Coffee taste series : How brew time affects taste

Ever brewed a cup of coffee that tasted oddly sour or unpleasantly bitter? The culprit might not be your beans or your gear—but your timing.

Brew time plays a huge role in how your coffee tastes. Here’s the simple science:

• Under-extracted coffee (brewed too quickly) often tastes sour or sharp. That’s because the water hasn’t had enough time to pull out the full range of flavors—only the acidic ones come through.
• Over-extracted coffee (brewed for too long) tastes bitter, dry, or hollow. In this case, too much has been pulled from the grounds—including unpleasant compounds that should’ve been left behind.
• Balanced extraction, the sweet spot, gives you a cup that’s smooth, sweet, and complex. All the good stuff, perfectly layered.

So what’s the fix?

Watch the clock. Brew time is just as important as your grind size, water temperature, and coffee-to-water ratio. Even a 15-second difference can shift your cup from “meh” to magic.

Dial it in, taste often, and trust your palate—because good coffee isn’t just brewed, it’s timed.