International. A team from the UK University of Bath and Colonna & Smalls found that cooling roasted beans before grinding resulted in a narrower distribution of small particles, which during the brewing process allows the same amount of coffee to have more flavor.
The team studied the effect of grinding beans at different temperatures, from room temperature to -196°C, and found that the colder the beans, the finer and more uniform the crushing particles.
Small uniform coffee grinds allow a better extraction of flavor compounds allowing more coffee to be prepared and more flavor obtained. That simple discovery could have a major impact for the industry, allowing them to produce a high-quality beverage with very powerful tools.
"In busy coffee shops, it is common practice to reduce the opening of burr grinding as the day progresses in order to produce a consistent cup of coffee. From the work presented here, we propose that this phenomenon is a direct product of grinding strawberries becoming hotter and hotter while using the mill. The heating of the particle at the interface between the coffee bean and the hot strawberry – which can certainly be much higher in the temperature explored in this study – shifts in both the mode and extent of the particle size distribution. Therefore, as the grinder heats up, a finer grinding adjustment may be required to obtain the same effective surface as the same ground coffee in cooler strawberries. However, we observed a difference in the shape of the distribution with temperature, indicating that grinding finer with hot barties will not produce the same result as coarse grinding with cold strawberries. The impact on taste and preference is not the focus of this study, but it is certainly an interesting aspect to explore in the future," the study says.
To observe the full study you can click here.
