In Science We Trust

It’s hard to survive a morning without coffee. But where would we be without the science that made today’s coffees possible? Take an espresso machine. On the surface, it’s just a heating element, electricity, a pump, and a bit of electronics. Simple enough. Yet making a cup of coffee at the push of a button required centuries of research: the discovery of electricity, the development of silicon technologies, microcontrollers, mathematics, physics, and chemistry. And that’s only the magical button that brews the coffee. What about the influence of bean density on roasting? Chemical reactions, the Maillard reaction, caramelization, organic acids, and countless other variables that shape what ends up in the cup?That’s why: In Science We Trust.

Through these posts, I want to explore the science behind coffee.

From cultivation and processing, through the reactions that occur during roasting, to the chemistry of coffee compounds, water mineralization and its effect on extraction, the electronics inside coffee equipment, and even the physics of grinder burrs.

Let curiosity be our guide.

As a devoted advocate of the scientific method, a mathematician by training, and someone who firmly believes in evidence over intuition, I invite you to join me in reading and analyzing scientific papers about coffee, debunking coffee myths, and challenging the coffee world’s version of bro science.

Hopefully, like coffee-loving Copernicuses, we’ll stop the Earth and move the Sun.