Shorter coffee extraction makes for better sweater coffee without sugar

Shorter extraction makes for better sweater coffee without sugar

Did you know that you can make your coffee naturally sweeter very simply - its all a matter of timing. Essentially, a typical coffee extraction is 30mls of coffee extracted over 25 seconds, or for a double shot, 60ml of coffee in the cup over the same 25 seconds. First, allow me to help visualise the different stages of the coffee extraction. Imagine you are extracting into three small shot glasses instead of one cup, and that you continue the extraction while you switch each of the thee glasses through the coffee stream, ending up with only 10ml of coffee in each of the three shot glasses. You will discover that;

1. the first glass has a very dark extraction, and will taste the sweetest of the three
2. the second glass will be a little more tart and lighter in colour
3. the third glass will be the most tart of the three and the lightest in colour.

When extracted into a single cup, the difference is barely noticeable as all the flavours are blended together in the cup, but when separated in this way, you can taste the differences quite easily. 

​A simple trick to obtaining a sweeter coffee, is to extract only the first 15 seconds of your coffee and discard the rest - this is known in the industry as Ristretto - a very strong concentrated version of coffee (the opposite of Lungo). What I usually do is a double ristretto, resulting in a total of 30ml (instead of 60ml from a typical double shot), resulting in a sweeter and smoother tasting coffee. The resulting syrup may be a little too unbalanced for you, but give it a try if you are looking for a sweeter tasting coffee without the use of sugar!