Coffee is complex. Can science standardize it for the better?

Short Wave

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🗓️ 1 May 2026

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

Ask any coffee aficionado, and they’ll tell you: A good cup is about more than the beans. The flavor is affected by lots of things – the roast and fermentation of the beans, the coarseness of the grind, the brewing temperature and even the chemicals in the water used to brew it. But there are very few quantitative ways to assess all the flavor variations. Current industry standards measure the concentration of coffee, but they often miss qualities like the acidity, brightness and fruitness. Scientists at the University of Oregon are trying to change that using a tool called a potentiostat that’s often used to measure the charge in batteries.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:05.8	Hey, Shortwaver's Emily Kwong here.
0:07.6	And Rachel Carlson with our biweekly science news round of.
0:11.0	And this time with a special guest, our colleague Sasha Pfeiffer.
0:15.7	Sasha, how's your love of science these days?
0:17.9	Well, I, as I think you two know, I am married to a science teacher, so I would say that my love of science is always pretty high.
0:23.6	We love it. We love it. Shout out to all science teachers. Question for you, is your husband or are you a coffee drinker?
0:30.5	He is, I am not. I try not to be dependent on it. And I also honestly need so much sugar in it that I just figure why make that a habit. I'm so jealous. A house divided. Emily and I both need coffee in the morning to function. Sorry,
0:43.1	Emily, for calling you out. Affirmative. But Sasha, we are more than coffee aficionados on the show.
0:48.4	We also have updates for you on dream research and what's going on in Scorpion's arsenal of weapons at the molecular level.
0:57.9	I think I read a little bit about this.
1:00.0	This is kind of the makeup of their stingers and their claws and all that other terrifying weaponry that is built into their body.
1:06.2	Stuff of nightmares.
1:06.8	Exactly.
1:07.5	Exactly.
1:08.3	And you can let us know at the end if it's more exciting and cool to know about scorpions or terrifying.
1:14.9	So today on the show, from your dreaming hours and waking coffee making hours indoors to your time with critters outdoors.
1:22.1	Science has fun answers for you. You're listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR.
1:37.8	Okay, Rachel and Sasha, we have so much to get through today.
1:40.8	Sasha, I'm going to let you pick the first story.
1:41.4	Where do you want to start?
2:01.4	Why don't we start with coffee since it's where so many people start their days? Fair. Here's the thing about coffee. It's extremely variable. Visit the barista at your local fancy cafe and they'll tell you the flavor of your cup is affected by so many different things like the coffee beans, the way those beans were fermented and roasted, the temperature it's brewed at, the chemicals in the water that you use to brew it.
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