What Makes a Full Bodied Coffee in the Cup?

Body is the tactile weight and texture coffee leaves in the mouth, separate from flavor. Oils and fiber in the beans drive it: the more of both that end up in the cup, the fuller the mouthfeel. Thin, rough, and drying points to a lighter body, while smooth and coating points to a full bodied coffee.

Brewing choices decide how much of that material is extracted. Filter type, contact time, and roast level all matter, which is why flannel pourover and espresso tend to retain more oils than a paper-filtered brew. Adjusting those parameters lets you steer body in either direction, and words to describe coffee taste should cover mouthfeel alongside flavor.

When drinking coffee, we often hear the term "Body" — what exactly does it mean? Simply put, Body is the tactile sensation and weight that coffee brings in the mouth, that is, the mouthfeel or body. A good cup of coffee needs not only rich flavors but also an excellent mouthfeel. The quality of Body mainly depends on the content of oils and fiber in the coffee, and whether these substances can be fully extracted is closely related to the choice of filter, brewing time, and the roast level of the coffee beans. Front Street Coffee will take you deeper into the essence of Body and share how to achieve the ideal rich mouthfeel by adjusting brewing parameters. Whether you prefer a thick, full-bodied cup or a light, smooth one, this article will give you practical reference.

Right!! Front Street was initially confused by this concept too, and only after some exploration did we finally figure it out. Earlier, Front Street introduced that "Body" is a professional term in the coffee world, usually used to describe the mouthfeel and body of coffee (since body is part of mouthfeel, it more often refers to mouthfeel)!

To judge whether a cup of coffee is excellent, you can't look only at its flavor expression — mouthfeel also plays a decisive role! Flavor corresponds to the sensory experience of taste, while mouthfeel belongs to the tactile experience. For example, a glass of plain water and a cup of yogurt — whether you swirl them or taste them, the sense of weight and texture is completely different.

When we talk about whether a cup of coffee's Body is good or not, we are essentially talking about whether the tactile sensation it brings is pleasant. For example, if a cup of coffee is smooth and full in the mouth, or gives a thick feeling, we can say its Body is quite good; conversely, if it tastes thin, rough, and dry, that's another story.

The key to giving coffee a high-quality Body mainly lies in the content of oils and fiber. The higher the content of these two types of substances in coffee, the better the Body performs. Understanding this, you can see why Japanese people prefer flannel cloth for pour-over; why Italians are more fond of espresso? In the end, both methods better retain the oils, thereby enhancing the coffee's Body.

Excellent flavor alone is not enough to support a cup of coffee's overall quality — Body, as a tactile experience, is equally indispensable. Therefore, what Front Street wants to discuss today is: how to brew a high-quality coffee Body! How to brew coffee's Body? Some friends might say: "Just lower the coffee-to-water ratio and increase the coffee's concentration!" Indeed, this is a way to gain mouthfeel by increasing concentration! However, Front Street wants to point out a common misunderstanding here: coffee Body is not entirely equivalent to coffee concentration.

Because coffee's Body actually doesn't have a particularly direct connection with concentration. The method we know of gaining Body through high concentration and low extraction is actually all thanks to its specific brewing method! By using specific brewing techniques to extract the oils and fiber from the coffee, the Body strengthens as concentration rises. So what truly plays the decisive role is not concentration, but the oils and fiber we mentioned at the beginning!

In other words, as long as we let these two types of substances enter the coffee liquid more during extraction, we can get a relatively high-quality Body! 1. Filtering equipment When brewing coffee, the larger the filter holes of the filtering equipment, the more oils can pass through. The more oils, the thicker the Body. So, if you're after a thick, full Body, metal filters and flannel cloth are choices worth considering~

2. Brewing time Paper filters are too powerful at filtering, and oils have a hard time getting through, so we can extend the brewing time to allow the coffee to be extracted more fully! But if we extend the extraction time while keeping the original brewing parameters, it's easy to cause over-extraction — surely no one wants to drink a cup of coffee so bitter it's hard to swallow, right? So we need to adjust the parameters and lower the extraction efficiency, so that while extending the time, we can still harvest a relatively ideal Body!

Front Street recommends an extraction plan for your reference: "hold the ratio steady, lower the water temperature, coarsen the grind," then choose a dripper with a slower flow rate (such as Kono, Starry and other drippers) to limit the flow rate. In this way, through a longer soaking time, you can obtain rich coffee substances, and the Body will become smoother! 3. Coffee beans The roast level has a certain influence on the oil retention of coffee beans! The darker the roast, the more oils! Under the same brewing method, dark-roasted beans often brew a fuller mouthfeel than light-roasted beans! If you want to experience a very thick Body, then switch to dark-roasted beans and combine them with the first two points, and you'll get a quite abundant, thick Body!

Finally, Front Street wants to say: the presence of Body is certainly important, but not every cup of coffee needs a thick Body to support it — it can also be light! A light Body doesn't mean the coffee is thin, but rather that the coffee gives a very comfortable feeling. With full flavor and without an overly heavy tongue-pressing sensation, that is lightness~ And this kind of Body mostly appears in light-roasted coffee. So, "fish and bear's paw" — which one do you prefer?

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)

No. 10, Bao'an Qian Street, Yandun Road, Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.