Why Coffee Tastes Worse in Certain Cups

Different coffee cups react with your coffee and alter its taste. The reason is because the coffee cup acts as a filter in some way. And in this video we're talking about the chemistry of how plastic, glass, metal and paper cups affect the taste of your beverage.


Filters work in different ways. We have reverse osmosis, ion exchange, distillation and activated carbon. Activated carbon filter is the one we’re going to focus on today. Activated carbon is made from charcoal, and has nooks and crannies that trap large particles and allow smaller metal ions and chemicals to react with carbon so they can be removed from the water.
Another thing that could alter the taste i s the permeation of both UV light and carbon dioxide which will slowly alter the pH of a drink.
Various coffee cups will act like these filters by reacting with the flavonoids of the coffee.

This all boils down to chemistry

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