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Chủ Nhật, 30 tháng 12, 2018

The Great Paper Coffee Filters Debate: Bleached vs Unbleached

Coffee filters: they’re small, humble, and critical for great-tasting coffee. But if you – like the majority of coffee brewers – use paper filters, should you purchase bleached or unbleached ones? What can you do to avoid a papery taste in your coffee? And is there anything else you should be looking out for? Read on to find out.
kalita waveCoffee brewed on a Kalita Wave using a bleached filter. Credit: The Cappuccino Traveler

The Origin of Paper Filters

While the cloth filter (the “sock”) has been around for a long time, the paper filter didn’t appear until the turn of the twentieth century. Melitta Bentz, a housewife and avid coffee drinker in Dresden, East Germany, was tired of finding grounds in her coffee. She knew there had to be a better and easier way to filter her brew.
After experimenting with different materials and methods, she eventually decided to try her son’s blotting paper. She cut out a piece, put it in a metal cup, added the grounds and proceeded to pour water over it. Realizing there weren’t as many grounds in her coffee, she then applied for a patent.
And so on July 8, 1908, the paper coffee filter was patented as a “Filter Top Device lined with Filter Paper.” That same December, Mrs. Bentz founded the Melitta Bentz Company, and the rest is history.
Today, coffee lovers drink a wide range of pour over methods, all of which require a filter. And while some people use use a coffee sock or a gold filter, most of us opt for bleached or unbleached paper ones.
But which is better?
chemexCoffee brewed on a Chemex with an unbleached filter. Credit: Josh Burke

Bleached Coffee Filters: The Basics

The main difference between bleached and unbleached coffee filters is that bleached ones have been whitened. This can be done through a tiny amount of chlorine or something called oxygen-bleaching.
Although there was concern in the ‘80s that chlorine-bleached filters might be dangerous, it’s now widely accepted that they’re safe to use for brewing coffee. What’s more, the bleaching process won’t add any flavors to your drink.
However, there are still concerns over their environmental impact. In fact, a 2012 study published in Environmental Engineering and Management Journal found that discharge from chlorine-bleaching was “the most significant environmental issues” in pulp and paper mills. In contrast, oxygen-bleaching requires less manufacturing and is better for the environment. All major filter brands make clear which bleaching method they use on their packaging.
coffee filterBleached paper coffee filters ready for use.

Unbleached Coffee Filters: The Basics

Unbleached filters don’t have that bright white color like their bleached equivalents do, but they are slightly better for the environment. This is because they don’t require as much processing.
Most of the everyday paper you see and use is bleached. Paper is naturally brown (it does, after all, come from trees). Yet unfortunately, if you use an unbleached filter in your pour over or coffee machine without rinsing, there’s a chance that you might taste papery notes.
That being said, you may also get papery notes from bleached coffee filters, depending on the quality. No matter the brand or manufacturing methods, it’s always a good idea to rinse paper filters before use.
filter coffeeCoffee brewed with an unbleached paper filter.

How to Remove That Papery Taste

Rinsing paper filters will help avoid that unpleasant papery taste in your coffee, and at the same time preheat your brewing device. Here’s how to do it:
  1. Place your filter in the brewing device
  2. Pre-wet the filter by pouring hot water over it (make sure not to leave gaps!)
  3. Discard the water
  4. If necessary, rinse a second time
  5. Continue to brew your coffee
Most filter papers should be good to use after one rinse, but some may require a second one (especially if you have a sensitive palate). And if you’re still getting a papery taste after a second rinse? Change your filter brand.
coffee filterFilter being rinsed with hot water, ready for brewing. Credit: Michael Flores

Filter Quality & Thickness

Although we’ve been comparing bleached and unbleached paper filters, you should remember that this isn’t the only difference. The quality of your filter is also important for ensuring clean coffee profiles and good brew flow. Even the slightest difference here can have a big impact on your drink.
On top of that, make sure to choose the right size filter for your brewing method, and pay attention to thickness. Filters that are too thin will allow water to flow through too quickly, and thicker filters may keep more oils out of your brew. If you’re looking to buy a thicker filter, prepare to pay a little more. Luckily, the difference in price is minuscule.  
filter coffeeChemex coffee brewed with a bleached paper filter. Credit: Karl Fredrickson

So… Which Is Better?

In the great bleached vs unbleached paper coffee filter debate, it really comes down to your preferences: taste or environmental impact.
If you want to be more eco-friendly, buy high-quality unbleached filters and rinse well before use. On the other hand, if you’re concerned that your coffee might end up with a papery taste, even with double rinsing, opt for bleached – ideally oxygen-bleached – filters.
Oh, and remember that quality matters! A cheap bleached filter may add just as much of a papery taste to your coffee, if not more, as a high-quality unbleached filter.
Written by Brendan Nemeth.
Perfect Daily Grind
https://www.perfectdailygrind.com/2017/08/great-paper-coffee-filters-debate-bleached-vs-unbleached/

Chủ Nhật, 16 tháng 12, 2018

Brew Guide: How Does Pulse Pouring Affect Extraction?

If you want the best possible coffee, you can’t overlook the importance of your drink’s biggest ingredient: water. Temperature, quality, chemical composition, distribution method… it all affects the flavours, aromas, and extraction rates of your brew.
So today, we’re taking a look at one of specialty coffee’s most celebrated water distribution techniques: pulse pouring. We’ve spoken with Patrik Stridsberg, Co-Founder of 3TEMP and co-designer of the Hipster brewer, to find out more.
hipster brewerWeighing the grounds in a 3TEMP Hipster brewer. Credit: CleverCoffee

Water Distribution: The Different Methods

There are many different ways to distribute your water. The simplest is just to pour it all at once and wait. For immersion brewing, this is the recommended method: it ensures that the grounds and water molecules all have the same (or as close to the same as possible) amount of contact time.
With drip/filter brewing, because the water is trickling through the coffee, you can use continuous pouring or pulse pouring. Continuous pouring requires exceptional control over your pour speed (good arm muscles can help as well, if you’re doing this all day long!) Pulse pouring means using multiple pours of specific amounts of water. You can experiment with the volume of water and number of pours.
These methods help prevent grounds from rising up the side of the filter, i.e. they avoid agitating the coffee bed too much. However, they also create some positive agitation: they gently disrupt the grinds, causing them to move about and therefore ensuring a more even contact between them and the water molecules. More on the relationship between agitation, pouring, and extraction to come!
When brewing manually, you can also choose to pour in concentric circles. This will help to create more consistent agitation and ensure an even wetting of the grounds.
coffee brewingPouring water over ground coffee. Credit: Tyler Nix

Extraction Basics

Before we look at pulse pouring, extraction, and agitation in general, let’s quickly recap extraction.
Extraction is a delicate balance of grind size, roast level, water temperature, coffee weight, water volume, brew time, and more – but what it really comes down to is the amount and efficacy of contact between the coffee grinds and the water molecules.
The more contact, or the more effective the contact (whether due to smaller grinds, more brew time, or higher brew temperatures), the more flavour and aroma compounds are extracted. The less contact, or the less effective the contact, the less is extracted.
Remember: controlling extraction is the key to delicious coffee. Over-extracted brews will be bitter and astringent. Under-extracted brews will be sour. And unevenly extracted brews will be a mixture of the two (and also impossible to replicate). This is where agitation becomes important.

Pulse Pouring, Agitation, & Extraction

Patrik explains that pulse pouring can affect agitation and determine brew time, using the Hipster as an example. “We can choose the size of the pulses. Fewer pulses equals more water in each pulse. More pulses equals less water in each pulse. If we have few pulses, the water hits the bed harder [because there’s more of it] and we have a shorter extraction time, and more pulses gives us a longer extraction time.”
In other words, it’s not just about how much water and how often: it’s also about how hard.
If the water hits the coffee bed too hard, and with too much volume, it can agitate the grinds too much as well. This is particularly true if you’re using a fine grind: the lighter weight will allow the ground coffee to be more easily displaced.
So what is “too much agitation”? For most professionals, it’s when the coffee bed isn’t even after the water has finished dripping through the grounds. Water will automatically trickle down to the area of the bed that is the least densely packed and make its way through there – meaning over-extracted coffee in some areas and under-extracted coffee in others. You want your bed to be as even as possible both before and after the brew.
“In all brewers,” Patrik tells me, “if you want an even coffee bed, water distribution needs to be over a longer time.” This will mean more pulses of smaller volumes of water which will hit the coffee bed more softly and, in turn, cause gentler agitation.
coffee brewingBrewing coffee on a 3Temp Hipster brewer. Credit: CleverCoffee

Pulse Pouring, Extraction Time, & Grind Size

But as we said before, extraction is a balance of many variables. The good news is that, by manipulating your pulse pours, you can change one of the other variables without negatively affecting the extraction.
Say you wanted to keep to a particular brew time but change the grind size. Normally, the grind size will affect the brew time: the coarser the grounds, the slower the extraction and the faster the water drips through. However, with smaller pulses, you can use a smaller stream of water and therefore a longer brew time, regardless of the grind size.
Patrik tells us, “Usually you have to adjust the grind size to be able to get the water to run faster or slower.” However, by making pulsing a parameter – as the team at 3TEMP did with the Hipster – you can break, or weaken, the relationship between grind size and brew time.
coffee brewingSlowly pouring water for a Kalita brew. Credit: Aryan Joshani

Consistency vs Flavour

So is pulse pouring in concentric circles the best method? Well, it’s worth mentioning that your pour choices will to a certain extent be dictated by your brewer, who you’re making coffee for, and more. One thing to remember is that pulse pouring and concentric circles can result in more even extraction but they’re also harder to do consistently.
Patrik tells me, “When you hand brew, it’s almost impossible to get it exactly the same every time. There are very few people who command that much control.”
On the other hand, he points out, “One thing that you can do with hand brew, you can work the water into the coffee any way you like. With the batch brew, we can only open the shower and it can hit the water either hard or light… So we don’t have this control over the water distribution and I think that’s not possible with batch brewing. I think you will always have better control when you do it by hand, but it will not be consistent.”
What’s more important: control or consistency? That will depend on the situation. Are you making coffee for yourself? Are you training a team of baristas for a busy coffee shop? Are you competing? You need to determine your priorities.
coffeeBlack coffee, ready for drinking. Credit: Dan Gold
Water distribution is just one of many fascinating variables that can affect your coffee extraction. Experiment with the methods we’ve looked at above, discover what works for you, and don’t be afraid to change it with every new coffee.
Please note: This article has been sponsored by 3TEMP.  
https://www.perfectdailygrind.com/2017/11/brew-guide-pulse-pouring-affect-extraction/

Chủ Nhật, 9 tháng 12, 2018

Coffee Tasting Basics: Taste vs Flavour

When you get better at tasting coffee, at understanding the different flavours and what causes them, you enjoy coffee more. You can savour the acidity and mouthfeel, decipher complex combinations of notes, and detect the impact of origin, processing, and more.
But before you can do that, you need to master the basics – such as the different tastes andflavours.
What’s the difference? Taste refers to basic categories or profiles: sweet, savoury, spicy, bitter, umami. Flavour is a combination of several different senses: taste, smell, touch…. In other words, you can expect your coffee to taste different in different contexts!
Find out more in this quick video recap from Big Think.
Please note: Perfect Daily Grind does not own the rights to these videos and cannot be held accountable for their content.
https://www.perfectdailygrind.com/2017/09/coffee-tasting-basics-taste-vs-flavour/