‘Ultrasonic espresso’ made with cold water and high-frequency sound waves uses less energy than the traditional version – and taste tests show it’s just as good.
The ultrasound creates a phenomenon called acoustic cavitation, which is a rapid formation and collapse of microscopic bubbles in the liquid. When these tiny bubbles collapse near the coffee particles, they act like microscopic scrubbing brushes or jets of liquid, pitting and fracturing the coffee grounds and accelerating the bewing process.
If I understand it correctly it should be primarily useful in methods attempting to extract flavour from something. Maybe tea, spices like cinnamon, maybe vanilla but thats fairly soft so it mightn’t work very well.
Well, usually the heat is being used to actually chemically change the food. Coffee beans are pre-roasted and you’re just using hot water to get the coffee into the liquid. It’s not like this technique could be used to cook meat or vegetables. Liquefy them, possibly.
Cavitation Wikipedia
That is such a cool use of an observed phenomenon.
Begs the question, can it be used in conjunction with other cooking methods to reduce energy usage?
If I understand it correctly it should be primarily useful in methods attempting to extract flavour from something. Maybe tea, spices like cinnamon, maybe vanilla but thats fairly soft so it mightn’t work very well.
Well, usually the heat is being used to actually chemically change the food. Coffee beans are pre-roasted and you’re just using hot water to get the coffee into the liquid. It’s not like this technique could be used to cook meat or vegetables. Liquefy them, possibly.
Was thinking microwave or reheating things evenly from within, particularly liquids like soup.
It’s not actually leaving the coffee hot, though.
Optimal drinking temperature is only about 125 though