Want to make the perfect cup of coffee? Chill your beans, say scientists

A new study suggests that putting coffee beans in the fridge before grinding can make your brew more flavourful
Chill your beans for the perfect brew
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Liz Connor15 June 2016

In the UK, we drink approximately 70 million cups of coffee per day, and the trend for whipping up high-end drinks at home means that the search for the 'perfect brew' has extended from artisan coffee shops to our kitchens.

But the key to making a great cup of coffee might not lie in splurging on expensive machines, but merely a simple and inexpensive household trick.

A new study suggests that chilling your coffee beans in the fridge before grinding them can lead to a more flavourful cup of coffee.

Christopher Hendon, from the University of Bath, and his team studied the effects grinding coffee beans had on flavour at different temperatures, starting from room temperature to as low as -196°C.

The result, they claim, was that the more chilled the coffee beans, the better yield they had.

“What you’re looking for is a grind that has the smallest difference between the smallest and largest particle,” noted Hendon.

“If you have small grinds you can push flavor extraction upwards. We found that chilling the beans tightens up this process and can give higher extractions with less variance in the flavour—so you would have to brew it for less time or could get more coffee from the same beans.”

Hendon said this alters the taste of coffee because “subtle changes in particle size distributions make a huge difference in rate of extraction.”

The best coffee grinders - in pictures

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The researchers now think that their findings could change the way coffee is created and sold in the future.

“We anticipate these results will influence the production of coffee industrially, as well as contribute to how we store and use coffee daily,” they say.

The good news is that if you don't have the patience to grind your own beans at home, the researchers also claim that chilling already-ground coffee should have the same effect.

Here’s to a better start to your morning.

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