The
earliest use of coffee beans was to chew them rather than to boil them to drink.
Quakers
are bad coffee beans. They may be blighted or discolored, not yet ripe,
or underdeveloped or malformed. If too many of these get into your
coffee, the coffee's flavor will be affected.
There
are more than eight species of coffee beans, but only one is used to make almost
all specialty coffees: coffea arabica.
The
effects of advertising have led many people to believe that Columbia coffees are
some of the best. While the Supremos have a rich, full flavor and mellow
body and the Excelsos are more mellow with a mild body, Columbia really produces
a bean more neutral, and even perhaps bland, compared to other countries because
it opts for quantity or quality.
One
will either love or hate vintage (or aged) coffee. Unroasted green coffee
beans are aged in special warehouses for up to seven years. The result is a coffee
with lower acidity and fuller body with a flat, sweet heaviness and a musty smell
and taste.
Coffee
beans are graded according to size, density, and color.
A coffee
cherry has an outer skin, a layer of sweet pulp, and two inner skins surrounding
the bean.
Though
the general maximum lifespan of a coffee tree is 40 years, some trees have been
known to live to be 100 and still produce.
A coffee tree doesn't
begin flowering until its third year and generally doesn't produce its first good
crop of coffee cherries until about its fifth year.
Specialty
coffees must be picked by hand because branches of a coffee tree will contain
both ripe and unripe coffee cherries.
Each
coffee tree that produces Arabica beans for specialty coffees will produce only
about one pound of green coffee beans each year.
Coffee trees
on plantations are usually kept trimmed to about 35-50% of the size if they were
left to grow wild. (Coffee trees in the wild can grow up to 20 feet.)
Also, plantation coffee trees can live for up to 40 years in some cases, but usually
produce at their best when they are 10-15 years old.
Smaller
coffee beans are easier to roast than larger beans. Larger beans are generally
softer and must be roasted more slowly to prevent burning the beans.
Kona
coffee is primarily grown on the southwestern coast of the island of Hawaii on
volcanic soil. It is disease-resistant with high yield per acre.
Nonetheless, only about 10 tons of Kona are produced each year resulting in its
high price. If you are looking for a comparable coffee at a lower price,
try a Guatemala Antigua which is also grown on volcanic soil.
Electronic
color-sensitive machines sort coffee beans to obtain a high quality coffee.
These machines differentiate between lighter and darker beans. Standards
vary by company and by country however.
The
bite of coffee's flavor is provided by the tannin, or tannic acid,
in the bean. Tannin is an astringent compound which makes up about 8% of
a green bean reduced to about 4% in a roasted bean.
The
largest of all coffee beans comes from the Maragopipe region of Nicaragua.
This bean produces a full-bodied cup of coffee.
Most
Arabica beans are processed by the "water method" and are referred to
as "washed." This method, as compared to the "dry method,"
provides fewer defects and higher bean quality.
As
with other Indonesian coffees, varieties from New Guinea are full-bodied and sweet.
But they also possess a pleasing acidity more common to the Central American coffees.
While
Kenyan coffees will have a bit of a "fruity blackberry" taste, Indonesian
coffees will exhibit more of an "earthy wild mushroom" taste.
When
you buy coffee for home, remember that coffee beans maintain their freshness nearly
three times longer than ground coffee. If you don't own a grinder, you
might consider purchasing one and grind your beans daily. It only takes
a minute, and you will notice the difference.
There
are two methods of processing beans from the fields: washed and natural
or dry-processed. Most beans sold in specialty coffee shops are washed which
is the more thorough and expensive way to process beans. This process gives
the beans a clean look and taste while accenting the beans' flavor and the liveliness
of its acidity. The washed process however does remove some of the body
and wildness of flavor that occurs from the bean drying in the sun.
Coffees
are labeled either by the country and/or region where the bean grew or by the
darkness of the roast. Coffee is grown in Central and South America including
the Caribbean, Hawaii, Indonesia and New Guinea, India, Africa, and the Middle
East.
There
are three species of coffee beans: Arabica, Robusta, and Liberica.
Of the three Arabicas offer the finest aroma, flavor, and body. They are
grown at altitudes of 3000 feet or more where the plant more slowly matures
in the cooler climate and where it develops more richly flavored oils. There
are even differences among Arabica beans. More on that another time.
Green
coffee beans are high in chlorogenic acid, an unpleasantly harsh acid. As
the bean is roasted, this acid transforms and other more palatable acids arise.
If the bean is roasted very dark, these acids also break down. Thus espresso
beans and darker roasted coffees have less acidity. (This is important
for espresso due to its extraction process which produces a strong flavor in which
much acidity would render the drink undrinkable.) It is the acidity that
adds the mix of bitter, sweet, and tart tastes -- a real brilliance and luster
-- to the coffee. However, a coffee higher in acidity tends to have less
body because it lacks some of the sugars that form when the beans are roasted
more darkly.
Indonesian
coffees in general are full of body. Whereas many Indonesian beans are
dry-processed making for an earthier taste, the Sumatran beans are generally a
mix of washed and dry-processed. Sumatran coffees have a powerful body and
come from one of two regions -- Mandheling and Lintong.
There
are three principal growing regions of coffee: Africa, Indonesia, and Central
and South America. In a very broad sense, coffees grown near each other
have similar characteristics. Beans taste differently dependent upon where
they are grown. The species and varieties of coffee trees, which vary by
region, determine their flavor.
Even
if the label on the coffee you buy says the same thing each time you but it, it
may taste different. Flavor changes with each roast, and taste and quality
of the coffee beans vary with each crop and shipment.
Because
Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is scarce and expensive, there is a myth that it
is the best coffee in the world. However, there are a lot of great coffees
in the world at much lower prices.
Kona
coffee from Hawaii is expensive because of the labor costs involved. Bean
quality is high because the processing methods are meticulous. However,
the best Kona coffee never gets out of Hawaii because the best is saved for Hawaiians
and Hawaiian tourists. Therefore, the Kona coffee that most people get throughout
the world is a coffee with light body and flat taste. Often, when Kona is
used in a blend, it is a minimal part of the blend -- just enough to be able to
carry the name in the blend.
India's
arabica coffee beans are often thought of by specialty coffee roasters as similar
but inferior to those supplied from Sumatra. The Karnataka (formerly Mysore)
state, however, has produced arabica beans for about 350 years and does produce
some quality beans. The Kerala (formerly Malabar) state was the area from
which Dutch traders first introduced arabica coffee trees to Java. Arabica
beans from this state are warehoused during the monsoon season which gives them
a mellow, slightly spicy quality.
Estate
coffees from Papua New Guinea are carefully washed and come from the same stock
that made Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee legendary. Generally, the estate
coffees have a pleasing acidity typical of the Central American coffees yet also
possess the heavier body and sweetness of the coffees of Indonesia.
If
you are looking for a taste of wildness in coffee, your best bet is to try a dry-processed,
true Mocha from Yemen or similar beans from across the Red Sea in certain regions
of Ethiopia. At Wild Goats, you can get a full-city roasted Arabian Mocha
Sanani from Yemen with sparkling acidity and an abundance of aroma.
Does
your stomach ever feel upset after drinking coffee? It is likely you are
drinking coffee made from Robusta beans. These beans contain more chlorogenic
acids than do Arabica beans. These acids can have an upsetting effect on
the digestive system. You might try a milder fine coffee made from Arabica
beans at your favorite specialty coffee shop and maybe you will notice a pleasant
difference.
About
half of all the world's coffee is produced in Brazil and Columbia.
A sack of green coffee beans will weigh 125-135 pounds and contain over
1/2-million beans.
While
better known to the public than Central American coffee beans, those from South
America are less used by specialty roasters. When used, most South American
beans are used in blends and not sold as individual coffees.
Criteria
for grading coffee:
(1) species quality and altitude,
(2) size and appearance, and
(3) taste and aroma.
Green
coffee beans are categorized by age: new, old, mature, or vintage.
Vintage beans have been stored under optimal conditions for up to 10 years.
As green beans age, they lose acidity and gain body.
Most
coffee blends are mixed after the beans are roasted. Beans vary in their
roasting times based upon their size, and the roaster can do various levels of
roasts with beans depending upon the flavor desired.
Green
coffee beans may be stored for years from the time of harvesting under proper
storage conditions. In some cases, the flavor of the bean may improve.
These are called aged coffees.
The
substances in the coffee bean that provide the flavor comprise less than 1% of
the bean's weight.
Once
roasted, coffee beans are quite porous and susceptible to the absorption of moisture.
Stale coffee beans thus become softer and grind differently than freshly roasted
beans.
If
you know the altitude at which a coffee is grown you will have a good clue as
to its flavor and acidity. As a general rule, the higher the altitude, the
more delicate the flavor and crisper the acidity.
Coffee
is a seasonal commodity. When coffee is harvested and how often it is harvested
determines the availability of the coffee beans. Sometimes the political
climate in a country can also influence when beans hit the market.
Estate
coffees are generally quality Arabica coffees grown on an individual owner's farm
and not mixed with coffees from other plantations.
It
takes three years for a coffee bush/tree to begin to produce coffee cherries annually.
The
best coffees are picked when the coffee cherries are ripe. However, in many
cases, coffee cherries are picked too early or late. This is yet another
element in a series of factors which affect the quality of the coffee you ultimately
drink.
Once
coffee is picked, it continues to change. It will continue to mature and
mellow and eventually will fade and stale. How rapidly this occurs depends
upon the time of the year, the climate, and the type of coffee.
Most
of the higher quality Arabica coffee beans are grown above 3,000 feet.
Arabica
coffee beans are more mild, less bitter, more aromatic, and have less body than
Robusta beans. Robusta beans contain higher levels of chlorogenic acid (a
harsh acid) that may not fully break down during roasting. This acid can
be more upsetting to the digestive tract and gives the coffee a more bitter taste.
Coffee
beans taste differently depending upon where they are grown. Soil, climate,
altitude, species variety, harvesting and processing methods all are factors in
the flavor of the coffee.