Remember how adding a pinch of salt or olive oil to your coffee became all the rage a little while ago? Turns out there’s another way to make your morning cup of coffee taste divine and this one is backed by scientists.
According to a new study published in the journal Matter recently, adding a dash water to your beans before grinding them can change the way you drink coffee, as per the research conducted at the University of Oregan.
The way this works is that it reduces the amount of static electricity generated by grinding whole coffee beans which otherwise causes them to clump together and clog up the grinder, resulting in a lot of mess and waste.
“When you grind the coffee, it goes everywhere,” says Christopher Hendon, study coauthor and an associate professor of computational materials chemistry at the University of Oregon, “Dust comes out of the grinder, it’s like a plume that covers everything. But if you add a little water, it seems to not go everywhere. It’s cleaner. That was the primary reason people did it.”
When clumps form in the grinder, water flows around them and leaves a substantial amount of untouched coffee, and thus flavour, behind. Adding water to the beans before grinding prevents this from happening.
“A few simple squirts of water have solved the problems of clumping, channeling and poor extractions, while aiding in the pursuit of attaining the tastiest espresso,” concluded the researchers in the paper. The ideal amount of water can change, based on different factors like the type of roast and the intensity of flavour required.
Coffee enthusiasts have been doing this for ages for a non-messy way to obtain ground coffee but now the hack has been verified by scientists as well.
Will you try this method before making your next cup of coffee?
