'Like drinking a music festival': this is ultrasonic coffee

May 30, 2024 7:45 PM

Australian scientists have developed a method of brewing coffee by blasting ground beans with sound waves – and it produces a powerful cup "The ultrasonic method sends lots of tiny bubbles into the water and coffee. When they implode, they make mini shockwaves that can pierce the inside of the coffee grinds in a phenomenon called acoustic cavitation. According to Trujillo’s 2020 research, this method extracts more flavour and caffeine from the coffee."

"We end up drinking three more samples, all made from different beans. They taste distinct – it’s not the ultrasonic process we’re tasting, but a more intense version of whatever is in the bean. By the end I find myself agreeing with Trujillo’s description of the coffee: it has the "acidity and fruitiness of a filter coffee, with the body and the mouthfeel of an espresso but with less bitterness and a clean finish".

After some refinement from the original large noisy prototype, the entire mechanism "fits neatly into an espresso machine."

posted by Greg_Ace (35 comments total)

I eagerly await the James Hoffman video testing their assertions....
posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 7:50 PM on May 30 [14 favorites]

I'm just gonna snort No-Doz® and crank some Mötley Crüe.
posted by clavdivs at 7:56 PM on May 30 [15 favorites]

Why are we continually trying to find new "better" methods for brewing coffee? It's a fine beverage in so many of its forms, surely it should just be appreciated for existing and not chasing after the shadow of its Platonic ideal on the cave wall.
posted by hippybear at 7:56 PM on May 30 [3 favorites]

With a potential coffee shortage, it’s a good idea to extract more bang from your beans.

Sure, people are going to turn it into an artisan thing and slurp that swill like mothers milk, but at least for one brief shining moment, someone thought there might be a different way.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 8:06 PM on May 30 [2 favorites]

University of New South Wales in Sydney? I'm shocked really. I would assume it would have come out of University of Melbourne, given that Melbourne is home of the wanker coffee.
posted by rednikki at 8:14 PM on May 30 [5 favorites]

The article does not seem to mention, but it would be very good if the ultrasonic cavitation wiggler used the same or less energy to do its thing. Making coffee isn't a huge energy hog as far as I know, but it would be nice to have a way to make nice strong coffee with smol battery
posted by Rev. Irreverent Revenant at 8:15 PM on May 30 [2 favorites]

Hrm, I have an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner sitting around....
posted by zengargoyle at 8:24 PM on May 30 [3 favorites]

I think most of us aren't looking for an ideal, just a consistent cup for the minimum of effort and technique.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:37 PM on May 30 [2 favorites]

Didn't Heston Blumenthal or molecular gastronomy people use ultrasound cavitation to make crispy French fries? This sounds like a related idea to that.
posted by polymodus at 8:37 PM on May 30 [2 favorites]

I guess the industrial design department at the University of Wooloomooloo was sleeping.

That moment, when you realize your iPhone just did a voice recognition on Wooloomooloo
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 8:45 PM on May 30 [1 favorite]

Doof Warrior approved
posted by cendawanita at 8:46 PM on May 30 [4 favorites]

I am absolutely here for "Drink more coffee per coffee" scientific efforts.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:58 PM on May 30 [4 favorites]

I was just thinking a few weeks ago that an ultrasonic enhancement of the Aeropress would make it possible to produce cold brewed coffee as fast as hot instead of waiting overnight for it to get strong enough.
posted by jamjam at 9:13 PM on May 30 [2 favorites]

Don’t worry, James has already covered it. I believe that’s before he got his caffeine testing gear though.
posted by supercres at 9:20 PM on May 30

It wasn’t made by a barista but by two chemical engineers in a lab at the University
*foregoes baristas forever for chemical engineers*
posted by HearHere at 9:31 PM on May 30 [1 favorite]

apparently some folks have already experimented with reproducing this at home
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:12 PM on May 30 [1 favorite]

clavdivs: I'm just gonna snort No-Doz® and crank some Mötley Crüe.

This is the most Bloom County sentence I've seen on MetaFilter
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 11:57 PM on May 30 [14 favorites]

Reminds me of the Guinness Nitrosurge device, which uses ultrasound to jizz up(tm) the beer being poured through it from the can. Works, too.

Nitrosurge
posted by GallonOfAlan at 12:50 AM on May 31

I would assume it would have come out of University of Melbourne, given that Melbourne is home of the wanker coffee.

But we already know how to make coffee in Melbourne.
posted by deadwax at 3:07 AM on May 31 [1 favorite]

This generation will be primarily remembered for finally perfecting cold fusion in the stupidest way possible.
posted by phooky at 4:24 AM on May 31 [3 favorites]

It wasn’t made by a barista but by two chemical engineers in a lab at the University

Sooo, it takes two engineers to do the work of one barista?
posted by Thorzdad at 4:38 AM on May 31 [7 favorites]

Why are we continually trying to find new "better" methods for brewing coffee?
To sell coffee machines to people who already have perfectly good coffee machines. There will be "AI" in your coffee machine soon. (Meanwhile, my preferred method is just to scoop ground coffee into a mug, pour in boiling water, and drink it.)
posted by pracowity at 4:42 AM on May 31 [3 favorites]

We do 1.5L water, 150g beans concentrated cold brew started with just off the boil water, resting for a day, filtered and diluted to taste. One batch lasts 3-4 days at our consumption rate. All you need is a grinder, jug and filter. And a little patience. It's the best.
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:57 AM on May 31 [1 favorite]

(Meanwhile, my preferred method is just to scoop ground coffee into a mug, pour in boiling water, and drink it.)

Two thoughts:

1) mmm cowboy style

2) come on, at least put the grounds in a sock!
posted by ArgentCorvid at 7:02 AM on May 31 [4 favorites]

@jamjam

It has been published!

Coffee brewing sonoreactor for reducing the time of cold brew from several hours to minutes while maintaining sensory attributes
posted by indianbadger1 at 7:39 AM on May 31 [1 favorite]

from the abstract at indianbadger1's link:

Finally, a sensory analysis was conducted to evaluate appearance, aroma, texture, flavor, and aftertaste

What, "we tasted it" isn't scientific enough??
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:34 AM on May 31

I'm just gonna snort No-Doz® I thought I was the only one!!!
posted by supermedusa at 8:49 AM on May 31

Sensory analysis is really cool! It's kinda where the messy reality of human sensing in the world meets statistics so folks can say more definitively if differences in taste are real or placebo. The linked paper has a section on it, but basically it takes a panel of people meeting for an hour or two for two weeks to to build a common language for the characteristic flavors in a set of foods and then several individual sessions afterwards to see if those ratings produce statistically significant results.
posted by crossswords at 9:58 AM on May 31 [4 favorites]

Maybe so but it sure ruins the "just enjoyin' a quiet cup of coffee" moment.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:49 AM on May 31

Sensory panels are kind of fun. I'm signed up with a company that does them all the time, you get some interesting stuff to taste. If you're in the Chicago area memail me and I'll tell you where to sign up.
posted by JoeZydeco at 11:51 AM on May 31

@supercres:

Don’t worry, James has already covered it yt . I believe that’s before he got his caffeine testing gear though.

For a guy wearing a lab coat, I was disappointed that his taste tests weren't double-blind.
I'm not convinced when he says a cup of coffee has very subtle oak flavours when he immediately prefixes with that 'let's start with the oak chips'.
posted by knoxg at 4:27 PM on May 31

I thought we'd previously'd this when it was at Ars Technica.

JustSayNoDawg: With a potential coffee shortage, it’s a good idea to extract more bang from your beans.

Imagine the economy of scale Robusta deans give to instant coffee, with flavours improved by making the base coffee that's then freeze-dried without damaging those fruity volatile flavours with heat.
posted by k3ninho at 3:22 AM on June 1

Coffee has been solved for a long time. I feel like at this point Western society is just one big tactical knife subreddit. Also I had a $13 margarita with a flaming lime half in it last week and it was fucking terrible.

I guess overall I feel that innovation is bad.
posted by caviar2d2 at 9:28 AM on June 1 [1 favorite]

I make cold brew coffee in 2 mins by stirring, then filtering. I shall, however be borrowing a sonic bath from work.
posted by Homemade Interossiter at 3:57 PM on June 1

I guess overall I feel that innovation is bad.

I realized some time ago that I had lost any and all moral high ground about how PC gaming is an expensive hobby around when I decided that it was a good and reasonable idea to want to make espresso at home
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:46 PM on June 1