「Coffee Topic」What are the criteria for good coffee? How should you drink good coffee?

Click to follow | Daily boutique coffee culture magazine Coffee Workshop

When it comes to good coffee, the question is very complicated. Should we follow the SCA standard or the COE standard? Dry aroma, wet aroma, acidity, sweetness, body, aftertaste... If we talk about it in detail, the fans who are just getting started will definitely feel overwhelmed. So today we will keep it simple and talk about something that everyone can understand at a glance.

First of all, what is good coffee?

A good cup of coffee must be qualified, so what kind of coffee is qualified? It means no obvious defects! What are obvious defects? Let's do some subtraction together! Subtract the following problems, at least you can drink a cup of smooth coffee!

1. Numbness in the tongue: This is mostly caused by under-roasting of the beans. Although there are other reasons that can cause numbness, the numbness of under-roasted beans is more obvious.

2. The coffee has obvious smoky and burnt smells: Failed coffee roasting and over-extraction will produce bad smells such as burnt smells, while smoky smells are caused by poor smoke exhaust, a typical roasting defect. Here, it is important to distinguish it from the aroma of shredded tobacco or tobacco.

3. Coffee is sour and astringent: Defects in coffee bean roasting and insufficient extraction can lead to this result. The acidity of a truly good coffee should be very smooth fruit acid, not strong acetic acid.

4. The coffee seems to be mixed with water: This is also a typical roasting defect, the beans are not roasted well.

5. The coffee tastes very salty: This is mostly caused by roasting defects. Although the slight saltiness of some sun-dried coffee beans can sometimes make the coffee flavor more layered, more often the salty coffee that people can perceive often gives people the feeling of a cup of light soy sauce.

6. Odors such as wood, rubber, Chinese medicine, and rot: These odors are generally caused by poor quality of raw beans and improper storage of raw beans.

7. As bitter as Chinese medicine: This is mostly caused by roasting failure. Good coffee should be slightly bitter and acceptable to people, even without sugar.

The above 7 points basically list the results of all defects in coffee from green bean quality to roasting and extraction. If you drink a cup of coffee without these problems, congratulations! Although I can't guarantee that this cup of coffee is definitely a boutique, at least it can guarantee that this cup of coffee is at least comfortable to drink.

Now that you have great coffee, how do you drink it?

Let’s not talk about smelling the scent and observing the color, and talk about other aspects.

Should I drink it hot or cold?

Some people like to drink coffee like Gongfu tea, and can't wait to take a sip as soon as it is served. If the coffee is not too hot, it's OK, otherwise your tongue will suffer. So when the hot coffee is served to you, don't be anxious, wait for it to reach about 50℃, which is the most suitable temperature. You can immediately feel its warm taste and nutty flavor, as well as the floral aroma.

As the temperature drops to around 35°C, some fruity and sweet flavors, such as jackfruit, citrus, caramel, apple, etc., will be fully released at this time. This is the most pleasant time to drink coffee.

When the coffee is completely cool, its background will be more obvious, such as peach, orange, tea, high-grade wood, etc. Some flavors that may be difficult to perceive when the coffee is hot will suddenly come out after it cools down!

Therefore, it is best to drink coffee from warm to cold, so that you can fully experience its flavor changes!

Do you want to sip?

We all sip when we taste coffee, in order to atomize the coffee liquid and enhance the flavor. However, it is not necessary to sip every cup. After all, drinking coffee in a coffee shop is not cupping. Taking a sip of coffee and rinsing it in the mouth can also atomize the coffee. If the sip sound is too loud, it may attract attention! And the friends in the coffee shop may think: Is this guy here to challenge?

Drink water before coffee?

If you have eaten strong-tasting food before drinking coffee, you should rinse your mouth with a glass of water, as it will affect your judgment of the coffee flavor. As for whether to drink ice water, if you are drinking for the purpose of tasting, you can open your taste buds and flavor receptors by drinking ice water, which can make you more sensitive.

Smoking before or after drinking coffee?

I have read some discussions and research by my friends who make coffee. They believe that drinking coffee with cigarettes will increase the sensitivity of the sense of smell to small flavor molecules, making the coffee taste better. I do not advocate smoking (it is harmful to health), but maybe it is because the chemical molecules in the smoke combine with the flavor molecules of coffee to produce a magical effect? ​​This needs to be studied...

Would you like some dessert?

My personal experience is that if you drink a cup of good coffee and pair it with a good dessert, it will definitely be a double enjoyment, such as drinking Kenya with chocolate cake, or drinking Blue Mountain with cream cookies. Putting aside the professional tasting perspective of drinking coffee, it is really good to pair it with a small dessert, even a small piece of cinnamon caramel cake, it will bring a lot of taste improvement to the coffee. You can also try pairing it with some nuts or even fruits, which will definitely give you a surprise!

Well, that’s all for today! Friends who like to drink coffee, I suggest you try more! Even if you don’t know how to drink it at first, as long as you drink good coffee, you may not understand it at the time, but if you drink bad coffee, you will know what is good and what is bad, and over time you will become a master of coffee tasting!

Disclaimer: Some of the pictures in this article are from the Internet. For some of the content on the website, such as pictures, we will respect the copyright of the original work and indicate the source, but due to the large number of pictures, some pictures and texts may not be indicated in time, please forgive me. If the original author has any disputes, please contact the website to deal with it. Once verified, we will correct it immediately. It is edited by "Coffee Workshop". Please indicate the source when reprinting. This article is intended to spread coffee culture. If there is any infringement, please inform us to delete it. Thank you~!