Coffee and Conversations: Brewing Life Stories, One Post at a Time
Coffee is probably the best and most popular beverage in the world. It is taken by millions of people worldwide. It has high levels of beneficial nutrients and antioxidants making it quite healthy.
It is dark in color, bitter and also slightly acidic but stimulating in its taste. It contains a natural stimulant called caffeine which helps to keep the mind alert by stimulating the central nervous system.
The beverage can be brewed and enjoyed in a variety of ways. These brewing types include making it as a café latte, café au lait, café mocha, cappuccino, espresso, French press, or Frappuccino. It is best served hot but some people may prefer theirs with ice. Everyone has a way they enjoy drinking their coffee. While most people add a sweetener and milk or cream to taste, some prefer it black. That is, without milk or cream.
Coffee is cultivated and produced in over 70 countries of the world in places around the Arabian continent, South, North and Central America, Asia, as well as in Africa. It has a variety of species but the most common of these are the C. Robusta and C. Arabica.
The coffee that you find on supermarket grocery shelves is far different from how it looks when it is harvested. They are either green or red. Production for final consumption involves a long process that includes a number of professionals in the long chain of production. The people involved in this chain include farmers who cultivated the plant and roasters who are skillful in roasting. There are also baristas who possess top brewing skills and of course retailers who sell the finished products.
There are several other processes involved from harvesting the beans to roasting and grinding. These include sorting and selecting, pulping the cherries, fermenting, drying, storing, milling and grading. After this, it is distributed to locations where they can be roasted by those whose job is to do so.
Roasting is an essential and final part of the production process. It is what gives the beans their appearance as well as determines their taste and flavor. The strength of the bean’s flavor is dependent on how it is roasted. The longer it is roasted, the more intense its flavor will be.
When the beans are done roasting, they may be packaged and sold that way or they can be grounded before packaging them for sale. These are then sold to retailers and baristas. As a final consumer, you can either pick up a finished package from your favorite store or visit a shop where skillful baristas will brew a perfect cup for you. You can read more about how it is processed from this article.
For processing coffee, the beans are graded according to set standards ranging from 1 to 5. Grade 1 is the highest standard while grade 5 is the lowest standard. What determines the grade of a bean is the number of defects that can be found in the beans. Grade 1 has no defects while further down the grades, the number of defects increases. Grade 1 beans are what is referred to as specialty coffee.
Specialty is a term that is used to describe the highest quality of coffee available. These kinds of beans are perfect in size and density and without any defect. They must also have distinct attributes in the areas of acidity, taste, and aroma.
Specialty relates to how the beans have been perfected and crafted with care to avoid any defect from its growing to harvesting, processing and roasting. It involves a high level of quality control. Everyone involved in the production chain are experts that are skilled in what they do. They ensure that the quality of the beans is maintained right from cultivation down to when it is brewed for drinking. The final consumer is not left out of the equation as those who understand good coffee seek out as well as buy it.
Without these dedicated consumers, the whole process will be for naught. These consumers take out time to research and learn about this grade of coffee. With this, they show their commitment to enjoying high-quality coffee as well as an appreciation for work done by people in the production chain.
Coffee really is of two types; the regular which is the commercially available one and specialty. The commercial one is readily available and it is what you will usually get in large quantities in retail stores as well as larger brands. Specialty, on the other hand, is not produced on a large scale so it is not readily available. To buy it, you need to be aware of it and buy directly from specialty stores that often produce or have them.
Due to its quality and smaller production, it also retails at a higher price than the regular one. In fact, as an enthusiast interested in specialty coffee, you may likely need to be part of a subscription service so that you can get your desired flavor regularly.
While coffee is a popular beverage that is enjoyed by most people, for some it is not just about drinking a cup of coffee. The source as well as the process of making it is important to them. For such persons, specialty coffee offers a way of enjoying high quality as well as get the satisfaction they crave.