During one of my lives, I became a trained coffee expert, think of wine tasting but with coffee. Some hardened drinkers would be amazed at the variation of taste and textures of coffee grown in different climates under different conditions on different soils. Part of the training was to identify the soil, altitude and climate the coffee was from just by the taste.
Did you know there are two different types of coffee bean, Arabica and Robusta. Arabica beans are by far the better quality than Robusta and when raw have a smell similar to that of blueberries. They must be grown at between 600-2000 metres. Robusta beans are less variant and tend to be a little more grainy. They can grow well at low altitudes of 200-800 meters, they are also less subject to pest and rough handling problems. They yield more pounds of finished goods per acre at a lower cost of production.
Coffee beans tend to grow best with plenty of water but with the altitude and temperature, this can be tricky. The best place to grow coffee for the best flavour (in my opinion) is on volcanic soil and the pumice is excellent at trapping rainwater. Altitude + Volcanic soil generally means on the side of a volcano… as you can imaging, many crops have been lost on the side of active volcanoes.
Coffee beans look like cherries when growing… well, a picture paints a thousand words:
Coffee Bush
When ripe, the beans are picked and skinned to reveal the green pip within. Due to such wide taste variances, these need to be blended to produce the taste a brand consumer is familiar with, every cup of coffee from starbucks should taste exactly the same as the last no matter where it is… this is a tough job, especially when the beans don’t have any true flavour as yet, that comes later.
If the coffee is to be decaffeinated, they are now usually soaked in water to dissolve the caffeine and flavours, the water is put through a carbon filter to remove the caffeine and then readded to a proportion of the beans in an attempt to bring back the flavour and smell… all I ask is that you try fresh and treated beans and taste the difference. untreated beans generally have a much richer flavour, this is of course assuming artificial flavourings aren’t added to the decaffeinated beans. This is called the Swiss water method, there are other methods involving solvents and even rumours of using urine… In the commercial coffee world, this wouldn’t be allowed so it’s probably just hearsay.
The fresh (or brutally murdered) coffee beans are then added to a giant drum in the commercial world, though an stone oven would do just as well, they are dried to lose about 12% of water, then roasted at 250 degrees celsius. For quick cooling, the roasted beans are drenched and air dried to avoid burning the beans, they are then packaged and shipped.
Enough of this waffle, how do I make coffee?
I shared the above to hopefully help readers appreciate the processes and treat coffee with the respect it deserves. Coffee tastes best freshly ground. Invest in a course coffee grounder and start buying whole coffee beans, there is little (if any) difference in the cost of the beans so there’s no excuse! The beans should be kept in the fridge and can be frozen if they’re not going to be used for some time. An airtight back is recommended, usually the packet will be resealable.
First step, boil the kettle. Kettles are designed for boiling water, but boiling water will burn coffee and leave a bitter taste. The ideal temperature is about 90 degrees C not 100!
Once you’re ready for a cup of the good stuff, pull the cafetiere off that dusty shelf and wipe it clean.
Grind the coffee beans on a course setting, if you’re a cheapskate like me and have a pressure on/off button, then experiment in how much grinding works. You don’t want a fine power but something a little larger than sand, this will prevent it creeping through or round the mesh of the press. Use about 2 heaped teaspoons of beans per cup. (if you’re blessed with sensitive scales like the ones on the corner shop shelf next to the bongs, measure exactly 8gramms per cup.) Once ground, add them to the cafetiere.
Add a splash of cold tap water to the kettle once boiled to bring the temperature back down and pour just enough into the cafetiere to cover the coffee grounds. Give it a little stir to bloom (create a foam) and add the rest of the water. Don’t go to the loo or check your emails! Start a timer. Depending on the courseness, the best brewing time varies, but never leave it for more than 4 minutes (I tend to aim for 3minutes 30s). After 4 minutes, the bitter elements of the bean come through spoiling the coffee.
Once finished, give it another quick stir, then press the plunger slowly and pour. (If you can, now would be a great time to pour a little off to compare with instant coffee to remind yourself about how you wish you’d seen an article like this before.) Allow the cup to sit to settle any remaining sediment.
Tip: If you do scorch the coffee with a hot kettle, or stew them in the cafetiere, add a pinch of salt. This will take away most of the bitterness and give it a sweeter taste.
Another patronising ‘did you know’ Noted as one of the world’s largest, most valuable, legally traded commodities after oil, coffee has become a vital cash crop for many Third World countries. Over one hundred million people in developing countries have become dependent on coffee as the primary source of income. Coffee has become the primary export and backbone for African countries like Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, and Ethiopia as well as many Central American countries.
Where can I find a decent coffee bean? That is a matter of taste, my personal favourite is Starbucks Cafe Estima (the same one they use in-store) If you’re SE based, check out Tchibo as they have a selection of fresh coffee behind the counter. The beans are changed weekly for freshness. Other brands I’m sure do the same.
If you would like to help 3rd world more directly than just buying from some brand with ‘Fairtrade’ splattered across their expensive tables in premium locations with fat-cat executives, speak to a real coffee expert, an Ecademist Anne Quinn (http://www NULL.ecademy NULL.com/account NULL.php?id=127125&xref=217922) who imports coffee beans herself as a personal interest and pursuit to helping those in need.
Wake up and smell the coffee, just another small part of life which should be enjoyed rather than hurried.
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