Coffee
Knowledge
The coffee is the second most traded commodity
after the oil
History
The
history of the coffee is long and dated
back to the 6-7 century. There are many
stories about how and who discovered
it. The most famous one is about an
Ethiopian
goatherder named Kaldi, who
discovered
coffee when he noticed how excited
his goats became after eating the red
berries from a coffee plant
Coffee
The earliest credible evidence of either
coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree appears in the
history
middle of the
15th century, in Yemen in southern Arabia. It was in Yemen where
the coffee beans
were first roasted and brewed as they are today. In
city of Moka the coffee was kept like a treasure. However, they was
not able to
keep it long. From Mocha, coffee spread to Egypt and North
Africa, and by the 16th century, it had reached the rest of the
Middle East,
Persia and Turkey. From the Muslim world, coffee drinking spread to
Italy, then
to the rest of Europe, and coffee plants were transported by the
Dutch to the
East Indies and to the Americas.
Coffee
structure
Coffee plants grow within a defined area between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn,
termed the bean belt or coffee belt.
The beans we use today to make coffee are seeds of a fruit.
The coffee plant produce coffee cherries and the beans are the seed inside.
The structure of a coffee cherry can be compared to grape.
The parts of the coffee cherry are:
Outer skin Pulp Pectin Layer(mucilage)
Parchment Silver Skin Green coffee bean
Types
of Coffee
There are 124 different species of coffee plants
but only 2 of them are used for production of coffee beans
Coffea Arabica (Arabica) - This species makes up about 60%-70% of the world market for
coffee beans. Arabica being grown on steep terrain makes mechanical harvesting
impossible. The hand picking ensures a better quality of selection.
The Arabica beans are bigger, oval and with dark green color. The middle cut is curved
(S-form). Grows at an altitude of 900 -2000m. The plant is more delicate and with lower
resistance to pesticides and diseases. It contains between 0.8% - 1.4% caffeine. It is sweeter
(8% sugar) and with more lipids (13%-17%). Arabica beans taste sweeter, with more herbal,
fruity notes
Types
of Coffee
There are 124 different species of coffee plants
but only 2 of them are used for production of coffee beans
Coffea canephora (known as Robusta) makes 30% - 40% of the world market.
The beans are smaller with circular form and straight cut. This plant grows at a lower altitude
from 0 to 700m and is more resistible to pesticides and diseases.
Caffeine – 1.7% -2.5%, sugar 5%, Lipids – 7%-11%.
The Robusta is more used for preparation of instant coffee. Since they have less oils and less
sugar, they often have more natural, earthy, heavier flavors
Coffee
processing
methods
The coffee Processing method is the second
most important factor after the roasting on building the final cup profile
Natural - Natural Processing is when
coffee beans are dried within the coffee “cherry”. The basic approach is to harvest ripe
coffee cherries, then spread them out on a concrete patio and let them dry slowly,
covering with tarps to block the sun and delay drying if necessary, for 2-3
weeks or more. When the fermenting fruit has imparted just the right
amount of bright citrus and berry notes, then farmers use machines called
“pulpers” or “hullers” to mechanically remove the fruit. The final step is to give beans a little
rinse, they get graded and bagged for shipping
Coffee
processing
methods
The coffee Processing method is the second
most important factor after the roasting on building the final cup profile
Washed - The washed process is widely used across Latin America and parts of East Africa and requires
both the cherry and mucilage surrounding the parchment to be removed with the use of
friction, fermentation and water. Once the ripe cherries have been picked, they are delivered to a wet mill
where they are loaded into a depulping machine, which forces the beans out of the cherry. At this stage,
the beans are contained within the pulp of the cherry, also known as the mucilage. This sticky mucilage is
composed of natural sugars and alcohols and contributes massively to the
sweetness, acidity and overall flavor profile of the coffee. After that the beans are put into fermentation
tanks for around 12-24 hours dependent on temperature .Next step is the beans to be washed. This can
either happen in tanks of clean water or in channels. At this point they are taken to drying bed, or tables
and they are lefted there for a period of 10-22 days. This method brings bright and clean flavor in the
coffee taste
Coffee
processing
methods
The coffee Processing method is the second
most important factor after the roasting on building the final cup profile
Semi washed - In this process the coffee is picked,
depulped (usually on the individual small holding) and then partly sun dried until
the moisture content of the beans reaches 30%-35%.
This process is most commonly associated with producing countries in Indonesia.
Indonesian beans (and particularly Sumatran beans) are often associated with woody, earthy or spicy
flavors which are thought to be a result of this unique process