The Physics of Coffee Brewing

This book will put brewing at its heart by bringing the reader quickly to a recognition of the physics involved, viewing coffee science through the lens of the physics of brewing. The opening chapter gives a simplified view of brewing, after which it carefully introduces the reader to the full complexities of brewing - many of which involve physical and physical chemical effects and many of which remain to be understood. Chapter 2 maps out the different ways coffee is brewed and their associated culture and recent trends are covered. The third chapter reviews maps of the molecules released and their flavour impacts, different brewing methods and current trends. Chapters 4 and 5 review the pre-brewing steps of grinding and roasting. Chapter 6 looks more closely at aspects of the brewing, including physical chemistry of the input water and how it is pumped and the shape of beds. Chapters 7 and 8 review measurements of the brewing process with emphasis on newer methods which look at how brew molecular composition evolves over time. Chapter 8 gives a limited view of sensory measurements but emphasizes the difficulties/successes of correlating with the molecular-level data. Chapter 9 reviews the modelling of brewing by the author and others - contrasting different techniques and their pros/cons. Finally, Chapter 10 presents an outlook, challenges and future directions for the field of coffee science.