It's amazing how much you can learn when you just ask questions. Today I was in a café with some others who wanted ice cream and I noticed that they had on their menu "café colombie - 100% Arabica." It also cost $1.30 more than their usual espresso. So of course I had to ask what it was. Then he told me it was pure Arabica. Now, I'm pretty sure that this is more or less standard in the US (or I never pay attention - entirely likely) so I asked what the difference was. And got a short history of coffee. Here is my retelling of his info.
You see, coffee is like wine: there are different varieties of the bean. There is Arabica, which is all aroma, and Robusta, which is all acid. Normally, coffees are mixed - up to half Robusta [he didn't say why, but I think it's partly price.] Now, when you have a good, 100% Arabica, then it is all aroma and more likely to be good.
But that's not all that matters in a coffee. You also have to pay attention to the roasting process. Too little and you don't have enough flavor, too much and it's burned, no good. Then to the beans themselves - the best coffees will have full beans (and here he got some out to show me) where the cheap kinds that businesses give employees (his description) will be all broken up. The full beans are more evenly roasted and will have a better flavor. For his espresso, he prefers a mix.
Then you have to pay attention to how you actually make it. First, your machine has to be kept in good condition and he makes sure that he's the only one to service his machine. In this area they have hard water, so they have a water softener installed before it even reaches the machine. Then the water temperature (at least for espresso) should be 80-85º C (175-185 F) and he makes sure to test his water in his machine at least once a week. [Interesting that it's so much below boiling!] After that, be careful how you grind it. Grind it too big and the water can't extract all of the goodness. Grind it to small and it becomes burned [over-extracted, I think, is our term] and bitter. When you get an espresso, you should look at it. The top should be a nice, foamy hazelnut color and should stick a bit to the sides of the cup and not change color when it does so. That means you did it right.
Finally, many cafés and restaurants here serve coffee with a bit of chocolate. He doesn't because he would rather charge for good coffee than mediocre coffee with a bit of chocolate, which is typically bad anyway. Be sure not to eat the chocolate first if you are in one of these places. If you do, you will have the taste of the chocolate on your palate and you won't be able to taste what the coffee actually tastes like.
And it was a nice espresso, at least. I mean, it would have to be after that.
But do you know where coffee comes from? [Yes, we did.] And how it was discovered? A herder was taking his goats to pasture and knew that the sheep normally had a nap during the hottest part of the day. One day he took them to pasture near bushes with red berries and the goats went wild, eating the berries, and then all afternoon they were running everywhere and didn't take a nap. The herder didn't think too much of it, but the next day went somewhere else. The following day he went back to the place that the goats had gone wild and noticed that they were all enjoying the berry bushes. Then he tasted one himself and got to experience the caffeine first-hand. Thus coffee was discovered. [And as unlikely as that sounded, I just looked it up and found that same story repeated many other places!]
After all of the stories he said that we should come back and we could help him with English while he helped us with French. I took a gamble based on looks and said I already spoke French, but if he spoke Arabic, maybe. He was born in France, but does speak some Arabic. I doubt I'll be back for lessons, but I will certainly be back for coffee!
You see, coffee is like wine: there are different varieties of the bean. There is Arabica, which is all aroma, and Robusta, which is all acid. Normally, coffees are mixed - up to half Robusta [he didn't say why, but I think it's partly price.] Now, when you have a good, 100% Arabica, then it is all aroma and more likely to be good.
But that's not all that matters in a coffee. You also have to pay attention to the roasting process. Too little and you don't have enough flavor, too much and it's burned, no good. Then to the beans themselves - the best coffees will have full beans (and here he got some out to show me) where the cheap kinds that businesses give employees (his description) will be all broken up. The full beans are more evenly roasted and will have a better flavor. For his espresso, he prefers a mix.
Then you have to pay attention to how you actually make it. First, your machine has to be kept in good condition and he makes sure that he's the only one to service his machine. In this area they have hard water, so they have a water softener installed before it even reaches the machine. Then the water temperature (at least for espresso) should be 80-85º C (175-185 F) and he makes sure to test his water in his machine at least once a week. [Interesting that it's so much below boiling!] After that, be careful how you grind it. Grind it too big and the water can't extract all of the goodness. Grind it to small and it becomes burned [over-extracted, I think, is our term] and bitter. When you get an espresso, you should look at it. The top should be a nice, foamy hazelnut color and should stick a bit to the sides of the cup and not change color when it does so. That means you did it right.
Finally, many cafés and restaurants here serve coffee with a bit of chocolate. He doesn't because he would rather charge for good coffee than mediocre coffee with a bit of chocolate, which is typically bad anyway. Be sure not to eat the chocolate first if you are in one of these places. If you do, you will have the taste of the chocolate on your palate and you won't be able to taste what the coffee actually tastes like.
And it was a nice espresso, at least. I mean, it would have to be after that.
But do you know where coffee comes from? [Yes, we did.] And how it was discovered? A herder was taking his goats to pasture and knew that the sheep normally had a nap during the hottest part of the day. One day he took them to pasture near bushes with red berries and the goats went wild, eating the berries, and then all afternoon they were running everywhere and didn't take a nap. The herder didn't think too much of it, but the next day went somewhere else. The following day he went back to the place that the goats had gone wild and noticed that they were all enjoying the berry bushes. Then he tasted one himself and got to experience the caffeine first-hand. Thus coffee was discovered. [And as unlikely as that sounded, I just looked it up and found that same story repeated many other places!]
After all of the stories he said that we should come back and we could help him with English while he helped us with French. I took a gamble based on looks and said I already spoke French, but if he spoke Arabic, maybe. He was born in France, but does speak some Arabic. I doubt I'll be back for lessons, but I will certainly be back for coffee!
Wow, that's a good story. All of the commercials do say 100% Arabica beans, now I know why they were bragging about it!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think it may be standard at home to have it 100%.... or maybe just anyone who actually advertises theirs is. I'll have to figure it out eventually.
DeleteIt's the American palate, many middle easterners prefer a bit more bitterness to their coffee, while many westerners do not. Hence the "..up to half Robusta..." 100% would be too bitter for anyone. It's like hops in beer, different palates prefer different levels of bitterness. I learned this all in old PumpSkins days at Cole Screenprint :)
ReplyDelete