It really does cut down on the bitterness, neat.
It doesn't magically remove the bitterness. It cuts it down a little. Perhaps by enhancing the other flavors?
It's a good trick for work/bad coffee, where the alternative is no coffee at all.
Salt alters the perception of other flavors, reducing bitter/sour and increasing sweet/savory. You only need a lil pinch though, and only in darker roasts or badly made coffee like you said, because roasting/overextraction/staleness are what create the bitter compounds in the first place.
Danke schön.
I don't use it for my good, lightly roasted, freshly ground beans that I percolate on my moka pot at home, and now it makes sense why.
Back when i had time to actually brew coffee i would add small amounts of smoke salt, cardamom, cocoa powder, and turmeric. Call me a heretic but i will never apologize for how good it was.
If you buy whole bean, see if you can have a coffee shop grind it for you, they will have better grinders = less bitter cups out of the same beans
OTOH, pre -ground coffee oxidizes(?) Much faster than whole bean due to massively increased surface area. So it will get less bitter over time in part because there will end up being less caffeine. I guess if your grinder is sufficiently cheap it's kind of a damned if you do/damned if you don't type of situation.
Yeah pre-ground isn't ideal, but I know from the OP's past posts that they don't have much money so I wanted to suggest a free option.
You could try drinking specialty coffee with a light roast. It actually tastes good instead of bad.
Disclaimer: this costs more, so you'll have to drink it less often or spend more.
the cost isn't too bad if you roast it yourself, green coffee can be had for around $5 per pound, but you'd have to invest in a roaster, a good air roaster is about $200, and then learning to roast, which is pretty easy to be honest
A Behmor roaster can be had for a couple hundred. Keep your place well ventilated and avoid the naturally processed coffees if you can, as personal roasters tend not to dispose of chaff particularly well. I'm spoiled in having several specialty roasters in my town, so I find it pretty easy to get my hands on a solid medium or light roast. Feel free to come to me for coffee questions. I'm no James Hoffman, but I know a lot more than most people.
I roast my coffee in a wok with a wooden spoon, then shake it outside in a strainer. If you just wanna taste it, it doesn't have to be expensive. It will be better with an actual roaster, but the jump in quality is worth it even with just a basic pan. You need a hood or some good ventilation though fyi, it smokes.
I should have tried it with a wok instead of a cast iron pan, it was difficult to keep it moving. I've heard using a metal colander with a heat gun works well too.
the types and amount of minerals dissolved in the water for making coffee can make quite a difference in how it tastes. you can even brew with distilled water and add the minerals afterwards to compare. if you want to experiment further you should try with tiny amounts baking soda, epsom salt, or both.
A couple shakes of cinnamon works well. I do a combo of light roast + cinnamon + coconut milk powder which comes out lovely.
This is a risky tip, but if you want to cut acidity without having to add a milk or creamer, you can add a pinch of baking soda too. Why it's risky: if you add too much, and it's too easy to do this, it tastes like soap.
Or just cold brew instead of hot brew
I second the baking soda hack. It's especially useful for preventing milk from curdling in the coffee due to excess heat and acidity (I use soy milk which is especially susceptible)
I just feel like you're better of brewing it more precisely in the first place. Granted, I work in the biz.
I’ve been making cold brew lately to cut down on bitterness. It works great.
I tried this and you’re right it does cut the bitterness, but also cuts the flavor and makes it taste disgusting. Oh well!
Back to cold brew tomorrow for me.
Literally just tried it with a lengthened espresso and it's immediately noticeable!
Edit: the undissolved salt did kinda sink to the bottom leaving a pretty unpleasant last mouthful. Shoulda stirred it in rather than just vaguely spinning the glass mb otherwise it's very drinkable. Overall I felt it kinda flattens the flavours. If you like the bracing bitterness like me though then yeah you'll feel that something's missing. Will keep the tech up my sleeve though.
Yeah, it's gotta be a very tiny pinch for short espresso. Like 5 grains or so.
Just adding a splash of hot water to make it 'longer' (diluted, more volume). For reference, where I live an espresso is a short black and an Americano is a long black.
if you enjoy spice, adding some red pepper flakes (like 1/2 tsp at most for a full cup) adds some depth to the flavor without being overpowering.
Or go ham and add a few drops of a good hot sauce, but I’ve had really mixed results with that. Am yet to figure out why.
this sounds like a bit. remember people putting butter in their coffee a la bulletproof coffee or whatever it was?
Culinary people put salt in everything
But yes bulletproof coffee is a ridiculous idea
I attempted to resolve some constipation once by adding olive oil to my espresso... it did not work lmao
I'd expect it to solve the constipation by giving you diarrhea. Technically a victory, just not a good one.
If you want something that does that, just use half and half or something like that with a lot of fat. If you use half and half or heavy cream, there is no good reason to add any fat.
I mostly just did cause I thought it was funny because of the strbucks thing, and it did not even make a dent in the constipation lol
The Starbucks thing was so weird. I don't know how they expected that to hit outside of the Mediterranean. I'm a weird culinary person, salt and olive oil really can go in absolutely everything, I defend savory ice cream with EVOO for reference. But I still have a hard time buying into EVOO coffee, being Starbucks coffee makes it an impossible sell.
Maybe it would have gone better if Starbucks wasn't so. Seriously, with a proper coffee for it, I could imagine EVOO coffee being great. But not even worth trying if it's Starbucks serving.
yeah I never tried it I think it was only at their flagship roastery locations, and I don't really go to starbucks regardless, but it was like... In the iced drinks too? so it gets all nasty and congealed? whyyyyyyy
I didn't hate my evoo/espresso but it didn't add much to the flavor. There's a certain drink I've made at home that involved shaking an espresso over ice such that it foams up really nice that could maybe work with a little oil but I think it would still separate too fast
yeah! I've done that once or twice when I had some that turned out too bitter but I didn't want to waste it. You gotta use a tiny amount to have it not taste salty but it works!
most days I just brew light roasts though so hard for it to come out properly bitter
