A little bitterness is to be expected from any cup of coffee. But when it gets so strong that it tastes downright sour? Well that’s not good. Especially when you’ve spent a lot of money and time finding that special coffee blend that’s been getting rave reviews everywhere and is supposed to taste heavenly.
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
 James Hoffmann | 2020-05-06 10:40:51 |  3,939,207 Views |
The magic of salt in coffee
Unfortunately even with top-notch equipment and premium beans bad coffee brewing can happen. Freshly brewed coffee can taste bad for a number of reasons. Roasting the coffee for too long steeping it for too long or brewing it with water that is too hot can all result in a cup of tea that tastes burnt.
There’s one trick you can use to fix this problem instead of pouring it down the drain: add a pinch of salt. As counterintuitive as it may sound this technique has been around for a long time and can be found in coffee recipes from many cultures. From coastal Europe to Vietnam people have long used salt to temper the flavor of a strong cup of coffee. So if your coffee isn’t tasting so good today it’s always a good time to try this decade-old trick!
The secret to salt’s ability to tame bitterness in coffee lies in the way our taste buds perceive different flavors. Our tongues have specific receptors for sweet salty sour and bitter tastes. When we consume something bitter like coffee the bitter compounds activate the corresponding receptors sending a signal to our brain that we are tasting bitterness. However when salt is introduced the sodium ions interact with both the salt and bitter receptors on our tongue. This interaction essentially blocks some of the bitter compounds from binding to the bitter receptors effectively reducing our perception of bitterness.
