Richard Pytelewski wrote:
> Russell:
>
> Interesting way to brew coffee.  A possible explanation for the "decreased
> acidity' is that the esters that we taste in coffee are degraded more
> rapidly by increases in temperature and, the esters convert to weak organic
> acids (like wine to vinegar) in the presence of oxygen.
>
> Biomolecules (as a rule of thumb; wide range of possible values) increase
> their rate of degradation  by a factor of 2 for every 6.5C increase in
> temperature so room temp (assume 25; brew temp assume 95) would yield
> (25-31.5, 31.5-38, 38-44.5...etc...) approx 11 doublings of the rate
> (usually non linear, anyway but...) the conversion rate would be about 1000
> times the room temperature rate of reactants (esters) to products (acids)
>   
Acid foods are known to cause illness, so apart from the caffeine 
payload, this method could perhaps decrease the harmfulness of coffee, 
save energy bills etc... Looks like a winner to me.

Matt

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