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There are various ways of brewing coffee, ranging from boiling for less than a minute (Turkish) to soaking in the refrigerator for 24 hours (cold brew).

I've occasionally tried it at 70°C (160°F) for 2–3 hours.

There must be a simple formula for a continuous mapping of time and temperature for the ideal brew, but I haven't been able to find anything. Has such a formula been published?

("ideal" can be subjective, so a significant ±time can be included.)

JJJ
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Ray Butterworth
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    While I'm sure there are studies into the science of coffee-brewing, I think you're underestimating the complexity of the question: 'ideal' isn't just subjective, it also depends on different dimensions (strength of caffeine, bitterness, sweetness, mouthfeel, all the other flavour components...) and the methods also vary in multiple dimensions (water temperature, time, grind of coffee, roasting time, roasting temperature, water pressure, variety of bean...). –  May 19 '22 at 16:56
  • Actually, there are a lot of scientific studies on the so-called "organoleptic properties" (flavor!) of food and drinks. I don't think that any of them would dare lay claim to an "ideal" coffee, but maybe you will be interested in other kinds of result they get. For now, I migrated instead of closing as opinion-based, but a rewording of the question's goal might make it better. – rumtscho May 20 '22 at 16:42
  • I'm also not sure what ideal means. I guess it's okay to keep that vague goal because the studies you seek probably define it more clearly. For example, they might focus on extraction level, perhaps nuanced with some other indicator. – JJJ May 20 '22 at 17:37
  • This is very close to being a duplicate of Cold brewing at varying temperatures - How does steeping temperature affect extraction? - Coffee Stack Exchange, which unfortunately doesn't have a good answer either. – Ray Butterworth May 20 '22 at 19:17
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    There have been lots of lab studies of what happens to the various soluable components as a function of time and temperature. There's no "ideal". That varies by what's in the beans, how they were roasted, and personal taste. But at any grind and temperature, time will move the brew through three general phases: under-extracted, well-extracted, and over-extracted, based on the balance of extracted flavors. Under- and over-extracted yield unpleasant results. It's tied to the flavors of the different soluable components and the relative times it takes them to go into solution. – fixer1234 May 22 '22 at 12:27

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