Why is salt sometimes added to straight coffee?
Sometimes a pinch of salt is added to a cup of coffee - but why?
Is this only done for low-quality or mediocre coffee? When is the best time during the coffee-making process to do this?
Best Answer
I'm not a coffee drinker, so can't comment on the timing -- but it's due to salt's effect of masking bitterness.
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Quick Answer about "Why is salt sometimes added to straight coffee?"
Why put salt in coffee? Along with enhancing any flavors that are sour, sweet, or otherwise tasty, adding salt to your coffee can also combat any bitterness as the salt will override the reaction of your taste buds to the flavor.What happens if you put salt in coffee?
When you put salt in your coffee, it neutralizes the bitterness by blocking the taste buds responsible for it. A pinch of salt will help to enhance the flavor, but more than that may make the coffee undrinkable. It will also add thickness to the beverage by making the water denser.When should you add salt to coffee?
For the average coffee and taste palate, though, a \xbc teaspoon of salt usually does the trick. The best way to prepare salty coffee is to put salt in coffee grounds before brewing. Don't overdo it, though. As you probably already know from experience with other foods and drinks, salt is overpowering if you add too much.Why do people put Himalayan salt in their coffee?
Salt Makes Coffee Taste Better While some say even when they put just a pinch of salt, they can taste the saltiness, others think it helps improve the taste of coffee. This may be because salt can enhance sweetness. Salt suppresses bitter flavors in food, which makes any sweet flavor seem stronger.Why You Should Be Adding Salt to Your Coffee
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Answer 2
This is common practice in places like Ethiopia, where it is used (much like Americans use sugar) to cut the bitterness. This is a longstanding cultural practice (they domesticated it, so I figure they probably know better than we do), in an area where sugar was not readily available. In this situation, it is added just prior to drinking.
Answer 3
The question, and the answers have astonished me. In Spain, the combination of coffee and salt is a popular "recipe" for provoking vomit to sober up; popular but wrong and even dangerous in cases of heavy intoxications.
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