Maillard Reaction and Coffee

Now you may be wondering: “what does a duck’s reaction have to do with coffee”? Well I am here to let you know that you are thinking of a mallard reaction. You are looking for the other bearded guys in the everglades. Now that you’re in the right place, put your science pants on, we are going full nerd on this one.

The Maillard reaction is the reaction of amino acids and sugars in food that give food a certain flavour during browning. For example, the crust formed on a steak during a hard sear is the Maillard reaction at work. Now you may be wondering: “what this has to do with coffee”? Well, I was getting to that but you keep cutting me off with questions!

Roasting coffee beans are an art that use the Maillard reaction to produce complex flavours in the coffee bean itself. The roasting, or browning of the beans allows the sugars and amino acids to start reacting during the exothermic reaction. The darker the roast, the more of a Maillard reaction that the beans have gone through. This means that the shorter the duration that the coffee beans have been roasting, the more sweet and acidic the coffee can taste. Beans that have been roasted for a very long time can lose all of these flavour notes.

There is a delicate balance between the roasting intensity and duration in order to get the perfect taste from the beans. So tip your roaster, they have done a lot of testing to get you that cup of coffee to taste that delicious.