If you’re a coffee nerd, you likely think that you’ve got the whole coffee-making thing down to a tee. Got the snazzy accessories, achieved the perfect blend and have set your espresso machine to create the perfect shot, every time.
However, US scientists at the University of Oregon teamed up with volcanologists (yes, those that study volcanoes) to find out the ideal way to grind your beans and it turns out that us coffee lovers have been skipping a vital step before the beans have even been ground.
If you regularly grind your own coffee beans, you’ve likely found once or twice that coffee particles tend to clump together and, frustratingly, stick to the grinder. This happens because as the beans break down and rub together, the process generates static electricity.
The experts were hoping to find a solution to this problem that impacts home-brewers and industrial coffee production alike.
So, what’s the secret to the perfect espresso?
It turns out that the secret to a perfect espresso is, uh, water. Ideal news for those of us that can’t justify spending another penny on coffee-related gadgets.
In the study, published in the journal ‘Matter’, scientists found that a small amount of water added to coffee beans immediately before grinding ensures that less coffee is wasted, less mess to clean up and crucially, grinding with water results in a longer extraction time and a stronger coffee.
Yum.
As for how much water you need? According to volcanologist and lead study author Josh Méndez Harper, “just a spritz.”
Does this work for all types of coffee?
Though the experts only tested espresso, they say that these benefits would apply to many other brewing methods.
Study author Christopher H. Hendon said, “The central material benefit of adding water during grinding is that you can pack the bed more densely because there’s less clumping,”
“Espresso is the worst offender of this, but you would also see the benefit in brew formats where you pour water over the coffee or in small percolation systems like a stovetop Bialetti. Where you’re not going to see a benefit during brewing is for methods like the French press, where you submerge the coffee in water.”
Brb, off to make a brew.