Coffee tastes better if you add 1 ‘unlikely’ ingredient when brewing | UK | News

There’s nothing better than starting your day with a fresh cup of coffee before heading to work on Monday morning.

But it turns out you might be missing out on a smoother, richer flavor by adding a simple ingredient that’s probably already sitting in your kitchen cupboard.

Experts at America’s Test Kitchen claim that adding a pinch of salt to your morning coffee can help reduce bitterness and help you start your day with a more balanced cup of coffee.

This tip is also backed by Perfect Daily Grind, which says salt helps “balance the flavor profile of bitter Robusta coffees and coffees with very dark roast profiles.”

Sara Marquart, former flavor manager at The Coffee Excellence Center, explained: “Adding salt to coffee reduces bitterness without the use of other additives.

“Salt naturally brings out the sweetness of the coffee and preserves the pleasant aroma. If people are sensitive to bitterness, even in specialty coffees, adding salt is a good alternative to using milk and sugar.”

This hack gained a lot of attention in 2009 when food science expert Alton Brown shared it on an episode of Good Eats.

He recommended adding half a teaspoon of salt and two teaspoons of ground coffee to each cup of water, claiming that this helped remove bitterness and improve the overall flavor of the drink.

Brown said: “Salt not only cuts the bitterness, it also softens the stale taste of the water stored in the tank. Studies have proven that salt is better than sugar at neutralizing bitterness.”

Although Brown was not the first person to suggest adding salt to coffee, he helped popularize this method. Even today, many coffee lovers still call this the “Alton Brown trick.”

The unusual clue divided opinion online, with one TikTok user saying: “Interesting.” Another added: “Works well in beer too.”

A third shared his alternative: “I add a pinch of cardamom to my morning coffee. It eliminates the bitterness.”