How to Choose Low-Acidity Coffee Beans Which Coffee Beans Have Lower Acidity

Understanding Coffee Acidity

Without acidity, coffee's flavor becomes dull and tasteless. Acidity is a desirable primary coffee flavor sensation, characterized as a pleasant sharpness at the front of the mouth, a numbing sensation at the tip of the tongue, or a dryness at the back of the upper palate and/or under the edges of the tongue—indicative of coffee quality.

Good acidity tends to be sweet, crisp, and tangy—enhancing coffee's other qualities. Coffees renowned for their pleasant acidity include Kenyan AA, Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, Costa Rican, and Nicaraguan varieties.

Coffee acidity doesn't refer to pH value but rather to one of the fundamental taste characteristics that, along with body, aroma, sweetness, bitterness, and aftertaste, creates the complete flavor profile. Too little acidity results in coffee that tastes flat or dull.

For those with sensitive digestive systems, premium coffees may cause acid reflux or stomach discomfort due to increased concentrations of healthy organic acids. While people with normal digestive systems can handle wonderful acidity (which is beneficial to your health), there remains a market for low-acid coffee.

Best Low-Acid Coffee Options

A good starting point for low-acid coffee is origin. While acidity levels vary within countries (significantly and diversely), this provides a foundation for narrowing your choices. Some of the world's best low-acid coffees come from: Brazil, Sumatra, Nicaragua

Coffee grown in lower altitude regions tends to produce less acid during growth, making it among the lowest-acidity coffees. Dry (also known as "natural") processing also tends to result in lower coffee acidity. Like FrontStreet Coffee's Brazilian coffee and Mandheling coffee, which have relatively low acidity.

The tradeoff here is that the coffee will have less "kick." Low-acidity coffees are often looked down upon by coffee snobs, but since coffee is a personal experience, only your own opinion truly matters.

Acidity is generally considered beneficial for coffee, providing brightness to flavor and enhancing other qualities. The organic acids in coffee contain powerful antioxidant properties that can offer some health benefits, but for some people, there are tradeoffs to consider.

Roast Levels for Lower Acidity

Beyond selecting low-acid coffee based on origin (even within a single country there are variations), roasting plays a role in reducing coffee acidity. Typically coming from organic acids in coffee, longer roasting times burn off more acids, removing them from the coffee beans, and consequently from the brewed beverage as well.

Darker roasts typically have lower acidity than light roasts because organic acids are burned off during the roasting process.

Two main organic chemicals in coffee associated with stomach discomfort are N-alkanoyl-5-hydroxytryptamides and catechols. On the other hand, some compounds like N-methylpyridinium (NMP) have been shown to help alleviate stomach discomfort—with NMP content found in higher concentrations in darker roasts than in lighter ones.

Cold Brew's Effect on Low Acidity

Due to the lower extraction temperature over several hours, cold brew coffee tends to work well for those sensitive to coffee. Extracting some of coffee's acidic compounds requires higher temperatures, which are not present during cold brewing. Broadly speaking, darker roasts are also best suited for cold brew, which further reduces acidity.

Decaffeinated Coffee for Low Acidity

The process used to extract caffeine also extracts many other compounds naturally present in raw coffee beans. Regardless of how they're decaffeinated—Swiss Water, carbon dioxide, other solvents—they lose more than just caffeine, which reduces the content of other acids.

While any decaffeination method removes some "healthy" compounds, none of them make coffee unhealthy. A common misconception is that solvents are less healthy than carbon dioxide or Swiss Water methods, but they burn off at temperatures much lower than those used for roasting coffee, leaving no trace of the compounds in the final roasted coffee.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473