We keep nattering on about too-hot, but what is too-hot? Let’s stop with the cloak-and-dagger and give you a number. That punk rock strength might be for you, but most cups made with too-hot water will over-extract and taste bitter, astringent and (too) strong. It also makes more of the bitterness and caffeine extract, which need more energy to wiggle their way out. Remember those acids we mentioned a moment ago? Using too-hot water makes them start to decay. Coffee is never going to be a sun-worshipper.

Too many bitter-tasting compounds extract to give a cup that tastes – you guessed it – bitter. Feeling the heat and used water that was too hot? This gives us an over-extracted cup.If you were looking at some scales, they’d be more than a bit wonky. Sad face The compounds aren’t extracted enough, or you’ll have too many acidic compounds and not enough sweet ones. Using water that is too cold will under-extract your lovely coffee.As such, increasing the water temperature doesn’t just put the foot down on extraction – it also changes the types and proportions of compounds extracted. Acidic, fruity flavours extract first, followed by sweetness and balance, and finally bitterness and caffeine. These compounds all extract at different rates. This means that compounds like acids, oils, aroma and caffeine start to extract. When extracted correctly, a cup of coffee tastes effortlessly balanced and beautifully sweet: you’ve hit bull’s-eye and found the coffee’s ‘sweet spot’.Īdding hot water to coffee grounds gives more energy for chemical reactions. Using the right temperature to brew coffee is vital for getting pinpoint-perfect extraction. And water temperature matters, like, BIG time. Because we’re only 60% water – our coffees are a mighty 98.75% H20. We’d even say it’s more important to your coffee than it is to us humans. Water temperature for coffee: why does it matter?

Flick my bean coffee