The Language of Coffee
Next to petroleum, coffee is the most widely traded commodity.
About 400 billion cups of coffee are consumed each year.
Like any other commodity that is popular, coffee has its share of controversies.
It had been called the drink of the devil,
the drink that causes impotence,
an evil brew and many other expletives.
Over a cup of coffee
many a literary masterpiece has been penned,
national testaments and oratories that has changed the course of history have been developed,
medical advances have been initiated,
huge business deals have been concluded.
But a coffee is a coffee. Nothing special - just a hot drink. But the world loves it.
Like wine, it takes special preparation.
Like wine it takes dedication and specialized processes and cultivation.
But coffee is the antithesis to wine.
Wine will relax the body and make thinking a little more phlegmatic and wooly.
Not so with coffee.
Coffee sobers rather than intoxicates.
Coffee stimulates rather than dulls the senses.
As the famous line says, It cheers the spirit without making one mad.
Like wine, coffee needs blending, brewing and many other preparations that go with excellent drinks.
Coffee also has its own language.
To be truly familiar with coffee here are some of its more famous terms:
Coffee Acidity – Carrot and coffee have almost the same pH.
Acidity in coffee gives it a special liveliness, color and brightness.
Coffee Arabica - Arabica is a type of coffee.
The other is Robusta.
Coffee Arabica contains less caffeine, it is harder to cultivate as it grows best at altitudes between 3,500 to 7,000 feet,
it has a superior full bodied taste compared to Robusta and consequently it is more expensive.
Bourbon is a variety of coffee Arabica grown off the coast of Africa.
Although it has more character and taste, it does not yield as well as the other Arabica variety,
and therefore was not cultivated in large quantities.
With the current popularity of coffee however, its cultivation is again being rejuvenated.
Coffee Blends - Blending coffee is much like an artist making colors on his palette.
Coffee blenders take beans grown all over the world.
These are mixed to craft a taste that is special and cannot be achieved with a coffee of single origin.
Body - Refers to the “feel” of coffee in the mouth.
The body of the coffee could be made light, delicate, thin, syrupy or buttery.
Decaffeinating / Decaf – is a process of reducing the caffeine content of the coffee beans.
Several processes could be applied to remove the caffeine content.
One is through use of chemicals;
another is through the use of different water processes and lastly the use of carbon dioxide.
In all decaffeinating processes,
the paramount concern is to preserve the natural flavor of the coffee bean.
Coffee Grade - is classifying the beans by its density and its size.
The highest grade is called premium and is sold at a higher price.
Processing - is the separation of the flesh from the coffee bean.
The two types of processing are the dry and washed processing.
With the dry processing, the beans are spread on the ground to dry in the sun.
They are raked several times a day so that drying is even.
After two to three weeks, the dried flesh is cracked off.
Dry processing produces earthier flavor and a syrupy texture in your coffee.
The washed processing is cutting the skin off the coffee bean and allowing it to stand so that it ferments
until the skin can be easily washed off with water. The beans are then dried.
This kind of processing preserves the natural flavors in the coffee.
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