Why does coffee taste sour?
Sour coffee comes down to two things: (1) bad beans and (2) bad brewing. If the beans are under-roasted, they’ll taste grassy and sour. If they’re old and stale, they’ll have a really sharp lemony flavour. But, chances are, you’re beans are fine—which means you need to make a small adjustment or two to how you make your coffee. Sour coffee is usually under-extracted coffee. Essentially, the beans didn’t get brewed enough… and so not all the flavours are there to balance out the acids. We break why this happens and the stages of extraction (the acids come first) in this blog, if you’re curious . Here’s how under-extraction tends to happen at home: Your beans are ground too coarsely. Fine grounds extract quickly, but large ones take longer because the water needs more time to get into the center of each particle (you know, science). An overly coarse grind size could simply mean each particle isn’t getting the time it needs for a balanced extraction. Your brew time was too short. ...