Is it black, is it a drink, is it a bean, is it a fruit, is it the difference between ground | whole beans |

instant powder, is it caffeine ?

It is all of the above but most of all, Coffee is A RECIPE.

*Coffee* isn’t coffee until it has gone through a very enticing journey that ends up in your cup as a recipe.

Coffee starts out as a fruit (cherry) that grows on a bushy tree in regions with a minimum rainfall of 400mm per year. These regions are all located around the equator in what coffee people call the coffee belt. Coffee trees flourish in humid environments.

The tree

There are 4 main species of coffee trees: Arabica | Liberica | Canephora: (Robusta) |Excelsa. Each species has a group of different varieties that all account to 4 – 3000 + variaties

When grown in it’s prefered tropical environment, coffee is a vigorous bush or small tree that usually grows to a height of 3–3.5 m (9.8–11.5 ft). Most commonly cultivated coffee species grow best at high elevations, but do not tolerate freezing temperatures very well. Coffee trees flourish with a minimum of 400mm of rainfall per year. With the first rainfall of the season the coffee tree is covered in beautiful white blossoms.

The blossom

The flowering phase lasts about a month. It carries almost the same aroma as jasmine and orange blossoms. It if not disturbed every little blossom will transform into a coffee cherry. The flowers form at the nodes on each branch, just behind the leaves. The flowers will turn brown and fall off the branch. Not to worry. Left behind is the carpel, a small round ball that over the next six months will grow into a fruit with one or two seeds.

The cherry

The fruiting phase lasts about six months. Coffee cherries ripen slowly. For the first 5 months they will be green and rock hard. Then they will begin to lighten and turn pink and then cherry red, then dark red to purple. Dark red is when you pick the cherries.

It has a skin that covers fleshy fruit with seeds in the middle. The seeds are known as “coffee beans.”

Picking & Processing

When the cherries have all ripen over a 2 month ripening period, they need to be picked. With a simple twist and pull they will come off easily.

Harvesting: all across the world farmers make use of 3 different harvesting methods : Strip Hand picking | Mechanical | Selective hand Picking

Hand Picking is a time consuming project that will require pickers to visit a tree up to 7 times during a single harvest period. The yellow cherries are left on the tree to develop and only then are they picked off.

Processing:

There are 4 main coffee processing methods :

Fully washed| wet honey processing | dry honey processing | natural processing

Once the coffee cherries have been sorted they are poured into water. Here all the floating cherries are separated, they are deemed 2nd grade cherries.

• Fully Washed: After that final sorting the 2 groups of cherries are de-pulped. Using a big turning wheel machine with water that breaks open the cherry skin to separate flesh from the seeds, using a hard broom to wash of the remaining pulp from the beans. After the washing process the beans are dried in the sun or in a mechanical dryer to dry. The drying process lasts up to 20 -30 days to fully dry. They are rotated with brooms 8–10 times a day.

• Natural processing

After the 1st floating process the cherries are directly transferred to the drying beds with skin, fruits and all. The cherries is dried as is for about 55–80 days in the sun. They are rotated 10 times a day to ensure even drying.

There are a few more steps the beans endure before ending up in the roaster that are discussed in detail in the Processing of Coffee story.

Roasting

Roasting is the process required to “roast” green coffee beans and expose the natural flavors in the coffee.

Coffee in it’s green form doesn’t taste or smell anything like the aromas associated with coffee.

The coffee beans are stored in a green state.

A green coffee bean has very different characteristics compared to a roasted bean, it is spongy and soft to the bite and has a grassy smell.

It’s only when this green seed is roasted at temperatures of 180 – 210 over a period of anything between 10 – 14min, that it’s flavor and aromas are ‘activated’. Coffee is roasted to different profiles depending on the origin of the coffee.

The roasting process involves chemical changes since the coffee beans are brought to extremely high temperatures. When they get to the final state of perfection, they are then quickly cooled to halt the procedure. Roasted seeds have a smell similar to coffee, and have less weight since the moisture has been caramelized. They are crispy when you bite, ready to be grounded and brewed. However, once the coffee gets roasted, they should be used before the fresh roast flavor starts to weaken as the roasted beans dries in oxygen.

Many roasters have focused on titles for their favorite roasts, and there is less industry normalization. This can lead to confusion when you are purchasing, but generally, roasts fall into one among 5 categories, light, light-medium, medium, medium-dark and dark.

Light roasts

This roast is brown and usually favored for the minor coffee varieties. They do not have an oily surface since they are not yet roasted for a long time enough for the oils to break onto the surface.

Medium roasts

This is a medium brown colored roast with a non-oily surface and a more robust flavor.

Medium-dark roasts

These roasts are rich, with a dark color, and have an oily surface with a slightly bittersweet taste.

Dark roasts

Dark roasts produce glossy black beans with a greasy surface and a distinct unpleasantness.

Grinding

Coffee beans have to be grinded into smaller particles to allow water to extract flavor from the beans during the brewing process. The objective of the proper grind is to get the most flavor into your cup.

The method and beans that will be used to brew the coffee will determine the grind size.

Brewing

Brewing is the final step of the coffee journey. When adding hot water (89–97.C) to the ground coffee, the small particles absorbe the water and start to release (extract ) it’s flavor.

Every brewing method requires it’s own grind size & recipe in order to produce the best flavor.

Every recipe will vary depending on the origin & roast profile of your coffee and method of your choice.

Which brings us to RECIPES: Coffee is a recipe.

Coffee is not just the tree, or the fruit or the brown roasted beans or the grinds or the taste — it’s all summed up in the recipes. Coffee is not coffee until it has been brewed according to a ratio

ground : water that best suits your pallet or desire. All of the above mentioned steps are all necessary steps in the journey of producing coffee.

Ratio

Any item we consume is prepared according to a recipe that relates to the ratio of dry:wet ingredredients. The same with coffee. Every brewing method on the market has a prescribed brewing ratio that portrays it’s best qualities.

This is evident in the different ratios that make up the drinks on a coffee menu.

In order to be named a cappuccino the beverage needs to meet the requirements of a cappaccino.

Single Cappaccino: 1 : 3 : 1

25–30ml espresso + 90 steamed milk + 80ml of foamed(1cm)

• Cup: 180 ml cup (single)

Coffee is only coffee when it is brewed according to a recipe that is calculated using the following formula. This ensures balance between the sweet | bitter |acidic elements .

Dose: refers to how much coffee grinds is used

Yield: is the amount of liquid ends up in the cup after extraction

Time: how long did the extraction last

Ratio: what is the relationship between ground coffee and water

Calculating Formula

Ratio x Dose = Yield

Yield / Ratio = Dose

Yield / Dose = Ratio

These calculations are used when preparing any coffee drink available on a coffee menu. Follow this link for more on the recipes.