The trigeminal nervous system is not as familiar to most people, but it has been the subject of much recent study in terms of how it affects flavor. These nerve endings exist in both the nasal passages and mouth, and give thermal sensations and pain. At a less intense level, they cause sensations of pungency […]
Category: Water Quality
The Brewing Process
Brewing coffee should be considered from two aspects: physical and chemical. The physical aspects of brewing coffee include the effects that water will have on the coffee grounds themselves (such as expansion), the amount of solids dissolved (as the result of temperature, stirring, etc.) and the physical actions that take place as the water passes […]
Interactions of Coffee and Water
Let’s discuss what could happen when coffee is prepared with poor quality water. What follows are some possibilities using some radar charts as illustrations. In a radar chart, start reading at the top. The flavor attributes are listed on the outside, and the distance from the center indicates the intensity of the particular flavor attribute. […]
Effects of Water on Equipment
The dissolving of calcium and magnesium in natural waters makes water hard, and hard water is responsible for scaling, liming and other undesirable mineral deposits on brewing equipment. When water is heated and then cooled, these dissolved substances can deposit scale on metal surfaces. As scaling proliferates, these compounds restrict flow through spray heads and […]
Examining TDS and Taste
In a tasting conducting by the Technical Standards Committee of the SCAA, coffee was brewed with different levels of TDS in order to determine if significant flavor differences existed and how much difference actually existed. The tasting was blind and was designed to isolate TDS as the key variable. The same coffee, grind and brewer […]