So, say you have one coffee particle and you cut it in half. You’re left with the same amount of total coffee, but there’s now a whole lot more surface area from the inside of that particle that the water immediately has access to. The more pieces you divide that coffee particle into, the more surface area will be exposed (while the total mass of coffee stays the same). So in any brew method, finer coffee grounds will extract faster, while coarser coffee grounds extract slower.
Another misapprehension people make is to think darker roasts make a stronger cup. The longer and darker beans are roasted, the less caffeine they retain. Lighter roasts have the most volatiles including caffeine.
ReplyDeleteMy forebears were all Scandinavian. I like my coffee black as the Devil's heart, hotter than Hell's brazen hinges, and strong enough "to walk a mouse". Spoons don't stand up, they dissolve. So does the aforementioned mouse if he's not moving smartly. The problem with the above is that it's a bit simplistic. Grind affects more than just extraction; finer particles also slow percolation through the bed as well, leading to a very nonlinear process. Get a grinder that allows infinite particle size adjustment, use a drip coffeemaker with a PAPER filter (shown to differentially retain some bad extractives, honest) and then use particle size to adjust extraction time. After about ten years, you'll have a method. (then the coffeemaker dies, but that's another story).
ReplyDeleteI prefer a fine grind darker roast coffee. I usually have a double shot of expresso in about the same amount of my wife's coffee. When I was on the road I had a French press and would run Bustillo. I never found a hotel coffee to be worth anything.
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