How is the sweetness of coffee created?
What is the sweetness of coffee?
Why do people say that the coffee is sweet?
AHNSTAR
Hello, everyone. This is AHNSTAR
Today, I would like to talk about sweetness in coffee
I'm sure you have heard a lot of coffee enthusiasts
and professional baristas talk about
how there is a nice sweetness to the coffee
Where does the sweetness in coffee come from?
Where is the sweetness in coffee?
Why do they call it sweet?
I'm sure many of you may have some doubts about this expression
Even for me, it took me a long time to understand the sweetness of coffee..
When we say coffee is sweet or has a nice sweetness,
we associate with
a sugary sweetness
we find in sugar when we take that sip
However, if you associate the sweetness with drinks such as
caramel macchiatos with lots of syrups, cafe mochas,
or the sweetness of the cream from Einspanner,
(Sweetness from this drinks ≠ Sweetness from coffee) you will be 100% disappointed
The sweetness of coffee is not the sweetness
from syrups and sauces that we commonly associate with
but rather a relatively mild sweetness
Sweetness is just an expression compared to other coffee
Sweetness is not an absolute standard but a relative comparison with other coffees
Q. How can we determine the sweetness of coffee?
Naturally, you have to drink a lot of coffee
By trying a lot of coffee
It allows you to objectively assess its sweetness
How can you compare
the sweetness of the coffee if they are bad or good
when you haven't drank enough coffee yourself?
So, first,
Q. What is the process of creating the sweetness of coffee?
What is sweetness of coffee?
Let me first explain that
For those of you who have taken Unspecialty Edu classes with Mr. Choi Nak-eon,
you may be familiar with the sweetness we commonly taste, like sugar
[Types of sugar that create sweetness] can be divided into monosaccharides and disaccharides
(Green coffee beans: Coffee beans that appear green before roasting) Even the raw green coffee beans before they get roasted
already contains a fair amount of sweetness, particularly in the form of sugar
(Beans that account for the majority of the world's coffee production) On average, Arabica coffee contains about 8% sugar,
while Robusta coffee contains about 3-6%
However, monosaccaride and disaccharide are very heat-sensitive,
Coffee is roasted at temperatures between 200°C and 240°C,
and most of the sugars are lost during high-temperature roasting process
Do you mean that the sugars
that create sweetness are lost during the roasting process?
So, does that mean there's no sweetness left?
Yes, that's correct
Even if the sugars that create sweetness are lost, what do we get?
We get sweet aroma
(Caramelization: When sugars are heated to a high temperature, they break down and turn brown) This process is also known as the Maillard reaction and as caramelization
where sugars break down and change into numerous aromatic compounds
that create sweet aromas are generated
Fortunately, these aromatic compounds
are trapped within the coffee
which allows us to perceive these sweet aromas from the moment we grind the coffee
to all the way through extraction very well
(These aromas are perceived as sweetness due to the trapped sweet aromas in the beans) These are what we perceive as sweetness in coffee
Ultimately, the sweetness we experience in coffee is the result of these sweet aromas
And these sweet aromas are greatly diminished
once the temperature exceeds 250°C
That's why if you roast the coffee too much,
these sweet aromas are significantly reduced,
and you end up experiencing less sweetness
Actually, in the case of ice cream companies,
to achieve a sweeter taste,
rather than adding flavoring substances,
they often add flavors like vanilla or caramel
because ice cream is very cold,
so taste receptors don't function properly
Q. What kind of coffee has nice sweetness?
(Terroir: The natural environment in which coffee is made, a crucial factor in coffee quality) The perception of sweetness varies based on the terroir
[Coffee with a stronger sweetness] For example, let's assume we have Ethiopian coffee
with rich floral and fruity aromas and Brazilian coffee that is relatively rich in vanilla,
nutty, and chocolate aromas
Then, between these two types of coffee,
if you ask me which one you will feel more sweetness from
Ultimately, the coffee that has flavors reminiscent of sweetness
will make us perceive it as sweeter
Secondly, you can perceive the sweetness of coffee
through its texture
When we drink coffee, we describe
how much weight or density the coffee feel in our mouth
[Texture expression on coffee] in terms such as texture (the tactile sensation in the mouth) and body (mouth density, weight perception in the mouth),
We usually call milk as better texture
with better body compared to water
And sugar syrup or heavy creams are considered as
better texture and body than milk
is how we can express it
Liquids we commonly find sweet, like honey, syrup, or sugar water,
tend to have a bit heavier in texture and weight
So, based on experiences, we perceive
these oily and heavy coffee
as sweeter
That's why even we with the same coffee,
if it has a better texture and higher weight
we describe it as being sweeter
So the meaning behind having a nice sweetness
Is you like the sweet aroma of the coffee
Or, you like the texture and the body of the coffee
I actually focus more on the aroma of sweetness as well
But you can also describe
as having a nice sweetness when it has nice texture
When you drink coffee with others often
Some would feel the sweetness through the texture or the body
while some, rather than texture or body
would feel through focusing on the sweet aroma of the coffee
and will express whether the sweetness is nice or bad
so that means people will evaluate the sweetness of the coffee differently
In this case, you should be smart and calibrate it on your own
This person feels the syrupy and strength of the coffee as sweetness
This person focuses on the sweet aroma and sense the sweetness that way
Quick understanding is required
Depending on the extraction method, you can perceive the sweetness as good or bad
Based on my personal experience
when I extract coffee too sensationally
such as making it too sour, astringent or bitter
and with excessively high strength
It often resulted in perceiving the sweetness as bad
If it's too sour, too bitter or
too densely extracted
It disturbs the focus on each note
And as the human brain sends a danger signal when
the drink or food is too sour or bitter
it makes people focus on the sour or bitter taste
That's why for me when I reduce the sourness and the bitterness
and extracted a cup of coffee with more balance
I was able to taste a fuller sweetness
If you can't taste the sweetness that well
Try increasing the extraction ratio without getting negative bitter or astringent tastes
Then the strong flavors will lessen and you'll get to focus more on the sweetness
If you're still not sure, try drinking coffee with professionals and
ask them which coffee has better sweetness
and try calibrating afterward
It will be very helpful
So, we talked about the sweetness of coffee today
I hope it was at least slightly helpful for
your curiosity about sweetness
I will be back with more interesting and
helpful coffee content
Thank you