Understanding Acidity & Bitterness In Coffee

[@davidkirkland4364]

Well done, Bryan. These nebulous concepts are more meaningful to me now. You are also a natural in front of the camera.

[@tubeyrich]

Thank you for this! I've just started out on my brewed-coffee journey, and this video was extremely helpful. I've encountered that first cup in a specialty cafe and since then been wary of acidity/sourness in coffee. Now I understand the idea of balance better!

[@Wholelattelovepage]

You're so welcome!

[@greybeard27]

Excellent video, I have spent over a decade learning to correlate particular flavours with faults and imbalance in home brewed beer, but I have been struggling with understanding how to taste, read and adjust the flavour profiles in coffee to improve my brewing techniques. I think this is the best explanation I've seen.

[@FatNorthernBigot]

This is fascinating. I didn't know how to describe my coffee, and this has really helped. Thank you.

[@ArvinRosales03]

amazing demonstration. thank you

[@Wholelattelovepage]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@_Julie_]

Oh my gosh. Perfect timing. Thank you so much.

[@stevenbarrett7648]

So I followed what you said and have ordered myself a white lab coat complete with three BIC Bíró pens for the top pocket !!!! I think I would have to be a scientist or ten years in the coffee trade to understand what you said…..very good but way above my head !

[@Wholelattelovepage]

The lab coats are definitely next! --BRYAN

[@marsolo5963]

Liked and Subbed! Thank you so much for such a clear explanation of the tastes and where/why they occur in the brew cycle!

[@Wholelattelovepage]

Awesome, thank you!

[@bernadettebrooten1798]

Excellent!

[@Wholelattelovepage]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@jhhoneybees7066]

Bloody brilliant, thank you so much. 👍🏼

[@Yeliad]

Echoing what others have said, this video is incredibly helpful at the beginning of my coffee journey. Thank you, I can't wait to try this technique. I think I need to dial-in my tongue before I can dial-in my coffee lol

[@tdinut]

Thank you so much!

[@littlestar5737]

Hey thanks for the tutorial. I have one question. Is there a method by which we can measure sourness or sweetness. e.g. ph value or something like that. I always have hard time differentiating between sour vs bitter. I tend to call everything bitter. But I know that sourness badly affects my throat the next day. Bitterness doesn't.

[@Wholelattelovepage]

Hi there. Completely valid question, and I want to say that you are certainly not alone when it comes to being a little unclear about the differences between sour and bitter flavors. It is honestly one of the key reasons I wanted to make this video. If you oversimplify the concepts of flavors, acids (pH 0-7) taste sour and alkalines (pH 7-14) taste bitter. The best examples that I can give would be to bite into a lemon for your sour/acid flavor sensation and to eat some bittersweet baker's chocolate for your bitter/alkaline flavor sensation. You can then extrapolate those flavor sensations when drinking coffee. In drinking coffee or espresso, take a small sip of it, let it sit on your tongue for a moment or two and then swallow. If you feel a sharp flavor sensation along the sides of your tongue as you swallow, that's a sensation prevalent in sour flavors (also why sometimes sour tastes make your cheeks pucker). If you experience a somewhat drying sensation on the back of your tongue / mouth when you swallow, that's a bitter tasting sensation.

[@littlestar5737]

@@Wholelattelovepage Wow! That's a very interesting test. I'm going to try it. Thank you.

[@vitorg.delduque367]

Thanks! I did the test and it helped a lot. Let me ask: most pour over recipes usually divide the water in about three pours. Why not extract in a single pour if we'll get those flavor anyway?

[@Wholelattelovepage]

Hi there. Thank you so much for the feedback. I had a lot of fun making this video. Your question is a wonderful one. When I first started making pourovers well over a decade ago, I always divided it into separate pulses/pours of water, less out of a desire to and more out of necessity because my grind size and flow rate of the pour would fill the V60 so I had to stop to avoid overflowing. I would then let the water drain down until just about the surface of the bed and then start pouring again. That said, I worked alongside a very talented barista and friend of mine who would pour the bloom and then do the rest with one pour. I never noticed much of a difference in the end result of our pourovers. It wasn't until about 5-6 years ago when I was introduced to Tetsu Kazuya's "4:6 Method'' that I started actually paying more attention to the amount of water I was adding and the rate that I was pouring. This method, as well as many online forums, claim that dividing the water into separate pours creates a stronger cup. I haven't personally seen much science out there to back this up, but logically, it makes sense: separating the pours gives the bed of grounds more opportunity to settle and would therefore extract more from it, whereas one single pour is constantly agitating the bed, allowing the water to flow through it more freely. In the end, like in all coffee-making, it is up to personal experimentation. You (and whoever else you might be making coffee for) have the ultimate say as to whether one way works or tastes better than the other. Try it both ways and see if one way tastes better or is easier for you to accomplish consistent results with and then just work on that technique. There will always be new trends popping up with new techniques and new tools to use, but there will never be a one-size-fits-all answer to brewing the perfect coffee. Just stay true to yourself and do what works best for you. --BRYAN

[@vitorg.delduque367]

@attelovepage Thanks! I didn't expected such a complete and interesting reply :). Since I asked you about it I did some tests because I just bought a K6 grinder and I'm very frustrated with the amount of fines my unit produces. At the end of the pour I'm having a muddy bed and a weird bitter taste even when I try to achieve an acidic result. The best balance I'm able to get is with less pours, by blooming + 1 or 2 pours. Thanks!

[@sandyd4271]

first ❤