What should coffee beginners know first?

Common beginner questions have clear answers. No research links coffee melanin to skin melanin, and caffeine may even support metabolism and digestion. Opened coffee beans are typically used within four weeks, and grounds sooner, while unopened vacuum-packed beans can keep up to four months. Pregnant women should limit caffeine.

Storage affects how a coffee will taste. Keep beans in an airtight container, refrigerate if desired, and add a small pinch of salt to the container without opening the packet, so the coffee does not turn salty. Choose packaging with a one-way valve so gas escapes but outside air cannot enter. Home brewing, water choice, iced coffee, and acidity are covered too.

Will drinking coffee make your skin darker? How long can coffee beans be stored after opening? Can pregnant women drink coffee? These questions seem simple, yet they often leave people uncertain. This article compiles the 16 most common questions at the introductory stage of coffee, covering caffeine's effects on the body, selecting and storing coffee beans, choosing water, making iced coffee, sources of acidity, and home brewing techniques. Whether you are a beginner just getting into coffee or an enthusiast who has been drinking it for a while but still has doubts, you can find clear, practical answers in this Q&A to help you enjoy every cup more confidently.

1. Does drinking coffee make your skin darker?

Answer: So far, no research result has been able to prove a necessary connection between the melanin in coffee and skin melanin. On the contrary, caffeine can speed up metabolism, promote digestion, and improve constipation. From these effects, it may actually help improve rough skin. When it comes to caffeine speeding up metabolism, one claim is that coffee can accelerate calorie burning and thereby achieve weight loss; in theory this is not wrong, but the degree of calorie burning is far from enough to cause noticeable weight loss. If sugar and creamer are also added to the coffee, then from a calorie standpoint it is even less consistent with weight-loss principles.

2. How should coffee beans be stored?

Answer: Improper storage methods can affect coffee's quality and flavor. Generally speaking, after opening, coffee beans are best used within four weeks, and coffee grounds even sooner. Vacuum-packed coffee beans, if not yet opened, can be stored for up to four months. To minimize coffee's physical and chemical changes, storage packaging is a major field of study. Coffee beans brought home should be placed in an airtight container and can be refrigerated. Remember to sprinkle a small pinch of salt into the coffee storage container (do not remove the coffee from its packet, to avoid mixing coffee and salt and making the coffee taste salty), which helps preserve the coffee's aroma.

When purchasing, it is best to choose a breathable bag that has an additional one-way valve on the sealed packaging, so that gas from the beans or coffee grounds can escape, while outside air cannot get in. Because coffee grounds have a shorter shelf life than coffee beans, grinding only right before brewing helps ensure the freshness of the coffee beans and maintain the coffee's aroma.

3. Does coffee cause calcium loss?

Answer: In recent years, due to publicity about medical health care, many people have begun to pay attention to calcium loss and osteoporosis. As for the relationship between caffeine intake and osteoporosis, research is still ongoing, and there is currently no direct evidence showing that caffeine causes osteoporosis. However, some studies point out that caffeine increases calcium excretion, so the current recommendation is: coffee lovers should eat more calcium-rich foods to supplement calcium. If you can drink milk before drinking coffee, it can also reduce the loss of calcium already in the body.

4. For iced coffee (such as Iced Mocha, Iced Cappuccino), is it brewed with iced coffee beans or brewed with that type of coffee bean and then ice is added?

Answer: Iced coffee is best brewed using iced coffee beans, then after it cools (at room temperature), ice is added. If ice is added right after brewing to cool it, too much ice melts into the coffee, and the coffee becomes too thin. Iced Mocha refers to a drink made by adding chocolate syrup to iced coffee; Mocha in English means coffee plus chocolate. Iced Cappuccino refers to iced coffee that, in addition to containing sugar and milk, also has a specially blended spice added, so its flavor is more distinctive.

5. Is it correct that coffee must be drunk hot?

Answer: Some people say the best time to drink hot coffee is at 85°C, and once it cools it does not taste as good. In fact, if it is a good cup of coffee, the taste performance should be consistent when the temperature is high and when it becomes lower, which is also why coffee tasters include the entire process from hot to cold in their evaluation. A cup of excellent-quality coffee, after cooling, besides having less aroma, may even perform better in taste than when hot. It is only because of coffee's inherent instability that some people encourage drinking it while it is still hot, to avoid the changes after cooling affecting the coffee's flavor. From another angle, when a cup of steaming coffee is placed before you, drinking it while hot is also a courtesy that responds to the brewer's goodwill.

6. Why can unsweetened black coffee still have a slight sweetness?

Answer: Most people think coffee beans taste only bitter, sour, and astringent. In fact, raw coffee beans contain about 5%–8% sugar. After high-temperature roasting, most of the sugar is converted into caramel. This caramelization gives coffee its unique brown color and creates the source of aroma and bitterness; the remaining sugar leaves a slight sweetness. In addition, when roasting high-quality coffee beans, the tannic acid released combines with the brown caramel, also producing a slightly bitter sweetness.

7. Why does drinking coffee easily make it hard to sleep?

Answer: Many people have experienced being unable to sleep after drinking coffee because they feel stimulated and energized. This is because the human body has a substance called adenosine, a transmitter that controls neural activity and can slow breathing, reduce mood, and lower gastric acid secretion and the need to urinate; the caffeine contained in coffee impersonates adenosine, making the body think adenosine's effect has already occurred, but in fact adenosine has not circulated, so no suppressing effect occurs. Therefore, on the contrary, you feel energized, have increased gastric acid, and urinate more frequently. Because of the excitement of mood, you feel more alert, so naturally it is harder to fall asleep. It is worth noting that this short-term alertness caused by caffeine does not mean physical strength has truly been restored. In addition, because each person's caffeine metabolism speed differs, sensitivity to caffeine also varies, so some people still do not feel that their sleep is affected at all after drinking coffee.

8. What kind of water should be used to brew coffee?

Answer: About 98%–99% of a cup of coffee is water, so if you want to brew delicious coffee, just as with making alcohol or tea, good water quality is what allows the coffee's richness and aroma to show. So is mineral water, which tastes more pleasant, a good match for coffee? Because mineral water is mostly hard water with high sodium, manganese, calcium, and magnesium content, hard water hinders the release of caffeine and tannic acid, greatly reducing the coffee's flavor. In addition, avoid using water with a smell of disinfectant; you can use water that has been boiled a second time, as well as water that has just flowed from the tap early in the morning. The most suitable water for brewing coffee should be boiling water heated on a gas stove; this kind of water still retains a little carbon dioxide, which better highlights the coffee's deliciousness.

9. What makes a good cup of coffee?

Answer: Coffee is a personalized beverage. As long as the coffee beans used are of good quality, fresh, and professionally roasted, any coffee that suits your own taste is good coffee.

A good cup of coffee does not depend entirely on the origin of the coffee beans, the brewing method, and so on, but rather on the drinker's own personality and taste preferences. For example, we often see in American restaurants or movies people drinking one big cup after another of American coffee. Because American coffee is lighter in taste, it is sometimes described as "sock water," but these people never tire of it. This shows that the definition of good coffee depends entirely on personal preference; it is absolutely individualistic.

10. What are coffee's "three original species"?

Answer: Among the many plants on Earth, the Coffea genus has at least more than forty species, but the more suitable cultivated species are the commonly called three original species: Arabica, Robusta, and Liberica, and this order is also the order of their quality. The best aroma is Arabica, and its caffeine content is only half that of Robusta. At present, Arabica production accounts for about 70%–80% of total world production. Robusta is tolerant of high temperatures, heavy rain, and little rain, has strong adaptability, lower cost, and its output also accounts for 20%–30% of total production. Liberica, because of its poor aroma and relatively strong bitterness, is not widespread except for consumption in its producing countries and by a small number of Europeans.

11. How should coffee be tasted?

Answer: Drinking coffee should be like savoring a glass of fine wine (Wine); only by tasting carefully can you appreciate its refinement.

No matter what method is used to brew the coffee, there is no need to rush to swallow it in one gulp. First smell the coffee's original aroma, then take a small sip to try the original flavor, then add an appropriate amount of sugar according to personal preference and stir with a small spoon. While the coffee is swirling from stirring, slowly add creamer, letting the oils float on top of the coffee. This can keep it warm on the one hand, and on the other hand the heat of the coffee can also evaporate the milk aroma.

Coffee should be drunk while hot, because its taste and aroma diminish as it cools. Drinking coffee requires not only the right temperature but also the right amount. Generally, filling the cup about seven or eight tenths full is just right: the amount makes the flavor vivid and also makes drinking it neat and light. By following this way of tasting, the coffee you savor will seem even more sweet and delicious.

12. Is drinking "black coffee" the best way to taste coffee?

Answer: There is a saying about drinking coffee that only those who know how to drink "black coffee" without creamer or sugar are connoisseurs of coffee. In fact, there is no fixed correct way to drink coffee. In coffee's homeland, Ethiopia, the "coffee ceremony" even features adding spices such as ginger and cinnamon. For a good cup of coffee, the black coffee tasting method can indeed allow you to enjoy its original balanced and intense flavor, while sugar and creamer can make up for certain defects in some coffees. For example, creamer can remove some astringency, and adding sugar can turn bitterness into sweetness.

13. Can pregnant women drink coffee?

Answer: In 1980, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement recommending that women who are pregnant or may become pregnant reduce their caffeine intake; however, many subsequent research results have shown that there is no evidence that a moderate amount of caffeine has adverse effects on the fetus, and there are also no medical reports prohibiting pregnant women from drinking coffee. But the FDA did not change its earlier warning, because in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, pregnant women metabolize caffeine about twice as fast as when not pregnant, and caffeine also crosses the placenta into the fetus and passes through breastfeeding into the infant's body. Therefore, it is recommended that pregnant women and postpartum women be as cautious as possible about caffeine intake.

14. Why do some coffees taste more sour?

Answer: Whether coffee tastes sour mostly depends on the coffee variety. Some coffees themselves have higher acidity, such as Kenya, Mocha, Colombia, Guatemala, and Costa Rica.

The degree of roasting is also related to the coffee's acidity. Coffee beans that are lightly roasted still contain organic acids in their components, so the brewed coffee tastes more sour; for deeply roasted coffee beans, because the high temperature during roasting has already released the organic acids contained in the coffee beans, the brewed coffee has lower acidity. When brewing coffee (especially when using a "siphon"), stirring too many times or leaving the brewed coffee on a warming plate for too long are both reasons coffee becomes sour.

15. How should coffee beans be selected?

No matter which kind of coffee bean it is, freshness is the main factor affecting quality. When selecting, take one or two coffee beans and chew them in your mouth. If they are crisp and make a sound (indicating the coffee beans have not absorbed moisture) and leave a fragrant aftertaste, they are of superior quality, but it is still best to pinch them with your hand to feel whether they are solid, rather than buying hollow coffee beans.

If the coffee beans have already lost their aroma or smell stale, it means these coffee beans are no longer fresh and are not suitable for purchase.

Freshly roasted coffee beans are not suitable for immediate drinking; they should be stored for a week to allow the gases inside the beans to be fully released.

Generally speaking, the best drinking period for coffee is one week after roasting. At this time the coffee is freshest, and its aroma (Aroma) and taste perform best.

In addition, the purity of coffee beans is another consideration. When connoisseurs choose coffee, they do not necessarily look at the size of the beans, but rather take a handful of single-origin coffee beans (Regional Coffee), about several dozen beans, and see whether the color of each single bean is consistent and whether the size and shape are similar, so as to avoid buying inferior products disguised with mixed beans. But if they are blended coffee beans (Blended Coffee), different sizes and colors are normal. In addition, heavy roasting and medium-dark roasting will cause coffee beans to release oil, but if lighter-roasted beans release oil, it indicates they have already deteriorated; not only does the richness and aroma decrease, but astringency and sourness also appear. In short, when selecting coffee, pay attention to its freshness, aroma, and stale smell, and the ideal purchase quantity is one that can be finished within half a month.

16. How can you brew excellent coffee at home?

Answer: Regarding the knowledge of brewing coffee, according to the person in charge of operations at a coffee shop, to fully master and interpret the essence of coffee requires at least a full year of professional training, and currently there is no such training environment in the country. If you want to brew a fairly good cup of instant coffee yourself at home, here is a little secret recipe for you: first put a small amount of warm milk into a pot, then add an appropriate amount of coffee powder and boiling water (the ratio is about 3g of coffee powder to 140c.c. of boiling water), heat until slightly boiling (be careful not to let it fully boil), then immediately turn off the heat, and afterward add sugar according to personal preference. This method uses the milk at the bottom to eliminate the peculiar smell unique to instant coffee, making the coffee richer and more fragrant.

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