Here’s the scoop on coffee’s flavor: the taste comes from compounds locked into roasted coffee beans. Add hot water, and those flavors escape into your pot—but not all flavors come out at the same time, says Harold McGee, food science writer and author of On Food and Cooking. For example, sour flavors, acids, come first and the plant carbohydrates responsible for coffee’s body come later. Taste for yourself with this counter-top chemistry experiment.
Credits
video by Jenny Woodward; co-produced by Flora Lichtman
Meet the Producer
About Jenny Woodward
Jenny Woodward is a director, editor, and video producer based in New York. She grew up in Madison Wisconsin, and has a background in art direction, photography, graphic design, illustration, theater and technology.