Hey guys,

I'm having a problem with most specialty coffees I tried and I was hoping someone can tell me if I'm doing something wrong or if this is just the coffee. Every time I buy and brew specialty coffees, the coffee usually has an acceptable level of acidity once I'm done brewing and pour it into a cup but then the acidity increases tremendously within a minute or so. Is this normal or is this how specialty coffee is supposed to taste like after it sits for couple of minutes? I tried coffees from many different places, including my local roaster (Rojo's Roastery) and it's all the same. I also tried different brewing methods and again it's all the same.

Any help is much appreciated.

thecoffeefield wrote:Hey guys,

. . . the coffee usually has an acceptable level of acidity once I'm done brewing and pour it into a cup but then the acidity increases tremendously within a minute or so.

Some unknowns are the nature of your cup (e.g., heavy stoneware? plastic? double-walled insulated?) and its temperature before pouring (e.g., chilled? room temperature? heated?). Brewed coffee demonstrates remarkable flavor shifts at various stages of cooling. In other words, I speculate that declining temperature rather than the passage of time may be at play here.

Porcelain mugs, similar to ACME and I leave it at room temperature. I also agree that declining temperature is the cause of the higher acidity few minutes in. Having said that, 10 or 15 mns in the coffee is almost too acidic and undrinkable, any way I can fix that or this is just part of the coffee characteristics? Im used to Lavazza and Illy and increasing acidity as temperature decreases is never an issue.

Hot temperatures stifle taste. Which is why some people like very hot coffee - to minimize the bitterness. But in this case I think the acidity becomes more apparent as the coffee cools. I find I can better taste the acidity and flavors as coffee cools. Typically I find that to be a good thing.

But if it's too acidic for your taste you can try using a finer grind, hotter water, and/or longer brew time. If that doesn't work try darker roasted coffees or different origins.

Hotter water definitely helped but only initially but as the Coffee sat and the temperature cooled it started to taste very acidic very quickly. I will try finer grind.