TIPS FOR DISTINGUISHING REAL COFFEE FROM ADULTERATED COFFEE
13-06-2024Business Guide
Recently, the issue of coffee waste dyed with battery cores has caused concern among consumers. To protect yourself from fake coffee, consumers can apply the following methods to distinguish between real coffee and low-quality products on the market.
I. Observation before drinking.
1. By weight and volume.
The volume of pure roasted coffee is always greater than that of coffee made from various powders mixed with chemicals. When coffee beans are roasted to a certain temperature, they expand, increasing in volume by 1.5-2 times while decreasing in weight by 20-30%. Since the specific gravity of pure coffee decreases, when holding two packages of coffee of the same weight, you will notice that the real coffee package has a larger volume, looks like more, and feels lighter than the adulterated coffee package.
2. Porosity of the coffee.
Due to its low specific gravity, pure coffee powder is very light, porous, fluffy, and loose. Conversely, coffee made from grains mixed with flavorings lacks this fluffiness and smoothness. Therefore, you can distinguish them by pouring two spoonfuls of both types into two bowls of water. Pure coffee powder will float on top, while other cereal powders masquerading as coffee have a higher specific gravity and will sink into the water much faster.
>> SPECIALTY COFFEE BEANS
3. Moisture of the coffee powder.
Real coffee powder absorbs very little water; the moisture content of real coffee beans after roasting is quite low. Other cereal powders usually retain water and have higher moisture. Furthermore, since beans and corn do not have a natural aroma, when manufacturers mix these grains with coffee beans, they inevitably perform an additional step: spraying chemicals and synthetic, artificial coffee flavorings before grinding them into powder.
Consequently, adulterated, non-pure coffee powder appears damp and may even clump when heavily treated with caramel for coloring, which is completely different from real coffee powder, which is very dry and fluffy.
4. Color of the coffee powder.
When roasted to the appropriate temperature and time, coffee powder has a dark brown color (if the coffee beans have not reached the temperature and time for the first crack, the powder will be bright yellow with a sour taste and a pungent smell). Roasted corn used for adulteration usually has a very deep black color. Therefore, in the coffee industry, people simply call roasted corn "color."
Vietnamese consumers always desire a cup of coffee with a black color, so besides using caramel and chemical coloring agents, producers will add this roasted corn powder to the roasted soybean mixture to create a black color that suits consumer tastes. Thus, a package of adulterated coffee always has a brownish-black or very dark black color.
5. Aroma of the coffee powder.
If you are familiar with it, it is not difficult to recognize the very pleasant, attractive, and characteristic aroma of real coffee powder. Many people are still mistaken and highly value the smell of chemical flavorings infused into beans and corn because they rarely have the chance to smell pure coffee powder. Corn and soybeans also have a slightly fishy smell; if you are subtle, you can notice it when smelling. Soybean powder has a harsh smell, which, when combined with flavorings, creates a heavy scent rather than the gentle aroma of original roasted coffee.
>> PREMIUM PHIN FILTER COFFEE
II. Distinguishing during brewing.
This is the point where you can very easily distinguish pure coffee from adulterated coffee or other cereal powders. As noted, because coffee beans are composed of cellulose fiber structures and contain very little starch, a special attribute of roasted coffee powder is that it is very porous and contains many air pockets inside due to the macromolecular structure where cellulose fibers are broken down under heat during roasting.
When you pour 100°C boiling water into a phin filter containing real coffee, the coffee powder will immediately swell up, foam vigorously, and even overflow the filter. If, after adding a few spoons of powder (about 20-25g) to the filter, you pour in boiling water and see the powder in the filter not swelling but instead flattening, sinking, and emitting a strong scent, you can be certain there is very little coffee in that filter. Conversely, this powder contains a very high percentage of other grain powders treated with high concentrations of artificial flavorings.
Roasted corn and bean powder become sticky, tacky, and collapse when meeting boiling water because cereals always contain a lot of starch. In contrast, coffee is composed of macromolecular cellulose compounds and contains very little starch. The roasting process makes the coffee beans expand, creating air pockets inside; when meeting boiling water, the air inside expands, causing the coffee powder to foam and rise in the filter. This is a very easy phenomenon to recognize.
III. Distinguishing after brewing.
6. Color of the coffee liquid.
Coffee is a rather strange bean. No matter how high a temperature you roast it at, how long you roast it, or if it is almost charred, when you grind it and brew a cup of coffee, the liquid color will never be pitch black, opaque black, or deep black like what is commonly seen in most shops. A real cup of coffee always has a color ranging from amber (cockroach-wing brown) to dark brown; when ice is added, it will have an amber-brown color, a very clear brown. When held up to sunlight, an iced coffee looks bright brown.
>> PREMIUM COFFEE BEANS
>> PREMIUM EU COFFEE BEANS
7. Viscosity of the coffee liquid.
When brewed, the liquid of a real cup of coffee has almost negligible viscosity. In contrast to adulterated coffee, the liquid from roasted corn and beans, which contains a lot of starch, will be very viscous, even thick and sticky. Housewives often use cornstarch in the kitchen for this property. Some consumers even pride themselves on being coffee connoisseurs, claiming that a good cup of coffee must have thick liquid that clings to the sides of the glass and must "hug the ice," and the ice cubes in the coffee must turn brown because the thick, sticky coffee liquid clings to them. But that is evidence that there is very little coffee in that cup, and it is mostly roasted soybeans. Roasted soybeans contain a lot of starch and are naturally very "ice-hugging." Real coffee is not thick or sticky and does not "hug the ice."
8. Aroma of the brewed coffee.
Both coffee powder and brewed coffee have a very characteristic, very seductive aroma. However, this may be the most difficult point to distinguish. It can be said that you can only distinguish the smell of a pure cup of coffee from the smell of chemical flavorings when you have frequently and regularly consumed pure coffee. Many types of coffee powder have been treated with flavorings. The authentic and original aroma of coffee is not overwhelming, not aggressive, not powerful, but gentle, lingering, noble, delicate, and deep, sometimes intoxicating coffee lovers... It is hard to describe, but if you are familiar with the smell of pure coffee, you will discover that chemical smells, though they mimic coffee quite well, are still artificial, carrying a harsh flavor that is strong and persistent but crude and heavy, unlike the noble scent of the true coffee bean itself...
>> TRADITIONAL COFFEE
9. Taste of the coffee.
Coffee, when roasted for sufficient time and reaching the appropriate temperature, will give us a cup of coffee with a clean bitterness mixed with a gentle, very delicate acidity due to the acidic components hidden behind the bitterness in the coffee bean. In fact, the best coffee varieties in the world belong to the Arabica line, which has top-tier enjoyment and commercial value, all possessing a very seductive clean acidic aftertaste that blends delicately with natural bitterness.
However, due to incorrect perceptions, tradition, and inappropriate habits, most Vietnamese people do not think that coffee has a sour taste. Some even refuse to accept an inherent, wonderful attribute of premium coffee, which is its seductive clean acidity. To meet requirements and taste preferences that are contrary to nature, some producers have tried to make coffee lose its inherent clean acidity by treating the coffee powder with antibiotic-based bittering chemicals. As a result, the cup of coffee often has an artificial bitterness that completely destroys the seductive clean acidity of the coffee. You should avoid the tendency to seek and become addicted to that unnatural bitterness, as it will destroy your genuine palate for the true flavor of coffee. Many people have been served "soybean coffee" for many days and months and have become accustomed to the heavy taste of roasted soybeans, fearing they might find pure coffee lacking in intensity.
10. Coffee foam.
The coffee liquid itself, when whisked with sugar, also creates a bit of bright brown foam that looks very beautiful. But some consumers have misconceptions and excessive demands for a cup of coffee to have beautiful foam. To meet customer demands to retain patrons and gain profit, some manufacturers add surface-active detergents to the coffee to create foam. Thus, you also need to know how to distinguish these two types of foam. If the foam is thin, has a rainbow shimmer, fills the entire cup when whisked, and takes a long time to dissipate, making the cup of coffee look quite pretty, then it is definitely soap foam. Typical coffee foam is fairly uniform in size, more opaque, and looks "thicker," but it collapses quickly.
>> TRADITIONAL COFFEE BEANS TYPE 2
IV. Finally, through your own experience.
Finally, very practically, it is you yourself; on a beautiful day, take some time to go to a shop that sells roasted coffee beans and buy a few hundred grams of plain coffee. When buying, you need to carefully check that they are pure roasted coffee beans, plain, not mixed with any other seeds, and not treated with any other additives. After buying, ask them to grind it into powder. Take it home, and the next morning, personally and leisurely brew a cup of coffee. After brewing, go sit in a quiet, peaceful place. In the peaceful and pure space of the morning, with a serene soul, sit there and slowly take small sips of hot, pure coffee... Then you will know what true coffee is.... This is the best way to taste and know the pure flavor of coffee.
