Coffee is more expensive than ever. Some researchers have discovered how to make it the same as rich using less coffee

Cocoa and coffee have experienced a Notable price increase This 2025. different Geopolitical factors, climatic and of transport They have caused the price of coffee to reach absurd limits. For some executives of coffee companies, we are immersed in one “unsustainable bubble”And it is logical that, with coffee at the point more expensive for the last 50 yearslet’s ask ourselves how to prepare the best coffee wearing fewer grains.

A group of scientists already has the answer: taking advantage of the Fluid dynamics. And they have reached the same conclusion that the baristas have been promulgating for years.

The problem. 2024 meant the culmination of an upward trend: the price of coffee had Uploaded almost 170% in the last decade. A Perfect storm I was promoting that the crops were more scarce in the main coffee producing countriestariffs have not helped, transport has also been sometimes interrupted and there are brands that absorbed the impact of the price increase Until they stopped doing it.

Filter coffee. This price increase affects both robust variety like Arabicaand a group of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania wondered if they could make an excellent coffee wearing less grains. Arnold Mathijssen is an assistant professor at the Faculty of University Arts and Sciences and Comment That, although there are several research on fluid mechanics and many others on particles, they have joined both to see if they can enhance coffee extraction.

To do this, they focused on one of the elaborations that allows the most control when making coffee: The filter. Here we can precisely establish the temperature of the water, we control how it affects coffee, the amount of grain, the milliliters of water and, With a good millwe can find the right grain thickness to optimize extraction.

The perfect point. The team used high -speed cameras to measure water penetration in coffee and the truth is that it did not use techniques that the baristas did not know, but it is interesting to know how they evaluated the process. Margot Young is co -author of study And he states that, before starting directly with coffee, they used transparent silica gel particles in a glass cone (such as the classic Chemex) to see the path that follows the water.

With the high -speed chamber and several sensors, they observed how small avalanches were produced inside the “coffee” bed. Little by little, water with a constant jet, the particles mixed better, improving coffee extraction by increasing contact between liquid and grains.

They played with different heights, They discovered That, when the water is poured from too much height, the jet breaks into drops that drag air to the cone and the grains, reducing the efficiency of the extraction. If the coffee is poured very close, the penetration is insufficient and the contact between water and grains is reduced.

Adequate teapot. To take advantage of fluid dynamics and maximize contact between the elements, Ernest Park, co -author of the study, comments that it is essential to use a swan’s neck. They are with an elongated and curved ‘pitorro’ that allow consistent and precise jet. “If you use a conventional teapot, it is difficult to control where the flow goes,” says Park, “and if the flow is not constant, it does not penetrate enough.”

In real experiments with coffee, measurements confirmed that extraction can be optimized by prolonging the spill time using slow and constant movements to take advantage of that Avalancha dynamics. If it is not done at fair speed and height, coffee will be stronger or softer because it will be above or sub -expire.

Beyond coffee. It is curious that they have used measurements and physical theories to, as we say, to reach the same conclusion that the baristas have been proclaiming in books and channels like YouTube: A swan neck, slow circular movements and a medium height when preparing filter coffee is ideal to maximize extraction and be able to make a good coffee with less grains.

However, the researchers comment that they did not do this for fun. Mathijssen says they had “the tools of other projects and we realized that coffee was an interesting model system to explore deepest physical principles that go beyond the kitchen.” For example, this type of fluid behavior helps to understand how water erodes the rock under waterfalls or in the dams. ”

The importance of science. But well, beyond “I came looking for money and found gold”, it must be said that coffee and science are very close. And it is not so much a search on how to prepare the best coffee using less grains, but a way to optimize the elaborations to have the best possible drink.

He MIT has a course in which students and researchers seek to prepare the perfect cup controlling all the processes and techniques to achieve it. They combine elements, play with temperatures and pressures and calculate everything millimeter to obtain knowledge that They move to Café Diario thanks to the development of better techniques, more sophisticated tools and industrial processes (such as grinding or roasted) much more precise.

Images | For City, Ernest Park, James Hoffmann