Susan Rov
Expert@The Coffee Lab
4 years
Why does coffee taste bitter sometimes?
Joachim Estal
Expert@The Coffee Lab
4 years
Hello Susan!Coffee is typically bitter. There are compounds present in the bean that contribute to that specific flavor. Caffeine, for instance, gives coffee around 15% of the perceived bitterness.There are also other components such as chlorogenic acid lactones and phenylindanes, which are found in medium and dark roasted coffees. Having said that, we can conclude that roast profile can largely affect the bitterness of the cup you’re brewing.In addition, some factors should also be considered if you want to avoid getting an unpleasant and bitter end cup. Avoid over-extracting your brew–using the correct grind size, proper brew ratio, and a well-controlled agitation and brew time will ideally result to a perfect cup.You should also make sure to use suitable brew water as some minerals present can also contribute to the coffee's flavor. Finally, always ensure that you have fresh coffee beans and a clean brewing equipment. Hopefully, your future brews will be better-tasting (not bitter-tasting) the next time around!
Tanya Nanetti
Expert@The Coffee Lab
4 years
Hi Susan!
Well, there are different reasons why a coffee can taste bitter.
The two main ones are the over roasting of that coffee, or its over exctraction.
What is over roasting? Basically, in the roasting process, sometimes you go too far, and the beans become dark and oily, and the fruitiness of the beans often disappear giving space to the bitterness.
When we talk about over extraction, instead, we talk about something wrong that happens at the time of extraction.
Espresso, pour over, filter... every coffee can be extracted too much for different reasons (grinding size too fine, extaction time too long, etc...): in this case even a perfectly roasted coffee can become bitter and unpleasnt.
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