Grade A Coffee

Coffee is a drink obtained from the extract of the coffee plant.

Coffee plant

The coffee plant is a tree with white flowers, and the fruit from its flowers is in the form of red cherry-like seeds and is known as coffee cherry. The coffee cherry is made up of various components, the innermost part of which is the green coffee beans we know.

History of coffee

There are many differences of opinion regarding the history of coffee, but the most reliable one points out that:

Coffee was first discovered in the 9th century by an Ethiopian shepherd named Khalid. Khalid noticed that when his goats eat the seeds of one of the trees, they become more energetic and more lively and stay awake at night. At that time, the monks of the monasteries were considered as intellectuals of the society. For this reason, Khaled took the seeds of the coffee plant to them to find out the cause of this issue. Observing the properties of coffee beans, the monks proposed the idea of drying and using these beans for a drink suitable for worship nights, and this is how coffee entered the field of life and was placed in the category of beverages.

Coffee spread

As mentioned above, one of the places known as the birthplace of coffee is Ethiopia.

After its discovery in Ethiopia, coffee was taken to Saudi Arabia by the Muslims who were going on the Hajj journey, and from there it was introduced to the Ottoman Empire by the merchants of the Ottoman government (modern day Turkey is part of the previous Ottoman Empire) where it was welcomed by many.

After the arrival of coffee in modern Turkey, this drink quickly became popular among people and places were created to serve this drink. Due to the proximity of Turkey to European countries, this drink entered European countries such as Italy after Turkey, and from there it spread throughout the world.

Green coffee

Green coffee is the core of the coffee fruit. Coffee drink (French coffee, espresso coffee) is prepared from green coffee processing. Green coffee is not normally used for drinking due to its rawness and excessive bitterness, but it has always been used as a therapeutic supplement due to its numerous healing properties.

Currently, one of the main uses of green coffee is slimming supplements.

Types of coffee

The cultivated coffees in the world are not all of the same type and are divided into different types based on their properties, characteristics and the place of cultivation. Among all the types of coffee available in the world, two types of Arabica coffee and Robusta coffee have the largest volume among all types, so that these two types make up almost all the volume of commercial coffee in the world. The first difference between Arabica coffee beans and Robusta coffee beans is the place of cultivation and the climatic conditions in which these two types of coffee grow.

Arabica coffee

The most popular and expensive type of coffee among these two is Arabica coffee. Because of its popularity, Arabica coffee accounts for approximately 60-70% of the world’s coffee production volume. One of the reasons for the high price of Arabica compared to other Robusta species is the high demand for this product.

In terms of age, Arabica coffee plant is older than Robusta coffee and is the first cultivated coffee species in the world. The Arabica coffee plant grows mostly in the highlands and the production fields of this plant are located at an altitude of 900 to 2000 meters above sea level.

Among other features of this plant, we can mention the following:

Flat and smooth beans, more oval beans than Robusta coffee, and beans with curvature in the middle of the coffee bean are some of the appearance characteristics of Arabica coffee.

The amount of caffeine in Arabica coffee is different in different regions, but in general, the amount of caffeine in Arabica coffee is half of the amount of caffeine in Robusta coffee, and this amount is about 0.8 to 1.5%.

The acidity of the coffee, which indicates the degree of sourness of the coffee; In Arabica coffee, it is more than Robusta coffee.

In general, Arabica coffee has a better taste and less bitterness than Robusta coffee.

If you are interested in coffee with a bitter taste, it is better to use Robusta coffee instead of Arabica coffee.

Arabica coffee has more fat content than Robusta coffee; for this reason, baristas will use Arabica coffee if they intend to prepare good coffee.

Arabica coffee plant is specific to Ethiopia and Sudan, but today this plant is produced in Brazil, Jamaica, Colombia, Costa Rica, Kenya, Antigua, Guatemala, Peru and Ethiopia.

Robusta coffee

After Arabica coffee, the second most popular type of coffee in the world is Robusta coffee. Robusta coffee accounts for approximately 25-40% of the volume of coffee beans produced in the world.

Robusta coffee is less old than Arabica coffee. Robusta coffee was discovered after part of the Arabica coffee plantations of some Asian countries such as Indonesia suffered from pests and was destroyed and replaced Arabica coffee.

Robusta coffee, unlike Arabica coffee, grows in areas with a maximum height of 800 meters above sea level. The height of Robusta coffee trees is up to 12 meters, unlike Arabica coffee.

Among the characteristics of robusta coffees, the following can be mentioned:

Greater resistance to insects and plant pests

Robusta beans are smaller and rounder than Arabica coffee, with a straight line and the absence of curvature in the middle line of the coffee bean.

The price of Robusta coffee is lower than Arabica coffee. Of course, this issue is not because of the low quality of this plant, but because of the abundance and resistance of this plant against pests and insects.

Robusta coffee has more bitterness and caffeine than Arabica coffee. The percentage of caffeine in this coffee is about 1.5 to 4%.

Robusta coffee has less acidity (sourness) and less fat than Arabica coffee. Due to less fat, this coffee is suitable for preparing Americano coffee.

Most of the world’s robusta coffee belongs to Indonesia, and for this reason Indonesian coffee is known as robusta.

In addition to Indonesia, the robusta coffee plant is also cultivated in Africa. With the expansion of the use of coffee in the world, robusta coffee produced in Uganda, Vietnam, Brazil, Indonesia and India, gained fame as as quality coffee in the world.

Coffee roaster

As mentioned above, the fruit of the coffee tree is the coffee cherry, which contains green coffee.

Green coffee is the raw coffee beans that cannot be dissolved in water or extracted due to its high acidity. Therefore, to prepare a cup of coffee, green beans are first roasted, and then a drink is prepared from the roasted coffee beans.

Coffee roasting has different stages during which the green coffee beans turn into fully roasted and dark colored coffee. Of course, not all people are interested in fully roasted coffee beans, that’s why coffee bean producers, during the roasting process, roast coffees in different degrees so that each person can choose one of the types of roasting degrees based on their taste and interest.

Types of coffee roast are:

Light roast

Medium roast

Medium-dark roast

Dark roast

 

Coffee grinder

So far we mentioned that coffee cherry is the fruit of the coffee tree. Inside this fruit there are green seeds that are used to prepare a cup of coffee. These green seeds cannot be dissolved in water and extracted due to their high acidity, so they must be roasted first. After roasting, we arrive at robusta or brown arabica coffee beans. Now, to turn these beans into the final drink, they must be ground to prepare a coffee drink using ground coffee powder.

There are several methods for preparing coffee, which we know as French, espresso, Turkish and similar.

To prepare coffee using any of the methods of espresso coffee, French coffee, and Turkish coffee, it is necessary to grind coffee with a special and appropriate grade. The degree of coffee grinding is one of the most important things in preparing coffee, and if this is not followed correctly, the drink will not be of high quality. In addition, if the coffee is not ground to the right degree, the coffee maker may be damaged.

The difference between French coffee, Turkish coffee and espresso coffee

After grinding the coffee, it is time to brew and prepare a unique drink with coffee powder. As mentioned above, we grind the coffee based on the tool we want to brew it with.

The three most popular methods of preparing coffee are French coffee, Turkish coffee, and espresso coffee. These three methods differ from each other both in the coffee preparation tool, in the amount of grinding coffee beans, and in the coffee preparation method.