Coffee

Aside from the finer points in roasting coffee beans, the extraction of the coffee flavor from the beans by way of brewing is the most important aspect of coffee-making. It is the final process right before we drink our coffee.

This is the one area where most of the connoisseurs have tried to concentrate their efforts in trying to improve the process throughout the ages. Today, we have several forms of coffee brewing techniques, both for commercial and home use.

Flavor extraction length
As a general rule, the length of extraction time is directly related to the grind coarseness.
The smaller the coffee particles, the shorter the extraction time.

French press coffee is the longest, with coffee and water contact lasting as long as four minutes. Espresso has the shortest contact time, about twenty-five seconds, and the coffee granules used are among the smallest.

If the coffee and water stay together for too long, other compounds start to leach and these will make the coffee bitter. On the other hand, if the granules are large, and the extraction time is short, the coffee will lack flavor because of under-extraction.

Drip brew
Most home brews nowadays are produced through the drip process. The technique is simple enough: hot water is poured over a medium-ground coffee within a filter and the water goes through the coffee grounds and drips into a holding container.

There are many variations on these drip brewers with different functions for home use, and also available in larger models for commercial use.

Auto-drip brewers
This machine makes brewing a very simple process. Water is heated in one place and piped over the grounds inside a filter. The extracted brew then drips into a holding vessel.

One complaint is that these machines do not make the water hot enough, so flavor extraction happens at lower temperatures than is recommended.

Another issue is that the machines have warming hot plates, ostensibly for keeping the coffee warm. However, continuous heat will make the coffee bitter.

Single-Serve Systems
These machines were once used exclusively in commercial places. Now, people buy them for their own use at home.

These are very convenient to use. Pre-packaged coffee is inserted into the machine and with one push of a button, the coffee starts to come out. There are variations to these, however.

Some pre-heats an entire reservoir or heats the water on demand. Some machines can brew with less water, making for stronger coffees. They are more like smaller versions of drip machines. Some involve pressure but they are not true espresso machines.

One complaint is that these machines use proprietary packaged coffee, so quality and freshness cannot be guaranteed.

French Press / Press Pot / Cafeteria / Plunger Pot
The French Press has two parts: the beaker (made of glass, metal or plastic) and a plunger which has a wire-mesh filter.

To use, heat the brewing water and pour it on the coffee grounds in the beaker. Let the coffee steep for about 3 to 5 minutes (to your taste) before putting the plunger in and push the dregs down with the filter mesh. You may stir the brew for a second or two before putting the plunger in. Pour the cleared coffee into an appropriate mug. It is now ready for drinking.

Note: Pour out the coffee into your drinking mugs or carafes right after brewing. Do not leave it steeped with the grounds all throughout. The continuous steeping will make the coffee bitter.

Espresso
Espresso is coffee created by forcing hot water steam through finely ground coffee at a certain pressure. The resulting brew is called espresso, as developed by the Italians. It is different from regular coffee in that it has a cream produced by the process unlike regular brews.

Espresso is the base for such bestselling Italian coffee concoctions as cappuccino, lattes, macchiato and more.

There are many more brewing techniques culled from all over the world. Since they are popular only in their parts, we have not included them in the list. Suffice it to say that whatever the number of brewing techniques that one knows, the quality changes accordingly.

Frankly, all of these coffee brewing techniques are just as good as any. And that says a lot on how versatile coffee is.

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Author: Jhon Noya
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There’s a lot of different ways to make coffee, the drip coffee maker sitting in the kitchen is only the beginning. They get pretty crazy with things that sound more like household items – the vacuum method, the plunger – to name just a couple. All of the methods produce a slightly different final product and just about all of them are at least worth trying once.

The most common method is with the Drip Coffee Maker, which is also called the filter method. Just about every household has at least one of these.

Coffee is made when water is poured on to grounds. The water filters through the grounds and into a coffee pot or mug below. For further instruction, please locate the nearest coffee maker in your house and take a look inside.

Another common method with enthusiasts is the French Press. They also call this the Plunger or Cafetiere.

Ground coffee is added to the bottom of this glass and metal cylinder shaped device. Hot water is poured in and then stirred around. The water saturates with the grounds for a few minutes before the plunger is pushed down to separate out the grounds. It’s said to extract the most flavor of any method.

At one point, the Percolator was the most common way to make coffee, however it was replaced by the drip coffee maker about fifty years ago. The reason that it lost it’s popularity is pretty simple, it produced horrible tasting coffee.

The Percolator looks like a kettle with an electrical cord attached to it. Water is put into a heated reservoir in the bottom, then as it heats up it cycles through the top where the grounds are. It goes through the cycle over and over until it’s ready. It makes the kitchen smell delicious, it even sounds good, but the taste has become sub par.

An increasingly popular appliance in many households is the Espresso Machine. They can be used to make espresso, but also cappuccinos and lattes.

While they can be sometimes very complicated machines, the process is simple. Hot water is injected into coffee grounds at high pressure into the waiting cup below.

Turkish Coffee or the Arab Method is the way coffee was mostly likely made originally. It produces a very dark and strong brew, so it isn’t for everyone.

It’s made by first grinding the beans by hand into grounds. Then it’s put into a pot called an ibrik with sugar and water. They bring it to boil three times, then it’s poured into cups to drink.

The Vacuum Coffee Maker is probably one of the most unusual looking methods. It looks like two glass pots placed on top of each other.

The vacuum method involves water heated up to near boiling, then it’s forced through coffee grounds into a chamber above. The mixture steeps until the heat is turned off and as it cools, the water is sucked back into the lower chamber.

If you don’t mind waiting for your coffee, you can try the Cold Water Method.

It’s a ten to twelve hour process that starts with ground coffee mixed into a large container with water. It’s left at room temperature for the day, then the grounds are removed and the extract can be mixed with hot water to make a cup of coffee.

The Neapolitan Flip may sound like some sort of ice cream desert, but it’s another interesting looking method of making coffee. It looks like two metal coffee pots on top of each other.

The two metal looking coffee pots are actually two chambers with grounds between them. The lower chamber is filled with hot water and brought to a boil. It’s then removed from the stove and flipped over. The water drips through the grinds into the serving pot below.

Some might argue that it’s not a legitimate way of making coffee, but Instant Coffee is made in thousands of cups across the country every morning.

It’s the easiest form of coffee to make, just add water, but taste is often a causality of the process.

Instant coffee is made by removing the water from grounds by freezing or heating it. That produces the powder that you can buy at the grocery store.

Growing in popularity lately because it’s so simple to use is the Single Serve Coffee Machines. Some consider it to be the future of coffee because you only have to insert a k-cup, pod or disc into it and press start. The result is a fresh cup of coffee in a few moments.

Mike Crimmins is a coffee fanatic. He’s not your traditional coffee expert or barista. He’s just your average joe, looking for that perfect cup of coffee. You can learn more about coffee at his blog http://dailyshotofcoffee.com/

See coffee maker photos.

Author: Mike Crimmins
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Coffee plants are grown in huge volumes in many parts of the world. The plant is cultivated in more than seventy countries, many of them warm climate countries, including Indonesia and Brazil, who are two of the world’s biggest coffee producers. The plants are most often grown in areas lying between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. Other coffee plant growing areas include Africa, Central America, and India.

Although the plants are grown all over the world, the cultivation is pretty much the same process in each country, and can be a very complex process. There are two main species of coffee plants, which are known as the Arabica and the Robusta. They are small, evergreen trees, and the cultivation of coffee plants take place on plantations. The process of cultivating the plant can be labor intensive, with the amount of work needed depending on the method of farming used. This fact makes coffee cultivation more suitable for developing nations lying around the equatorial regions of the world. Coffee plants usually require temperatures that range from 15-24C without any severe fluctuations.

Coffee grows best on fields that are well drained and well aerated with deep soils, and the plants require a large supply of oxygen to provide to their root systems. Their need for large amounts of oxygen is the reason why aerated soils are the best for the cultivation and growing of coffee. The plants also require 1500mm to 2000mm of rainfall annually to provide the best results. If the rainfall is below the ideal mark then the deficit must be provided with additional moisture through irrigation means. For a higher quality of coffee, it is best to cultivate the plants at higher altitudes with an abundance of mist and clouds. The higher altitudes provide lower oxygen content, so the coffee plants take longer to mature, which helps development better flavor within the coffee beans.

Coffee trees require constant special attention from the farmer. These plants require a specific amount of shaded sunlight, regular watering and fertilizing. They must also be protected from pests and weeds to ensure they yield the best and the most coffee beans. Coffee flowers take approximately six to eight weeks to blossom, and the period the flower takes to blossom then harvest may last as long as nine months, depending on environmental and other factors. The red fruits of the coffee tree take six to eight months to ripen after the tree begins to bear fruit. Regular harvesting is required because coffee plant fruits may become over ripe after ten to fourteen days.

The fruits are often hand-picked in mountainous regions of the world, instead of using mechanical harvesters. Coffee beans are found in the fruits of the coffee plant, and are also hand-picked by manual laborers. The manual laborers must learn how to pick the best beans and discard bad beans, which requires the laborers to have much skill in that area. The hand-pickers must provide special attention to each bean, and must perform a thorough evaluation. After harvesting and picking the coffee beans must be processed, which is drying and roasting to make them ready for fresh grounding. The cultivation and growing process may be long and complicated, but it is a process that is the same throughout the world, it is needed to provide the best quality of coffee to consumers, and is necessary to give the best yield of coffee to growers.

Many of the different coffee harvests from around the world are often blended with one another in an endeavour to obtain the best flavor for the consumer, of course this is a different flavor for different roasters, what is a beautiful coffee for some is bitter to others and vice versa.

Do You LOVE good coffee? Heather is a qualified barista and shares many of her great coffee making tips. Register for Your FREE copy of the Health and Happiness Mag, that includes tips on coffee making like the professionals at http://www.womensinfoproducts.com/food/coffee

Author: Heather Richards
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When I think of “coffee beans”, instantly I think of the coffee industry’s biggest heavy hitters like Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts to name a few. My senses are aroused with thoughts of a hot, steamy and rich cup of java. The strong intoxicating exotic smell and distinct taste of a good cup of coffee is appreciated many people the world over and has been for many, many years.

Coffee was first discovered and consumed around the 9th century in the highlands of Ethiopia. After being introduced, coffee consumption spread quickly to the Muslim world followed by Europe and later the Americas. The history of coffee that followed after has certainly been interesting and controversial. Coffee in earlier years has been associated with religious ceremonies in Africa and Yemen as well as being associated with rebellious political groups in Europe. The cultivation of the coffee bean has caused much debatable conversation in the past due to certain medical effects and conditions that have been disputed many times over throughout the years.

A coffee bean is the seed of a coffee plant. Coffee beans contain endosperms that contain caffeine. Once the coffee seeds have been removed from the plant, the seeds are roasted and this process causes several physical and chemical changes. The coffee bean is then brewed to create the ever popular product and beverage known as coffee.

Coffee is one of the world’s largest traded commodities after oil. The coffee bean is a primary source of income for many third world countries mainly African countries and much of Central American countries. Coffee beans from different countries have different characteristics such as flavor, aroma and body, such as the well known coffee originating from Colombia as an example.

Brazil is the largest coffee exporting country and in recent years Vietnam has inched in at a close second. The legendary Colombian coffee is rated third largest in export.

In our modern society of recent times there are many different variations and presentations of the coffee beverage. There is the common brewed and roasted hot cup of coffee, the espresso, café latte, cappuccino, café macchiato and the iced coffee served cold. To match so many variations of the coffee bean, the marketing distribution of coffee has many unique creative forms aside from the traditional self brewed method. The roasted coffee bean can be distributed as instant coffee, freeze dried, canned coffee and coffee is being sold right out of vending machines.

Yaser Dorri, an American scientist, has proposed that the smell of coffee can restore and increase appetite. Our civilized society may want to reconsider our much anticipated ritual of an after dinner coffee. Our evolving society may want to possibly embrace the thought of coffee as what it truly is a stimulant that if going to be incorporated in your daily dietary consumption should be best utilized in conjunction with a healthy and positive needed acceleration and or stimulant in your body’s system and process. Simply put; coffee before dinner would be more logical and practical. Coffee as a stimuli at night is not favorable unless intentional. Remember with any consumption; being responsible and moderate will always keep you safe and healthy.

Tania Penwell provides information on coffee beans and other java related topics for Coffee Xpert – your online guide to coffee.

Author: Tania Penwell
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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People in groups of two, three, or more stroll into coffee shops all across America and utter the phrase, “Just coffee, please” as they take their seats, open their newspapers, or converse with one another. The message that they are conveying is that they don’t need a menu, and that they won’t be ordering food of any kind. They simply want a cup of coffee.

These folks expect that they will be served a good cup of coffee, and that makes the coffee bean growers, those who harvest the coffee beans, those who transport the coffee beans, those who roast the coffee beans, and those who grind the coffee beans and package the coffee all smile with satisfaction at a job well done, and proves yet again that they all have job security. People drink coffee and they will keep right on drinking coffee.

The process of producing good coffee beans to getting those coffee beans made into coffee and into the cup of a coffee drinker is a long and arduous task that involves a great many people. Coffee is big business…very big business.

Coffee trees thrive only in sheltered, mountainous, subtropical climates. Coffee trees are temperamental — they must be shaded by larger trees to protect them, and their tender fruit and coffee beans must be harvested by hand. Harvesting coffee beans is a back-breaking job that can only be done by people who can tell a ripe coffee bean from an unripe coffee bean. Ripe coffee beans must be picked, and green coffee beans must be left undisturbed so that they continue the ripening process and can be picked later.

Coffee beans must be carefully handled during transportation to avoid bruising the beans. Roasting must be done under very controlled conditions and grinding under conditions that are equally well controlled.

Think about that the next time that you say, “Just coffee, please.”

CoFFee provides detailed information on Coffee, Coffee Makers, Gourmet Coffee, Coffee Shops, Coffee Beans, Coffee Cup and more.
For more information visit as on http://coffee.explore-me.com.

Author: Miodrag Trajkovic
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