Grinding, extraction time and type of coffee

I was a bit surprised the other day when I had a discussion with my friend about coffee. This is a discussion I have actually had with other individuals but I wasn’t expecting it from her.

The topic of the conversation was really brought up when I told her I was planning on writing a piece about coffee preparing and extraction.

“ Can you write an entire guide on that? ” she asked.

“I could compose a whole book on it” & rdquo; I replied.

“I thought it was basically just pushing a button. Isn’t coffee quality more to do with how costly your coffee maker is?”

This declaration broke my heart a bit. My girlfriend understands I am obsessed with coffee. The idea that she believed coffee making needed no talent at all was a tough pill to swallow. What does she think I am doing with all of my time?

The unfortunate reality is that the majority of people think that coffee is just a push of the button. Any effort that goes into coffee making is jus lost time. I remember another conversation with a fellow barista who told me he thought making espresso simply meant pushing a button, before he began working in the industry.

However, I was grateful to my girlfriend as I realised how essential it was to produce this guide on coffee extraction. So keep reading to discover what really goes into coffee making and what other skills are needed to make delicious coffee, apart from excellent button pushing skills!

What Is Coffee Extraction?

The evolution of coffee extraction

Coffee extraction is the process of dissolving tastes from coffee beans into water. It sounds extremely straightforward in theory, I admit. Unfortunately, if we put raw, green coffee beans into water, very little happens. Over time we have found that there are various factors which increase the level of extraction, which suggests more coffee properties or Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in the final cup of coffee.

The very first of these factors is heat. Our ancestors really quickly understood that putting raw coffee beans in hot water produced more of a reaction compared to soaking raw beans in cold water. They discovered that, if they didn’t heat the water, they needed to leave the coffee beans soaking for much longer in order to get any sort of flavor at all in their brewed drink. This highlights the 2nd aspect that influences coffee extraction: time. The longer the of time the coffee is in contact with water, the more flavors it extracts.

Nevertheless, this initial coffee beverage was still extremely unsatisfactory and tasted essentially like the bitter plant that it was. Those ancient baristas needed to discover a method to increase the level of extraction from the coffee. Then one genius most likely believed: if hot water draws more properties from the bean, then undoubtedly it stands to factor that heating the beans over fire before putting them in hot water might launch more of the coffee bean properties?

Eureka! Cooking or roasting the coffee beans before boiling them in water was the key to coffee brewing as we understand it today. This unlocked an entire world of coffee for those pioneers. When we roast coffee we soften the internal cell structure of the coffee bean which permits us to extract even more properties and tastes from the coffee bean.

This was the method coffee was most likely extracted for years and years. Ultimately, some smart coffee lover had the idea of squashing the roasted beans and making this ground coffee. Grinding coffee is the last main element which significantly increases the extraction of TDS from coffee beans. Grinding coffee increases the surface location of the coffee that is in contact with the water, hence increasing extraction.

So there you have the 3 main aspects that affect coffee extraction:

1. Grind size
2. Heat
3. Time

We can break these elements down much further but for now let’s stick to these 3 headings. All aspects in coffee extraction are interlinked. If we change one aspect, it impacts the others and we have to adjust them too. I’ll discuss this in more detail a bit later on.

What are Over-extraction and Under-extraction?

Primal coffee drinkers ended up being so proficient at drawing out the coffee properties that they began going too far. They realized that it was possible to have too many dissolved solids in the drink, changing it from a delicious beverage to something bitter, horrible and undrinkable. There is in reality a sweet spot for extracting coffee. In the early days of making coffee with raw green beans, the coffee was under extracted. Ultimately, when all of the coffee brewing elements were discovered and added in to the procedure, coffee began to be over extracted.

Clive coffee highlights how various coffee solids and flavors are extracted in a specific order when making. Fats and acids are extracted initially, then sugars, and lastly plant fibers. The objective is to brew the coffee for enough time to get a best balance of these properties in the cup, but not long enough to draw out the unwanted, bitter tastes.

Therefore, different levels of extraction result in various tastes in our coffee

. Under extraction If we don & rsquo; t apply enough of one or more of the extraction elements, we will get a coffee that is under extracted. For example, if the ground coffee isn & rsquo; t in contact with boiling water for long enough, the coffee will be under extracted. Under extracted coffee tastes sour, and lacks sweetness, as the sugars have actually not yet been drawn out to balance the oils and level of acidity.

Over extraction

If coffee is over extracted, however, it will taste bitter, due to too many of the bitter plant fibers being drawn out from the coffee. Counter-intuitively, these plant fibers are the only properties that can be extracted from raw coffee beans without the addition of heat, which is why green coffee beans taste extremely bitter and unpalatable.

The extraction sweet spot

That ideal extraction point that we are going for will yield a beverage that is sweet, with proper acidity and a long finish ; the finish being the instant feeling that we experience after taking a sip of the coffee.

The extraction method

So, for all modern types of coffee brewing, heat, time and grind size are all factors that need to be considered when making each cup of coffee. Often one element can’t be changed for a specific reason for a specific brewing approach. Therefore, the other elements need to be adapted to fit in with the set aspect. Let & rsquo; s analyze every one separately. Grind At a fundamental level, the finer the coffee is ground the more coffee is extracted. This is because of the increased surface area that is in contact with the water.

With every coffee preparing technique, the grind size is selected based on a variety of components.

These all need to be considered when looking at the grind for a brew.

With drip coffee, the grind can’t be too great otherwise the water would take too long to travel through the filter.

With French press, the filter screen is much bigger than a paper coffee filter in basic French pots. This implies that the grind normally needs to be coarser for French press than for filter coffee.

On the other hand, espresso has the extra aspect of pressure during preparation, which further speeds up the preparation process. The grind therefore needs to be much finer for espresso due to the added force of the pressure requiring the water through a smaller area in between the coffee grounds, at a quicker speed.

Lastly, cold brew coffee is ground coarse to help the water leak more rapidly through the coffee grinds. Due to the a lot longer extraction time, great ground coffee likewise tends to be over drawn out when cold making.

Grind size can be changed minutely for all brewing techniques in order to find that perfect extraction. Nevertheless, all coffee making approaches have a basic grind size to follow. The grind size that allows for best extraction for each method has been painstakingly learnt over the period of decades.

Grind sizes for standard making techniques are as follows:

1. French press - Coarse
2. Percolator - Coarse
3. Cold brew - Coarse
4. Drip - Medium grind size
5. AeroPress - Fine
6. Espresso - Extra fine
7. Turkish coffee - Powder

Time

As with finer grind, longer extraction time equals higher extraction. Several making approaches have actually a particular extraction time.

For instance, Drip coffee makers have actually a basic set time to brew coffee. This means that the grind size and heat have to fit with the set extraction time in a drip coffee maker. In drip coffee this translates to a medium grind size and water that is nearly at boiling point.

The ideal time for standard espresso extraction is of 20 and 30 seconds. The grind size and the temperature are therefore minutely adjusted in espresso preparation so that an espresso is pulled within this time frame.

Cold brew doesn’t apply heat in the brewing process at all. For this reason, cold brew requires a much longer time period for extraction compared to heated coffee brewing. The longest time for most hot making approaches is around five minutes. Cold brew takes between 12 and 24 hours to extract effectively, which is a significant variation.

Temperature

Temperature level (heat) is the last factor that increases the rate of extraction. The hotter the water, the quicker and higher the extraction. For that reason, if there is currently a greater level of extraction from a particular brewing technique due to other formerly pointed out variables, the water temperature doesn’t need to be as hot.

Espresso coffee has a great grind and a quick extraction time due to the addition of pressure. For that reason the water temperature level needs to be a little cooler than for other brewing methods in order not to over extract it.

Filter coffee water requires to be hotter to motivate more of a response with the coffee, due to the absence of pressure.

Pour over coffee and French press coffee require to be hotter again. This however is generally due to the exposure of the water to the air. The open air nature of these brewing methods makes the water to cool quickly, which is counteracted by making with water at a higher temperature.

Extraction and Roast

Although I didn’t include roasting as an element that influences extraction, it is very much something that requires to be discussed here; so much so that it gets its own section. A coffee extraction recipe will always have to be adjusted for the type of coffee roast you are utilizing.

Similar to the actual extraction procedure, coffee beans can be roasted differently in order to encourage greater or less extraction. The main element that we are talking about when it pertains to roast, is time.

The longer the coffee bean is roasted, the more properties are released from the bean and are therefore extracted easier throughout coffee brewing.

This is the reason that dark roasted coffee is generally believed to be stronger than light roasted coffee. This belief was developed by individuals who utilize the same making recipe, no matter roasting time. Coffee that is roasted for longer is extracted quicker, for that reason it stands to factor that dark roasted coffee needs less of each brewing factor in order to extract efficiently. This implies less time, coarser grind and cooler temperatures. If preparing aspects are adapted to make up for a darker roast, dark roasted coffee can be prepared to be the like or weaker than a lightly roasted coffee, and vice versa.

So, ideally, I’ve convinced you that making a great cup of coffee involves more than excellent quality devices and dexterous thumbs for button pressing. With any luck, you have also discovered a bit more about coffee preparation which will allow you to make your home brew that bit more scrumptious!

Additional tips on coffee extraction and coffee making: follow this link