- Coffee facts
Why does coffee cause a hairy tongue?
It’s a feeling that we know well from drinking tea, eating unripe pineapple or from very, very dry red wine: Everything in your mouth tightens up and you think you can hardly swallow, your tongue and palate feel so hairy. Which really shouldn’t happen with coffee. This feeling is caused by so-called tannins.
Babette Lichtenford
photo: romboide on unsplash
They bind the lubricating proteins of the oral mucosa, which in turn accumulate a lot of water and make the mucosa so slippery. If the tannic acid adheres to these so-called mucins, their water solubility decreases and they fail – the natural lubrication fails and the mouth feels drier.*
Over-extracted? Badly roasted?
Tannins? We know the term from tea or red wine, but not from coffee. In fact, coffee also contains tannins (aka tannins), which come into play when:
- The coffee has been over-extracted. In other words, it has been ground too finely for the corresponding preparation method. It has steeped too long (e.g. with the French press). Or brewed too hot (over 203°F), as this makes the coffee very bitter. And then you always get a “dusty” feeling in your mouth – it tastes awful.
- The coffee has not been roasted slowly and gently. Which, by the way, cannot happen at Mount Hagen, because our organic coffees are refined very slowly and gently in drum roasters. This creates a perfect balance between, for example, chocolate-nut aromas, elegant bitterness, and refined acidity. So, if you have prepared your coffee correctly and it still tastes unpleasantly astringent, then you should definitely switch coffees.
You can find more information about the optimum grind for each preparation method and everything else you need to know for the perfect cup of coffee here:
“What grind size?“ “What is the best way to make coffee?” “Aromatic, strong, and quite simple: French press coffee.” “The stove top coffee maker – everything you need to know about it.” “How to set your portafilter correctly.”If you have any questions about why your coffee doesn’t taste as it should, please contact us. We will try to find a solution with you.
*Source: spektrum.de
