Coffee - Types, History, Taste

The legend about coffee is that Kaldi the shephard first discovered coffee when he was with his sleepy goats, upon chewing the seeds of coffee; he discovered that he was in this immense happiness and euphoria. Coffee eventually started from Ethiopia and later spread to Arab and of course, now its all over the world.

When making coffee, you have to go through a few steps. Firstly, you must roast the coffee beans. In fact, those who are serious about drinking coffee should consider buying a coffee roast for usage at home. This is because the quality of coffee starts to deteriorate after 2 weeks. Right now, they are pretty good electric home roasting machines that are available in the market.

Secondly, you must grind the coffee beans. Grinder is the most important equipment for coffee making. It is often said that you should not skimp on the grinder because it will determine the quality of coffee that you will produce. This is especially so if you are using the press pot to make your coffee. The coarseness of the coffee power will determine how strong/weak your coffee will be. Of course, the finer the grind, the finer the yield and that will of course need a shorter brewing cycle. Therefore, the fineness of your grinder is predetermined by your brewing method and also the length of your brewing cycle. It ranges from very fine, fine to medium.

Finally, the brewing method determines whether your coffee “makes or breaks”. This is essentially the last part of the coffee production process after which you will get to enjoy the piping hot cup of coffee. There exist many methods of brewing. The more commonly used is of course the press pot/French press. It takes the form of coffee in a glass container and made using a plunger at the top to compress the coffee powder at the bottom. Some prefer to use the drip port where it takes the form of a pot. Essentially it consist of 3 parts, the top receiving the water, middle containing the basket and bottom receiving the coffee.

When tasting coffee, there are four main factors in describing the drink. First it is acidity which describes the amount of smoothness. Next is of course, body, which describes the weight of the coffee itself. Next, the aroma which describes the fragrance caused by the aromatic oil which are released during roasting. The last is of course flavor which describes the lingering taste of coffee in your mouth after drinking it.

About coffee types, they can be classified to three main types, Robusta, Liberica and of course Arabica. The last being the most important and it is more often touted as the highest quality beans. Found growing in Ethiopia, it is the mostly cultivated species. Robusta is more often used for instant coffee due to its lower quality compared to Arabica. However, Robusta contains almost twice as much caffeine compared to Arabica. Liberica is of not much significance in the coffee making arena. Liberica originated from Congo and can sustain adverse climate conditions. They are also more resistant to pests and diseases compared to Robusta.