Coffee Tattoos, AI Assessing Coffee, and How Steam Affects Milk

• Bean Ink: Why Coffee And Tattoos Just Might Be The Perfect Pairing

  By Jenn Chen for Sprudge

  “When she learned that Mahlkönig had a tattoo artist in their booth at Expo this year, Kat Padlan, operations manager at Lucky's Coffee Roasters, immediately signed up. It was past due time and seemed like a sign from the universe. 'I thought, 'Well damn, if there isn't a better time to get a coffee tattoo in the coffee city of Portland, at the biggest coffee convention in the world, I don't know what better timing it is,'' she told me.”

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• Does steam injection affect the nutritional value of milk?

  By Ashe Samuels for newGround

  “Milk proteins play a central role in creating microbubbles during the foaming process. Before heat is introduced to milk, the proteins are in 'clusters'. As the temperature increases, these clusters unravel into a different structure. This process is known as denaturation - a chemical change where the structure of the milk's whey proteins alters permanently. This is what allows milk to 'stretch'. As this happens, the proteins begin to form around the air being injected into the liquid.”

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• Will AI set a new standard for green coffee quality?

  By Jordan Montgomery for Coffee Intelligence

  “In recent years, standardised systems like the SCA Arabica Cupping Form have been developed to assess coffee quality. These methods score features like acidity, balance, body, and flavour profile to determine cup quality and overall value. The SCA cupping protocol and others like it have become universally recognised across the industry. However, while these tools have been honed over decades, they fail to address a problem at the heart of human-led sensory assessment: individual bias. The protocols are structurally sound - but no matter how hard we try to be impartial, human involvement in the process cannot be unbiased.”

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• Should World Barista Championship competitors use more ingredients from producing countries?

  By Vasileia Fanarioti for Perfect Daily Grind

  “Over the years, we've seen many competitors opt for additions like cryodessicated milk and lacto-fermented fruits. While it's true that such ingredients have helped to elevate the signature beverage round, many aren't sourced from coffee-producing countries. But considering that competitors focus so heavily on coffee origin and processing methods, there is an argument they should also extend the same level of attention to detail to their signature beverage ingredients. Moreover, should WBC participants also try to incorporate more ingredients from producing countries in their routines?”

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