According to the most common legend, the tonic properties of coffee were discovered by an Ethiopian shepherd named Kaldi, who noticed that his goats, after eating the dense leaves and dark-red fruit of the coffee tree, began to behave at night hectically for no apparent reason. He told about this strange case to the abbot of the monastery, and he decided to try on himself the effect of unusual grains.
The abbot was impressed by the impact of the drink and, in order to support the vivacity of the monks who fell asleep during the night prayers, ordered them to drink this brew. Subsequently, the monks learned to roast and grind the grains. The obtained drink mitigated fatigue, gave renewed strength.
Caffeine is contained in the leaves, seeds and fruits of more than 60 plants. The most famous coffee-containing products are coffee, tea, cocoa and guarana. One cup of coffee contains about 100 mg of caffeine. In addition to caffeine, a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle will help you stay healthy.
Coffee trees species: The most widespread coffee variety, arabica, grows at height from 900 to 2000 meters above sea level. Grains, as a rule, have an oblong shape, a smooth surface, a slightly curved S-shaped line, in which, after a light roasting, the unburned particles of the coffee berry remain.
Robusta species is fast-growing and more resistant to pests than Arabica, and grows at height from about 0 to 600 m above sea level, primarily in the tropical regions of Africa, India and Indonesia. Grains have a rounded shape, color – from light brown to grayish-green
Robusta is usually considered less refined coffee in terms of flavor. At the same time, it contains more caffeine, and is also often used in espresso mixtures, which allows achieving better quality coffee foam and makes the mixture cheaper.
Green coffee beans are mainly used in international trade. This is due to the fact that the green coffee beans can be stored longer than roasted coffee beans and even more than ground coffee.
The taste of coffee depends on the variety and roasting. Depending on the manifestations of which compounds the roaster wants to achieve, the optimum roasting regime is selected in the roasting machine.
As a rule, 4 degrees of roasting are identified. The easiest degree of roasting – is Scandinavian, the darker one – is Viennese, and even darker – is French roasting. The darkest degree of roasting is referred to as Italian.
Prepared coffee has three components: body, taste and flavor. The body or intensity of the drink depends on the properties of the coffee beans, the degree of roasting and grinding, as well as the method of preparation. The most intense ones are coffee beans that grow in South Africa, of dark roasting and medium or fine grind. The taste qualities and flavor of the prepared coffee also depend on the above ingredients, but to a large extent are shown through the details of the coffee preparation. Espresso provides showing sourness, mocha (or coffee, cooked in a Neapolitan coffee maker) can give a chocolate taste.
The names of different varieties are given by:
The country of origin;
The port from which the delivery has been made;
The coffee tree subspecies (Bourbon, Typica, etc.);
The name of the farm, the estate, the domain where coffee is grown;
The name of the area, mountain, valley or nearby city;
According to the national quality classification system of the country-manufacturer;
– SHG (Strictly High Grown), i.e. coffee grown in the mountains; HG (High Grown), i.e. coffee grown in the foothills; MG (Medium Grown) or CS (Central Standard), i.e., coffee grown on flat plantations;
– SHB (Strictly Hard Bean), i.e. coffee with a very hard bean; HB (Hard Bean), i.e. coffee with a hard bean;
– A – coffee of the best quality; B – medium quality; and C – low coffee quality;
– AA – the best coffee; AB – good coffee; BA – medium quality coffee; BB – low quality coffee.
– AP (American preparation) – American preparation, which allows removing up to 23 defects in 300 g of beans;
– EP (European preparation) – European preparation, which allows removing up to 8 defects in 300g of grain.
Almost all the berries of coffee trees contain two beans in each, but there are cases when a coffee berry has only one connate bean. Such beans are manually selected, and labeled with PB (Peaberry) sign.
However, currently some varieties of coffee are grown without the use of chemical agents in order to create the most natural coffee. This coffee is marked organic.