S1: Episode 9: Why Your Coffee Is Bitter And What To Do About It
Do you like bitterness or are you bitter averse? In this episode we explore bitterness in coffee: what causes it, how you can influence a coffee’s bitterness and why it is actually something to be embraced not avoided. This answer to this week’s FACQ tackles the search for that ever elusive ‘not too bitter’ coffee!
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Hello and welcome to The Coffee Drinker’s Guide, a podcast for the coffee curious where I explore and explain the world of specialty coffee to make your daily coffee better and more satisfying.
I’m Angela Holder a coffee roaster and writer on a mission to fight back against bad coffee by giving you the knowledge you need to help you get good coffee and a happier (coffee) life in coffee-break sized episodes. So grab your coffee, pull up a chair and take a break…
This week's subject is bitterness in coffee. As in life, it's all about the balance...
… and I’ll be answering a question about the holy grail for many coffee drinkers - how to find that ever elusive ‘not too bitter’ coffee….
Since I have worked in the coffee industry for a long time, you may be surprised to learn that I do not like bitterness. In fact I consider myself to have a sweet tooth and my favourite coffees are ones that have a good level of sourness, or acidity. It was only when I underwent sensory testing for my work that I finally found out why am averse to bitterness as I discovered that I am bitter sensitive. It was a lightbulb moment for me - being sensitive to bitter tastes means that I can detect lower levels of bitterness on my tongue than the average person. So something that tastes moderately bitter to someone else will be too intense for me. Contrary to the popular opinion about super tasters - who are people who are very sensitive to the basic tastes of salt, sweet, sour, bitter and umami - it is not a blessing to be so sensitive as this can limit the food and drink that you can enjoy. That all being said, lets get into the topic of bitterness in coffee…
Firstly bitterness and the brew
Before I get into the nuts and bolts about bitterness I have to tell you up front that bitterness is inherent in coffee. There’s really no getting away from it - but the brewing process is where you have an opportunity to influence the bitterness in the cup. For one thing, over-extracting the coffee will enhance bitterness. The extraction of the coffee is affected by several things which are under your control. Brewing with soft water, which is water low in minerals such as calcium and magnesium will help lower bitterness levels. Also heat your water to the cooler end of the acceptable brewing temperature range at 88 to 90°Celsius, or 190 to 194°Fahrenheit. For more information on brewing water temperature listen to the very first episode of this podcast. A couple of other things you can do to reduce the bitterness and increase the sweetness of your coffee are to tweak your brewing time to brew a little faster or use a coarser grind.
Next bitterness and the taste
Bitterness is a basic taste, which means that you perceive it on the tongue. Things do not generally smell bitter. Bitterness is also nuanced. It can be dry or harsh or rounded and pleasant. People often mix up bitterness with sourness which is another basic taste as they are both intense sensations on the tongue. To understand sourness versus bitterness try tasting the juice of a lemon then nibble the lemon rind: the juice is sour while the rind is bitter. It is worth getting to know the sensitivities of your tongue by paying attention to whereabouts on your tongue that you perceive the basic tastes of salt, sour, sweet, umami and of course bitterness.
Finally bitterness and the bean
The most well known bitter tasting compound in coffee is caffeine. This exists in unroasted coffee beans as it is one of the coffee plant’s chemical defence mechanisms against insects chewing on them. As I mentioned in the answer to the frequently asked coffee question back in episode 5, caffeine levels in coffee naturally vary from bush to bush in response to insect attack. Fewer insects chomping on the leaves or boring into berries means lower levels of caffeine in the beans. This also means that coffee grown at higher altitudes where there are fewer insects will produce less caffeine. Roasting reduces the amount of caffeine in the beans ever so slightly, so the longer or darker the roast, the less caffeine is present relative to the amount that existed in the beans at the start. So you would think that this would reduce the bitterness of the coffee and rightly expect darker roasts to be a bit less bitter than lighter ones, wouldn’t you? On the contrary, the opposite happens because roasting also develops between 70 to 200 other bitter compounds in the bean and the darker the roast the more bitter compounds are developed. This is in fact what makes dark roasts taste more bitter. The various types of bitter compounds developed during roasting means that the bitterness in a coffee may be velvety and pleasant or harsh and lingering. These nuances of bitterness are entirely due to the way the coffee is roasted - so if your coffee is unpleasantly bitter regardless of how you brew it, I’m afraid the finger of blame points squarely at the roast!
Each episode I also answer a Frequently Asked Coffee Question…
This episode’s question is:
Is there any coffee that is not bitter?
As mentioned in episode 7, there are persistent rumours of a wild coffee variety found in Ethiopia which produces beans without caffeine - a natural decaf if you like - and since caffeine is bitter presumably this coffee is likely to have less bitterness to start with. Since - as far as I know - this coffee is not being grown commercially, we shall perhaps never know for sure. But the truth is that all coffee is bitter to a certain extent due to the bitter compounds that are developed during roasting, as mentioned earlier. That said, some coffees will have more bitterness than others. Arabica coffee is less bitter than Robusta, and light or medium roasts will be less bitter than dark roasts. Sweetness tends to be valued more than bitterness but the best tasting coffees are those which have a good balance between the bitter, sour and sweet tastes so that one does not overwhelm the others. So bitterness should not be avoided at all costs!
Thank you for listening to this episode of The Coffee Drinker’s Guide and that was all about bitterness. I hope you found this useful. Do you find coffee to be too bitter? Are you bitter sensitive or do you love it? I know some people do! In either case, hopefully this episode helped you to better understand the bitterness in your coffee. If so please tell a friend who you think would find this useful too and rate and review this podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts to help other coffee curious people find the show. In the next episode we explore Robusta coffee - and if you are wondering what on earth I’m talking about be sure to follow or subscribe to the show and hit play when that drops. If you have a question about coffee or a topic that you would like me to cover please get in touch. I’m on Instagram @thecoffeedrinkersguide or email me at thecoffeedrinkersguide@gmail.com. Thanks to my executive producer Viel Richardson at Lusona Publishing and Media Limited. You can find him at lusonapub.co.uk. Until next time I’m Angela Holder thanks for taking your coffee break with me - the best way to tackle life is one coffee at a time and here’s to better coffee!
The Coffee Drinker’s Guide is a Blue Sky Coffee Project