Do you often experience heartburn and acid reflux every time you drink coffee? Does your doctor recommend to drink only low-acid coffee?Coffee aficionados identify acidity as the bright and sparkling sensation we experience when we drink coffee, however, most of us are now switching to coffee in low-acidity to prevent the sour, tangy, bitter, sharp that acid reflux brings.
Let’s take a look at what are the types of acids we can find to your coffee.
Citric acid – This acid is commonly found in citrus fruits that are associated in lemon, and oranges, and often found in Arabica coffee beans with higher elevations.
Phosphoric acid – Sweeter than most acids, they are associated with grapefruit-or-mango-like one.
Malic acid – this acid is usually associated with hints of stone fruits like peaches or plums but coffee with malic acid is taste like apple or pear.
Chlorogenic acids – Is responsible for coffee’s acidity. Compared with other acids they are the ones degrade rapidly in roasting, which is why light roasts are described as “bright” and “acidic” more often than dark ones.
Acetic acid – the same acid that can found in vinegar, it produces a pleasant sharpness at lower concentrations. A coffee that has a lot of acetic acids probably wasn’t properly processed.
Quinic acid – commonly found in dark roast coffee, stale coffee, and coffee that was brewed several hours but kept warm on a hot plate. Quinic acid gives a clean finish to coffee and the main cause that turns stomachs sour.
Many of the tastes your coffee can be directly attributed to the acids contained within them and acidity usually occurs in the roasting process. If you can identify acids in your coffee then you’ll be able to look for coffees that have been grown or roasted in a way likely to produce those acids.
