.
MANY OTHER STUDIES HAVE SHOWN IT TO BE PREVALENT IN A BUNCH OF FOOD PRODUCTS THAT WE COOK
AND EAT QUITE REGULARLY, LIKE BREAD, POTATOES (ESPECIALLY FRIED ONES), AND OF COURSE, COFFEE.
ONCE ESTABLISHED THAT ACRYLAMIDE WAS PRESENT IN SOME COMMONLY CONSUMED FOODS, WORRY
SPREAD QUICKLY ON A GLOBAL SCALE. WHILE THE MEDIA DOESN’T FOCUS ON IT AS MUCH AS IT ONCE DID,
RESEARCHERS AND COMPANIES ARE STILL TRYING TO FIGURE OUT IF IT IS REALLY A PROBLEM AND, JUST IN
CASE IT IS, HOW TO DEAL WITH IT. AFTER ALL, NOBODY WANTS TO GIVE UP POTATO CHIPS AND COFFEE!
Lighter roasted coffees have the highest amount of acrylamide, potentially halving almost seven times as much as dark
roasted coffees.
Acrylamide occurs in pretty small concentrations in foods; it is usually measured in parts

per billion. In roasted coffee, an average amount is 253 ppb. In a coffee beverage, the
concentration is higher. In espresso, for example, the concentration can average around 40
parts per million. In nonpressurized brewing methods (like a full immersion or drip
coffee), the average is about one-quarter of that. Acrylamide is very soluble in water (2.04
kg/L [20.44 lbs/gal]) and all of it can be extracted from the coffee grounds if enough water
or contact time is available.
Due to its higher asparagine content, roasted C. canephora can have almost twice as
much acrylamide as C. arabica. Other differences in concentration occur due to roast level
and storage time. While formation of acrylamide requires a certain amount of heat, too
much will destroy it. Thus, lighter roasted coffees have the highest amount of acrylamide,
potentially having almost seven times as much as dark roasted coffees. It also appears that
the longer roasted coffee is stored, the less acrylamide can be extracted into the brew.
Whether it decomposes or irreversibly binds to the coffee matrix is not known.
Unfortunately, it is not clear whether acrylamide is carcinogenic to humans. Most
epidemiological research suggests that it is not, but a small handful suggests otherwise.
Therefore, coming up with a clear risk assessment has proven difficult. Various food
industry groups have developed strategies to help reduce the content of acrylamide in their
products, but aside from sticking to arabica coffee and dark roasts, the coffee industry has
been unable to develop any technology or technique to reduce the acrylamide content
without impinging on the quality of the coffee.
Although coffee can supply a significant proportion of the dietary acrylamide
consumption (5.5 percent to 39 percent), the fear of coffee being carcinogenic is
practically nonexistent. A great deal of research has attempted to link coffee consumption
and cancer, but no connections have yet been made across a wide variety of cancer types.
If coffee cannot be linked to cancer, then acrylamide consumption from coffee cannot be
threatening. Unfortunately, we cannot know whether acrylamide itself simply isn’t
harmful to us, or whether coffee contains other compounds that protect us from the
dangers of acrylamide. In either case, it seems we don’t have much to worry about while
drinking our morning brew.
IS THERE MORE TO KNOW
= IF I’M A =
HOME ROASTER
ROASTING ISN’T ROCKET SCIENCE. IT IS MUCH, MUCH EASIER. IN FACT, IT IS SO EASY THAT ANYONE CAN DO IT,
EVEN AT HOME. WHILE HOME ROASTING IS VERY SIMILAR TO WHAT TRANSPIRES IN A COMMERCIAL
ROASTERY, THERE ARE A FEW EXTRA TIDBITS THAT MAY BE HANDY TO KNOW IF YOU INTEND TO TAKE YOUR
COFFEE HABIT TO THE NEXT LEVEL. BOTH INVOLVE THE TWO ESSENTIAL ITEMS YOU NEED TO MAKE IT
HAPPEN: GREEN COFFEE AND A ROASTER.
Acquiring green coffee is pretty easy these days. If you were to walk into a roastery and
ask them to sell you small amounts of green coffee, they most likely would do so. There
are also a number of different online retailers that will sell you green coffee for home
roasting.
What really matters with green coffee is storage. While it can be a stable product, with
the ability to last relatively unchanged for well over a year after harvesting, it must be
stored properly. Basically, this means green coffee must be kept dry and at a cozy
temperature. If the humidity is high, the coffee will absorb moisture. If it absorbs enough
moisture, microorganisms may start chomping on it and growing, running the risk of
ruining the coffee. Higher moisture contents may also facilitate natural degradation of the
green bean, as will storing the coffee at temperatures that are too warm.
When green coffee doesn’t age well and it isn’t caused by mold, it develops a flavor
known in the industry as “baggy”. It got this name because for most of recent coffee
history, green coffee has been stored in jute bags and the baggy flavor tends to be
woody/cardboard/grassy, not so unlike the way we imagine jute might taste.
Fortunately, storing small amounts of green coffee properly in your home is simple. If
the climate in your home is controlled throughout the year to make you comfortable (i.e.,
you use air conditioning and heating), then the coffee will likely stay fresh for many
months, even for more than a year, assuming you don’t store it, say, next to the shower. If
the conditions aren’t that controlled, then merely keeping the coffee in airtight containers
(plastic, glass, or metal) will also do the trick. There’s also anecdotal evidence that storing
coffee in the freezer is an excellent way of preserving it with no known side effects (while
crystal formation doesn’t seem to be a problem, the same risks that apply to storing
roasted coffee in the freezer would apply to green coffee, as well).
Once you’ve got the green bean storage situation figured out, all you need is something
with which to roast them! As a home roaster, you will be constrained by the tools
available, thus, don’t expect to be manipulating the roast profile too much; home roasting
machines aren’t as sophisticated as commercial machines. This isn’t to say you can’t
create an excellent coffee at home, just that you may not get to explore the finer points of
roasting too much.
You can roast coffee with pretty much any tool you have that will transfer heat to the
coffee. Most people start roasting coffee at home the way it is typically done in Ethiopia—
on a skillet or other heated pan. This works, but roasting the beans evenly is very tricky,
even with constant stirring. Other people start with hot air popcorn poppers. They hold
only a small amount of coffee but hot air is a very efficient way of transferring heat to
coffee. Commercial air roasters do exist, but they are much less popular than drum
roasters, which are just large, metal cylinders that are heated externally and transfer the
heat through the drum.
If home roasting becomes a bigger part of your life, you can purchase an actual home
roaster. There are several different types available, each with its own pros and cons. Both
air and drum roasters are manufactured. Of course, if you like to work with your hands,
you can always just build your own home roaster!
PART THREE
THE BREW

DOES COFFEE HAVE
ANYTHING TO DO WITH
CHEMISTRY
WE OFTEN THINK CHEMISTRY IS MADE UP OF EXPLOSIONS AND COLOR CHANGING LIQUIDS AND THOSE
INCREDIBLY HARD TO PRONOUNCE CHEMICAL NAMES FOUND ON FOOD INGREDIENT LABELS. WELL,
CHEMISTRY IS ALL THOSE THINGS AND SO MUCH MORE. CHEMISTRY IS ABOUT THE INTERACTIONS OF ATOMS
AND MOLECULES, WHICH MEANS IT HAS TO DO WITH A GOOD DEAL OF THINGS WE SEE AND TOUCH AND EAT
EVERY DAY. CHEMISTRY HAPPENS ALL AROUND US ALL THE TIME. MAKING COFFEE IS CHEMISTRY.
The basic brewing parameters are all just basic chemistry. If we can master a few of those,
then making coffee loses its reputation of being like rocket science and it just becomes
making coffee. Coffee brewing is nothing more than the simple extraction of solutes
(coffee solids) with a solvent (water) from a matrix (coffee grounds) to produce a solution
(coffee beverage). Any parameter that influences the extraction is something we need to
know about: energy (temperature), water quality, surface area, contact time, agitation,
pressure, brew ratio, filter type, and container type.
By manipulating all of these parameters and balancing their effects relative to each
other, we’re able to make an array of different coffee brewers, each producing a slightly
different brew.
In the next nine sections, we will explore each of these parameters to understand the
underlying chemistry and physics that explain how each parameter functions. We’ll also
draw upon the scientific literature to find out how changing each parameter might change
the taste of a cup of coffee. In the end, this knowledge won’t help us design the perfect
coffee brewer. Rather, it will help us understand how brewing works, so that we can
effectively brew yummy coffee with whatever tools we’re given.
BREWING PARAMETER
ENERGY
(TEMPERATURE)
NOTHING REALLY HAPPENS IN THE UNIVERSE WITHOUT ENERGY. IF YOU CAN TAKE ENOUGH OF IT AWAY,
EVERYTHING STOPS. WATCH AN ATOM AT A TEMPERATURE OF ABSOLUTE ZERO KELVIN (-459.67°F/-273.15°C)
AND IT WILL BE COMPLETELY STILL (OR SO THE THEORY GOES). ADD ENERGY BACK TO THAT ATOM AND IT
BEGINS TO VIBRATE. AS MORE AND MORE ENERGY IS APPLIED, IT MOVES AROUND MORE. HENCE, A SOLID
TURNS INTO A LIQUID (MELTS) BEFORE TURNING INTO A GAS (EVAPORATES). A CONSEQUENCE OF THE ENERGY
IS THAT THE VIBRATION CAN TURN INTO ACTUAL MOVEMENT.
“Once you wake up and smell the coffee, it’s hard to go back to
sleep.”
FRAN DRESCHER
One very common form of energy we’re familiar with is heat (light and sound are other
familiar forms). The hotter an object is, the more energy it has. Thus, the hotter it is, the
more vibration or movement its atoms or molecules have. Another thing about heat is that
it transfers energy from molecules that have an excess of it to molecules that have less of
it.
This applies to coffee brewing in two ways. First, the heat contained in the brewing
water has a big influence on the extraction. Hotter water with its higher energy and
dancing molecules can extract more coffee solids, faster, than colder water because the
energy facilitates molecular movement (coffee solids) into the water. Not only does it
happen faster, but more molecules will move into the water (hot things can dissolve more
molecules than cold things; this is why we heat water to make simple syrup). Second, heat
from the water transfers to the grounds, filter, container, and air around it, resulting in
brewing water that is instantly colder than was intended and a final brew that is colder
than the water that went into it.
The temperature of the water used to brew coffee, then, is very important to the
molecular content of the brew and our organoleptic experience of it. If the temperature is
low, the coffee can taste thin (low body/viscosity), flat, and have a low flavor intensity. As
the temperature increases, the bitterness, acidity, astringency, roastiness, acridness, body,
and flavor intensities increase. The question remains, what is the temperature where all
these flavors balance in such a way that we think they all taste good?
Ultimately, that decision is made by the drinker. However, we have an idea of what
most people like, all things being equal. The brew temperature should be 90–96°C (194–
205°F). While this can be somewhat pieced together using articles in the scientific
literature, we know this because back in the 1950s, Dr. Earl E. Lockhart did an enormous
amount of research to figure out just what temperature of water brewed up coffee that
most people liked.
Ultimately, the temperature ideal for brewing coffee is up to the drinker, but more than a half century of research has
determined that most people prefer coffee that’s been brewed between 194–205°F (90–96°C).
BREWING PARAMETER
WATER QUALITY
EXTRACTION OCCURS BECAUSE THE SOLUTES CREATE A MORE ENERGETICALLY STABLE SITUATION IN THE
SOLVENT, RATHER THAN IN THE MATRIX. IN ADDITION, OTHER CONDITIONS CAN INFLUENCE THE EXTRACTION
(LIKE TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE). THE ENERGETICALLY STABLE SITUATION IS DEPENDENT ON THE
COMPOSITION OF THE SOLVENT ITSELF, IMPURITIES IN THE SOLVENT, AND THE AMOUNT OF SOLUTE ALREADY
IN THE SOLVENT.
In other words, not every solvent is going to extract every solute because they are
chemically different. Think oil and water. It is very hard to extract oil from a matrix if
you’re using pure water. A concentration gradient is also required so that the solute in the
matrix will diffuse to the solution. A concentration gradient exists if in one location there
is a high concentration of a particle and in a nearby location there is a lower concentration
of the particle. Particles tend to move down the gradient, from high to low concentration,
until the gradient ceases to exist and the concentration is the same everywhere (the
particles never actually stop moving in any direction, rather, they just fill up the space
they’re in and are spread across it evenly). Thus, if the solvent is already saturated with
solute, additional solute will not be removed from the matrix.
Characteristic Target Acceptable Range
Odor Clean/Fresh, Odor free
Color Clear color
Total chlorine O mg/L
TDS 150 mg/L 75–250 mg/L
Calcium hardness 4 grains or 68 mg/L 1–5 grains or 17 mg/L–85 mg/L
Total alkalinity 40 mg/L at or near 40 mg/L
pH 7.0 6.5–7.5
Sodium 10 mg/L at or near 10 mg/L
The coffee matrix is very complex and the molecules we hope to extract come in all
sorts of shapes, sizes, and electrical charge densities. Water is a great solvent (especially
hot water) because it has the capacity to hold on to (dissolve) all kinds of molecules. Pure
water (completely distilled, with nothing else dissolved in it) will extract coffee solids
differently than water with impurities (ions, metals, other molecules—basically things that
make water hard, soft, or distasteful). This is because the impurities influence the
concentration gradients or alter the electrical conductivity of the water. In short, not all
water is equal!
The first rule of thumb about using water for your coffee is that if it tastes good as plain
water, it might be good for coffee. Unfortunately, that isn’t always a guarantee. If you
think water is a problem for you, procure filtered water or get a filter system that
moderates the contents of the water. You can always check with your municipality’s water
provider for a report on the quality. This chart, supplied by the Specialty Coffee
Association of America, is a recommended guide to water quality for brewing coffee.
Recent research suggests an additional recommendation: brewing water should have 1 part
bicarbonate (HCO3) to 1—2 parts double-charged cations (Ca2+ and Mg2+).
“We want to do a lot of stuff; we’re not in great shape. We didn’t get
a good night’s sleep. We’re a little depressed. Coffee solves all these
problems in one delightful little cup.”
JERRY SEINFELD
BREWING PARAMETER
SURFACE AREA
“If during their efforts coffee tasters find something in the taste that
resists being said, that perhaps even resists being organized into
their discourse, that is where they focus their attention.”
KENNETH LIBERMAN
IMAGINE YOU HAD A WEDDING CAKE IN FRONT OF YOU AND YOU WANTED TO HAVE A BITE FROM THE VERY
MIDDLE AND YOU COULD ONLY USE A FORK TO GET TO IT. NOW, IMAGINE THE CAKE WAS SLICED AND
SEPARATED AND YOU WANTED TO HAVE A BITE FROM THE VERY CENTER OF EACH SLICE, USING ONLY A FORK.
WHICH ONE WOULD BE EASIER TO ACCOMPLISH? EATING A BIT OF EACH INDIVIDUAL SLICE! THE REASON IS
THAT THE AMOUNT OF SURFACE AREA RELATIVE TO THE VOLUME OF EACH INDIVIDUAL PIECE IS MUCH
LARGER THAN THE SURFACE AREA RELATIVE TO THE VOLUME OF THE WHOLE CAKE. THUS, THERE IS LESS
DISTANCE REQUIRED TO GET FROM ANY POINT ON THE OUTSIDE OF A SLICE TO ITS CENTER THAN THERE IS
WITH THE ENTIRE CAKE.
The same is true with a particle of coffee. A whole bean of coffee has much smaller
surface area-to-volume ratio than a ground-up bean. Thus, getting to the middle of an
individual unit is easier with ground coffee. Now, exchange water for the fork in our
example and the importance of grinding becomes apparent. In short, the smaller the
particle size, the higher the number of solutes that will be extracted from the matrix.
If the main goal of brewing coffee is to achieve a high-quality cup, then any person
brewing should strive for a uniform extraction of solutes from the grounds. To do this,
each coffee unit should have the same surface area to volume ratio, that is, they should be
the same size. If they aren’t, the bigger pieces will release fewer solutes than the smaller
pieces. The pieces should be the same shape, too. Pieces of various shapes will interact
with the water molecules differently, causing each unit to release inconsistent amounts of
solutes during extraction.
Determining the correct grind size for brewing is not simple. The grind size interacts
with other variables we’re exploring here and, ultimately, all the parameters must be
balanced to create the desired beverage. All other things being equal, the grind size does
play its own role in the taste of the final beverage. In general, finer grinds can produce less
acidity (though some will suggest increased sourness), more bitterness, and more body
than coarser grinds.
For the best brew possible, your grounds should be as uniformly sized and shaped as possible. It will mean more
consistency in how each piece interacts with the water molecules.
BREWING PARAMETER
AGITATION
MOST PEOPLE RECOGNIZE THAT IF YOU ARE TRYING TO DISSOLVE SALT INTO A LIQUID, IT OCCURS MUCH
MORE QUICKLY IF YOU STIR IT. THE SAME IS TRUE FOR EXTRACTING SOLIDS FROM A MATRIX. AGITATION
MOVES THINGS ALONG. THIS IS TRUE BECAUSE AGITATION CREATES OPPORTUNITIES FOR MOLECULES TO
BECOME BUDDIES.
Dissolution and extraction work because the solute molecules are attracted to the solvent
molecules. The solute molecules then leave their place of origin to go hang out somewhere
in the solvent. Think of a grain of salt, which is composed of many molecules of salt, as
being a group of men in a room waiting to enter a dance hall. They aren’t allowed to go
into the dance hall until a dance partner (a solvent molecule) comes to get them. If the
dance partners walk up to the room to get a man, the room will empty at a certain rate. If
the dance partners run to the room to grab a man, then the room will empty out at a faster
rate. Thus, anything that speeds up the movement of the dance partners will speed up
clearing out the room.
As discussed in the energy section, increasing the amount of energy in a molecule
speeds up its movement. Thus, increasing the temperature of a solvent increases the rate of
dissolution or extraction. Alternatively, manually agitating the entire system will also
speed up the movement of the solvent and hasten the dissolution or extraction. Simply,
agitation increases the number of encounters between the solute and the solvent.
When brewing coffee, this principle is manipulated least amongst all other parameters.
Rarely do brewers intentionally agitate a brewing system to speed things up. That said,
most brew methods have a certain amount of agitation in them. For example, when water
is dropped on a bed of coffee grounds, it trickles down through the grounds because of
gravity. So, while the person brewing isn’t actively speeding up the brewing time by
agitating the system, there is agitation occurring.
BREWING PARAMETER
PRESSURE
EVERYTHING BEHAVES DIFFERENTLY UNDER PRESSURE, EVEN PEOPLE. WHEN IT COMES TO EXTRACTION,
INCREASING THE PRESSURE NOT ONLY SPEEDS THINGS UP, BUT IT TENDS TO EXTRACT MORE SOLUTES THAN
WOULD OTHERWISE BE REMOVED WITHOUT THE PRESSURE. INTERESTINGLY, GASES IN PARTICULAR, BEHAVE
VERY DIFFERENTLY.
Imagine a small group of kids hanging out in a hallway. If a few other kids come walking
down the hallway, some bumping into each other may occur but, generally, the stationary
kids aren’t going to be touched and they aren’t going to go anywhere. If a large group of
kids comes pouring down the hallway, nearly everybody is going to be bumped and some
of them will get dragged down the hall with the flow. In this analogy, the kids just milling
about are solutes and the other group coming down the hall is the solvent. In the first case,
the solvent is not under pressure and in the second case it is. In the high-pressure scenario,
the force of the solvent is so high that it is going to extract solutes faster and it is likely to
snag solutes that wouldn’t likely be dislodged.
When gas is under pressure, it becomes much more soluble in liquid. So, for a given
volume of liquid, you can put more gas into it when it is pressurized. Of course, when the
pressure is released, the gas leaves the liquid. This is what happens with carbonated
beverages. They are saturated with gas and sealed under pressure. When the container is
opened, the gas leaves the liquid as bubbles, creating the carbonation that we so enjoy.
The most familiar coffee brew method that uses elevated pressure is espresso. The
pressurized water (approximately nine times the pressure of air at sea level) is forced
through a bed of coffee, yanking out a greater amount of solutes than would emerge
without the pressure. The water also picks up a great deal of gas from the coffee. When
the brew leaves the bed of coffee, the gas is released. However, whereas with carbonated
beverages the gas escapes to the air, oils extracted from the coffee capture the gas, creating
bubbles. We call these bubbles “crema!”
Did you know?

Milk curdles in coffee because the coffee’s pH is low enough to denature and
precipitate the proteins in the milk.
An espresso machine is the most common example of a brewing method that uses elevated pressure. The water it’s
forcing through the grounds is approximately nine times the pressure of air at sea level.
BREWING PARAMETER
BREW RATIO
THE SECRET TO STRONG COFFEE IS NOT TO ROAST IT DARKER, IT IS JUST ADDING MORE COFFEE! PERHAPS THE
EASIEST OF BREWING PARAMETERS TO UNDERSTAND IS THE BREW RATIO, THAT IS, THE RATIO OF WATER TO
COFFEE USED TO BREW THE BEVERAGE.
Did you know?

According to legend, coffee was discovered by a goat herder named Khaldi.
Simply, if there is more matrix to extract from, then the solvent is likely to extract a larger
number of solutes. Most people understand this implicitly: if the ratio is lower (less water,
more coffee), the coffee is stronger, whereas higher ratios (more water, less coffee)
produce brews that are weaker.
Like all aspects of coffee quality, there is no one true brew ratio. If we return to Dr.
Lockhart’s work, he found that most people preferred a water to coffee ratio of about 18:1.
However, that means people also had preferences with higher and lower ratios. Generally,
when decreasing the ratio, the taste of the resultant brew becomes increasingly
burnt/smoky, more fruity/citrus, more acid, more salty, more astringent, and its body
(viscosity) increases. In other words, most flavors become more intense.
MIT chemistry professor E.E. Lockhart studied coffee preferences in the 1950s and determined that most people
preferred a water-to-coffee ratio of about 18:1. In other words, weigh your water, divide by 18, and use that much
ground coffee when you brew.
BREWING PARAMETER
CONTACT TIME
ANOTHER BREWING PRINCIPLE THAT IS EASY TO UNDERSTAND IS CONTACT TIME, THAT IS, THE AMOUNT OF
TIME THE SOLVENT AND MATRIX ARE IN CONTACT WITH EACH OTHER. MORE CONTACT TIME PRODUCES
GREATER EXTRACTION OF SOLUTES. THIS HAPPENS BECAUSE THE SOLVENT MOLECULES CAN EITHER
INTERACT WITH MORE SITES ON THE MATRIX OR SOLVENT MOLECULES THAT OTHERWISE WOULD NOT
INTERACT WITH THE MATRIX ARE MORE LIKELY TO FINALLY DO SO. THERE IS A POINT OF DIMINISHING
RETURNS WHERE NO ADDITIONAL CONTACT TIME WILL PRODUCE ADDITIONAL EXTRACTION; AT SOME POINT,
EVERYTHING THAT CAN BE EXTRACTED WILL BE EXTRACTED AND NO EXTRA TIME WILL CHANGE THAT.
If you hold all the other parameters constant and just adjust the contact time, the taste of
the beverage will change. With longer contact times, intensity of body, coffee flavor,
bitterness, and sourness all increase. With contact times that are too short, many
organoleptic traits have very low intensities, not always dissimilar from brewing a coffee
with a large water-to-coffee ratio.
BREWING PARAMETER
FILTER TYPE
IN MOST MODERN COFFEE SOCIETIES, IT IS STANDARD PRACTICE TO FILTER THE COFFEE GROUNDS FROM THE
LIQUID. AFTER ALL, WHO WANTS A MOUTH FULL OF WET GROUNDS WHEN TRYING TO DRINK COFFEE? FILTERS
CAN BE MADE FROM ALL SORTS OF MATERIALS—METAL, PAPER, NYLON, OR COTTON, JUST TO NAME A FEW.
WHILE THE FILTER TYPE DOESN’T INFLUENCE THE EXTRACTION OF THE MATRIX, IT DOES HAVE THE
POTENTIAL TO INFLUENCE THE TASTE OF THE BEVERAGE.
Filter types are typically dividend into two groups: metal and nonmetal. The reason for
this is that metal filters are just screens with tiny holes in them, whether they are gold or
stainless steel filters used in gravity-fed brewers, mesh filters used in full immersion
devices (e.g., a press pot), or portafilters used in espresso machines. Therefore, anything
small enough to fit through the hole, be it a very small coffee particle or a solute, will fit
through the hole. Consequently, coffees brewed with metal filters always have some
amount of fine particulate and solutes, whereas those brewed with nonmetal filters
typically don’t. We know that metal filters permit more oils through to the brew than
nonmetal filters (other molecular types have not been much explored). These coffees have
more intense bodies and somewhat different flavors than those made with nonmetal filters.
Metal filters typically do not impart a metallic taste on the brew, as they are often made of
inert metals.
Nonmetal filters, whether they are made of paper, cloth, or nylon, better capture all the
fine particles as well as some percentage of solutes, particularly oils. This might happen
because they simply act as a physical barrier that cannot be traversed or it might be that
they attract solutes in the brew. Coffees brewed from these filters tend to have lower
bodies and flavors that are more poignant or clear, since some confounding molecules
have been removed. A trait of some nonmetal filters is that they, too, can be matrices to be
extracted. Depending on the filter type, the resulting brew can take on a paper or cloth
taste.
Did you know?

Coffee drinkers have a lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s
disease, and type 2 diabetes than non-coffee drinkers.
BREWING PARAMETER
CONTAINER TYPE
THE FINAL BREWING PARAMETER IS A BIT LIKE FILTER TYPES; IT DOESN’T INFLUENCE THE EXTRACTION
PROCESS BUT IT CAN INFLUENCE THE FINAL TASTE. THIS PARAMETER IS THE CONTAINER TYPE THE BREW IS
MADE OR STORED IN. IN A PERFECT WORLD, EVERY CONTAINER THAT COMES IN CONTACT WITH THE COFFEE
DURING THE BREWING PROCESS OR AFTERWARDS WOULD BE INERT. IN OTHER WORDS, THE CONTAINER
ITSELF WOULDN’T SERVE AS A MATRIX TO BE EXTRACTED. UNFORTUNATELY, THAT ISN’T THE CASE. SOME
CONTAINERS CAN IMPART A PLASTIC, METALLIC, OR PAPER TASTE TO THE BREW.
Did you know?

Of the 124 species in the genus Coffea, only two are grown commercially, Coffea
arabica and Coffea canephora.
A container made of nonporous heat-resistant glass is likely to have little or no effect on your brew. The hourglass-
shaped Chemex Coffeemaker, invented in 1941, is a prominent example.
BREWING CHEMISTRY
BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER
There is no one perfect coffee brewer. The idea is to find one contraption that takes into account all of the sweet
spots of each of these brewing parameters and ensures the rules are followed.
COFFEE BREWING IS NOTHING MORE THAN BRINGING THE VARIOUS BREWING PARAMETERS TOGETHER IN
HARMONY TO PRODUCE A BEVERAGE THAT IS PLEASING TO DRINK. THE REAL BEAUTY IS THAT NONE OF THEM
ARE INDEPENDENT OF EACH OTHER, AS CHANGING ONE MAY NECESSITATE CHANGING ANOTHER.
For example, if we want a longer contact time, we need to increase the grind size and
reduce agitation or increase the brew ratio and increase agitation. If we don’t, then too
many solutes will be extracted. Alternatively, if we add pressure, then contact time and
grind size will need to be adjusted down. By manipulating each parameter just a little, we
can have a slightly different resultant brew. This interaction of all the brewing parameters
is what allows us to devise so many different ways of brewing coffee.
So, what makes for a great coffee brewer? The easy answer is to say one that takes into
account all the sweet spots of the brewing parameters and ensures everything follows the
rules. However, just because some contraption can create a fantastic cup of coffee, doesn’t
necessarily mean it’s a great brewer. As any user will tell you, price, ease of use, ease of
cleaning, and any number of other factors play a role in the utility of a tool. There are
many great coffee brewers that produce fantastic coffee, each one creating a novel
representation of the beans that are used. Such diversity, as always, should be celebrated.
Perhaps it just means that we ought to have more than one coffee brewer on the kitchen
counter!
Did you know?

Coffee drinking has a positive effect on liver function while reducing the risks of
chronic liver disease and cirrhosis.
HOW DO I KNOW
= I GOT IT =
RIGHT?
IT IS ONE THING TO UNDERSTAND ALL THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES TO BREWING COFFEE AND HAVE THE
RIGHT BREWER TO EXECUTE THEM, BUT IT IS QUITE ANOTHER TO KNOW IF YOU ACTUALLY BREWED A DECENT
CUP! THE SIMPLEST WAY TO FIGURE THIS OUT, OF COURSE, IS TO TASTE THE COFFEE. AFTER ALL, THE TASTER
IS THE ARBITER OF QUALITY. ANYONE WITH A LOVE OF SCIENCE, HOWEVER, REALLY WANTS TO PUT SOME
NUMBERS TO IT. SO, HOW DO WE QUANTIFY A CORRECT BREW?
The truth is, there is no good way to do this. Taste is the best way to decide and, not only
does everyone have a different opinion about what good taste is, but the chemistry of
coffee taste is still in its infancy. We don’t even know what to quantify!
That said, it isn’t like we haven’t come up with some proxies to help guide us. After all,
if all we’ve done is a simple chemical extraction, then there ought to be measures of how
successful that extraction was. There are two ways to approach this problem. One is to
find what percent of solutes were removed from the coffee beans. The other is to measure
what percentage of the coffee brew is composed of solutes from coffee beans and not
made up of water. Then, all we need to know to make it work is what defines success.
Thanks to Dr. Lockhart, we have this information!
Lockhart determined that of the original mass of coffee used for brewing, most people
preferred the brews when the extraction yield—the amount of coffee removed from the
grounds—was between 18 and 22 percent. So, if we just measure that, will we have a
good idea of whether the coffee will taste good? Yes! In practice, though, it is neither very
quick nor practical, so for most people, it is merely a fun idea to think about. The problem
is that you can’t simply weigh the coffee before you brew, weigh it right after, then divide
the former by the latter and subtract it from one. This is because the coffee grounds absorb
a substantial amount of water and the added weight throws off the calculation. Instead,
you must first slowly dry the coffee grounds in an oven (for about twenty-four hours).
Then you can weigh them and add the value into your equation. So, it is doable, but not
terribly practical.
Measuring the amount of solutes in the brew is also tricky. To perfectly measure the
total dissolved solids (TDS) in the brew, you would have to follow a similar procedure:
weigh the total amount of brew, evaporate off the water, and then weigh the solids that are
left behind. After some quick number crunching, you could see if your coffee fell into
Lockhart’s range of 1.15 percent to 1.35 percent.
Did you know?
Coffee is not the second most valuable or traded commodity behind petroleum,
by any metric.
Fortunately, there are two quick ways to estimate the TDS in water/coffee. All that is
required is the right instrument and the correct calibration. Of course, you probably don’t
have a conductivity meter or a refractometer at home, but it doesn’t mean they wouldn’t
work if you did have one! Actually, some of these kits aren’t too expensive and there are
some made specifically for coffee. So, if you’re really keen on having such a toy, they are
pretty easy to find.
Pure water conducts a very tiny amount of electricity. However, water that contains
ions can conduct electricity quite well (standing in a puddle + lightning = bad). Ions are
electrically charged particles that naturally occur. For example, table salt (sodium chloride,
NaCl), when dissolved in water, dissociates into its ion components: Na+ and Cl−.
Because of their electrical charges, electricity can pass through them readily. The greater
the ion concentration is in the water, the greater the electrical conductivity will be. Thus,
by measuring the conductivity of the water, you can get a sense of how many ions are in it.
Note, if nonionic species exist in the water, they won’t register electrically.
This works for coffee, of course. However, like with any such measurement, you need
to have a calibration curve to translate the value for electrical conductivity into TDS. I, for
one, don’t derive any meaning from a conductivity of 2 mS/cm! Doing this is fairly
simple; you just have to plot a graph where the x-axis is conductivity and the y-axis is
TDS. You create this graph by measuring the conductivity of several solutions (or brews)
that are known to have different TDS (say, by making several cups of weaker and stronger
coffee). Hold these values on the x-axis. Then, dry down the brews as described above and
once the TDS is known, use the x-axis values to plot against these y-axis points. With
three to five points, you’ll have a curve (which is actually straight for a good portion of
the curve that interests us) that is represented by an equation. That equation is your
calibration curve. For any x-value you measure, the equation will produce the y-value
TDS!
Did you know?

In 1869, Hemileia vastatrix began the decimation of coffee production in Ceylon
(now Sri Lanka), the third-largest coffee producer at that time.
Now, it is important to measure the TDS by drying down the coffee. As mentioned
above, nonionic species won’t register. If we don’t measure the TDS accurately this way,
we’ll never have a true correlation between conductivity and TDS because we won’t ever
be accounting for those nonionic species!
The last little trick with measuring TDS via conductivity is time. If you leave a liquid
in the open air (like most of us do with our mugs), it will absorb some carbon dioxide
from the air. When this happens, some of the carbon dioxide molecules react with water
molecules to become carbonic acid. As acids are ions, this changes the conductivity of the
water. So, if you care a lot about the accuracy of your TDS measurement, then do it
quickly! The other trick is temperature; conductivity of a liquid changes with temperature.
So, for readings to be comparable, you must either always take readings at the same
temperature or use an instrument that measures and accounts for temperatures.
Refractometers can also produce values for TDS. They measure the direction in which
light moves—its refraction—through a liquid. If you shine a light on a glass of water, it
never comes straight out; it always bends a little. If there are dissolved molecules in the
water, the amount of bending changes. You can use this bending to calculate the amount of
TDS in the liquid. Of course, you need to have a calibration curve to make sense of the
reading. Fortunately, refractometers aren’t influenced by the absorption of carbon dioxide
in the same way TDS meters are. However, their readings are heavily influenced by
temperature.
So, there you have it, the knowledge necessary to measure the TDS in your coffee
brew. All you need is an instrument and calibration curve (which likely is already built
into or calculated by the instrument). Of course, once you know you the TDS of your
brew, you need to calibrate that number to your personal preference for the brew.
Otherwise, what the heck does TDS mean?
WHY CAN’T I CALL
= IT A =
SIPHON BREWER?
THERE ARE A VARIETY OF METHODS FOR BREWING COFFEE, EACH MANIPULATING THE BREWING PARAMETERS
SLIGHTLY TO PRODUCE A DIFFERENT END RESULT. TO DESCRIBE THEM ALL INDIVIDUALLY WOULD NOT ONLY
BE OVERKILL, BUT TEDIOUS AND BORING TO READ. THERE IS ONE METHOD, HOWEVER, THAT WARRANTS A
CLOSER LOOK. NOT ONLY DOES IT DRAW UPON SOME OF THE CHEMISTRY/PHYSICS PRINCIPLES DISCUSSED
EARLIER, BUT IT IS A FASCINATING AND MESMERIZING BREW METHOD THAT INTRIGUES EVERYONE WHO SEES
IT. THIS BREWER, THE VACUUM POT OR SIPHON BREWER, ALSO HAPPENS TO BE A DARLING OF THE SPECIALTY
COFFEE INDUSTRY RIGHT NOW.
This beautiful and interesting brew method has been around since before 1827. Often
when someone first sees a vacuum pot brewer, they think of laboratory chemistry. The
common vertically aligned, two-compartment contraption that begins with water on the
bottom and coffee on the top certainly presents an image of scientific mystique. Apply
some heat and the water moves to the top chamber, through a tube, and mixes with the
coffee. Remove the heat and the now-brewed coffee returns to the lower chamber while
the coffee grounds remain on top, thanks to a filter nestled in place at the top of the tube.
All of this sounds very complicated. One might even think the name, siphon pot,
alludes to how it works. Unfortunately, no siphoning is occurring using this brew method,
making the name rather fallacious. Let’s explore just how this brew method works and
discover why they should always be called vacuum pots and not siphon pots.
To begin, some physics and chemistry

When enough energy is added to a liquid, the liquid converts into a gas. When enough
energy is lost from a gas, it converts into a liquid. When water has reached a temperature
of 212°F (100°C), it has enough energy to convert to a gas. For the purposes of this
conversation, energy is going to be in the form of heat.
A given amount of liquid takes up less volume than the same amount of it in gaseous
form.
The gas phase of an object is less dense than the liquid phase. When the two phases are in
the same container, the gas will rise to the top.
A gas that is trapped in a tight space, i.e., one that is under pressure, tries to eliminate that
pressure. It will do this by stretching its container (think of plastic wrap on a dish that has
been heated on a stove or microwave—it puffs up), moving to a place where it has more
space (think of air rushing out of a balloon), or, if there’s enough pressure generated, it
will break the container (think of a coffee can or brick that wasn’t degassed before sealing
the container).
STEP 1:
Lifting the water
When heat is added to the water-filled lower compartment (usually via flame, contact with
a hot surface, or via a halogen lamp), the energy is transferred to the water molecules.
When enough energy is transferred, some of the water molecules convert to a gas (steam).
The steam rises to the top of the lower compartment and begins filling up the empty space.
Once the upper space is filled, the steam begins exerting pressure on the container wall
and the pool of liquid beneath it. When the pressure exceeds that of atmospheric pressure
(think of air as filling the space between the ground and outer space; atmospheric pressure
is the weight of all that air pushing down on the earth), the steam pushes the liquid water
away to make more room for itself. The water only has one place to go—up. It is pushed
into the upper compartment through the tube. Note that only the steam is at a temperature
of 212°F (100°C); both pools of water are much cooler in the beginning and both will
require some time to reach an optimal brew temperature.
Did you know?

Coffee causes about 29 percent of people to have a bowel movement within
minutes of drinking it.
As a point of interest, this is similar to the way that electric drip machines move water
from their reservoirs to a point above the coffee bed. Electric drip machines heat the water
at the bottom of the reservoir, converting some of it to steam. The steam then carries the
water to the top of the machine where it escapes through the showerhead.
STEP 2:
Brewing the coffee
Eventually, most of the water is moved to the upper compartment. It is held there by the
steam in the lower compartment. Some water remains in the lower compartment and is a
source of new steam. This new steam carries heat to the upper compartment where it will
condense and transfer its heat to the pool of water.
Some brewers wait for the upper pool of water to reach proper brewing temperature
before adding the coffee while others begin heating the water with the coffee already in
the upper compartment. Each of these methods requires its own brewing protocol because
of the differences in water temperature, contact time, and agitation. In either method, it is
important to remember that the steam will constantly be heating the upper pool of water.
Consequently, it is advisable to lower the heat input to limit the amount of heat transferred
to the brewing mixture since the water can become too hot and over-extract the coffee.
The influx of new steam to the upper compartment not only transfers heat but it agitates
the brew, speeding up the brewing process. Thus, coffee brewed using this method takes
less time than most other brewing methods.
STEP 3:
Filtering out the grounds
When the brewer (person, not equipment) decides the brewing is complete, the heat is
removed from the lower compartment. As the steam in the lower compartment cools, it
condenses back into water. Since the liquid form takes up less volume than the gas, a void
is left where the gas was. This void is a partial vacuum that is now at a negative pressure
in the lower compartment. The coffee in the upper compartment moves into the lower
compartment to equalize the pressure. The filter nestled in the upper compartment permits
the water to flow down, but keeps the grounds on the top.
What do we call it?

This method of brewing/brew pot takes its true name from the creation of the partial
vacuum: the vacuum pot. I don’t know when or where it began, but this brew method
gained the additional, erroneous name, siphon pot. It is erroneous because there is no
siphoning occurring in this method, no matter what physical shape the pot takes on (there
are other shapes where the two compartments are not vertically aligned).
A siphon (noun) is usually a tube or pipe in an upside-down “U” shape. However, the “
” is lopsided where one end is much longer than the other. To siphon (verb) is to use the
tube to move liquid from a higher location to a lower location, with the liquid moving up
the bend and then down to the lower compartment, without the need for a constant input of
energy. The short end of the “n” is placed in the higher compartment and the long end in
the lower compartment. The process begins with the tube being full of liquid (this is where
energy is required), then placed in the starting, higher location. The liquid will flow freely
from the lower end of the tube, and, so long as the output end of the tube is below the
starting location, the flow of liquid will occur on its own.
Implications for the cup profile

This brew method is a fun presentation of some basic scientific principles. It also tends to
be well-regarded as a method of brewing coffee. While the vacuum itself probably doesn’t
impart any influence on the taste of the beverage, the method does offer two unique
aspects that likely do influence the taste.
First, while the coffee is in the upper compartment brewing, the heat from the rising
steam allows the temperature to be held constantly at the proper brewing temperature.
Other brew methods begin with properly heated water but the water quickly cools as it
comes into contact with air and the coffee bed. How this influences the taste has yet to be
documented.
Second, there is always a small amount of water that remains in the lower
compartment. When the coffee returns to the lower compartment, it mixes with this water
and becomes diluted, a process unique to this brewing method. This, too, needs
exploration but it seems reasonable to guess that it is analogous to adding a few drops of
water to a whisky.
WHAT KIND OF
GRINDER
SHOULD I OWN?
Blade grinder
IF PARTICLE SIZE AND SHAPE ARE IMPORTANT TO CREATING A STELLAR CUP OF COFFEE, THEN YOU NEED THE
RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB. ACHIEVING PERFECT UNIFORMITY OF COFFEE PARTICLES IS IMPOSSIBLE. EVEN THE
MOST SOPHISTICATED GRINDERS WILL PRODUCE A RANGE OF DIFFERENT SIZES (THE BETTER THE MACHINES,
THE NARROWER THE RANGE). THEREFORE, THE GOAL SHOULD BE TO MINIMIZE THE AMOUNT OF VARIABILITY
IN THE PARTICLE SIZES. THERE ARE TWO MAJOR CLASSES OF GRINDERS TO PICK FROM, AND THEY ARE NOT
CREATED EQUAL.
The simpler, less effective grinder type that is easily available for grinding coffee is a
blade grinder. This grinder type has a metal blade that spins at high velocity in a small
chamber. When coffee is in the chamber, the blade chops the beans into smaller and
smaller pieces. Since the coffee is trapped in the small chamber, some pieces get chopped
more than others. Consequently, there is a significant range of particle sizes in the final
product, leading to a less consistent brew extraction.
Did you know?

Elevation doesn’t have a direct effect on coffee quality, rather, temperature does.
Another concern about blade grinders is the risk of overheating the bean mass while
grinding. Because the coffee is trapped in a small compartment under constant attack by
high-speed metal blades, the temperature of the beans is elevated for the duration of the
process. This extra heat drives off volatiles (including some we probably want to drink)
and possibly, negatively influences the chemical composition of the beans. There’s no
public research that examines the issue of the grounds heating up but, if it is an issue, then
the blade grinder is guilty as charged.
The more complex, effective, and expensive grinder type is a burr grinder. Burr
grinders have two metal pieces (burrs) that are maintained a set distance apart from each
other. Coffee is added on top of the burrs. As one of the burrs spins, the coffee is ground.
When the particle is small enough to fit through the space between the burrs, it falls into a
separate chamber below the burrs. Burr grinders not only achieve a higher uniformity of
grind size, but they are easily adjustable, allowing for different grind sizes to be achieved
for different purposes. Also, as the beans escape the grinding chamber right away, they
aren’t subject to as much of an increase in temperature (although, if a large enough mass
of beans are being ground, the heat generated from the burrs will likely be passed on to
coffee later down the grind stream).
Both types of grinders have their advantages and disadvantages. As usual, there is no
definitive correct answer. In general, consumers concerned about price and having a larger
equipment footprint should probably opt for a blade grinder. Whereas a consumer with the
available resources who is interested in a higher level of precision to produce a better of
cup of coffee should probably acquire a burr grinder.
HOW DO I GET THE
MOST BUZZ FROM A CUP?

Although espressos may have more caffeine per unit of brew, a typical serving of drip brew coffee is so much larger
that you can count on its total caffeine content being greater.
LET’S BE HONEST, NO COFFEE DRINKER IS COMPLETELY INNOCENT. AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER, WE’VE EACH
HAD A CUP OF COFFEE NOT FOR THE SHEER PLEASURE OF IT BUT FOR THE SHEER NEED OF IT. SOMETIMES, IT
IS ALL ABOUT CAFFEINE. ONCE WE ACCEPT THAT IT ISN’T ALWAYS ABOUT THE FLAVOR, WE BEGIN TO
WONDER, THEN, WHAT KIND OF INFLUENCE BREWING HAS ON JUST HOW MUCH CAFFEINE ENDS UP IN THE
CUP.
After all, if it is the caffeine we want, we might as well figure out how to get the most into
each cup! With brewing, there are two main things to consider: brew method and filter
type. Before we discuss those, let’s discuss solubility a bit. For every molecule, we can
measure its solubility. Solubility is the amount of the molecule that can dissolve in a set
amount of liquid at a given temperature. We’re interested, of course, in caffeine’s
solubility in water. Caffeine is a little soluble in water at room temperature 73°F (23°C),
about 16 mg caffeine/1 ml water. As the temperature of the water increases to 176°F
(80°C) and 212°F (100°C) (boiling), the solubility jumps up to approximately 200 mg/ml
and 666 mg/ml, respectively! What a great demonstration about how important
temperature is to discussions of solubility!
When trying to figure out how much caffeine can potentially end up in a cup of coffee,
it helps to know how much is in the roasted coffee to start with. The values for this vary
quite a bit. In one study of an arabica collection in Ethiopia, the caffeine content ranged
from .42 to 2.9 percent! Let’s use 1.15 percent for our calculation, using 20 g of coffee and
360 ml water. That 20 g of coffee contains 230 mg of caffeine. Since 360 ml of water at
room temperature can dissolve 5760 mg of caffeine, it is possible to get all of that caffeine
into the resulting approximately 11 oz cup of coffee. For myriad reasons, all the caffeine
doesn’t come out during brewing, though most of it does. The two main reasons not all the
caffeine is removed are that some of the caffeine will be preferentially attracted to the
bean matrix over the solvent and that some water always remains in the bean mass (and
will retain the same dissolved solids that the water in the cup also has).
Knowing we can extract most of the caffeine from the beans, is there a difference
between brew methods in how effective they are? The answer is yes, although,
unfortunately, we can only hypothesize as to why some of the differences exist; no
researchers have published the “why” of caffeine differences, only the “what”.
The espresso brew method results in a brew that has a higher concentration of caffeine
than any other brew method. One study shows a concentration of nearly twice as much
compared to American drip, Neapolitan flip, and the Moka pot. Unpublished research by
this author showed an almost seven times increase in concentration using espresso
brewing! In general, methods that use hot water and no additional pressure don’t differ in
their caffeine concentrations from each other. Coffee made using an Aeropress has a
concentration somewhere between espresso and the other methods.
This leads one to think that pressure may be the important difference—it removes more
caffeine and/or forces more water out of the beans. However, both the Aeropress and
espresso use much lower water-to-coffee ratios than nonpressurized brew methods; they
may have more caffeine because more coffee was used! However, other brewing
parameters are at play here, too. Finer grinding, when producing small batches of coffee
(single cup versus full pot), increases the concentration.
Filters also influence the concentration by intercepting the caffeine as it passes through
them. One Brazilian study compared the effect using five different types of filters had on
the caffeine concentration of the final brew. The results indicated highest concentrations
using a nylon filter, followed by white paper, then brown, unbleached paper and cotton,
with flannel yielding the lowest concentrations. In some contradiction, unpublished
research by this author showed no difference in concentration using a paper filter or a gold
metal filter.
For the practical coffee drinker, an important thing to keep in mind is not just the
difference in caffeine concentrations but the total caffeine intake per unit. The classic case
is espresso verses drip. In the United States, most serving sizes of espresso are 1 to 2
ounces (29.5 to 59 ml) whereas a cup of drip can be 12 to 16 ounces (355 to 473 ml). So,
while espresso may have more caffeine per unit of brew, a normal serving of drip is so
much larger that its final content of caffeine is typically much greater than that small
serving of espresso. The same is true for the filters. While there was a mathematical
difference in the concentrations, sometimes the difference was small enough that a
person’s body might not recognize the difference as being physiologically important.
PART FOUR
THE CUP

WHAT’S THE BEST
COFFEE IN THE WORLD?

WOULDN’T IT BE SPECTACULAR IF THERE WERE AN ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION? WHAT IF WE COULD ALL
POINT TO ONE COFFEE AND SAY, “THIS IS THE WORLD’S BEST COFFEE AND EVERYONE WILL LOVE IT.” HOW
LOVELY IT WOULD BE FOR FARMERS, BROKERS, AND ROASTERS, WHO WOULD ALL HAVE A MODEL OF
PERFECTION TO WHICH THEY COULD ASPIRE. HOW EASY IT WOULD BE FOR EVERY BARISTA TO RECOMMEND A
COFFEE FOR THAT SPECIAL GIFT. ALAS, THERE WILL NEVER BE A UNIVERSAL ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION.
The reason why is simple. There is no single flavor profile that everybody is going to
think is the best coffee they’ve ever drunk. What would that coffee taste like? The millions
(billions?) of coffee drinkers on the planet surely will all have something a bit different to
say about it. How should it be processed? At what roast level should it be? Should it have
lots of complexity and nuance or just really taste like coffee?
There is no goldilocks coffee. There is no way to define quality in a way that suits
every person, every time. Rather, there are many “best” coffees in the world. Preference is
subjective and this means diversity is something to celebrate. Thus, the only sufficient
answer to this question is “whatever coffee you like the most.”
The only way to talk about quality in an absolute sense is if it is first defined. This
means laying out all the organoleptic characteristics and assigning them the desired
intensity. One way to do this is to establish a scale of 1 to 10 where the range represents
“not present” to “so present no other coffee can have more of this”. Then, each
characteristic and descriptor is assigned a score: acidity = 3, body = 8, floral = 6…. Once a
definition is established, there can be a standard by which to measure and thus a best
coffee or a winner in a competition. Until then, “best” is always a moving target.
After a definition is created, we can do cool things like taste any coffee in the world
and say whether it is good or not good relative to that standard. All we have to do is
compare its intensity values to the standard (this is trickier than it sounds, but not
impossible). To make communication simpler, we can make arbitrary categories like
horrible, bad, poor, acceptable, good, great, and spectacular that all describe how far away
a particular coffee is from the standard.
We can get really geeky and graph the probability of randomly picking a coffee of a
particular quality from a set of coffees. To do this, we first need a set, or a population, of
samples from which to make our selections. Let’s say our population is composed of all
the coffee farms in a country and a randomly picked sample is a single farm.
Our graph will have two axes. The x-axis (horizontal) will be “quality” with movement
towards the right getting us closer to the standard we’ve defined and the far left being a
level of quality as far away from that standard as possible. The y-axis (vertical) will be
“number of farms.” If we plot our population on the graph, it will look like a bell curve
where the tail end on the left represents horrible, the tail end on the right represents
spectacular, and the other categories fall into place in the middle.
The areas under the curve that our categories represent are not chosen arbitrarily.
Rather, they are standard deviations from the mean (the very center of the curve, a.k.a, the
average). For this to work, we have to assume that our population is described by a normal
curve. This is all statistical lingo that represents, effectively, a way of mathematically
representing our graph. The value to us is that we can assign numerical values to the area
under the curve. In other words, if the total area under the curve equals 1, then each
category takes up some percentage of that total area. Consequently, if we wanted to know
the probability of randomly selecting a bad coffee from our population, it would be 2.1
percent.
One of the best uses of the bell curve of quality is to give us perspective on how much
spectacular coffee exists in the world based on our assumptions (seven categories and a
normal distribution). The value is 0.1 percent! Of course, we can take this bell curve and
apply it to a country, a region, or a city in the United States… Sure, the shape of the curve
might change and we can alter how many standard deviations we want to consider, but the
idea stays the same.
Personally, I’m not interested in the best coffee in the world. Diversity is a good thing
and having variety is my subjective preference. Besides, if the whole planet of coffee
farmers is our population from which to choose, in even just 0.1 percent of the samples are
a lot of spectacular coffees for me to enjoy!
WHY DOES THIS COFFEE
TASTE
DIFFERENT THAN IT DID LAST TIME?
WE HAVE AN EXPECTATION THAT A SINGLE BAG OF COFFEE SHOULD PRODUCE CUPS OF COFFEE THAT ALL
TASTE THE SAME. YET, MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, WE BELIEVE THAT THE CUP OR POT WE BREWED YESTERDAY
TASTED DIFFERENT THAN IT DID TODAY. THE FREAKY THING IS THAT IT PROBABLY DID TASTE DIFFERENTLY
YESTERDAY. IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE COFFEE DID CHANGE SINCE YESTERDAY OR ARE WE JUST CRAZY?
DEPENDING ON THE DAY, MAYBE BOTH.
Let’s start with the coffee and figure out how the coffee itself could be different day to
day. We already know that coffee stales just a little bit everyday and that if it is already
ground, the process happens at a much faster rate. But is it really that fast a process?
Probably not, at least, not so fast that we can tell after just one day.
What we always assume, though, is that the bag or can of coffee is perfectly
homogenous, that is, every bean inside is nearly identical. The truth is, that rarely happens.
Sometimes, bad beans make it into the lot. These beans are usually bad from the start—
they were picked that way or they processed poorly and were mixed in with good coffee.
While there are many ways of sorting out bad beans (hand picking, screening by size,
separating by density, and color sorting) none of them are perfect. Bad beans will always
sneak through the system.
Did you know?

A pound (455 g) of medium roasted coffee will be composed of 2,800–4,725 coffee
beans (depending on their density).
Sometimes, you can see these beans in a bag of whole bean coffee. They often are
discolored (usually lighter) but really junk ones can be all black. Some are broken or have
evident insect damage. These beans are more difficult to see and taste in darker roasted
coffees, but some can still leave their mark on the cup. Every so often, though, beans that
make it past all the sorting and look just fine in the roasted bag still end up tasting a bit off
from the rest.
Generally, there aren’t very many of these beans. So, the odds of one getting into any
given pot are low. Even if it did make it into a pot, if it were just one bean, it would
probably be so diluted as to be unrecognizable. As an extension, a bag of ground beans are
likely to be much more homogenous as they’ll be able to mix much better. If you are
brewing just one cup at a time, though (an increasingly common practice), a single bean
can make an incredibly big difference. So, it might just be the case that one bad bean
spoils the whole cup, making today’s cup different than yesterday’s.
Hopefully, though, that doesn’t happen too often, which suggests that differences in
how our coffee tastes day to day are due to something in our heads. We are thinking,
feeling creatures who use our brains to process everything. Whether it is a translation of
the electrical signal received after a sugar molecule interacts with a taste bud or the
frustration from the cat leaving a carcass in the hallway, or our brain interpreting the
gestalt of the experience of an incredible cup of coffee, it is all dependent upon our
psychology and how our brains work. So, we’re not actually crazy; we’re just human. And
this means all kinds of explanations exist to explain this inconsistent coffee phenomenon!
Stage For 1 lb (455 g) roasted coffee… % of weight
Cherry 5.9 lb (2.7 kg) 100
Parchment 1.5 lb (680 g) 25
Green 1.2 lb (544 g) 20
Roasted 1 lb (455 g) 17
Did you know?

To produce 1 pound (455 g) of roasted coffee, at least 6.5 pounds (3 kg) of coffee
cherry must be picked.
One explanation to explore is that we rely too much on our sense of perfection while
measuring things. Specifically, we aren’t all so good at measuring weight, volume, and
temperature. Moreover, many household measuring tools (measuring cups and spoons,
specifically) aren’t as precise as we may need them to be and let’s not even start about the
measured lines printed into coffee pots. It is quite likely that in our overconfidence, we
measure the water, the coffee, or the water temperature differently day to day. This would
certainly produce cups that taste differently enough to recognize. Fortunately, the solution
is pretty simple: weigh everything. We talked about brew ratios in a previous section. If
you weigh the coffee and the water, your level of consistency will skyrocket (FYI, 1
milliliter of water weighs 1 gram. Thus, you can exchange volume for weight if you’re
measuring using the metric system). If you heat your own water, use a thermometer.
There’s no reason to guess and have variable tasting coffee when cheap, simple tools will
solve the problem.
Let’s be honest, mismeasuring water isn’t something we really want to blame on us
being human. It is really more about being lazy and ill-equipped than anything else. The
truth is, we are subject to the whims of our psychology in very real ways.
It might just be that we have bad memories. I don’t mean that we just don’t quite
remember what we tasted last time but that we actually have really terrible memories.
Even though we feel confident that we remember specific details about things, we often
get them wrong. More frighteningly, it is easy to create memories in people of things they
have never experienced. To top it off, every time we remember things that are actual
memories, we change them ever so slightly. It may not be that the coffee is different at all,
rather, you’re just remembering it differently!
Aside from having lousy memories, our ability to taste is heavily influenced by so
many external factors. We should all be wary of how we interpret our eating experiences
because of how susceptible we are to the world around us. For example, the color of
ambient light influences how much we like a wine and how much we’d be willing to pay
for it (blue and red lights produced higher ratings than white and green lights). We’re also
influenced by the color of the dish or cup, the colors of food on the dish, and the colors
around us.
Ambient sounds are incredibly influential on perceptions of foods, including the sound
of the food itself (e.g., the crunch of a potato chip or the sizzle of carbonated water), the
sound of the packaging, the sound of machines, the sound of music, and the sound of the
sea. To name a couple specific to us, coffee aroma is rated higher when the drinker can
hear someone else who is drinking coffee rather than someone eating a potato chip. The
quality of the sound of the coffee machine influences how much we enjoy the coffee as
well (bad sounding machines cause us to like the coffee less).
Our sense of touch can make us think differently about how things taste. The texture of
packaging changes our mind about food as does the weight of the dish. Even the material a
spoon is coated with will make us rate the food somewhat differently. Research combining
a variety of environmental cues on the perception of whiskey demonstrates that our mind
doesn’t focus on just one influence at a time, but is bombarded by them all!
Not only do environmental cues trick us into thinking differently about how we taste,
but so does our emotional state. Being in love, in a positive or negative mood, or
depressed will make you think differently about what’s happening in your mouth. It is
likely that other emotions can influence our organoleptic responses.
It is evident that we are lousy instruments. Although we may not be conscious of it,
many little, seemingly insignificant things actually have a significant impact on how we
experience foods and beverages. Considering this, it is no surprise at all that coffee can
taste differently from one day to the next. It may not be the coffee that’s different; it may
be you!
Did you know?

The first commercial espresso machine was produced in 1905 by Desiderio
Pavoni.
HOW CAN I
= OUTSMART =
MY OWN HEAD?
IT IS PRETTY CLEAR THAT OUR MINDS INTERNALIZE EXTERNAL STIMULI TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT THEY
INFLUENCE HOW WE PERCEIVE TASTE. OUR EMOTIONS, TOO, TWEAK OUR INTERPRETATIONS OF TASTE. ARE
THERE OTHER MENTAL PITFALLS THAT WE HAVE THAT WE SHOULD AVOID IF WE’RE TRYING TO GET THE
CLEAREST, MOST OBJECTIVE TASTE RESPONSE POSSIBLE? THE ANSWER, OF COURSE, IS YES! SENSORY
SCIENTISTS UNDERSTAND THESE PITFALLS WELL AND HAVE DEVISED METHODS TO AMELIORATE OR
ELIMINATE THEM.
These psychological errors are most pertinent for professional coffee cuppers and judges
in competitions. Being aware of these pitfalls can help them design their evaluations to be
more accurate and less susceptible to human errors. However, everyday drinkers, who
probably don’t end up in formal evaluation settings, may find this list superfluous.
Nonetheless, anyone keen to take their sensory experience to the next level will find
themselves behaving differently once they know what to avoid!
These psychological errors go by different names in different sources. So, if you read
about them elsewhere, be prepared for the confusion. Here they are in no particular order:
Order of presentation errors

First sample effect—When several samples are presented simultaneously, tasters may rate
the first sample higher or lower than they would if it were in a different position.
Contrast effect—If adjacent samples are highly contrasted (e.g., one high quality then
one low quality), the second sample may get scored abnormally lower (and vice versa if
the low quality sample is presented first).
The order in which the samples are presented to you and your prior knowledge of the brews are just two factors that
may have dramatic effects on your evaluation of taste. Being aware of these pitfalls will make your evaluations less
susceptible to human error.
Group effect—Opposite to the contrast effect, if one type of sample is placed amongst a
group of different samples, the single sample is more likely to be rated like the rest of the
group.
Central tendency effect—Samples placed in the center of a group of samples tend to be
preferred more than the outer samples.
Pattern effect—Assessors may look for patterns amongst the samples, and, if
discovered, may be biased.
For an individual, little can be done to avoid these errors, though training will help.
When working with a larger group, the errors can be balanced across the whole group.
Samples must be presented in a different, random order to each person. If every person
receives a different first sample or a different middle sample, then the biases for those
spots will be averaged across all the samples.
Did you know?

The first U.S. patent for decaffeinating coffee was applied for in 1906 and issued
in 1908.
Error of central tendency
This is just like the central tendency effect, only it applies not to a sample within a group
of samples but to the rating of a characteristic of a sample. If rating the intensity of a
characteristic, such as sweetness, a person is more likely to score the sample in the middle
of the scale instead of near the ends. We have a mental fear of the extremes, it seems.
Extensive training can help prevent this error by helping us not only become comfortable
with the extreme ends of scales, but with recognizing the whole range of the scale itself.
Error of expectation
You find what you’re looking for. If you know you are drinking a dark roasted coffee,
you’ll find flavors associated with dark roasts. Similarly, if a nearby person makes a sound
or gesture after tasting the coffee, you’ll expect to find something. A good example of this
was demonstrated by coloring a white wine with an odorless red dye before inviting
tasters to smell the wine and identify what general type of wine they were drinking. A
large percentage of the group was tricked and labeled the wine as red wine, despite their
sensory experience of the aroma. Errors of expectation can be prevented by drinking your
coffee (or other beverage) without knowing anything about it. This means that coffee
professionals should not look at the beans, either in the green or roasted state, prior to or
during evaluation of a brew.
Stimulus error
This is similar to the error of expectation. If a taster has prior knowledge of a product that
is unrelated to the actual product, they will likely score a product in error. If you are going
to drink a coffee from a well-regarded roaster, you’ll likely rate the coffee higher. A
famous study showed that drinkers will rate a wine higher and describe it more positively
if it comes from a Grand Cru bottle rather than a table wine bottle. To prevent this, tasters
should be occluded from all information about a product.
Error of habituation
We are creatures of habit. If you are presented samples that are systematically changed,
albeit slowly, then you tend to proffer the same rating. Thus, if a coffee that has been
roasted ever so darker or lighter is presented each day, a taster may not discern it and will
consequently score each successive coffee like the ones before it.
Logical error
These occur when tasters associate two or more characteristics together, which may or
may not be associated. For example, lighter roasted coffees are associated with higher
acidity. Thus, independent of the actual acidity of a coffee, tasters are likely to rate it
higher because of the roast level. This is pretty difficult to avoid in some cases.
Eliminating any not-gustatory sensory experiences can help. In the case of this example,
nullifying the visual cue of the roast level by serving the samples in red light may help.
Ultimately, tasters must be trained away from this error.
Did you know?

In 2012, Brazil produced more green coffee than the next five largest producers
combined.
Halo effect
Sometimes the rating of one characteristic can influence the rating of another
characteristic, even when they are completely unrelated. The most serious transgression is
when a taster is asked to rate the intensity of a characteristic and their liking for the
product. Their subjective response will almost always influence the other ratings, just as
you’d expect it to: the more a sample is liked, the higher the scores will be. This happens
whether the taster’s preference is asked as the first or last question. This is why sensory
tests should either be preference-based or descriptive-based, but never both.
Dumping effect
When asked to rate specific characteristics, tasters are limited by the choices given to
them. If some other flavor is present but there’s no place to rate it, it may distract them to
the point of changing the intensity of one of the options that is presented to them. Thus,
they dump the experience incorrectly on an available trait. This is best avoided by having
proper prior knowledge of a product and including all the relative characteristics on the
score sheet. Unfortunately, for sensorially complex foods like coffee, there may simply be
too many characteristics in the experience that putting them all on a score sheet is
impractical. In fact, asking tasters to rate too many characteristics seems to produce the
opposite effect, causing tasters to become inhibited and underrate characteristics.
WHY DOES THE BAG
SAY
WOOD AND SPICE
BUT I TASTE EARTHY?
IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME. YOU PICK UP A BOTTLE OF WINE BECAUSE THE TAG DESCRIBES THE TASTE AS
PLUM AND ANISE OR YOU BREAK OPEN A BAG OF COFFEE BECAUSE IT SAYS IT SHOULD TASTE LIKE CLOVE,
MELON, AND PEPPER. THEN, WHEN YOU DRINK IT, YOU DON’T TASTE ANY OF THOSE THINGS! IN FACT,
SOMETIMES THE EXPERIENCE IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. WHAT’S GOING ON? WE CAN’T HELP BUT WONDER
WHAT THE TASTERS AND WRITERS WERE THINKING. WERE THEY JUST INVENTING INTERESTING, ROMANTIC
TERMS TO STICK ON THE LABEL TO LURE US INTO A PURCHASE, OR IS THERE PERHAPS SOMETHING MORE AT
PLAY?
There are a bunch of reasons why what the consumer tastes could be different from what
the expert, purveyor, or advertiser tastes. The business of translating a sensory experience
from one person to another is tricky and difficult and it is certainly never perfect. The
worst part about the taste incongruity is that while the descriptions on the bag of coffee
and the tastes a consumer identifies may be completely different, they can both be entirely
correct! Here are a few reasons why.
Experts are, well, experts. When a person spends a lifetime studying and practicing
something, they get good at it. People who taste for a living learn to pay attention to subtle
flavors and they learn to verbalize an enormous range of experiences. Sometimes, they
detect flavors that the average person cannot detect or verbalize. Unfortunately, they can’t
always tell what is easy to detect and what isn’t. So, they can end up listing descriptors
that other people can miss.
Not all tasters are good at their job. We want to believe that the person getting paid to
taste and write descriptions is very good. This isn’t always the case. They may be putting
the wrong word to an experience or have a limited vocabulary, which hinders the precision
of their word choice.
Humans are lousy instruments. People are heavily influenced by culture, history,
experience, emotion, psychology, physiology, and their immediate environment. It makes
humans fascinating creatures but terrible at identifying and describing organoleptic
experiences: A taster may detect a flavor one day but not another; they may not have
tasted the spice or fruit that could be used to describe the coffee; they may value a flavor
differently than someone else and thus report it differently; they may just be physically
unable to taste that flavor; they may be sick; they may have just had a spicy meal…. On
top of all this, it isn’t just the taster who suffers from being human, but the consumer, too!
Analytical assessment is different than drinking coffee normally. Professional coffee
tasters create environments that help them be more accurate in their evaluation. If their
precision is too high, the person drinking at home, using different brewing parameters
under different conditions may not have the same advantage of precision as the
professional.
Coffee is dynamic. Most professional tasters evaluate the coffee within a day or two of
roasting. Most consumers get it days, if not weeks, after that. In all that time, coffee is
changing. It may simply be that the flavors listed on a package are no longer there!
Brewing parameters influence the taste of brewed coffee. It is very likely the brewing
parameters used by the taster were different than what the consumer uses. In fact, what are
the odds that they are identical for the taster and consumer? We spent a whole section
discussing how water quality, water temperature, and other brewing parameters influence
the final taste of a coffee. It is likely that the taste of the coffee is, in fact, different!
Verbalizing organoleptic experiences is challenging. Sometimes, tasters use words that
represent feelings, colors, places, ideas, and experiences. These aren’t always helpful to
the consumer, even other professionals. Still, a person is limited by their abilities and their
attempts to be clear and precise may become so creative as to not always translate well to
other drinkers.
With all these complications, can we ever trust the descriptors? Certainly! The
descriptors aren’t incorrect, they are just one person’s (or a few people’s) interpretations of
the coffee. It is not impossible for both the writer and the drinker to agree on the tastes! In
cases where the consumer may not detect any of the flavors described, it can at least give
them an idea of the coffee’s potential. In addition, those descriptors can also help guide the
consumer in their quest to become better tasters. Knowing those flavors are there will
often help consumers taste them. Sure, it can just be bias, but sometimes it is just giving
the person the right word to match the experience.
HOW COME MY TEXTBOOK
= GOT THE =
TONGUE MAP
WRONG?
American psychologist Edwin Boring’s poorly labeled graph of early twentieth-century research on taste led to the
simplistic tongue map you see here, which—somehow—has survived in textbooks all these years since.
IT HARDLY SEEMS RIGHT TO TAKE A SIMPLE, BEAUTIFUL FACT THAT WE LEARNED AS CHILDREN AND TEAR IT
AWAY FOR THE SAKE OF TRUTH. BUT, THAT’S WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN HERE. MOREOVER, IT DOESN’T
PERTAIN TO COFFEE SPECIFICALLY, BUT TO TASTE IN GENERAL.
Remember the map of the tongue that showed how different regions of the tongue
perceive specific tastes? The one with sour in the back and on the sides and sweet on the
tip? Well, it is wrong, and it always has been wrong. Not only is the mapping of tastes
wrong, but it never even included all the tastes our tongues can perceive!
The story begins in 1901 when the German scientist D.P. Hänig published a paper on
the sensitivity of parts of the tongue to the four basic tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, and salt).
He demonstrated that the tastes were perceived everywhere but that their intensities varied
by region. In 1942, a famous psychologist, Edwin Boring, translated that paper, did some
calculations, made a graph, and published it in his classic psychology text. Unfortunately,
he didn’t label his graph well, so readers, quite understandably, misinterpreted what he
was saying and they proceeded to make the false tongue map that we all know and no
longer love.
In 1974, Virginia Collings tried to replicate Hänig’s work. While some of her data
disagreed with his, she was able to support his original thesis—that the tongue’s
sensitivity to different tastes varied across regions. I suspect she then realized the tongue
map was wrong and traced it back to Boring. Unfortunately, I cannot begin to surmise how
the simplistic tongue map has managed to survive all the years since then!
It is now well established, even at the cellular level, that not only are the tastes
perceived all around the tongue, but that some types of taste buds will respond to more
than one taste. What we also know is that, conclusively, there is a fifth taste, umami.
Umami is not a well-recognized flavor in Western food culture but it is very familiar in
Asia, where it was discovered.
Umami was discovered in 1909 by a Japanese researcher, K. Ikeda. He worked with a
traditional soup base, called dashi, which is made from kelp (seaweed). The taste is
usually described as meaty, brothy, or savory and is evinced by the amino acid glutamic
acid or its dissociated versions, glutamates. Ikeda discovered the technique to produce a
salt for commercial purposes. We know it as monosodium glutamate. Between the lack of
experience with this taste and the fact that the original research paper was written in
Japanese, it took a long time before Western sensory scientists accepted umami as a taste.
Researchers are currently debating the existence of a sixth taste, fatty. So, we may need
to revisit the topic of the tongue’s tasting abilities. Of course, most of what we think of as
flavor is actually derived from smell, which explains the diversity of flavors we perceive.
But, that’s a topic for another book.
IS THAT CHEESE
IN MY COFFEE?
Because whether or not milk curdles in your coffee is so dependent on slight variations of both the temperature and
acidity of the coffee, there’s little you can do to prevent it.
IT DOESN’T HAPPEN OFTEN BUT EVERY ONCE IN AWHILE, SOMEONE POURS MILK OR ALTERNATIVE MILK (LIKE
SOYMILK) INTO THEIR COFFEE AND FLUFFY, WHITE CHUNKS APPEAR AND FLOAT TO THE SURFACE. THOSE
CHUNKS, PRECURSORS TO CHEESE, CERTAINLY DESTROY ANY DESIRE TO DRINK THE COFFEE. AT LEAST, THEY
WOULDN’T APPEAL TO ME! WHEN THOSE CHUNKS APPEAR, WE COMMONLY SAY THE MILK CURDLED WHEREAS
SCIENTISTS USE THE TERM COAGULATED.
Those chunks are proteins that were always present in the milk but were shaped and
dispersed in such a way that they were tiny, suspended groups, rather than large,
aggregated chunks. It isn’t until we disrupt their natural environment that they come to the
surface. The proteins are perfectly normal and, in fact, are part of what makes milk (and
alt milks) a good nutritional source. Other food items contain proteins that go from states
of being dissolved to being coagulated. For example, think egg whites that begin as clear
in raw eggs but turn white upon heating or severe beating.
Proteins are just long chains of amino acids that fold up in very complex, specific
ways. If you take a piece of string and crumpled it in your hand, you’ll get an idea of how
a protein might look. In a protein, that shape is held together by a variety of bonds at the
atomic level, none of which are incredibly strong and thus are prone to disruption. If the
bonds are disrupted, then, in most cases, the protein will denature (lose its shape) and
come out of solution. In other words, it becomes a solid and is no longer part of the liquid.
There are a few ways to disrupt those bonds; in the case of milk and coffee, the most
important disruption is acidity.
Acidity in a liquid is a measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions present in the
liquid. The pH scale helps us talk about the concentration in easy numbers as well as give
us an indication of whether hydrogen ions dominate a solution (as in an acid solution) or if
bases dominate a solution (an alkaline solution). In solutions with a pH below 7 (as
measured on the pH scale of 0 to 14), hydrogen ions dominate. A solution with a pH above
7 has a greater concentration of hydroxide ions (the counterpart ion species of a base).
Solutions with a pH of 7 (pure water, by definition) have an equal balance of hydrogen
and hydroxide ions.
When proteins are in a solution, they can maintain their shape around a certain pH. In
other words, the bonds holding its shape together are affected by the relative concentration
of hydrogen ions. Casein, the primary protein in cow’s milk, will remain in solution at pH
above 4.6. As the pH approaches that number, coagulation begins. The pH of black coffee
varies somewhat but it tends to be around 5. Thus, milk doesn’t usually coagulate in
coffee. The magic pH for soy proteins is a bit higher, around 4.9. Thus, unadulterated
soymilk tends to coagulate in coffee.
There are a few reasons why milk will coagulate in coffee. One, the pH of the coffee
may actually be near 4.6. Two, the milk being added might already be near that pH,
normally due to lack of freshness where bacteria helped bring it down. Fresh milk has a
pH around 6.7. However, as it ages, different bacteria consume molecules in the milk and
produce acids as byproducts that we recognize as a sour taste. Most notable of these
critters are lactic acid bacteria, which ferment lactose (the primary carbohydrate in milk)
into lactic acid. However, they’re mostly active at room temperature. Other bacteria grow
just fine in refrigerated conditions, though, including pseudomonads, enterobacteria, and
Paenibacillus. As the acid concentration increases, the pH of the milk decreases. The
lower the pH, the more likely mixing it with coffee will precipitate the proteins as the
overall hydrogen ion concentration increases. As an aside, this is why spoiled milk
curdles; the pH drops low enough to coagulate the protein!
To make matters more interesting, milk curdling is temperature dependent; milk can be
at or near a pH of 4.6 and not coagulate, as long as it is cold. The moment the temperature
rises, when the milk touches the hot coffee, the proteins coagulate. Nature designed
caseins to coagulate at the temperature of babies’ stomachs.
There’s little one can do to prevent milk from curdling if the milk or coffee is
particularly acidic. If the milk is getting old, acquiring fresher milk may solve the
problem. Alternative milks, however, can’t be fixed by the consumer. Manufacturers of alt
milks, fortunately, are aware of this problem and they solve it by adding buffers to their
product. Buffers are molecules that can maintain the pH of a solution when an acid or base
is added. Thus, instead of the acid in the coffee denaturing the proteins, the acid is
captured by the buffer up to a point (eventually, the buffer is consumed and the pH will
begin dropping). Of course, if these alt milks are of low microbial quality, they too will
eventually coagulate.
At the end of the day, there’s only one guaranteed method to prevent milks from
coagulating in the coffee. Don’t use them! Drink it black, instead.
CAN I DRINK COFFEE
= WHEN I’M =
IN OUTER SPACE?
Drinking coffee is pretty simple, as long as you have gravity on your side. In space, astronauts have begun replacing
straws with an airplane wing–shaped cup, which better replicates the coffee sipping experience.
IF YOU’VE MADE IT THIS FAR IN THE BOOK, THEN YOU PROBABLY HAVE AN APPRECIABLE LOVE OF SCIENCE. IF
YOU LOVE SCIENCE THAT MUCH, THEN YOU ALMOST CERTAINLY WANT TO TAKE A TRIP TO SPACE. HOW COOL
WOULD THAT BE!? WELL, YOU’LL BE GLAD TO KNOW THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO KICK YOUR HABIT WHEN YOU
GO; THE CHALLENGES OF COFFEE IN SPACE ARE SOLVED, OR AT LEAST, WILL PROBABLY BE SOLVED BY THE
TIME YOU GET THERE.
There have been two major challenges with coffee in space: brewing and drinking. Sure,
you can just take up instant coffee and drink through a straw, but if you’re going to
commit to the expense of space travel, a little luxury from back home would be preferred.
We tend to think brewing coffee is pretty simple: pour hot water over ground coffee
and let it trickle down into the pot, fully immerse the coffee in hot water, or push
pressurized water through the bed of coffee. Well, it is pretty simple, if you have a little
thing called gravity on your side. Without gravity, liquids don’t pour because there’s no
gravity bringing them down. Also, liquids behave oddly in space because of the absence
of gravity. So, getting the water and coffee to mix properly is no small feat. There’s also
the problem of steam bubbles, which are generated by heating the water. On Earth, they
distribute evenly in a body of water before rising to the top. In space, they congregate and
create a massive, very hot air bubble—a tricky thing to deal with in a machine and on a
tiny space station.
Two solutions have been invented. One, designed by Costa Rican engineering students
in 2008, garnered some international media attention. However, neither the machine nor
the students seemed to convince the right people to try out their machine. In 2014, two
Italian companies and the Italian Space Agency teamed up to design and build an espresso
machine that would function in space and produce high-quality espresso. Unfortunately,
again because of the gravity issue, the espresso won’t have a layer of crema riding on the
top, rather it will likely be intermixed with the brew. The machine, dubbed ISSpresso, was
delivered to the International Space Station on April 17, 2015.
The lack of gravity in space creates a problem with drinking as well. Not only can you
not pour coffee into a cup, but you can’t pour it into your mouth. For many years,
astronauts have been relegated to using straws for all their drinking, no matter what the
temperature of the liquid. Apparently, after you spend some quality time in space, you
wish straws weren’t the only way to drink, especially with hot liquids.
The recently invented solution is a cup shaped like an airplane’s wing. It has a rounded
side opposite a side that forms a crease. In a zero-gravity environment, liquid won’t flow
of its own volition, but it will move by capillary action along a crease.
Capillary action results from weak electrical interactions between molecules that cause
one molecule to drag a molecule along with it if it isn’t being pulled too hard and the
molecules are in a tight space. It is kind of like a conga line, where a person is holding
onto the shoulders of someone in front of them and they have a person behind them
holding their shoulders. If the tug from the front is just right, everybody gets pulled along
and the line moves. But if the tug is too hard, the line breaks and there’s no more
movement. This is how water is thought to move up through plants: all the water in a plant
is connected and it is slowly dragged upwards. As water in a leaf evaporates, the water
behind it replaces it and drags all the other water up with it. It is a bit more complicated
than this, of course, but it is the general idea. In the space cup, the pull of the liquid
originates with the drinker, sucking the liquid from the crease. As they suck, the liquid is
dragged along the crease, giving an astronaut a more familiar drinking experience.
WHY DOES COFFEE
SEND ME
STRAIGHT TO THE BATHROOM?
WHEN MOST OF US HEAR THIS QUESTION, WE FURROW OUR BROWS QUIZZICALLY AND SHAKE OUR HEADS.
COFFEE KEEPS US AWAKE, IT DOESN’T SEND US TO THE BATHROOM! WELL, FOR ABOUT 29 PERCENT OF
COFFEE DRINKERS, COFFEE DOES MAKE US NEED TO DEFECATE WITHIN MINUTES AFTER DRINKING IT.
MOREOVER, CAFFEINATED COFFEE INSTIGATES THIS RESPONSE MORE THAN DECAF, HAVING ABOUT THE SAME
EFFECT AS A 1000 KCAL MEAL.
This phenomenon hasn’t garnered much research attention but it does seem to get
discussed quite a bit amongst drinkers (at least, those who respond to it!). Consequently,
nobody has researched what it is in coffee that works the magic. We can assume that
whatever the chemical is, it is working from a distance. The response can begin in as little
as four minutes, suggesting some kind of signal is being translated down to the body’s
nether regions.
Fortunately, no medical problem is associated with this phenomenon. Either it happens
to you or it doesn’t. Maybe some people just ought to keep a roll of toilet paper handy, just
in case!
WILL DRINKING
= COFFEE =
DEHYDRATE ME?
SOMEWHERE, WE ALL LEARNED THAT CAFFEINE CAUSES US TO URINATE. THIS IS THE MOST PREVALENT BELIEF
ABOUT CAFFEINE. IF TRUE, THEN IT IS ALMOST CERTAINLY GOING TO PUT US AT RISK OF DEHYDRATION
(WELL, FOR THOSE OF US WHO DRINK IT OFTEN).
We shouldn’t really think about whether caffeine alone is a diuretic. After all, we rarely
consume caffeine by itself. The vast majority of caffeine consumption is taken in the form
of caffeinated beverages, though some people do take caffeine pills just so stay awake.
Thus, we should really be asking if caffeinated beverages, such as coffee, are diuretics.
Once we begin considering caffeinated beverages, doing research to answer this
question becomes simple; we can compare drinking them to drinking water. The results of
the research help us conclude that caffeinated beverages (a single cup of coffee, for
example) don’t cause us to urinate any more than water does. Higher doses of caffeine
(two to three cups of coffee) may cause a short-term water imbalance, but only if the
person has not been drinking coffee for a few days. For even larger volumes of caffeine
intake, the research is murky and what does exist is in the context of high-performing
athletes. In short, if a person builds up a tolerance to caffeine, caffeinated beverages aren’t
going to cause urination any more than drinking water would.
Thus, caffeinated beverages don’t lead to dehydration. In fact, caffeinated beverages
can be included as part of our daily requirement of fluid intake. So drink up and be happy!
REFERENCES
Part One: The Beans

100% ARABICA—SO WHAT?
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WHAT’S SO IMPORTANT ABOUT HIGH-ALTITUDE COFFEE?

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WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT SHADE-GROWN COFFEE?

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COFFEE IS THE SEED OF A FRUIT?

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IS ONE ROUND PEABERRY BETTER THAN TWO FLAT-FACED BEANS?

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of peaberry and “A” grade beans. Science and Culture. 18(12):592–3.
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Influence of grain shape and temperature on physical, chemical, and sensorial grain
properties. Curitiba. 27(1):97–106.
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158.
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WHY DOES MY ROASTER TALK ABOUT CHERRY PROCESSING?

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the generation of γ-aminobutyric acid in green coffee beans. European Food Research and
Technology. 220(3–4):245–250.
Bytof, G, Knopp S-E, Kramer D, Breitenstein B, Bergervoet J, Groot S, Selmar D. 2007.
Transient occurrence of seed germination processes during coffee post-harvest treatment.
Annals of Botany. 100(1):61–66.
Coradi P, Borem F, Saath R, Marques E. 2007. Effect of drying and storage conditions on
the quality of natural and washed coffee. Coffee Science. Lavaras. 2(1):38–47.
Gonzalez-Rios O, Suarez-Quiroz M, Boulanger R, Barel M, Guyot B, Guiraud J-P, Schorr-
Galindo S. 2005. Impact of “ecological” post harvest processing on coffee aroma: II.
Roasted coffee. International Journal of Food Microbiology. 103(3):339–345.
Joet T, Laffargue A, Descroix F, Doulbeau S, Bertrand B, de kochko A, Dussert S. 2010.
Influence of environmental factors, wet processing and their interactions on the
biochemical composition of green Arabica coffee beans. Food Chemistry. 118(3):693–
701.
Knopp S, Bytof G, Selmar D. 2006. Influence of processing on the content of sugars in
green Arabica coffee beans. European Food Research and Technology. 223:195–201.
Quintero, G. 1999. Infuencia del proceso de beneficio en la calidad del cafe. Cenicafe.
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Tarzia A, Scholz M, Petkowicz C. 2010. Influence of the postharvest processing method
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CAN YOU TELL ME THE FLAVOR PROFILE OF THE COFFEE FROM LOCATION X?
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and the Industry. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. 416 pp.
WHY DOES A COFFEE PLANT PRODUCE CAFFEINE?

Baumann, T. 2006. Some thoughts on the physiology of caffeine in coffee – and a glimpse
of metabolite profiling. Brazilian Journal of Plant Physiology. 18(1):243–251.
Filippi SB, Azevedo RA, Sodek L, Mazzafera P. 2007. Allantoin has a limited role as
nitrogen source in cultured coffee cells. Journal of Plant Physiology. 164(5):544–552.
Mazzafera P, Yamaoka-Yano D, Vitoria A. 1996. Para que serve a cafeina em plantas?
Revista Brasileira de Fisiologia Vegetal. 8(1):67–74.
Wright GA, Baker DD, Palmer MJ, Stabler D, Mustard JA, Power EF, Borland AM,
Stevenson PC. 2013. Caffeine in floral nectar enhances a pollinator’s memory of reward.
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COFFEE CAN RUST?

McCook, S. 2006. Global rust belt: Hemileia vastatrix and the ecological integration of
world coffee production since 1850. Journal of Global History. 1(2):177–195.
Muller R, Berry D, Avelino J, Bieysse D. 2009. Coffee Diseases. In: Wintgens J, editor.
Coffee: Growing, Processing, Sustainable Production. Germany: Wiley-VCH, p. 495–549.
HOW DO I REALLY KNOW THAT’S KONA COFFEE?

Anderson K, Smith B. 2002. Chemical profiling to differentiate geographic growing
origins of coffee. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 50(7):2068–2075.
Borsato D, Pina M, Spacino K, Scholz M, Filho A. 2011. Application of artificial neural
networks in the geographical identification of coffee samples. European Food Research
and Technology. 233:533–543.
Casal S, Oliveira MB, Alves MR, Ferreira MA. 2000. Discriminate analysis of roasted
coffee varieties for trigonelline, nicotinic acid, and caffeine content. Journal of
Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 48(8):3420−3424.
Coradi P, Borem F, Saath R, Marques E. 2007. Effect of drying and storage conditions on
the quality of natural and washed coffee. Coffee Science. 2(1):38–47.
Suarez-Quiroz M, Gonzalez-Rios O, Barel M, Guyot B, Schorr-Galindo S, Guiraud J-P.
Effect of the post-harvest processing procedure on OTA occurrence in artificially
contaminated coffee. Journal of Food Microbiology. 103(3):339–345.
Guyot B, Gueule D, Manez J-C, Perriot J-J, Giron J, Villain L. 1996. Influence de
l’altitude et de l’ombrage sur la qualite des cafes Arabica. Plantations, recherche,
developpement. Juillet-Aout. 3(4):272–283.
Knopp S, Bytof G, Selmar D. 2006. Influence of processing on the content of sugars in
green Arabica coffee beans. European Food Research and Technology. 223:195–201.
Lopez-Galilea I, Fournier N, Cid C, Guichard E. 2006. Changes in headspace volatile
concentrations of coffee brews caused by the roasting process and the brewing procedure.
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 2006. 54(22):8560−8566.
Montavon P, Duruz E, Rumo G, Pratz G. 2003. Evolution of green coffee protein profiles
with maturation and relationship to coffee cup quality. Journal of Agricultural and Food
Chemistry. 51(8):2328–2334.
Ozdestan O, van Ruth S, Alewijn M, Koot A, Romano A, Cappellin L, Biasioli F. 2013.
Differentiation of specialty coffees by proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry. Food
Research International. 53(1):433–439.
Risticevic S, Carasek E, Pawliszyn J. 2008. Headspace solid-phase microextraction–
gaschromatographic–time-of-flight mass spectrometric methodology for geographical
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coffee brews based on headspace solid phase microextraction/gas
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Rodrigues C, Brunner M, Steiman S, Bowen G, Nogueira J, Gautz L, Prohaska T, Maguas
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Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 59(18):10239–10246.
Wang N, Fu Y, Lim LT. 2011. Feasibility study on chemometric discrimination of roasted
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THAT COFFEE WAS EATEN BY AN ANIMAL?

Cheong M, Tong K, Ong J, Liu S, Curran P, Yu B. 2013. Volatile composition and
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Research International. 53(1):433–439.
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Part Two: The Roast

WHY IS A COFFEE BEAN JUST A TINY TEST TUBE?
Baggenstoss J, Poisson L, Kaegi R, Perren R, Escher F. 2008. Coffee roasting and aroma
formation: Application of different time-temperature conditions. Journal of Agricultural
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roasted Arabica coffee. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 47(2):695–699.
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roasting conditions on the formation of aroma compounds in coffee beans. Journal of
Food Science. 67(1):60–66.
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410 pp.
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ARE YOU AFRAID OF DARK ROASTS?

Bekedam E, Loots M, Schols H, Boekel M, Smit G. 2008. Roasting effects on formation
mechanisms of coffee brew melanoidins. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
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Rubach M, Lang R, Bytof G, Stiebitz H, Lantz I, Hofmann T, Somoza V. 2014. A dark
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WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY COFFEE FRESHNESS?

Anese M, Manzocco L, Nicoli M. 2006. Modeling the secondary shelf-life of ground
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Toci A, Neto V, Torres A, Farah A. 2013. Changes in triacylglycerols and free fatty acids
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Xiuju Wang X, Lim L-T. 2014. Effect of roasting conditions on carbon dioxide degassing
behavior in coffee. Food Research International. 61:144–151.
Yeretzian C, Pascual E, Goodman B. 2012. Effect of roasting conditions and grinding on
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HOW DO I KEEP MY COFFEE FRESH?

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HOW IS COFFEE DECAFFEINATE?

Bee S, Brando C, Brumen G, Carvalhaes N, Kolling-Speer I, Speer K, Liverani F, Teixeira
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WILL A DARK ROAST KEEP ME UP AT NIGHT?

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Steiman, S. Unpublished data.
Tfouni S, Serrate C, Carreiro L, Camargo M, Teles C, Cipolli K, Furlani R. 2012. Effect of
roasting on chlorogenic acids, caffeine and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons levels in two
Coffea cultivars: Coffea arabica cv. Catuai Amarelo IAC-62 and Coffea canephora cv.
Apoata IAC-2258. International Journal of Food Science and Technology. 47(2):406–415.
WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH ACRYLAMIDE?

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Baum M, Bohm N, Gorlitz J, Lantz I, Merz KH, Ternite R, Eisenbrand G. 2008. Fate of
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Capuano E, Fogliano V. 2011. Acrylamide and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF): A review
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Chu Y, editor. 2012. Coffee: Emerging Health Effects and Disease Prevention. Ames, IA:
Wiley-Blackwell. 354 pp.
IS THERE MORE TO KNOW IF I’M A HOME ROASTER?

Quintero, G. 1999. Infuencia del proceso de beneficio en la calidad del cafe. Cenicafe.
50(1):78–88.
Ribeiro F, Borem F, Giomo G, de Lima R, Malta M, Figueiredo L. 2011. Storage of green
coffee in hermetic packaging injected with CO2. Journal of Stored Products Research.
47(4):341–348.
Scheidig C, Czerny M, Schieberle P. 2007. Changes in key odorants of raw coffee beans
during storage under defined conditions. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
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Part Three: The Brew

BREWING PARAMETER: ENERGY (TEMPERATURE)
Andueza S, Maeztu L, Pascual L, Ibanez C, Paz de Pena M, Cid C. 2003. Influence of
extraction temperature on the final quality of espresso coffee. Journal of the Science of
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Bladyka E. 2013. The Coffee Brewing Institute: Setting the Stage for Specialty Coffee.
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BREWING PARAMETER: WATER QUALITY

Hendon C, Colonna-Dashwood L, Colonna-Dashwood M. 2014. The role of dissolved
cations in coffee extraction. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 62(21):4947–
4950.
International Coffee Organization. 1991. Sensory study of the effect of water type on the
sensory quality of brewed coffee. Chapter 8 of Quality Series. 17 pp.
Navarini L, Rivetti D. 2010. Water quality for espresso coffee. Food Chemistry.
122(2):424–428.
Pangborn R, Trabue I, Little A. 1971. Analysis of coffee, tea and artificially flavoured
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BREWING PARAMETER: SURFACE AREA
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coffee as affected by grinding and torre factoroast. Journal of Agricultural and Food
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BREWING PARAMETER: BREW RATIO

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brewing formula on the final cup characteristics. Chapter 7 of Quality Series. International
Coffee Organization. 16 pp.
BREWING PARAMETER: CONTACT TIME

Pangborn, R. 1982. Influence of water composition, extraction procedures, and holding
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BREWING PARAMETER: FILTER TYPE

Srebernich S, Vicente E, Franceschini S, Minatel L. 2009. Effect of filter type on the
caffeine contents in the coffee beverages. Revista do Instituto Adolfo Lutz. 68(1):29–33.
WHY CAN’T I CALL IT A SIPHON BREWER?

Bersten I. 1993. Coffee Floats, Tea Sinks. Sydney, Austrailia: Helian Books. p. 83.
HOW DO I GET THE MOST BUZZ FROM A CUP?

Andueza S, de Pena MP, Cid C. 2003. Chemical and sensorial characteristics of espresso
coffee as affected by grinding and torrefacto roast. Journal of Agricultural and Food
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Budryn G, Nebesny E, Podsedek A, Žyželewicz D, Materska M, Jankowski S, Janda B.
2009. Effect of different extraction methods on the recovery of chlorogenic acids, caffeine
and Maillard reaction products in coffee beans. European Food Research and Technology.
228:913–922.
Caporaso N, Genovese A, Canela M, Civitella A, Sacchi R. 2014. Neapolitan coffee brew
chemical analysis in comparison to espresso, moka and American brews. Food Research
International. 61:152–160.
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(anhydrous).
Silvarolla M, Mazzafera P, Alves de Lima M. 2000. Caffeine content of Ethiopian Coffea
Arabica beans. Genetics and Molecular Biology. 23(1):213–215.
Srebernich S, Vicente E, Franceschini S, Minatel A. 2009. Effect of filter type on the
caffeine contents in the coffee beverages. Revista do Instituto Adolfo Lutz. 68(1):29–33.
Steiman, S. Unpublished data.
WHY DOES YOUR COFFEE TASTE DIFFERENT THAN IT DID LAST TIME?
Bridge D, Voss J. 2014. Hippocampal binding of novel information with dominant
memory traces can support both memory stability and change. The Journal of
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DID YOU KNOWS

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
If you’ve ever tried to write anything for anybody else to read, you know that it is rarely
successful without the help of others, some of whom help in ways you never imagined you
would need. For me, this claim is especially true, which arguably makes this the most
important page of this book! I am grateful beyond measure to Julia Wieting, who cooked,
cleaned, generally took care of me, and brewed much of the coffee while I tried to stand
on the shoulders of giants. I am indebted to Spencer Turer for making sure I didn’t miss
any important bits about brewing parameters, though, like the Godfather, I’m sure one day
he’ll ask for a favor in return.
While we often joke about just having it piled higher and deeper in academia, there are
several professional scientists to whom gratitude is due, for without them checking my
work, I would certainly have misstepped. Thank you Dr. H.C. “Skip” Bittenbender, my
mentor and friend, for reading through the book and making insightful comments. Thank
you, Dr. Mel Jackson, my favourite chemist, for teaching me a great deal about chemistry.
Thank you, Dr. Rafael Jimenez-Flores, for helping a complete stranger learn about milk
chemistry. And thank you, Dr. Christopher Hendon, for influencing the way I—and the
specialty coffee industry—think about water.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
According to his mother, Shawn was drinking coffee as a toddler. Shawn’s scientific
pursuit of coffee began at Oberlin College and was finely tuned at the University of
Hawai‘i at Mānoa, where he conducted research within various coffee science disciplines
for his MS and PhD degrees.
In addition to this book, Shawn has written The Hawai‘i Coffee Book: A Gourmet’s
Guide from Kona to Kaua‘i (Watermark Publishing, 2008). He is also a co-editor and
author of Coffee: A Comprehensive Guide to the Bean, the Beverage, and the Industry
(Rowman and Littlefield, 2013). He has published widely in scientific journals, coffee
trade journals, newspapers, blogs, and newsletters.
Shawn owns Coffea Consulting, an international consulting company that works within
every stage of the coffee industry, from farmers to consumers. He is also co-owner and
Chief Science Officer of Daylight Mind Coffee Company, a coffee pub and school.
Shawn is fortunate to live in Hawai‘i with his blissful wife, Julia. Aside from cogitating
about coffee, he enjoys reading, all manner of whisky, science fiction, and gardening.
INDEX
A
acidity, 109
acrylamide, 58–59
Aeropress, 91
agitation, 71
air pressure, 16–17
allelopathy, 33
altitude, 16–17
Alzheimer’s disease, 76
amino acids, 47, 108
antioxidants, 21, 47
arabica coffee, 14–15, 81
atmospheric pressure, 85–86
B
bad beans, 97
baggy flavor, 60
biodiesel, 45
biodiversity, 19
blade grinders, 88–89
blending, 31
Boring, Edwin, 106, 107
bowel movements, 86, 112
Brazil, 30, 103
brewing
agitation and, 71
caffeine content and, 90–91
chemistry of, 64–79
contact time and, 75
container type for, 77
filter type and, 76
methods, 84
in outer space, 110–111
parameters, 65–79, 105
pressure and, 72–73
siphon method, 84–87
surface area and, 69–70
temperature, 65–66
water quality and, 67–68
brew ratio, 74, 98
burr grinder, 89
C
caffeine, 32–33, 44, 54, 56–57, 81, 90–91, 113
calibration curve, 82–83
California, 57
cancer, 29, 59
carbon dioxide, 50, 51, 53, 54–55, 83
cascara, 21
casein, 109
central tendency effect, 101, 102
chemical composition, 37
chemical reactions, 42, 44–47, 50–51, 64
chemistry
acrylamide and, 58–59
of brewing, 64–79
of coffee, 42–47
of freshness, 50–51
of taste, 80–83
cherry processing, 24–27
civets, 38–39
Coffea arabica, 14–15
Coffea canephora, 14–15
coffee
best, 94–95
consistency in, 97–99
descriptions of, 104–105
fruit, 20–23
high-altitude, 16–17
passion for, 8
quality, 11, 55, 89, 94–95
shade-grown, 18–19
Coffee Berry Disease, 34
coffee-producing countries, 30
Colombia, 17, 30
color, 46–47
contact time, 75
container type, 77
contrast effect, 100–101
curdling, of milk, 108–109
D
dark roasts, 46–47, 56–57, 59
decaffeinated coffee, 54–55, 102
dehydration, 113
demucilager/demucilator, 25–26
descriptors, of coffee, 104–105
diseases, 34–35
diuretics, 113
dry fermentation, 25
dry process, 25, 26
E
electric drip machines, 86
elevation, 16–17, 89
embryo, 21
endosperm, 21
energy, 65–66, 85
environmental cues, 99, 100
error expectation, 102
error of central tendency, 102
error of habituation, 102
espresso, 72–73, 90, 91
espresso machine, 73, 99
ethyl acetate, 54
expectation, error of, 102
experiments, 9–11
F
farms, 30–31
fermentation, 25
filter type, 76, 91
fingerprints, 36–37
first sample effect, 100
flavor, 66, 94–95. See also taste
flower production, 18
freezing coffee, 52–53, 61
freshness, 50–53
fruit, 20–23
full natural process, 25, 27
fungus, 34–35
G
γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), 27
gas phase, 85
germination, 26–27
gravity, 110–111
green coffee, 42–44, 49, 60–61
Green Revolution, 18
grinders, 88–89
grinding, 52
grind size, 70, 88
ground coffee, 70
group effect, 101
H
habituation error, 102
halo effect, 103
Hänig, D. P., 107
Hawaii, 17, 57
health effects, 29, 76, 79
heat, 65–66, 85
Hemileia vastatrix, 34–35, 83
herbal tea, 21
high-altitude coffee, 16–17
home roasting, 60–61
honeybees, 33
humidity, 51, 60
hybrids, 35
hydrogen ions, 109
I
Ikeda, K., 107
integument, 21
ions, 81–82, 109
K
Kopi Luwak, 38–39
L
labeling rules, 36
lactic acid, 109
latitude, 17
light, 18–19, 51
light roasts, 48, 49, 59
liquid phase, 85
liver function, 79
location, 28–31
Lockhart, Earl E., 66, 74, 80
logical error, 103
M
Maillard reaction, 47, 58–59
measuring tools, 98
medicine, 11
mesocarp, 21
metabolic processes, 26–27
metal filters, 76
methylene chloride, 54
milk, 72, 108–109
moisture content, 49
N
natural process, 25, 26
nitrogen, 53
N-methylpyridinium (N-MP), 47
nonmetal filters, 76
nutrient deprivation, 18–19
O
order of presentation errors, 100–101
outer space, 110–111
oxidation, 51, 53
P
packaging rules, 36
Parkinson’s disease, 76
pattern effect, 101
Pavoni, Desiderio, 99
peaberries, 22–23
pH scale, 109
pressure, 72–73, 85–86, 91
processing, 24–27
professional tasters, 104–105
protein, 108–109
psychological errors, 100–103
pulped natural process, 25, 26
Q
quality
bell curve of, 95
of decaf, 55
defining, 11
personal preference and, 94
temperature and, 89
water, 67–68
quinine, 15
R
raisins, 25
refractometers, 83
refrigeration, 52–53
roasting process, 42–45, 60–61
roast levels, 46–49
roast profile curve, 45, 49
robusta coffee, 14–15
Rubiaceae family, 14, 15
Runge, Ferdinand, 32
rust, 34–35
S
science, limits of, 10–11
scientific method, 8–10
secondary metabolites, 33
seeds, 20–21, 22–23
shade-grown coffee, 18–19
shelf life, 52
siphon brewer, 84–87
solubility, 90–91
soymilk, 109
space, 110–111
specialty coffee, 31, 36–37
spectrophotometer, 49
Sri Lanka, 83
staleness, 51, 52–53
statistics, 9
steam, 85–86
stimulus error, 102
storage, of coffee, 52–53, 60–61
storage temperature, 52, 60
sublimation, 57
surface area, 69–70
T
taste
differences in, 104–105
guidelines for, 80–83
influences on, 28–31, 100–103
tongue map of, 106–107
variations in, 97–99
temperature, 17, 44–45, 52, 57, 60, 65–66, 89, 90–91
terroir, 28–31
Timor hybrid, 35
tongue map, 106–107
total dissolved solids (TDS), 81–83
trigonelline, 47
type 2 diabetes, 76
U
urination, 113
V
vacuum pot, 84–87
variation, 8–10
Vietnam, 30
volatile compounds, 50, 51, 53
W
washed (wet) process, 25
washed coffees, 26, 27
water
decaffeination process and, 54–55
electrical conductivity of, 81–82
freshness and, 53
quality, 67–68
temperature, 65–66, 90–91
used in processing, 25
water stress, 27
weight loss, 49
wine industry, 28
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO EVERYONE WHO WANTS TO GROK COFFEE.
MAY THE COMMITMENT BE INVIGORATING BUT NOT TOO JITTERY.
© 2015 by Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc.
First published in the United States of America in 2015 by
Quarry Books, an imprint of
Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc. 100 Cummings Center, Suite 406-L, Beverly, Massachusetts 01915-6101
Telephone: (978) 282-9590
Fax: (978) 283-2742
QuartoKnows.com
Visit our blogs at QuartoKnows.com
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the copyright
owners. All images in this book have been reproduced with the knowledge and prior consent of the artists concerned,
and no responsibility is accepted by the producer, publisher, or printer for any infringement of copyright or otherwise,
arising from the contents of this publication. Every effort has been made to ensure that credits accurately comply with
information supplied. We apologize for any inaccuracies that may have occurred and will resolve inaccurate or missing
information in a subsequent reprinting of the book.
Digital edition: 978-1-62788-322-1
Harddcover edition: 978-1-63159-053-5
Digital edition published in 2015
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
Design: Burge Agency
Illustrations: Laia Albaladejo

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CONTENTS

PART ONE: THE BEANS

PART TWO: THE ROAST

PART THREE: THE BREW

PART FOUR: THE CUP

Why this book?

The scientific method

THE LITTLE COFFEE KNOW-IT-ALL

Arabica refers to a specific species of coffee: Coffea arabica. It is celebrated in contrast to

“I like coffee because it gives me the illusion that I might be awake.”

THE SEED OF A FRUIT?

“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.”

THE LITTLE COFFEE KNOW-IT-ALL

Did you know?

“Coffee is a language in itself.”

Did you know?

THE LITTLE COFFEE KNOW-IT-ALL

Caffeine is considered a secondary metabolite. As opposed to primary metabolites,

THE LITTLE COFFEE KNOW-IT-ALL

“Science may never come up with a better office communication

Did you know?

Did you know?

Did you know?

Acrylamide occurs in pretty small concentrations in foods; it is usually measured in parts

THE LITTLE COFFEE KNOW-IT-ALL

Characteristic Target Acceptable Range

Odor Clean/Fresh, Odor free

Color Clear color

Total chlorine O mg/L

TDS 150 mg/L 75–250 mg/L

Calcium hardness 4 grains or 68 mg/L 1–5 grains or 17 mg/L–85 mg/L

Total alkalinity 40 mg/L at or near 40 mg/L

Did you know?

Did you know?

Did you know?

Did you know?

Did you know?

Did you know?

To begin, some physics and chemistry

Did you know?

What do we call it?

Implications for the cup profile

Did you know?

MOST BUZZ FROM A CUP?

THE LITTLE COFFEE KNOW-IT-ALL

COFFEE IN THE WORLD?

Did you know?

Stage For 1 lb (455 g) roasted coffee… % of weight

Cherry 5.9 lb (2.7 kg) 100

Parchment 1.5 lb (680 g) 25

Green 1.2 lb (544 g) 20

Did you know?

Did you know?

Order of presentation errors

Did you know?

Did you know?

Part One: The Beans

WHAT’S SO IMPORTANT ABOUT HIGH-ALTITUDE COFFEE?