An article written by Liam Mannix, published in The Age states that scientists have claimed that the perfect cup of coffee exists and that most cafés are missing out.
Barista and special projects manager at St Ali café, Michael Cameron has been working with international scientists to create the perfect cup of coffee.
“We’re wasting coffee without even realising it,” said Mr Cameron.
Mr Cameron partnered with Assistant Professor Hendon, who is based at the University of Oregon’s chemistry department.
Professor Hendon suggested that Mr Cameron ignore the policies of the National Espresso Institute – in that espresso is always extracted with a water pressure between 9 and 10 bars.
“I cannot describe to you the first time I tried it,” Mr Cameron said speaking of dropping the water pressure to six bars.
“It was like my brain just stopped and went, what the f- am I drinking? It was amazing, the flavours I was getting.”
The trial
Dr Hendon enlisted a team of mathematicians, engineers and physicists from universities across the US, UK and Switzerland to build a mathematical simulation of how espresso is extracted.
Using the model they tested a range of tweaks to see what produced the best shot: changing the dose of coffee, water pressure, the grind size, the pressure from the tamp.
Every weekend, Mr Cameron would head into his cafe and try out the new settings.
The model’s results confirmed low pressure was the way to go. But it suggested combining low pressure with finely ground coffee.
When Mr Cameron tried it, his machine choked.
Further investigation revealed that when coffee was ground finely and then had water pushed through it at high pressure, some of the coffee was either over or under-extracted, while a large proportion did not come into contact with water at all.
At low pressure, the water couldn’t get through at all.
“That’s how most espresso is served today; as a complex melange of over and under-extracted flavours. But what we have shown is that if you get an even extraction, you can get all the coffee – and it tastes better. Or at least, I think it does,” concluded Mr Cameron.
