crustandcrumb Senior Member Joined: 7 Oct 2005 Posts: 10 Location: Bay City Expertise: I like coffee
Posted Sat Jan 28, 2012, 7:54am Subject: aeropress and acidity levels
after a long hiatus from coffee-geekery, i busted back out my bodum press and started tinkering. ultimately i found that the acidity from press coffee was really problematic for me (i had been drinking espresso for years pretty much exclusively up until that point, and never had any problems with the acidity for whatever reason).. so i bought an aeropress. it should be here monday.
is it possible to get a properly extracted cup from the aeropress (which requires deviating from the standard aeropress method, by most accounts) and still retain the benefit of the purported 1/5th less acidity?
Posted Sat Jan 28, 2012, 9:26am Subject: Re: aeropress and acidity levels
Early in the week, I prepared light roasted Kona in the aeropress and got a result that gave me acid indigestion. It also tasted acidic. Some of my problem had to do with its strength too. For the last two days I was using the same bean in a pour over (melitta cone). No problem with it at all and yesterday it was so good I prepared it twice.
The aeropress is new to me. For 2 weeks I'd been using it for a dark roasted Colombian which made a smooth cup, so the acid in the Kona took me by surprise when I prepared it the same way.
Posted Sun Jan 29, 2012, 9:29am Subject: Re: aeropress and acidity levels
You *should* be fine as long as you stick to the stock paper filters, but only you will be able to say for sure. Since you've already ordered an Aeropress, I think you might have to answer your own question in this case!
Posted Sun Jan 29, 2012, 11:44am Subject: Re: aeropress and acidity levels
Who knows? Are we talking about actual measured acidity in terms of pH or in the perceived acidity on the palette used in coffee descriptor terms.
Is it the flavour that is the problem with French Press ie acidic/sharp or is it more to do with actual acidity in terms of acid indigestion when drinking French Press?
Frankly somewhat confused over meaning of acidity in this context. Without measuring I have to think there is far more acid in a glass of orange juice than there is in a cup of coffee so have difficulty with the concept that the actual acidity of a cup of coffee would be an issue.
crustandcrumb Senior Member Joined: 7 Oct 2005 Posts: 10 Location: Bay City Expertise: I like coffee
Posted Sun Jan 29, 2012, 12:52pm Subject: Re: aeropress and acidity levels
oops. i meant in terms of acid indigestion. should have made that clear. i don't think it's exclusive to french press, either. i had a starbucks drip coffee at work the other day, and it had the same effect.
CandaceM Senior Member Joined: 21 Apr 2012 Posts: 1 Location: Vancouver Expertise: Just starting
Posted Sat Apr 21, 2012, 12:53pm Subject: Re: aeropress and acidity levels
Different coffees have different natural acid levels. Dark roasting reduces acidity, so a light roast vs a dark roast will give you different acidity levels regardless of the brewing method. I don't know if that affects the 'feel/flavour' of acidity, but it affects the pH.
You probably know this, but water temperature is a key function in aeropress results as higher temperature water brings out the acid in the coffee and you lose the smoothness. When my press was new, I used a candy thermometer to measure water temp in my kettle, so I know what it sounds like/looks like when the water is the right temperature -- 165° F to 175° F (74° C to 80° C). If you let the water boil before making aeropress coffee, you've lost some of the benefits of the method.
Posted Sun Apr 22, 2012, 3:34pm Subject: Re: aeropress and acidity levels
crustandcrumb Said:
after a long hiatus from coffee-geekery, i busted back out my bodum press and started tinkering. ultimately i found that the acidity from press coffee was really problematic for me (i had been drinking espresso for years pretty much exclusively up until that point, and never had any problems with the acidity for whatever reason).. so i bought an aeropress. it should be here monday.
is it possible to get a properly extracted cup from the aeropress (which requires deviating from the standard aeropress method, by most accounts) and still retain the benefit of the purported 1/5th less acidity?
You're talking gastro upset from coffee, felt as a "burning", "hearburn", or acid reflux feeling shortly after consumption. Some people assume that the gastro upset comes from "acidity", but this may or may not be the case. Likely not.
Coffee (hot brewed or properly extracted, normal and not decaffeinated) contains caffeine and other compounds that, for some people, causes the acid pumps in their gastrointestinal system to go into overdrive. Sometimes, this can show up suddenly (like an allergy you never new you had, or have suddenly developed).
Coffee ranges in pH (acidity) from 4.5 (fairly acidic) to upwards of around 6.0 and maybe a bit higher with lower temperature or underextraction brewing. Darker roasting tends to destroy fatty acids, making coffee a bit more neutral (remember that distilled water with no dissolved CO2 is 7.0). Using a borrowed cheap pH meter, I get somewhere between 5.0 and 6.0 most of the time - this is not very acidic at all. I think there is a general correlation that central American and denser beans roasted only to beginning of 2C or lighter trend toward higher acidity when brewed, but it sure isn't a hard and fast rule.
Most undiluted fruit juices (Apple, Grape, Grapefruit, Lemon, Lime) are more acidic than coffee - the citrus tend to be between 2.5 and 3.5 pH, the fruiter fruits maybe 3.5-5.0, and stomach acid (primarily hydrochloric acid) is very acidic at 1.2-1.5 pH.
I recall some compound that is a roasting byproduct that helps counter some of the acid-production-promoting compounds, so that may be why some people find gastro relief with darker roast coffees (think Vienna or French roast).
If you're sensitive to true "acidity", then you'll have even worse time with a glass of orange juice. If this is the case, then you're on the right track. BUT, if you're not sensitive to orange juice but you ARE sensitive to coffee, it's probably the increase in acid production from compounds in the coffee, but not the acidity per se.
Make sense?
A couple of other things to try:
If you still think you're sensitive to acidity, then add a base to your coffee and see what happens. Brew it with harder water (tends to increase pH, the same thing as lowering acidity). Or, add a pinch of baking soda (an alkaline).
You can also do what some people truly sensitive to acid in beverages do: dilute the coffee. This also will help if it's really the compounds in the coffee that you're sensitive to.
People that are sensitive coffee-caused heartburn find they can down a shot of espresso no problem, and conclude that all espresso must be low in acid. This is DEFINITELY not the case. Like normal coffee, the acidity pH of espresso depends on the bean source and the roast level. The TDS present in a typical shot of espresso is a lot less than 12oz of properly brewed coffee. (30g of espresso at 5% strength is only 1.5g of TDS, vs. 360g of coffee at 1.25% containing about 3X time amount of TDS at 4.5g).
You can also try having a piece of whole grain bread or toast with peanut butter along with your coffee - the thought is the low acidity of the peanut butter, coating effect of the oil in the peanut butter, the effect of nuts on stomach acid production, and the buffering from the bread all may help to counter the coffee heartburn effect.
On your question about extraction: Independent of brew device, if you properly extract at normal brewing temperatures, you'll get the acidity of the coffee as determined by the bean and roast level. There's nothing magic about an Aeropress.
Cold brewed coffee (and the "recommended" Aeropress instructions) are "underextracting" brews - they don't extract everything from the coffee, and that includes some of the acids (and also some of the flavor profile).
Hope you found this helpful,
Good luck!
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
One other thing - if you do find you're sensitive to coffee-induced gastro, make sure you're eating with coffee consumption. Think of it as medicine you shouldn't take on an empty stomach.
LOL
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
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