The Starters Guide To Coffee, Bean Scene, Issue 9, 2005

Appearing in Bean Scene Magazine,

The Starters Guide

Some people think coffee is either a manufactured product or a product that grows in the ground. Most are surprised when they hear that coffee actually grows on a tree. The coffee bean is actually a seed that grows inside a cherry that grows as a fruit on the coffee tree. Most cherries usually have two of these seeds inside them lying face to face. They are green in colour. After the jasmine-like flowers on the coffee tree disappear, green cherries emerge and eventually turn red, indicating to the harvesters that they are ready to be picked and then processed.

It’s a Labour-Intensive Harvest

Machines are not good at distinguishing between green and red cherries so to this day most of the world’s coffee is hand-picked. In most countries, after being picked the red cherries are soaked in an enzyme or bacteria over a thirty-six hour period, during which the flesh separates from the seeds. The seeds are then washed thoroughly with water and put out into the sun to dry. This usually takes from a couple of days to a week. When the seeds (let’s call them beans from here on in) are dry they are put into a machine which shakes them up vigorously so that a hull or husk that surrounds the bean is shaken off. Shiny green beans are left which are then hand sorted and graded according to their size and quality (yes, every single bean!). They are then packed in their characteristic 60kg hessian bags, ready to be shipped overseas. Coffee in its green form can be stored for up to two years before it degrades.

The Art of Roasting

We’ve seen coffee roasting done in domestic ovens, popcorn makers, huge commercial roasting machines that need the expertise of a craftsman with years of experience to operate and mega roasters that are fully computer-driven. Interestingly, forty-five seconds either side of ideal will produce a batch of coffee that is either too light in colour if under-roasted (and hence milder than the target roast) or coffee that is too dark in colour if over-roasted (and hence stronger or more bitter than the target roast). Therefore the ideal coffee roaster isn’t going to be an old popcorn maker but to some people’s surprise nor is it the human-operated commercial roaster. It is actually the fully automated roaster that comes out on top as it virtually guarantees consistency. Its computer sensors know with precise accuracy the moisture content, density, average bean size and bean hardness that will all play in part in determining the optimum roasting time. Roasting times will therefore differ from batch to batch. There aren’t many of these roasters in Australia as they are incredibly expensive.

Generally speaking, the roasting process takes between fourteen and sixteen minutes to complete. During this time the beans expand and they lose weight as water is driven off. The surface temperature of the beans eventually reaches between two hundred and two hundred and twenty degrees Celsius and by this stage the sugars within the coffee beans have caramelised.

The colour of the beans changes as they roast. They start off being green then they turn a light brown colour then a chocolate-brown colour and eventually a dark brown colour. They will ultimately turn black if left in the roaster for long enough. (Luckily for us as consumers the beans are never roasted this long. As you could imagine, carbon and water do not make a very nice espresso!)

When the desired roast has been achieved the beans are ejected into a cooling tray where they spend about five to ten minutes cooling down to sub forty degrees Celsius. If they don’t cool sufficiently they continue to roast and will retain a very smoky aroma and flavour.

After the beans have settled the oils locked within come to the fore, giving them a "wet" appearance. It is this valuable oil that forms the crema on a well-extracted espresso. All baristas strive to maximise the crema on their coffees as this is from where a lot of the taste and aroma in coffee emanates.

Keeping it Fresh

If given the opportunity the beans will absorb the air and it is the oxygen in the air that will cause the bean to go stale and lose valuable aroma. This is why proper packaging after the beans cool and settle is essential. A high-grade foil bag with a one-way valve is the most appropriate packaging material for coffee beans.

For domestic users, coffee should be stored at room temperature in an airtight container.

Best Regions for Growing Coffee

(Ethiopia, Kenya and Yemen)

[2] Asia-Pacific
(Papua New Guinea, Java, Vietnam and India)

[3] Latin America
(Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Guatemala and Costa Rica)

[4] North America & the Carribean
(Hawaii and Jamaica)

Single Origin or Blends – which is better?

We were at an event recently where one guy was arguing with another guy that his favourite coffee (something like a Brazil Santos, 2/3, strictly soft, medium to good bean with screen size 14/16 - and yes, he was boring the other fellow to tears)– was the best coffee in the world. The other guy managed to find a break in the monologue to mutter that he "didn’t know about all that but that he just loved the house blend at his local café."

Coffee, like wine is an incredibly subjective drink. Most people, especially when they first get into coffee, will prefer blends that roasters have created by mixing many different origins together. Coffee roasters do this to create a complex mixture of beans that bring different attributes to the table in the hope that their finished blend will have a good taste, good body, good mouthfeel, beautiful aftertaste, low acidity and knockout aroma. On their own, few single origins possess all of these attributes.

Most blends contain a mixture of between two and eight different single origin beans.

This week we both had the privilege of trying some Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee which came from the famous Wallenford Estate high in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. It had just been roasted in Melbourne and sent to us in a foil bag with a one-way valve so the freshness was guaranteed. We played around with our grinder and got a perfect espresso shot with a 26-second extraction through our commercial espresso machine. The espresso was pure bliss. Mind you, the aficionados tell us that this is one of the few single origin coffees that possesses such a depth of character.

(put in a coloured box within the article)

Top 10 Coffee Producing Countries
% of total
1. Brazil 42%
2. Colombia 9%
3. Vietnam 8.5%
4. Indonesia 5%
5. India 4%
6. Mexico 3.5%
7. Guatemala 3%
8. Uganda 2.5%
9. Ethiopia 2.4%
10. Peru 2.2%

- next 10 countries account for 12.4% of total and all other countries account for remaining 10%

Methods of Making Coffee – the best and the worst

We believe that instant coffee should only be tolerated these days on camping trips. Otherwise, the humble plunger is our preferred brewing method at home. It’s easier to get a nice coffee out of a plunger than it is to get a good one out of a drip filter or stove-top unit. Of course if you can afford a home espresso machine then this is the way to go and a Saeco Via Vanezia is all you need to create quality coffee at home. However to experience truly great espresso where the crema is a consistent, thick, honeycomb-coloured layer on top, a commercial machine with the right amount of pressure and accurate water temperature is what is required.

Cappuccino, Caffe Latte and Flat White – what’s the difference?

• join in the debate that rages at dinner parties and in cafes across Australia every day…..

Coffee is such a subjective thing. It’s hard for anyone to say that their coffee is any better than anyone else’s or that coffee grown in one place is any better than coffee grown in any other place. At the end of the day it comes down to individual taste. Like any other leisure pursuit – it helps to arm yourself with some knowledge before you critique – but do not lose sight of the fact that it’s you that has to be satisfied at the end of the day. So if you like your grande flat white with a shot of crème brulee syrup – go on and keep enjoying it! Just promise you’ll try an espresso made from Wallenford Estate Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans next time you’re in a café that offers it and continue the education!

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