Posts Tagged ‘coffee beans’
There are lots of myths and legends when it comes to the history of coffee. Many thought the cup of coffee to be very mysterious and this stimulating coffee found itself shrouded in mystery in the earlier days. One of the most popular legends is associated with a goatherd named Kaldi. One day, when Kaldi was with his herd of goats he noticed a sudden change in their behavior. The goats turned spirited and that was made Kaldi hunt for the probable reason. That was the time he viewed a wild coffee shrub and it dawned on him that his goats probably had eaten some cherries off this shrub. Curious, it led him to have a taste of the wild cherries himself. Upon feeling energized, he spread the story of these wild cherries in his village. From the local monastery, the tale spread between the monks and even the locals.
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We know the first thing added to coffee beans were cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and anise. Today that has expanded beyond spices to sugars and flavorings. What is responsible for all this expansion is called coffee aroma along with the mouth-feel and sweet, salt, bitter and sour taste attributes that are perceived by the tongue. All the present day specialty coffee flavor attributes are desired because of the aroma first. Instant coffee and decaf coffee have components that are responsible for stimulation of the taste buds. Instant coffee’s difference is that it lacks most of the aromatic volatile compounds that create a decrease in the overall flavor of the coffee.
There are many decisions to be made before anything is added to the coffee beans to alter its flavor. There many kinds of coffee beans that came from all over the world. These beans, it is believed, all originated in Ethiopia and were taken by merchants back to Yeman and Pakistan where they crushed and boiled the beans in a coffee maker called an ibrik to make the first coffee. From there they ended up in Europe where Dutch traders took them to different parts of Asia, the Carribean and South America. English sailors brought coffee beans to America and later brought coffee plants. These beans were known as Aribica because they came from Arabia. However, these beans when planted in the different soils around the world took on different tastes. Today, we have Ethiopian coffee, Brazilian coffee, Java coffee, Kenyan coffee, Jamaican coffee, Sumatran coffee, Haitian coffee, Vietnamese coffe and Argentine coffee are just a few of the beans from countries around the world that have there own unique taste.
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There are many varieties of coffee in the world, but only two are used for 97% of the worlds supply: Arabica and Robusta. The highest quality blends of coffee consist of 100% Arabica beans. Lower quality, less expensive blends may have some proportion of Robusta beans, or they may consist entirely of Robusta.
Arabica beans produce a superior taste in the cup, being more flavorful and complex than their Robusta counterparts. Robusta beans tend to produce a bitter brew, with a musty flavor and less body, and are sold to less discriminating consumers. They are also higher in caffeine than Arabica beans, fueling the addictions from which many of us already suffer.
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