Good day, my dear readers. In one of Friday’s selections of cocktails with coffee, I promised to tell you, in fact, about coffee. Then it somehow went wrong, and I was carried a little into a different topic. Actually, I must approach this drink with all responsibility, because coffee is a mystery of taste that deserves special respect. For those who have been drinking a lifetime of nasty black liquid from a jar scratched with “Nescafe” – articles from the section on coffee, which I just opened, are a must read.
So, what does the almighty Wikipedia tell us about coffee? And she says that coffee is a drink made from roasted coffee beans, more precisely, from the grains of the coffee tree. Perhaps, you can agree with her 🙂 In general, I would venture to immediately start with the story.
History of coffee
The most authoritative legend is the story of a shepherd named Kaldi. It was he who first noticed how his wards, that is, goats, behaved very violently after a hearty dinner of dark red fruits of the coffee tree. By the way, it happened in Ethiopia, which is considered the birthplace of this drink. In general, the shepherd sensed something was wrong and turned to the monk from the monastery, who, in turn, became interested in the aforementioned fruits. As a result, after some time, all the monks in that monastery began to gnaw grains in order to tone themselves during prayers. Then they began to grind the fruits and make a decoction out of them – here you have coffee.
Coffee house in Palestine, 1900
In general, opening coffee, as such, dates back as far as 850 BC. Of course, at first they simply gnawed the grains to give themselves strength (I remind you that coffee contains caffeine, which is a powerful stimulant). In Yemen, they came up with the idea of making a decoction from the pulp of the fruits of the coffee tree – this is how the drink “geshir” or “white Yemeni coffee” was born. In general, they gnawed grains and drank a decoction until the 12th century, until they came up with the idea of preparing a drink from raw grains. A century later, they began to dry, roast and grind the aforementioned grains. Basically, this is the merit of the Arabs, who brewed coffee in a Turkish (cezve), adding various spices, ginger and milk to the drink.
By the end of the XNUMXth century, coffee began to gradually conquer the world – merchants began to bring it to Europe. Then off we go: in the middle of the XNUMXth century (according to legend), coffee beans were taken to India by a Muslim pilgrim; towards the end of the same century, coffee beans were exported in a roundabout way by the Dutch, who transported them to Sumatra and Java. The Dutch sent one coffee tree home, which became the mother of many varieties of coffee in the colonies of the New World. Then the Dutch gave the coffee tree to the French king, who spread the plants on the island of Bourbon (this is how the rather famous Bourbon coffee variety was born). In general, the history of the coffee industry is quite rich and you can safely allocate a whole section to this business, but all this can be easily found on the net. Further information is much more interesting and important, so everyone should read it.
Types of coffee
This side of the coffee industry is not familiar to many, which makes me personally sad. People drink soluble muck, not suspecting what this divine drink actually tastes like. It will surprise many, but there are about 75 known types of coffee tree in the world. But only 2 are cultivated on a global scale: Arabica (Coffea arabica L.) and Robusta (Coffea canephora Pierre ex Froehn.). These two species account for about 98% of all coffee grown in the world. At the same time, Arabica coffee accounts for about 70%, and Robusta – 30%. There are also Liberica and Excelsa (Coffea Dewevrei), which are used in cosmetology and the confectionery industry, but they are not very pleasant to drink. In general, it is enough for you to know what is Arabica coffee и robusta coffee.
Arabica coffee
This is the most valuable type of coffee tree. It is Arabica that is valued all over the world and is selected more intensively. I also see no reason to talk about the botanical features of this type of tree, but I can only say that Arabica trees are very capricious. They require a very careful choice of growing conditions: the trees grow at high altitudes (800 to 2100 mm), preferably on volcanic soil or mountain plateaus, within a certain temperature range (15 to 24 degrees Celsius). Arabica is very susceptible to diseases, so the harvest is very unpredictable. One coffee tree of this species can produce no more than 5 kilograms of coffee beans per year, which then undergo a rigorous selection, after which about 1 kg remains ready for use. Such harsh conditions make Arabica an order of magnitude more expensive than all other types.
Arabica flowers
The fruits of Arabica coffee trees contain about 18% aromatic oils and 1-1,5% caffeine. The taste of Arabica is very rich, ranging from sweetness to sourness (an obligatory flavor component of Arabica). Moreover, the higher the tree grows, the more coffee gives off sourness. Many things affect the taste: plants that grow nearby (very often plants with spicy aromas and others are planted next to coffee trees), from the saturation of the earth with minerals, and much more. Pure varieties of Arabica, which are very abundant, are not used to make espresso., since this cooking method does not quite fully reveal the taste of each of the varieties. Ideally cook arabica coffee in a french press (I already wrote about it in an article about Irish coffee) or an aero press, but we’ll talk about how to make coffee a little later. Arabica beans are larger!
Robust coffee
This type of tree was discovered in the Congo. The main difference between Robusta is the fortress. Because of this quality, Robusta is mixed with various varieties of Arabica to create stronger espresso blends. Trees of this species grow at a lower altitude (200-900 meters), are more resistant to sudden temperature changes and diseases. A single Robusta tree yields much more than an Arabica tree, which is why Robusta prices are much lower. Actually, I would not be surprised if most of the packaged ground and granulated coffee is made from Robusta. Robusta fruits contain less aromatic oils (about 8%), but more caffeine (3% or more). It is also worth noting that robusta is added to the mixture to give coffee a denser and more stable foam.
Raw robusta grains
Coffee production
Arabica produces a harvest after each rainy season – it takes about 9 months for the fruit to ripen (Robusta needs 10-11 months to fully ripen). Special attention deserves grains, which are selected manually on many plantations. Hell of a job: to sit with a stencil and select grains by size – this is how Specialty class coffee is born. The average bean size of Arabica is 0,7 cm, but there are record-breaking varieties (Kenya AA – bean size is 2 times larger, Colombia Supremo – one and a half, Maragogip even more, this variety is also called “Elephant Coffee”). In general, the larger the grain size, the more coffee is valued, but not always.
Coffee picking in Central America
Ripe coffee is often harvested by hand, carefully picking each ripe berry from the tree. But in some areas where the use of technology is possible, the collection process is automated. Then the pulp is separated from the berries mechanically. Then there are two options: the coffee is dried or the coffee is washed. Rinsing provides a milder coffee flavor. I don’t know much about the drying process, so google it better =). Then everything is simple – the grains are sorted out and packed in bags. Then they are roasted in ovens to a certain degree (I will touch on this issue in more detail in the next article). Well, then you know: grinding – cooking – eating.
Hmm, it turned out to be some kind of encyclopedic article, for which I apologize. In fact, it is very important to know about coffee, so that at least there is a reason to think about what got into your cup. Further, I will delve into the preparation of the drink, so that you understand where and what kind of coffee you should drink, and what it is generally better to refuse. It remains to add only one thing – once you try real, properly prepared coffee, you will forever forget about the disgusting surrogates who love to advertise so much on the box. That’s all, bye bye, until we meet again! Drink the right coffee, read the Rum Diary =)