Ultrasonics is a different way of extracting coffees and teas than current methods of long, cold brewing and hot brewing. Instead of temperature, we rely largely on radical formation (like thermal heating can create) and physical destruction originating from microscopic implosions. These implosions form due to extremes in pressure which are generated from a piece of lab equipment, an ultrasonicator. These machines have metal walls that vibrate very fast (>20,000 times a second) and very powerfully to create this brewing effect. Our company logo shows the beginning stages of this, with a microscopic bubble in the center of violently churning water about to implode.
Ultrasonics are commonly used in a number of industries. Whisky producers use ultrasonics to speed age their product. Dentistry has used ultrasonics to clean equipment of microorganisms. Machine shops use ultrasonics to clean parts of material efficiently in a way that doesn’t damage the part. Biochemists use ultrasonic to extract active enzymes from various cells. While ultrasonics is often used in the food industry, its use commercially for extracting coffees and teas is relatively unexplored.
A problem with hot brewing is increased chances of elevated temperatures destroying flavorful or texture promoting molecules in a coffee or tea. On the other hand, cold brews have a problem with microorganism consuming flavorful molecules during the brewing process alongside long term exposure to reactive oxygen.