Espresso Meets Volcano Science

You may have seen our own baristas giving coffee beans a quick spritz of water before grinding. For years, this has been a well known practice among coffee professionals to keep static at bay. Recently, Professor Christopher Hendon decided to find out exactly what affect this has on the final product. Surprisingly, Hendon teamed up with a volcanologist to find his answers. Together, the two researchers discovered that this little spritz of water makes a sizable difference in the final product.

 Apparently, grinding coffee shares some similarity with an erupting volcano. Volcanologist Joshua Harper said, “During eruption, magma breaks up into lots of little particles that then come out of the volcano in this big plume, and during that whole process, those particles are rubbing against each other and charging up to the point of producing lightning. In a simplistic way, it’s similar to grinding coffee, where you’re taking these beans and reducing them to fine powder.”

Grinding coffee doesn’t produce lightning, but your local barista can attest that it does create a ton of static electricity. This static increases waste and makes the shop all the more difficult to clean. Giving your whole beans a quick spray of water all but eliminates this static buildup. Hendon and Harper’s research showed this fact empirically.

However, that’s not the only benefit. The researchers found that espresso shots ran almost 50% longer when they were given the spritz. This is because the bed of grounds was much denser. Small particles were getting through the grinder that otherwise would have been left behind by the static. 

Finally, they showed that espresso shots were far more consistent. Coffee contains vast differences of moisture content based on region and variety. This difference in moisture leads to inconsistencies in the static charge they generate. Since the pre-grind spritz eliminates static altogether, this inconsistency is neutralized.

Many baristas could have told you the profound and noticeable effect of this pre-grind practice. However, we are always grateful to scientists and researchers for taking it a step further. Harper and Hendon’s research shows us the ways in which this practice increases quality in distinct and measurable ways.

The good news is, if you want a little extra spritz in your coffee, Solid State has you covered.