Do you know that there are more than 1,000 chemicals present in your daily cup of coffee? Have you known some of the basic and prominent chemicals present?
INTRODUCTORY VIDEO
(Cause who doesn't love coffee?!)
Standard YouTube license: Coffee Chemistry! uploaded by Reactions
DISCUSSION
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| Caffeine |
Firstly, let's revisit the chemistry of caffeine, or 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine, present in coffee beans we consume. This is a white powder with an extremely bitter taste. It acts as a stimulant for our brain to fight against sleep and increase our concentration so we can bring an allnighter to do work1.
Chlorogenic acid (CGA) is an esterified compound (containing an ester group as one of its functional groups). This is present 5-10 times more than caffeine in coffee beans (around 1% of caffeine compared to 6-10% of CGA). Coffee beans also have the most CGA in its components compared to any other plants on Earth. Once roasted, CGA converts to caffeic and quinic acid, creating the bitter taste2.
There are certainly many other chemicals that make up the aroma and flavor of our coffee. The poster below is an excellent summary for this (click on image for enlargement).
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| Source: The Chemical Compounds Behind the Aroma of Coffee [Compound Interest] |
The Maillard reaction occurs between an amino acid and a reducing sugar, upon cooking/heating/roasting. The name was given based on French chemist Louis-Camille Maillard3. As a result, a brown-ish color will appear on food such as coffee, bread, sugar on flan (dessert), etc. Along with this, it also contributes to the overall aroma and flavor of our coffee. Specific steps of this reaction can be viewed below (click on image for enlargement).
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| Source: The Maillard Reaction [Compound Interest] |
Normal tap water does have a taste! For some people, it striked me hard that they could drink tap water directly without going through any filter methods. Perhaps they are used to it, but it is horrible for me (sometimes can be really fishy) so don't ever use tap water without filtering to make your coffee. You'll ruin your day.
Since coffee contains more than 1000 chemical substances (as stated in the first poster), there are obviously a lot of chemistry going on in something that looks as simple as your daily coffee cups. However, a lot of these substances are isomers, meaning that they have similar chemical formula, but exhibit in different structures, and thus resulting in different physical properties that alter the coffee's taste and flavor. So next time when you make yourself a coffee cup, remember all the tips mentioned in the brewing step of the video to obtain the perfect flavor and taste (:
Sources
Thumbnail background from PNG ALL
Chemical structures are from PubChem
1 Coffee Chemistry (Caffeine)
2 Coffee Chemistry (Chlorogenic Acid)
3Maillard Reaction [Wikipedia Page]
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