Wake up to the science behind your morning cup of coffee
Many millions of people cannot start their day off on the right foot without a good (or even bad) cup of coffee.
More than 2 billion cups of coffee are consumed worldwide every day, and some people spend large sums of money for their coffee, often prioritizing it over other essential needs. It’s that important to some people. Let’s see the science behind this drink that has us so hooked.
A history of coffee
Somewhere around the year 800, an Ethiopian goat farmer named Kaldi found that his goats were running around full of energy after eating red fruit from what is now known as a coffee bush.
The goat farmer picked some of the fruit and took it back to the monks he lived with. They sampled the fruit and stayed up wide awake all night. The reaction would have been due to the caffeine in the fruit. The only problem with this story is it is so old that there is no real proof this is how coffee was really discovered. The story was passed down over many centuries. It could be 100% true, or it might not be.
The history of coffee became clearer later on, but it really wasn’t coffee at all. Coffee as we know it comes from roasting the bean inside a red fruit. However, at the beginning, the entire fruit was used to make different red foods and drinks. By the way, we say coffee “bean” but, really, it’s a seed. It is the seed inside a fruit, so it is not a bean at all.
It was not until the 13th century when humans first started roasting coffee beans for the purpose of making a cup of coffee. Be thankful they did. Without roasting, coffee beans would create a cup of coffee that tastes like grass.
The coffee capital of the world back then was Arabia, and they purposefully kept it that way. All coffee beans were boiled before being sold so that they could not be used to produce new coffee plants. This ensured that Arabia had a monopoly on this new important plant, at least for the time being.
While the rest of the world was already infatuated with coffee, the "New World" (America) much preferred tea until the Boston Tea Party in 1773. After that, people drank more coffee out of patriotism, and it took off in a big way from there. Much later on, President Teddy Roosevelt drank a gallon of coffee a day and it was said he came up with the Maxwell House slogan: “Good to the last drop."
Brewing science
The cup of coffee as we know it is due almost entirely due to the roasting of the coffee seed (remember, it’s not a bean). There are more than 800 compounds in a coffee seed and roasting it combines those into 20 very essential and strong compounds. Those are the compounds responsible for our cup of coffee.
However, you have to get those compounds out of the coffee seed first. It would take forever for the compounds to leave the seed even in hot water. Therefore, we grind our coffee seeds. This allows a greater surface area for water to extract those compounds and drip them into your cup.
The average cup of coffee contains about 1.5% coffee extracts and 98.5% water — not counting all the flavorings and additives you add later.
Coffee scientists (yes, that’s a thing) are continually testing the best water temperature, water composition, roasting temperature and time, and brewing speed to create the best combination. And it’s a delicate balance. Roast or brew too much and your coffee will become too bitter because of the acids. The opposite effect will create tasteless coffee.
Speaking of taste, most of what we taste in our coffee is due to our noses and the aroma they take in. Try taking a drink of coffee while you hold your nose. It won’t taste nearly as good to you.
This story should not conclude without mentioning the many different types of coffee that come from the now-many types of coffee plants and roasting processes.
One particularly expensive coffee to note — Kopi luwak coffee. This coffee is created when the entire fruit is fed to the Asian palm civet (a type of cat). It digests the fruit and passes seeds as it poops it out. The seeds are cleaned and ground and the coffee costs up to $100 a cup. Delicious!
Mike Szydlowski is a science teacher and zoo facilitator at Jefferson STEAM School.
TIME FOR A POP QUIZ
What have we been saying about coffee that is wrong?
What is required to make the most expensive cup of coffee in the world?
What is it in coffee that gives people a boost?
Why might your coffee not taste as good if you have a bad cold?
Why do coffee seeds need to be ground up before making coffee?
LAST WEEK'S QUIZ ANSWERS
Why does the full moon appear so much larger on the horizon?
Your brain senses that the moon is far away, so it tries to compensate for that but goes way too far.
What is wrong with the two most popular theories about this phenomenon?
First, the moon is actually farther away from you when it is on the horizon. And, second, any distortion of the image through the atmosphere will actually make the moon appear smaller, not larger.
If you purchase a photo of a giant rising full moon, why do you know it has been edited?
Cameras do not have brains, so they will take a picture of the actual image, not the over-compensated larger image we think we see.
In what other ways is our brain tricked into seeing something that is not actually there or happening?
The entire science of optical illusions shows how easily our brain can be tricked.
Use images on the internet or a drawing to create your own Ponzo Illusion.
Search Google for countless examples of this phenomenon at work.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Wake up to the science behind your morning cup of coffee
