How does the temperature at which coffee is brewed affect its acidity (pH)?
We believe that the coffee will become more acidic as the brew temperature increases, because the water molecules will be moving faster at high temperature, and thus interact with the coffee more frequently and realease more of the bean’s natural acids. This experiment aims to determine the extent to which pH depends upon brew temperature. We chose this question because different types of coffee machines brew at different temperatures, and our background research indicates that analyzing acidity is a key element to evaluating and ranking the taste of coffee (CoffeeFAQ). Therefore, the results of our experiment could be used to produce a better cup by determining the brew temperature that optimizes this key component of taste. Background Information: Two statements on websites lead us to believe that this relationship should be explored quantitatively: “Perceived acidity does not necessarily correlate to the pH of a coffee… [it is] a result of acids present in the coffee” (Griffin) an
