On 05/14/2017 02:08 AM, Clifford Heath wrote:

Not entirely true. Sitting it on the heat mostly spoils the taste
by burning oily resins that don't get extracted in a cold brew.

What does that have to do with anything? Those components are only a
problem when overheated.

That's just not true. Hot brewing is a balance between not extracting
enough of the fine flavours, and extracting too many unpleasant bitter
ones. Cold brewing simply doesn't extract the bitter flavours that
come from heavier resins, etc. Obviously there will be people who
like bitter flavours anyhow; but to most people they taste bad even
before they've been burnt.

That must be why so few people enjoy hot brewed coffee.

You never pass up the opportunity to show how thick you are, do you?

It's not hard to understand. Different people have different tastes. As
I have already said, not all people prefer cold brewed coffee. It's
that simple. Taste is a matter of... taste. It's a bit silly to say,
"to most people they taste bad even before they've been burnt." You said
that yourself. Obviously there are plenty of people who like hot brewed
coffee when done properly. So what are you going on about?

Baristas know that if the extraction is too hot or too long, the
taste is spoiled by the heavier oils and resins. Too short or too
cool and you don't get all the nice flavours. Popular taste is
around some middle point, with outliers on both sides, of course.
But it's a balance that must be struck.

Cold brew avoids the problem by getting almost all the nice flavours
(though very slowly - hours instead of seconds) without mobilising
the heavier elements. You can re-heat it without the worsening the
effect of those, because they basically aren't present. The only
reason it's not much more common is because it's not quick enough.

Did that make it easier for you to follow? Do your own reading on
the subject, you'll find that a lot of informed opinion agrees.

Since leaving Melbourne (one of the premier coffee-drinking cities
worldwide) I've gone "full Melbourne" in my own coffee tastes,
grinding my own beans right before every brew. I'm about to find
some coffee plants to grow my own - they fruit well in Sydney. Pity
that most of Sydney doesn't know how to make a good coffee!

I couldn't get a decent cup of coffee in Melbourne two years ago. No
cream or even "half and half" -- only black or milk.

Perce