June 16, 2026
Espresso in the Sound Zone
New way of making espresso with ultrasound
Scientists made espresso with sound waves, and coffee fans are already fighting about cold shots
TLDR: UNSW researchers say sound waves can make espresso-strength coffee with room-temperature water while using far less energy. The comments instantly split between people calling it clever and people asking the only thing that matters before breakfast: why is my espresso not hot?
Coffee discourse just got a brand-new villain: room-temperature espresso. Researchers at UNSW Sydney say they can make espresso-strength coffee with sound waves instead of heat, using regular-temperature water and cutting energy use by up to 75%. In blind taste tests, 100 coffee drinkers reportedly couldn’t tell it apart from a standard espresso. That should have been the mic-drop moment. Instead, the comments immediately turned into a caffeine-fueled culture war.
The loudest reaction? A collective: "Cool science, but why would I want cold espresso?" One commenter basically summed up Team Skeptic with, yes, I’ll happily pay the extra energy bill if it means my coffee is actually warm. Another zoomed in on the visuals, dragging the foam as looking more like pod-machine coffee than the glorious café stuff people worship. For some, this wasn’t a breakthrough so much as a direct attack on the morning ritual.
But Team Future was very much awake. One fan called it an awesome idea and said if it makes the espresso routine easier, they’re in. Another commenter joked that not even baristas are safe now, because apparently automation has entered its espresso era. And the funniest rallying cry of all? Someone demanded, "Get James Hoffmann on the line right now," which is internet shorthand for: we need the coffee oracle to settle this drama immediately. The science is impressive, but the real story is obvious: coffee people are absolutely not ready to stay calm about sonic espresso.
Key Points
- •UNSW Sydney researchers developed an ultrasound-based method to make espresso-strength coffee with room-temperature water.
- •The article says the process reduces energy consumption by up to 75% by removing the need to heat water.
- •Blind taste tests, including a randomised test with 100 regular coffee drinkers, found participants could not distinguish the ultrasonic coffee from traditional espresso.
- •The system uses a transducer and an ultrasonic reactor setup to generate sound waves that speed extraction through acoustic cavitation.
- •The researchers say the method can produce a concentrated espresso-like shot in under three minutes and may be useful for industrial ready-to-drink coffee production.