This morning was a tired one, so out came my favourite coffee beans, the coffee grinder, and the brewer. But to my surprise, when I went to pour the hot coffee into my mug, I found little white specks floating along the surface. “Yuck,” I thought. I spooned them out.
It got me thinking though, as an avid coffee drinker, it’d probably be best to learn what this white stuff was, and here is what I found out.
Those little white specks that float in your coffee may be something known as coffee chaff, which is the dried husk of the coffee bean and is harmless to ingest. Or, if the little white specks only appear after you’ve poured cream or milk into your cup, it could be coffee creamer or milk that’s gone bad. If you are using powdered creamer, the white specks may be creamer particles that did not mix in properly.
What Is Coffee Chaff?
Also known as silverskin, coffee chaff is the dried husk of the coffee bean. When the coffee bean is first picked, it may appear green in color, and when it comes off of the bean it has no taste to it.
When extreme temperatures are used during the roasting process, the chaff will peel off easily without the need for additional efforts, unless it gets stuck in the fold of the coffee bean itself. When you grind down coffee beans at home, it may appear if it was not removed during the roasting process.
Why Is Coffee Chaff Considered a Nuisance?
For those who roast their own coffee beans, chaff can be a bit of a nuisance because it is considered a waste product. In addition to this, it’s very lightweight, so when dealing with large batches of roasted beans, it is likely to get everywhere.
This makes it frustrating for the roaster as it can take a while to clean your equipment after roasting a large batch of coffee beans. This has led some to ask the following questions.
- Can You Prevent Coffee Chaff?
Coffee chaff cannot be prevented as it exists as part of the bean. The only way to truly prevent it is to stop it from forming in the first place. This would require genetically modifying the coffee bean which isn’t an ideal option.
- Can You Reduce How Much is Produced?
For those who roast their own coffee beans, you can reduce the amount of chaff that is produced by roasting your beans in smaller batches or micro-lots.
- Can You Use it For Other Things?
Yes, coffee chaff can be used for quite a few things. It is highly recommended that if you can recycle coffee chaff, that you do so. Otherwise, it will head to a landfill. It can be used as bedding for farm animals or domestic pets or you can use it as mulch in gardens or even compost it.
How Do You Separate Coffee Beans and Their Chaff?
The answer to this is dependent on if you are getting chaff just from grinding your own beans at home or if you are getting it from the roasting process.
- Chaff in Ground Coffee Beans. If you are just purchasing commercially ground coffee to brew, it is unlikely that you will get any chaff as it will have already been removed. But, if you are buying whole beans and grinding them yourself, you may get some chaff that was stuck in the fold of the bean. When you go to grind your beans up, you may notice longer flecks of very light, thin material that sits among the fine grounds. This would be chaff. To remove it, either
- Pick it out and compost it or throw it away. This works fairly well if you are only grinding up enough beans for a few cups of coffee at a time.
- Strain it. Before placing your coffee grounds into your brewer, strain them by using two colanders or by using a loose leaf tea holder.
Just make sure that whatever method you use, you place a bowl or vessel down to catch your coffee grinds.
- Chaff During the Roasting Process. Depending on the type of roasting process you are using, your chaff removal may differ. Here are a few common methods used to remove it from the coffee beans.
- Use two colanders to separate it. Place your freshly roasted coffee beans into one colander, then move them to the other. Repeat this back and forth process to separate the chaff from the beans. Because the beans will expand during the roasting process, most of the chaff will have already come away, but this is a great way to remove any extra-large pieces.
- Use an air roaster or a drum roaster. Air roasters are extremely good for removing chaff as the airflow from the roaster will simply pick the chaff up and move it away. If you can’t get an air roaster, a drum roaster is a decent alternative, as the friction used during the roasting process will separate the chaff from the beans. Another option would be to roast your beans outside and have the natural airflow blow the chaff away.
- Try some homemade solutions. For instance, you could set up a fan and grab two bowls. Move your coffee beans from one bowl to the next while positioning the bowls in front of the fan. This will separate the chaff from the beans. You could also take your beans and place them between two mesh strainers, shake, and then vacuum away the loose chaff. While these are some options, there are plenty of others that may work!
What If It Is Not Coffee Chaff in My Coffee?
If you are not grinding your own beans at home or roasting them, and are just brewing commercially ground beans, the white specks may not be coffee chaff. If you suspect that it isn’t, it may be one of the following things.
- Powdered Creamer. If you are using a powdered creamer at home, the white specks you are seeing may be powdered creamer that hasn’t quite mixed in properly. Try stirring it for a minute or two and see if it disappears. Sometimes powdered creamer will get air trapped on it, causing a little bubble or seal, trapping particles in it. If you break this seal, the dry powder should mix in. If it doesn’t mix in, scoop it out.
- Liquid Cream or Milk. If you use liquid creamer or milk at home in your coffee, the little white specks may be from this. If the milk or creamer is on the verge of its expiration date or has gone bad, it may separate causing the little white specks you see.
- High-Fat Cream. If you are using high fat cream in coffee that isn’t piping hot, the butterfat may not dissolve properly. You see this happen a lot in bulletproof coffee.
Why Is My Half and Half Curdling in My Coffee?
You may have noticed that when you pour a cup of scalding hot coffee with half and half cream, it will sometimes instantly curdle. Other times, it may not curdle at all and give you a splendidly smooth beverage. Why does this happen? Here are a few reasons.
- Acid. If you have a cup of coffee that is extremely acidic because you’ve added extra elements that boost the acidic balance, you can speed up the process of curdling when adding in older cream. What happens here is the acid in the coffee will tip the pH balance of the cream or milk and it will instantly curdle as a result.
- Heat. If you aren’t adding extremely fresh cream or milk to your coffee, the added heat of the coffee will boost the likelihood of older cream or milk curdling.
While you may be a bit put off by this, there isn’t any need to worry. It is a common side effect of coffee and cream/milk combinations and is called beverage feathering or intentional curdling.
Special note: if you are drinking soy-based milk in your coffee, it still may curdle if the coffee is extremely acidic. To counteract this, either pour your soy-milk into the cup first to help counterbalance the hot temperature of the coffee or use less acidic coffee beans.
Is It Safe To Drink Curdled Milk and Cream?
While we often view curdled milk or cream as spoiled, this isn’t always the case. It is safe to drink curdled milk or cream in your coffee if it isn’t passed its expiration date or hasn’t been left out all day on the counter. In short, fresh cream or milk that curdles when added to coffee is a-okay.
Wrapping It Up
If you are noticing white specks floating around in your coffee, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should chuck your coffee.
If it is coffee chaff, it is harmless to ingest and can be easily scooped out. If it is a result of powdered milk, just stir in the powder until it mixes or scoop it out. If it is curdled milk or cream that is fresh, you can drink it without any issues.