miércoles, 18 de abril de 2018

Knowing the Salted Coffee Tendency

Salt definitely causes a contradictory reaction in your favorite drink.

We have been experimenting with the taste, coffee preparation, and presentation methods for centuries, from espresso to mocaccino. We have added and mixed a lot of different ingredients, creating a wide range of recipes that involve our delicious coffee-bean friend.

Nowadays, new coffee-lovers want something more, something with an innovative flavor, something they have never tasted before; thus creating the new trend of adding salt to your coffee.

That's right, it's not a mistake, the latest fashion in the barista world this season is the salted coffee.

This fresh trend, however alien it may sound, is actually backed by science. A study from the journal Nature showed that sodium ions suppress the bitterness in coffee and actually enhance its flavor. And while it shouldn’t be added to every cup of coffee, it’s recommended (if it’s particularly bitter) to add a small pinch of salt to help to mellow the overall flavor.

Is this trend actually new?

No, it isn’t. There was a tradition of adding a pinch of salt to coffee in Northern Scandinavia, Sibir, Turkey, and Hungary. And when available, such as in coastal areas where fresh water from rivers mixes with seawater, one would simply use brackish water when preparing coffee. This water typically has a salt content of 0.5 - 3%, which is lower than the average 3.5% in seawater. This results in a more intense taste and more foaming.

Instead of just using plain salt with coffee, cured ham would be a signal of refined taste if served in central Europe, whereas in Northern Sweden there is a tradition for serving dried meat with coffee.

Is bitterness something we should avoid in our cup of coffee?

Taste is one of the most subjective senses, the things that one could consider tasty can often be the same things that another person would despise. Some people like their coffee pitch black and refuse sugar when offered, whereas others disguise the very essence of coffee with chocolate, cream, milk, even lemon. Nonetheless, bitterness is an important flavor in coffee, but under less-than-optimal extraction conditions it can be too dominant.

Generally, bitter-tasting compounds are less water soluble than other coffee flavors, hence the bitter compounds are extracted towards the end of the brewing. High temperatures (close to boiling) and long extraction times also favor bitterness. In professional coffee grading, it can symbolize less desirable characteristics. Flavors categorized by the Specialty Coffee Association under the "bitterness" rubric can refer to defects, like "caustic", "phenolic", "cresol" and "alkaline". These terms go beyond our regular definition of ‘‘bitter’’ and, still some people knowingly enjoy the darker, fully- flavored cup of joe.

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