"By rinsing our mouths with ice water, we can taste a cup of coffee better and more easily capture its delicate flavors." This is a saying that has been circulating in the community for a long time. So we often see customers in cafés who, after ordering coffee, ask the barista for a glass of ice water, mainly for the purpose of tasting the coffee better.So the question arises: Does ice water really have such an effect? Front Street Coffee believes many friends are curious about this. So today Front Street Coffee will share with you whether ice water can really help us taste a cup of coffee better~Let's start with the conclusion: it can indeed help us taste a cup of coffee better. Why? Because it can give our mouth a "cleaning" effect.In many cases, the reason we cannot perceive the delicate flavors the barista describes is not necessarily because such flavors do not exist, nor because the barista did not brew the coffee well(though such cases cannot be ruled out
), but because there are too many "elements" in the mouth disrupting the tasting.After we eat or drink something, a small amount of residue basically remains in our mouth. These residues continuously release odors that fill our mouth and reduce our sensory tasting ability. Just like how after drinking coffee, for a short period afterward we can still continuously perceive the aroma in our mouth—this is the effect of the coffee residue in the mouth.And no matter what kind of taste it is, its presence will affect our tasting of the coffee's flavor, even the coffee's own flavor is no exception. So if we want to better experience a cup of coffee, we need to clear the "foreign matter" in the mouth. Ice water plays exactly the role of such a cleaner!Front Street Coffee believes everyone can clearly feel that after drinking ice water, the mouth feels much fresher and cleaner. And this is not only because the ice water washes away these residues, but also because the low temperature of the ice water stimulates the mucous membranes of the mouth and throat, causing us to secrete more saliva.Saliva itself contains bacteriolytic components such as lysozyme, which can more thoroughly decompose and clear the "residues" in the mouth, preventing them from continuing to release odors that disrupt the senses. Moreover, the low temperature of the ice water will temporarily numb the nerve endings in the mouth, bringing a cooling sensation that can cover up odors.Under the combined effect of these factors, our mouth is temporarily "cleaned"(the effect will diminish after it returns to room temperature). At this point, when we drink the coffee, we can taste the delicate flavors in the coffee very well.But did you know? The first coffee to adopt this practice was not pour-over coffee, but espresso! As everyone knows, espresso is a very high-concentration coffee extracted by an espresso machine. But because the concentration is too high, the coffee's flavors and tastes are relatively concentrated, and it is hard for us to easily taste its deliciousness.Then someone at the time thought of improving the espresso tasting experience by drinking ice water beforehand. The result, as Front Street Coffee has described, is that the intervention of ice water can indeed help with coffee tasting. Especially for espresso, the large amount of secreted saliva dilutes the espresso that has been drunk to a certain extent, giving the flavors and tastes that were originally concentrated together and unable to "stretch their legs" more room to show themselves.So this is why when you order an espresso in a café, the barista brings you not only a cup of espresso but also a glass of ice water. It is not for you to pour the espresso into the ice water to make an iced americano
(except in some regions, of course), but to let you "rinse your mouth" with ice water before drinking the espresso, so you can better taste the deliciousness of the espresso.Later on, this method was gradually brought by some friends into the tasting of pour-over coffee, and then we had the scene that Front Street Coffee mentioned at the beginning, which we can now often see in cafés.But Front Street Coffee actually does not quite recommend doing this, because it can easily put a certain burden on the stomach and intestines, especially for friends with poor digestion who have also ordered a hot pour-over. If you want to clean your mouth before drinking coffee and better taste a cup of coffee, room-temperature water is actually completely sufficient. Although its effect is not as good as ice water, the difference is not very big, and most importantly, it will not put too much burden on the stomach and intestines—that is the most important thing~
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
), but because there are too many "elements" in the mouth disrupting the tasting.
(except in some regions, of course), but to let you "rinse your mouth" with ice water before drinking the espresso, so you can better taste the deliciousness of the espresso.
