Researchers Use X-Ray Tomography To Better Understand Infiltration Stage Of Espresso Brewing – CoffeeTalk
A high-speed rotating X-ray system has been used to study the infiltration stage of espresso brewing, a common type of coffee consumption. The infiltration stage involves water slowly permeating the bed of espresso grounds, a process that is typically treated as fully saturated by water throughout the brewing process. Foster et al. employed X-ray tomography to study this process and used the data to inform a flow model, which could lead to better-tasting coffee. The authors used a rotating X-ray system (ROXS) to build a 3D reconstruction of the coffee machine, achieving both high spatial and temporal resolution while keeping the machine stationary. They then fed this X-ray data into a one-dimensional unsaturated porous medium flow model, which demonstrated agreement with the experimental results. The team plans to further improve their model by examining the effects of brewing temperature and studying the transport of soluble material during the infiltration process. Incorporating measurements of the mass concentration of coffee exiting the coffee bed should provide a richer model validation dataset.
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Source: Coffee Talk