Strategies to mitigate electrostatic charging during coffee grinding

Autor: Joshua Méndez Harper, Robin E. Bumbaugh, Christopher H. Hendon
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: iScience, Vol 27, Iss 9, Pp 110639- (2024)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2589-0042
DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110639
Popis: Summary: Coffee grinding generates electrostatically charged particles, causing clumping, spark discharge, and beyond. When brewing, the particle aggregates affect liquid-solid surface accessibility, leading to variable extraction quality. Here, we study four charge mitigation strategies. De-electrification is readily achieved by adding small amounts of water to whole beans or by bombarding the grounds with ions produced from a high-voltage ionizer. While these techniques helped reduce visible mess, only water inclusion was found to impact coffee extracts prepared as espresso. Wetting whole beans with less than 0.05 mL/g resulted in a marked shift in particle size distribution, by preventing clump formation and preventing fine particles from sticking to the grinder. This particle size shift results in at least a 15% higher coffee concentration for espresso extracts prepared from darker roasts. These findings encourage the widespread implementation of water use to de-electrify coffee during grinding with the benefit of increased coffee extraction efficiency.
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