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The History of Coffee |
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Tobacco Paradise |
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Coffee has been in use for more than 1,000 years. Over this time, it has been considered a food, a medicine, an aphrodisiac, and even a wine. Legend tells us coffee was accidentally discovered in the Middle East. The story goes that one day, Kaldi, a likeable goat herder, waited in vain all night for his herd to return from grazing. The next morning, he discovered his herd dancing around a cluster of shiny, dark-leafed shrubs with red berries. Kaldi found it was the red berries from the shrubs that were behind all of this odd behavior. After tasting the berries, Kaldi, too, began to dance with the goats. About the time all of this merriment was going on, a sleepy but dutiful monk was on his way to prayer. Being a curious man, he took some of the red berries back to the monastery and began his own experimentation. A beverage was developed from boiling the berries. Soon, neither the monk nor the others in the monastery fell asleep during morning prayers. Coffee drinking became widespread in the world of Islam over the 15th and 16th centuries. By the 1500's, the Arabs had brought coffee to Turkey. Supposedly, the Turks were the first to roast and grind coffee beans. Coffee drinking was introduced to Europe in the 1600's and had become a veritable mania by the 1700's! After spreading to Western Europe, and hence to England, it is believed that Captain John Smith introduced coffee to North America by the early 1600's. By 1670, the first license to sell coffee was granted to a woman named Dorothy Jones. This constituted the beginning of the coffee trade in North America. In 1969, the first coffee break on the moon was enjoyed, four hours before the July 20th historic walk. Apparently, an astronaut on the Eagle Spacecraft radioed Houston control to say, "If you'll excuse me a minute, I'm going to have a cup of coffee." Brewing & Tasting Coffee The fine grind is important to the full-bodied taste. Up to a point, the finer you grind the coffee, the more coffee surface area is exposed to the hot water, providing a higher level of extraction of coffee solids. In short, a fine grind offers more body and flavor in the cup from a given amount of coffee. Ideally, you should pour your coffee into an airtight thermos as soon as it has brewed through. Generally an insulated thermos can keep coffee perfect for up to 4 hours. If you warm your coffee on a burner, the flavor and aroma will generally begin to deteriorate after 30 minutes. Tasting Coffee The method for tasting coffee to evaluate its quality is called "cupping." Cupping uses three forms of sensory evaluation: Aroma (Olfaction); Taste (Gustation); and Body (Mouthfeel). Aroma is based on four categories:
Taste has four basic descriptions:
Body has three descriptions:
The Six Coffee Tastes There are six primary coffee tastes, which are produced when sweet, salt, and sour interact.
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Brazil As a result of this huge crop,
quality can vary tremendously. Brazilian coffee is classified by
district, size, type, color of beans and taste categories such as
mild and sweet or harsh. Bourbon Santos (so named because it is
shipped from the port of Santos and is of the Bourbon variant) is
considered one of the finest varieties, smooth, sweet and highly
enjoyable when by itself or when blended with other Arabica beans.
It is processed mainly by the dry method. Colombian coffee is graded by bean size, not by quality. The biggest segment is Excelso, medium- to large-size flat beans and pea berries. Supremo includes large to extra large beans, and Maragogype is the rarer large bean. Processed by the wet method, it is known for its good body, rich mild flavor and moderate acidity.
Costa
Rica |
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Ethiopia Characterized by an untamed, exotic taste, sharply acidic, with rich, complex flavor, Ethiopian coffee can be very heavy bodied, winery and possess a pungent aroma. The finest example is Harrar, from the east-central portion of the country. Harvested at heights of up to 7,000 feet, Harrar produces two varieties: Long berry (considered the best quality because of its size) and Short berry. Other Ethiopian varietals such as Djimmah and Sidamo are similar in flavor to Mocha-style coffee, and are often blended with heavier coffees like Java or Colombian. This Arabica coffee is grown primarily in the central and southern parts of the country in mountainous climates ranging from 1,000 to 5,500 feet. Half of the country's output comes from over 30,000 small farms. In general, the higher the growing altitude, the higher the quality of the beans. High grown Guatemalan coffee has a sharp acidity, medium body and pleasant bitterness. Processed by the wet method, the coffee is usually classified according to elevation. Noteworthy exceptions to this rule are Antigua and Cobán coffees, which boast the finest taste of all Guatemalan beans.
Cultivated on rich volcanic soil at high altitudes on the slopes of Mt. Hualalai and Mauna Loa, Hawaiian Kona is one of the most treasured coffees in the world. Complex agricultural techniques such as severe pruning and close planting for self-shade, combined with abundant water and Hawaii's natural environment, have enabled farmers to maintain consistently uniform quality. Indonesia and the island of Java are cradles of coffee cultivation. Indeed, Java is so ingrained in coffee history, its name has become synonymous with the beverage itself. The Dutch first brought seedlings from the Malabar Coast to plant in their newly acquired Indonesian empire in the 1600s. The first recorded sale took place in 1712 in Amsterdam, and it began the practice of labeling all Indonesian coffees whether grown on Java, Salewesi, or Sumatra as "Java." Java became famous in the U.S. during the days of wooden sailing ships, when slow passage of 4-5 months transformed the coffee's color, aroma and flavor, thus creating a highly prized "sweated" crop. When sailing times shortened, the Indonesian government attempted to simulate these conditions by aging the beans in "godowns" for 18-24 months. High grown and processed by the wet method, Kenya coffee is known for its delicate flavor, smoothness and pleasant body. The highest grade is AA, and is characterized by a wine like quality that has a sweet, almost syrupy flavor. Kenya AA beans are cultivated in the shadows of Mt. Kenya, Africa's second highest mountain. The southern and eastern sides get the most rain, and their lush soil provides an ideal growing climate. When blended with Kenya AB beans, Kenyan coffee has a sparkling quality, a fine floral aroma and a berry like aftertaste. A relative newcomer to the field, Arabica was first planted here in the 1900s on the slopes of the legendary Mt. Kilimanjaro. Known for sparkling acidity, intense flavor, full body and robust aroma, it is processed by the dry method. Rich yet mellow, Tanzanian coffee is often compared to Kenyan and Colombian Arabic's. The country also exports a pea berry grade.
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Ever
since the days of our old friend Francisco de Melo Palheta back
in the early 1700s, Brazil has been a leading grower and
exporter of fine Arabica coffee. In fact, the country exports
two to three times as much as Colombia, the second-largest
coffee exporter. More than a third of the country's land - 650
million acres - is suitable for coffee cultivation. 
The small Central American country grows a large crop of fine
Arabica coffee at over 30,000 farms. Processed by the wet method,
the highest quality beans are cultivated on the Pacific slopes at
elevations ranging from 3,900 to 5,400 feet. The best known region
is the central plateau, an area of about 10 miles around San Jose.
Costa Rican coffee from the Pacific side is classified by the
hardness of the bean - the higher the altitude, the harder the bean,
and quality, too. Characterized by a bluish, well-polished finish,
this coffee is known for its sparkling acidity, good body and rich
taste. Costa Rica also produces one of the world's finest pea berry
varietals.
The birthplace of
Arabica coffee, Ethiopia seed was taken to the
Arabian Peninsula around the Ninth Century and spread throughout the
continent. Much of the finest current crop is still produced from
trees that grow wild at elevations of 5,000 to 6,000 feet, and the
largely unwashed coffee reflects its environment. 
Hawaii is the only coffee to be produced in America, aside from
Puerto Rico. Seeded with imported Brazilian trees in 1825, the
Arabica grown in this lush tropical paradise produces a special
coffee prized for its rareness and unique balance of full body and
slight acidity.