This is why the pros are all adding salt to their coffee!
No, you aren't going insane. We are truly suggesting that you add salt to your coffee, and when you read why, you'll understand!
Why should you add salt to your coffee?
You might think we've gone totally bonkers, but bear with us. Here at the Gourmandize office, we recently heard that adding a pinch of salt to a cup of coffee would enhance the flavor and take away much of the bitterness.
Our editor Anna Hartley decided to put this strange idea to the test, and the results were pretty conclusive.
how to add it
Various articles online suggest stirring a pinch of salt through a cup of coffee after it had already been poured, but Anna experimented in a slightly different way.
"I brew my coffee in a moka pot, so I added a pinch of salt to the top of the pressed grinds before putting it on the stove, so it would be mixed through evenly as the coffee brewed".
And the result?
"I was truly taken aback by the difference it made. The flavor of the coffee was much smoother, and far less bitter than normal"
But did it taste... salty?
"No, not at all. I've actually made it part of my morning routine now, I'm hooked!"
why does it work?
A study from the scientific journal Nature found that sodium ions cover up bitterness and also enhance flavour.
If you are in the habit of adding milk and sugar to your coffee to soften the taste, you might find that salt does the trick (without adding those extra calories).
So what about you, would you try this unusual coffee hack?
Meanwhile, check out these 50 ususual and totally delicious ways to cook with coffee.
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