The chemistry of coffee has something to do with cafe chaos. If you want to read how these two connect to each other go to the sophomore year click the humanities and on the side it will say cafe chaos. In the chemistry of coffee we learned about Heat Transfer, Fermentation, Maillard reaction, Solubility, Caffeine & the Brain. Something I found interesting when we learned about coffee was three T's and how it is involved in the three methods(Pour Over, French Press, and Cold Brew) , diffusion & dissolution.
Three T's (Time,Temperature,Turbulence) Time: refers to brewing time, or the time water is in contact with the coffee grounds. This element is important as the amount of time the water is contact with the coffee determines the amount of coffee material extracted. This is the major component that affects flavor Temperature: of the water during the brewing cycle affects the flavor and extraction of coffee and how long the process will take. A higher temperature will dissolve coffee grounds faster. Turbulence: is created as water passes through and over the coffee. Think of it as the mixing action of coffee brewing. Turbulence allows the particles in the coffee to separate and water to flow around and through the particles for proper extraction.
Three T's Coffee involvement Cold Brew: Time, Cold brew has to sit over night. Temperature, This drink involves a low temperature. Turbulence, The grounds sit in the water the grounds are course because of how long you leave it with the water. Pour Over: Time, There's certain time, between 30 seconds and 4 minutes, to pour in the water to let the coffee bloom. Temperature, the water needs to be boiling so it can extract the solubles from the coffee faster. Turbulence, you are pouring water through the coffee grounds to get the coffee. The grounds are coarse so that the water doesn't extract too much from the bean. French Press: Time, you have to let the water sit with the grounds for a little bit to let it bloom.You also have to wait 4 minutes until you plunge the filter. Temperature, You need boiling water so that it blooms faster. Turbulence, The water is mixed and plunged with the grounds. The grounds are also coarse so it will take a longer time to be extracted by the water.
Dissolution & Diffusion Dissolution: The spreading out of particles from a region of high concentration to a region of low concentration. Diffusion: When soluble solid particles (polar covalent or ionic) meet liquid particles, they can mix together to form a mixture called a solution.
For our project we had many different jobs I was a barrista which was the person who made the coffee so I had to know everything about the coffee how to make all three methods pour over, french press, and cold brew. I really enjoyed this project I was able to learn new things that I never knew about coffee I'm so glad I was able to experience this project with my classmates and peers.
Academic & Life Skills
A academic life skill I gained was being a barrista. I was able to learn everything about coffee where it came from, how it is involved with the brain, and how to make the drinks. I feel that a lot of people dont have this type of opportunity being able to learn about coffee and also even creating our own pop-up restaurant to show our skills and what we actually learned during chemistry.
A life skill I learned was being calm and patient. The reason why I choose this was because this project was very hard working and you had to put all of your effort into it. We had a lot of work to do like come up with different types of drinks to serve at our pop-up restaurant , what chemistry has to do and or relate to coffee.