Coffee

Coffee Bean Growing

For a tree grown in over 70 countries from Indonesia to Brazil, it's amazing how narrow a range of conditions are required to produce quality "beans" and how relative the total output is.

The word "beans" is in quotation marks, because the thing that gets roasted and ground to make the drink isn't really a bean at all, it's a seed.

In actual fact, it's the seed of a fruit that grow on trees that can easily reach 20 feet or more. Some wild varieties grow over 45 feet or 15 meters. Most of these seeds come in a pair though there is a variety that produce only one (the pea berry). The berry resembles a cranberry, with a sweet pulp covered by a membrane called a silverskin.

Once planted, the coffee tree takes about five years to mature to first crop, and even then a single tree will only produce enough for about a kilogram of coffee.

The beans are usually hand-picked by manual laborers. They may be manual, but they are not ignorant. Coffee bean harvesting is a skill developed over time, where the picker learns to select good beans - and discard damaged beans. They do this bean by bean. This is the only reason for the coffee to be priced so high.

The trees have broad, dark green leaves and produce a flower that resembles Jasmine.
Blossom to harvest may cover a period of up to nine months, depending on the weather and other factors, and the cycle will be carried out for the life of the tree - about twenty to twenty five years.

A good harvest will be between 3000kg and 4000kg per hectare.

How Coffee Is Roasted

A roasting process is required to "cook" green coffee beans and expose the natural flavors in the coffee. A variety of roaster types are available. Be sure to always use ultra-clean equipment.

Slow Temperature Increase

First, green coffee beans are placed in a roaster and heated. As the roaster heats up, the beans are tumbled around to allow the heat to toast the bean evenly. The temperature is slowly raised to between 460°F and 530°F, allowing heat to penetrate slowly to the core of every coffee bean.

First Color Change

Green coffee beans contain a significant amount of moisture, and you'll notice the release of a significant amount of steam. As moisture escapes the coffee that is being roasted, the green coffee beans will first turn yellow, and then turn brown.

First Crack

When the temperature reaches a critical point, the coffee beans will swell significantly. Soon thereafter, a loud cracking noise will be heard as the remaining moisture bursts out of the coffee beans. At this point, the sugars in the coffee have begun to caramelize and the coffee is officially considered "roasted". At the time of the first crack, however, the beans are at the lowest roast level.

Rapid Second Color Change

After the first crack, the coffee beans caramelize and release oils quickly. During this phase, the coffee roasts very quickly. The color darkens rapidly and requires quite a lot of finesse and timing to achieve different precise roast levels. Usually, the roasting process is stopped sometime during this phase.

Second Crack

Another loud crack will be heard. Most roast masters stop the roast before this stage, but sometimes the second crack is desirable. The second crack is usually harder to identify than the first crack, and the coffee is roasted very dark by the time the second crack occurs, if it occurs at all. If the coffee is roasted much beyond the second crack, all of the sugars in the coffee will have caramelized, yielding a very harsh, bitter cup of coffee.

Stopping The Roast

The roast master uses the aroma and color (and sometimes special instruments) of the coffee to determine when the coffee is done roasting. It takes a tremendous amount of experience to know exactly when to stop the roasting process. To make sure the beans stop roasting immediately, the roasted coffee must be cooled quickly. Cooling is usually performed by either flooding the roaster with fresh, cold air, or by spraying the beans with water.

Degassing After Roasting

After the coffee is roasted, the beans go through a process called degassing. For approximately 24 hours after roasting, the beans release Carbon Dioxide (CO2) gas. The degassing phase is critical and should not be ground or brewed until all the CO2 has been released.

Knowing Your Coffee Roast Levels

Roasting coffee causes the sugars, fats and starches contained in the bean to emulsify, caramelize, and release. The delicate coffee oil that results from roasting is what gives coffee its unique, distinctive aroma and taste.

In general, lighter roasts tend to be sharper and more acidic than darker roasts. Darker roasts have a fuller flavor, though. Coffee that is over-roasted tends to have a smoky, charcoal-like or burned flavor (not desirable). Interestingly, darker roasts actually have less caffeine than the lighter roasts. Every coffee is different though. Colombian coffee will taste different than Sumatra coffee, even if the roast level is exactly the same.

Light Roasts

The bean is light brown and dry with no visible oils on the surface of the bean. The flavor is baked or bread-like, similar to toasted grain. Depending on the coffee, some sour tones may be present and the body of the coffee will be minimal.

Medium Roasts

Medium light brown beans. This is the most common roast used for cupping and professional coffee tasting.

Medium-Dark To Dark Roasts

Medium dark brown beans. Some oily drops will be present on the surface of the bean when fully roasted.

Dark/High Roasts

At this level, the beans are very dark brown (but not black). Some burned undertones will be present and acidity is lower. This is a popular roast for making espresso, though lighter roasts are used also.

Very Dark Roasts

The coffee beans are nearly black in color and the flavor tends to be flat with charcoal undertones. Pretty much all the sugar in the beans have caramelized and toasted thoroughly.

ESPRESSO

Espresso should be sweet, have a potent aroma and a flavor similar to freshly ground coffee. The crema should be a dark, reddish brown. It should be smooth, yet thick.

Espresso should be enjoyable straight, yet bold enough to not disappear in milk. A pleasant and aromatic aftertaste should linger for a few minutes after consumption.

To Maximize Your Espresso Potential

1. Blend

Start with coffee beans selected and roasted to yield a thick, caramel-tasting, aromatic cup.

2. Grinding

A fine, powdery espresso grind allows water to flow trough at a slow, steady pace for a cup of espresso with the best flavor and consistency. Coffee should be freshly ground, since such a fine grind quickly loses its flavor. It's a good idea to purchase a burr-type grinder, which allows you to fine-tune your grind to your individual machine.

3. Machine

Espresso machines force hot water through the coffee at high pressure using an electric pump or a piston.

4. Hand

The hand of a skilled operator ensures that each cup of espresso is brewed to perfection. The right amount of ground coffee, known as the dose, must be measured for the amount of espresso being brewed. For full extraction of flavor, the coffee must be tamped down just firmly enough to allow water to flow slowly through it in a stream about as thin as the lead in a pencil. The coffee should be carefully watched during extraction - with the goal being 1 to 1.5 ounces of liquid in about 20 seconds for a single shot - and the pump should be turned off the instant the goal is achieved.