Are Coffee Grease Filter Cups Useful? Why Does Espresso's Crema Taste Bitter? What Does Espresso Crema Mean? How to Make Delicious Americano Coffee?

Introduction: Coffee Gadgets and Innovation

Every once in a while, some interesting coffee gadgets appear on the market. For example, devices like the Lily Drip that can change the filter basket's coffee bed structure, or the Paragon that rapidly cools coffee liquid. These tools affect coffee from various aspects, bringing certain changes to the coffee we ultimately drink.

The Filtering Coffee Pitcher: A Familiar Innovation

Today, FrontStreet Coffee wants to share another interesting little gadget. Although this item has only recently appeared in the coffee circle, products with similar functions have actually long existed in our daily lives. And that is a coffee pitcher with "filtering" functionality.

How does it look? Doesn't it seem very familiar? That's right! It has the same function as the oil separator in our daily lives, capable of separating the oil floating on the liquid surface. When applied to coffee, it mainly separates the golden foam floating on espresso - Crema/oil. When Crema is filtered out, coffee undergoes two subtle changes: one is that the taste becomes cleaner, and the other is that it's not as bitter when drinking.

The Science Behind Crema and Bitterness

If some friends have tasted coffee oil separately after espresso extraction (after the oil and coffee liquid have separated), FrontStreet Coffee believes everyone should have tasted obvious bitterness from this layer of oil, and sometimes even felt a slightly unpleasant grainy texture in the oil. Therefore, when we filter out the espresso oil, we can produce Italian-style coffee with less bitterness and relatively cleaner taste - this is the special function that makes this coffee pitcher different from others.

But we need to know that the source of bitterness is not the coffee oil itself, because the composition of coffee oil (Crema) is mainly lipids and carbon dioxide from coffee. Obviously, neither of these provides obvious bitterness. The real culprit causing the bitterness in the oil is actually - coffee ultra-fine powder hidden in the oil.

Understanding Filtration and Particle Separation

Because the filter holes in an espresso machine's portafilter are not small enough to isolate everything except coffee liquid as cleanly as filter paper does, things like espresso Crema/oil and ultra-fine particles from coffee powder can pass through these filter holes and join the coffee. During extraction, most of these fine particles pressed out of the portafilter, being lighter in weight, are carried by the oil to float on the liquid surface. The fine particles themselves have a certain bitterness, which leads to the oil carrying fine particles developing obvious bitterness. If the oil is left for too long, these fine particles that originally float on the surface will sink to the bottom of the cup due to the breakdown of Crema. The reason we sometimes taste a subtle grainy texture in coffee is because we drink these fine particles.

So we can understand that the reason this filtering coffee pitcher can make coffee taste cleaner and less bitter is that it filters out the oil and consequently filters out the coffee fine particles mixed in the oil that emit bitterness.

Is This Coffee Pitcher Worth Buying?

So, is this coffee pitcher worth buying? To be honest, whether this coffee pitcher is worth buying specifically depends on personal preference. As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned, products with similar functions have actually long existed, so we can find many "affordable alternatives." Secondly, although it can reduce the bitterness of coffee, it also makes the coffee's aroma less rich. The reason is that it cannot filter out only the fine particles while preserving Crema/coffee oil. FrontStreet Coffee mentioned earlier that Crema/oil is mainly composed of lipids and carbon dioxide from coffee, and lipids not only serve to wrap carbon dioxide but also have certain aromas. When oil is present, we can taste more aroma from the cup, and after swallowing the coffee, we get obvious and persistent aftertaste due to the presence of oil. At the same time, the presence of oil can also give coffee a richer and thicker texture. But if we filter out the oil, these characteristics brought by the oil will also decrease.

Alternative Solutions and Conclusion

But FrontStreet Coffee believes that the usage of this coffee pitcher doesn't stop there! So, whether you need to buy this coffee pitcher still depends on personal trade-offs and needs. But if you want both higher cleanliness in coffee while retaining the aroma emitted by oil, FrontStreet Coffee does have a way to satisfy this "little greed" of having both fish and bear's paw. The specific method is very simple - we just need to place two circular filter papers at the bottom of the portafilter before filling with coffee powder. This way, we can filter out the coffee fine particles while preserving the oil. Then naturally, the coffee can be both aromatic and clean!

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473