Are There Ways to Make Coffee Sweeter? How to Brew Coffee with a Sweet Aftertaste?

In specialty coffee, sweetness has always been a highly valued descriptor. Not only does it serve as one of the key indicators for evaluating coffee bean quality, but it's also the sought-after flavor that roasters, baristas, and brewing enthusiasts passionately pursue. When a cup of black coffee possesses both aroma and sweetness, it indicates that everything from the raw ingredients to extraction has been controlled within ideal parameters, making it undoubtedly good coffee without further explanation.

In daily life, people naturally gravitate toward sweet things while keeping their distance from bitter foods. After all, FrontStreet Coffee has rarely seen visitors from other regions who can happily finish an entire bottle of herbal tea. Since most people's first impression of coffee is bitterness, when we taste sweet flavors like fruit or caramel, we're surprised to discover that this "black beverage" can also be sweet, which then prompts us to delve into the techniques for brewing sweet coffee.

When is coffee's "sweetness" most released?

Although sweetness is widely loved, people's sensitivity to bitterness and acidity is far higher than to sweetness. Therefore, when we can clearly perceive coffee's sweetness, it means that the bitter and acidic compounds that mask sweet molecules are lower in concentration or proportion, allowing the taste buds to prioritize experiencing pleasant sweetness.

Under the washing of hot water, different flavor compounds dissolve at varying rates, with sugars and alcohols that express sweetness typically dominating in the middle to later stages. Theoretically, as long as we can capture more sweet substances during the brewing process while "suppressing" the release of bitter compounds, we can achieve sweetness in the final black coffee.

Facing the diverse types of coffee beans with various flavor profiles, we typically categorize them into two main groups: light-to-medium roast acidic coffees and medium-to-dark roast bitter coffees, then brew them with corresponding extraction parameters. Therefore, to find the right approach for high-sweetness extraction, FrontStreet Coffee believes we should first understand the type of coffee beans we're working with, then adjust the brewing framework accordingly. (It should be emphasized here that brewing cannot change the fundamental flavor profile of coffee beans; it can only control the intensity of acidity, sweetness, and bitterness in the final black coffee to a limited extent.)

Brewing approach for fruity coffees

We all know that light-to-medium roast coffees exhibit fruity acidity. Generally, as long as we avoid extracting the bitter components from the later stages, the flavor of black coffee will primarily revolve around acidity and sweetness. Typically, the lighter the roast degree, the smaller the structural changes in the coffee beans, with less carbon dioxide gas inside and a denser texture. Consequently, the coffee powder has poorer water absorption and requires more thorough contact with water to release sufficient flavor compounds, which means the particles need to be ground finer. Logically, the more complete the extraction of positive flavors, the more pronounced the sweetness will be.

The differences in sweetness perception among coffees brewed by different people are mainly influenced by variations in aromatic compound concentrations, which primarily depends on how well basic parameters are controlled, such as grind size, water temperature, coffee-to-water ratio, number of pour segments, water distribution, flow rate, and pouring circle size and speed. Taking FrontStreet Coffee's daily production as an example, when brewing light-to-medium roast coffees, we set our basic parameters within this range: 15g coffee powder, EK43s grind setting 10, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, water temperature 91-93°C, with a three-pour method and water distribution of 30ml/125ml/70ml for each segment.

When the coffee powder grind size is normal (without issues like water pooling at the end or muddy grounds), FrontStreet Coffee doesn't recommend adjusting the grind size to achieve sweeter or more acidic flavors. For those who don't frequently brew pour-over coffee, grind size is a difficult factor to master. Whether too coarse, too fine, or uneven, it will affect the final flavor to some extent. Therefore, if your current grind setting can produce good coffee, try to use other more controllable parameters instead to avoid irreversible extraction problems.

If you consistently lack sweetness when brewing fruity coffees, consider referring to the following adjustment directions summarized by FrontStreet Coffee:

1. Increase water temperature – Since different pour-over kettles lose heat at different rates, extraction temperatures will vary. If you normally use 90°C water to brew fruit-acidic coffees and find they're not bitter but always taste too acidic with weak sweetness, try increasing the water temperature by 2-3°C. The purpose is to increase the extraction rate throughout the pouring process, thereby obtaining richer positive aromatic compounds.

2. Increase the number of pours – Compared to a single-pour method, a three-pour method distributes extraction across the front, middle, and back stages, while a single pour concentrates extraction mainly in the first half. Consequently, single-pour brewing tends to produce more acidic flavors, while multi-pour brewing yields sweeter results. When your usual pour method produces coffee with heavy acidity and you want it sweeter, add another pour to extract the later coffee bed. For example, if your three-pour water distribution is 30ml/125ml/70ml, you could change it to 30ml/75ml/60ml/60ml with an additional pour.

3. Add more water – The purpose of continuing to add water is to increase the coffee-to-water ratio, which can extend extraction time and allow more thorough extraction of sweet compounds from the middle and later stages. This will relatively reduce acidity while enhancing sweetness. However, considering that adding water reduces concentration, FrontStreet Coffee recommends making conservative adjustments. For example, if you're using a 1:15 or lower coffee-to-water ratio, you could first increase it to 1:16 and see if the coffee improves. If the concentration is acceptable and sweetness has increased, then no further improvements are needed.

Brewing approach for nutty coffees

Friends who dislike acidity usually prioritize coffee beans with darker roast degrees when purchasing, as they typically exhibit roasted flavor notes such as nuts, dark chocolate, almonds, and seeds, with minimal acidity and prominent sweet notes like cocoa, caramel, and maple.

However, medium-to-dark roast beans have been heated longer and to higher degrees, resulting in a very loose texture. Since they undergo more caramelization reactions than light roast coffees, bitter compounds are more easily released in the later stages under the same parameters. Once parameters aren't properly controlled, roasted bitterness can easily dominate, masking sweetness and producing coffee that's shockingly bitter with a lingering astringency in the throat. Therefore, brewing dark roast coffee to achieve sweetness is not only one of the main practices for many beginners to improve their brewing skills but also a key for experienced brewers to master coffee balance.

To avoid extracting excessive undesirable flavors while maintaining mellow sweetness, FrontStreet Coffee uses a slow-flow Kono dripper + raw sugar grind + low water temperature (88°C), combined with gentle small circular pouring and a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio to wash the coffee bed, with extraction time controlled around 2 minutes. For specific operational details, you can refer to the article FrontStreet Coffee published a month ago.

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FrontStreet Coffee

No. 10, Bao'an Qianjie, Yandun Road, Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

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