A new Honors course blends a love of coffee-drinking with the foundations of chemical engineering while helping students scientifically explore and analyze the design of the popular beverage.
Associate scientist and instructor Mehdi Zare of the Chemical Engineering department started teaching the Science and Design of Coffee last semester as a new way to introduce Honors students to chemical engineering.
“It’s very interesting to teach because, especially for non-engineers, they don’t have any kind of background in engineering, and I’d like them to have this understanding that engineering is not that hard. Everyone can do it,” Zare explained.
The three-credit Honors course dives into the tedious process of roasting, brewing and tasting coffee, combining the foundational concepts of chemical engineering with the analyzation of coffee tastes. In the course, students are encouraged to learn and experiment, ultimately brewing the best-tasting coffee.
Junior Sarah Grace Richardson said, “I’ve always loved coffee! It’s something I enjoy every day, so I was intrigued by the idea of studying it from a scientific perspective.”
Zare believes this course allows the students to challenge their inner scientist through a topic that interests them.
The course is primarily lab-based, with a heavy focus on experimentation and curiosity. The first 10 classes cover the science and knowledge behind coffee-making, and the last four cover the design of coffee. At the end of the course, the students participate in a design competition, testing their skills to make the best-tasting coffee.
Students are graded on their scientific reports written from their lab experiences. Scientific writing is a relevant skill to have today, in Zare’s opinion, and one that he believes the students “can use in their major and in their life.”
For Zare, the emphasis on student curiosity is an integral part of his teaching method so that the learning is genuine. “We are interested in a lot of things and we ask questions, but sometimes we ignore it because we don’t have the answer for it or we don’t have the time. I believe if you ignore all of them, then you don’t question anything. It’s your nature –– we are curious,” Zare said.
The course seeks to connect simple scientific concepts to more than just coffee. Lectures often utilize everyday things to describe foundational concepts, such as using a household washer and dryer to understand the second law of thermodynamics.
Zare says that natural phenomena, like how food is produced, how fuel is utilized or how photosynthesis works, for example, are good ways to apply what students learn in the Science and Design of Coffee. “I want them to pay attention to the processes in their environment and natural processes and ask questions and try to discover.”
Zare urges his students to think critically about their experiments, understand why they got a specific result and change the variables for their next experiment, all the while connecting what they learn in class to the natural experiences they see outside of class.
“This course pushes students to think more deeply and critically. It reminds us that even the simplest everyday experiences can be questioned, explored and understood through science,” Richardson said.
Zare implements mid-semester evaluations to see how the students feel about the course –– what is working and not working –– to make improvements. As the course continues to grow, he is hoping to expand their offerings.
“Our goal is to expand. Next semester we’re offering two sessions for the whole university,” Zare said.
Adianna Macklin is a senior in the Honors College pursuing a degree in visual communications. She wrote this story for the Honors Writing for Mass Communications course taught by Bertram Rantin. Beyond being an avid coffee drinker, Macklin is passionate about reading, traveling and the great outdoors.
All photography provided by Adianna Macklin.