On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 851

includemanyaromaandtastecompounds,as
wellasbrowningpigmentsthatprovidecolor
(almost a third of the total extract) and cellwall carbohydrates that provide body (also
almostathird).Theflavor,color,andbodyof
the finished drink are determined by how
much ground coffee is used for a given
volume of water, and by what proportion of
that coffee is extracted into the water.
Inadequateextractionandawatery,acidbrew
arecausedbygrindingthebeanstoocoarsely,
so that flavor is left inside the particles, by
too brief a contact time between coffee and
water, or by too low a brewing temperature.
Overextractionandaharsh,bitterbrewresult
from an excessively fine grind, or long
contacttime,orhighbrewingtemperature.
Theidealbrewingtemperatureforany
styleofcoffeeis190–200ºF/85–93ºC;
anythinghigherextractsbittercompoundstoo
quickly.ForastandardcupofAmerican
coffee,theusualbrewingtimerangesfrom1


to3minutesforafinegrind,to6to8minutes
foracoarsegrind.
Brewing Methods There are a number of
differentmethodsforbrewingcoffee.Mostof
them extract between 20 and 25% of the
bean’s substance, and produce a cup
containingsomewherebetween1.3%and5.5%
beansolidsbyweight.Thefacingchartplaces

some of the major styles in relation to each
other.StandardAmericanfilter-dripcoffeeis
thelightest,andItalianespressothestrongest.
The initial proportion of coffee to water is
1:15forAmerican,1:5forespresso.Oneclear
lessonfromthechartisthatit’salwaysbestto
use too much coffee rather than too little: a
strong but balanced cup can be diluted with
hot water and remain balanced, but a weak
cupcan’tbeimproved.Thisprinciplecanhelp
avoid problems caused by the fact that cup
and coffee scoop measures vary, and that
scoops themselves are a very approximate