“Is Adding Salt to Coffee Crazy or Brilliant?”

Is it crazy to put salt in your coffee? Or just a great idea?

This tweet seems to have become a hot topic in the United States.

A tiny pinch of salt in black coffee removes the bitterness almost entirely. I thought this was common knowledge until my coworker looked at me like I had horns for doing this the other day https://t.co/F2M64KC7OY

— The Artist Formerly Known as Steve Pretzel (@BirdRespecter) April 24, 2023

In this tweet, “I used to think it was common knowledge that adding a pinch of salt to black coffee would remove most of the bitterness, but a colleague gave me a strange look the other day.” is written.

Like his colleagues, many people in the comment section seem to think his coffee drinking habits are strange.

However, “putting salt in coffee” is not a recently devised recipe arrangement.

origin of coffeeEthiopia’s long-standing traditional tastesThat’s how it was.

So, does salt really make coffee less bitter, as he states?

In fact, this effect has been scientifically proven.

1997 by the Monell Institute of Chemical Senses, USAResearchThenAnnounced that saltiness amplifies or suppresses other taste sensationsIt has been.

In this experiment, a drink containing sugar, salt and urea (which has a bitter taste) was prepared.

Participants who were given the drink rated the degree of bitterness and sweetness.

resulting in,Addition of salt increases sweetness and reduces bitternessThe result was obtained.

Regarding “increase in sweetness due to salt”, reports like “watermelon with salt” have been reported for a long time as a similar fact.

Recently, Okayama University has reported a study on the principle that thin salt water causes sweetness.

Is thin salt water slightly sweet?It turns out that the chloride ion contained in salt causes ‘sweetness’

Similarly, the story that “adding salt to coffee reduces bitterness” seems to be true from the “reduction of bitterness due to salt” shown in this study.

Add salt to your coffee,Relieves not only bitterness but also acidityIt has been with.

However, at this stage, it is not completely scientifically elucidated how salt suppresses bitterness.

One reason given as a prediction is the hypothesis that bitter substances and salinity bind to the same taste receptors.

The idea is that, like antihistamines for hay fever, salt binds to bitter taste receptors, blocking the binding of bitter compounds.

It is also hypothesized that the taste of salt itself is so strong that it masks even the slightest stimulus of bitterness. More complex hypotheses involve interactions between gustatory neural signals, but in any case it is not known for sure.

However, this recipe is also enjoyed outside of Ethiopia, where Indian coffee is drunk with lots of milk, sugar and a pinch of salt in India, another coffee-producing region.

In areas where coffee has been familiar for a long time, it is known from experience that people who do not like strong sour or bitter coffee can enjoy a mild and soft taste by adding a pinch of salt.

It may be healthier to mask the bitterness with a pinch of salt than mask the bitterness with a large amount of sugar.

By the way, I also made strong coffee and compared black coffee and salted coffee. Certainly, the strong bitterness that remains on the tongue after drinking is alleviated with salted coffee, and I felt that the aftertaste was refreshing.

The point seems to be that the salt is a “pinch”.

A pinch of salt seems to reduce the bitterness of coffee without feeling salty.

James Hoffman on the effects of salted coffeeYouTube videosIn the comments section of , he wrote, “If you try (salt coffee),I was shocked to say the least.” are lined up.

It’s easy to verify, so if you’re interested, you should try it once.

By all means, when you have brewed coffee that is too bitter, please try adding a small amount of salt.