Chemical engineering students put the knowledge they’ve learned in class to the test to try and make the best cup of coffee.
Making coffee is simple: grind the beans, add hot water, wait a few minutes, strain the grounds and you’re done.
But coffee isn’t necessarily as simple as it seems.
“There’s a lot of chemical engineering that goes into coffee and it’s a complicated process,” said Daud Ibraham, a University of Alberta (U of A) student.
Students at the university used what they learned in the Chemical Engineering of Coffee course in a competition Thursday.
The competitors used several lessons to win:
- heat transfer – the best way to get the heat to the beans;
- process control – how to control the chosen roast profile;
- sensory analysis – how it will taste; and
- water chemistry – how to decide the best water for brewing coffee.
“Before I signed up for this class, I was not expecting much,” said …