“A bad day with coffee is better than a good day without it.”

Coffee is personal. Similar to your favourite football team in the Spanish league or your preferred choice of music that you can fight for and argue till you lose your voice, coffee is personal and worth all the trouble (well, for the most part). So, never commit the crime of converting a hot brew guy to a cold brew one or vice versa. If you do, you’ll certainly be treading on uncharted and unwarranted territories. However, if you are still deciding which side of the scale you’re on, consider knowing these 8 essentials of hot brew coffee.

Initially just called “coffee”, hot brew coffee indicates a brew made from the interaction between hot water and ground coffee beans. However, the phrase “hot brew coffee” is primarily used to differentiate it from “cold brew coffee”, which has gradually formed its own club of devotees in India and across the world. With that out of the way, let’s check out some interesting facts about the ever-popular hot brew magic.

1. Hot Brew is Chemically Different Than Cold Brew

Hot and cold brewing develops significantly different coffees—and this is not just when it comes to temperature.

During a Thomas Jefferson University study, researchers compared acidity, antioxidants, and caffeine in both cold and hot brewed coffee. They sampled a wide range of roasts from dark to light. Now, caffeine is usually the first thing that comes to your mind when grabbing a cup of coffee. However, this study established that there’s hardly any difference in the caffeine levels across roasts other than the fact that hot brew coffee possesses slightly higher caffeine compared to cold brew. The primary difference was actually in the amount of acidity and antioxidants.

It was established that the hot brewing process extracts more antioxidants compared to cold brewing which increases with the degree of roasting. Hence, the flavour profile changes dramatically, and the millennial coffee lover is all up for the drama!

2. Hot Brew is Bitter and Acidic

Extraction basically ensues when the water pulls out the different chemical compounds and micronutrients from coffee grounds. Some of these components are acids, oils, and other such stuff.

Now, extraction works differently at different temperatures. For example, 195 to 205 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal for making hot coffee with mild bitterness.
If you go above 210 degrees Fahrenheit, you’ll get a more bitter flavour profile.

Why?

This happens because water at such a high temperature breaks down the acids into extra-bitter compounds. At 185 degrees Fahrenheit, you might even get a hint of sour flavour. This happens because the water is still not hot enough to break down all the non-acidic compounds for balancing the flavour.

3. Two Processes of Making Hot Brew Coffee

Infusion and immersion are the 2 most commonly used methods to make hot brew coffee. In case of an infusion, piping hot water runs through ground coffee in a filter, thereby helping to extract the hot brew coffee.

On the other hand, in the case of an immersion brewing method, you have to allow the ground coffee to steep in hot water for a while before being strained out.

4. Hot Brew Coffee Boosts Energy Like None Other

Hot brew coffee is a power-packed brewing champ when it comes to health benefits. It helps in the prevention or treatment of several common diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular diseases and gallstones.

Plus, hot brew coffee helps improve the health of your skin, teeth, and hair. In fact, as per scientific research, coffee drinkers have been shown to live longer than those who abstain.

5. Top Choice of Beverage for Athletes

If you are an athlete or anyone looking to improve your fitness quotient, hot brew coffee might just be your new best buddy. It helps provide sufficient energy for a workout, aids in burning excessive fat, and improves your overall physical performance as well! With this coffee, you get to train harder and longer, and what’s more - you won’t feel as sore the next day!

6. Choice of Beverage in Colder Regions

This coffee is popular and widely consumed in areas that usually face colder weather. Hence, this is one of the reasons why the highest per capita consumers of coffee can be traced back to the colder regions of India as well as in other countries, such as Scandinavia and Canada.

7. Involvement of a Massive Supply Chain

This particular coffee variant tends to be quite expensive, owing to the number of people involved in getting the product from farm to fork and the long supply chain.

To begin with, the coffee plant must be grown, which takes years in itself. Next comes the process of harvesting the coffee cherries, a rather laborious and slow process. After that, the coffee beans are isolated and dried to yield green coffee beans which are ready for shipment. There are a few more steps and a lot more complexities involved hereon before you get your perfect cup of hot brew coffee. So, it isn’t unsafe to assume that the expenses are totally worth it!

8. Hot Brew Extracts the Coffee Flavour with Sheer Perfection

Without a doubt, hot brew coffee is one of the best ways to extract micronutrients and other flavourful components from coffee beans. Plus, it is faster than a cold brew - it takes only a few minutes to brew a hot coffee!

An 8 oz cup of hot brew coffee provides about 90 mg of caffeine, 230 mg of potassium, 0.025 mg of riboflavin, 20 mg of magnesium and 1.75 mg of niacin.

Sounds good?