Coffee is a drink made from the seeds of berries from the coffea plant. We know these seeds as beans, which are roasted to produce the recognizable and consumable coffee bean, and then ground up before being made into coffee.
This article looks at coffee and what we know about it: where it comes from, how we grow it, and the processes necessary to produce it – the world’s second most consumed beverage!
What are coffea or coffee plants?
Coffea is a classification of flowering plants, and there are over 120 species of coffea shrubs and small trees which are native to parts of Africa and Asia. Two you will have heard of: Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora (also known as Robusta).
These coffea trees produce fruits, which are describes as berries or drupes, and each one contains two seeds or pips. These pips are called “coffee cherries” and become “beans” after they are roasted because of their resemblance to actual beans.
Indeed, the coffee bean is a confusing commodity as it is really neither cherry nor bean.
What are coffee beans?
The beans are the pips inside the “cherries” (which makes coffee fruit a type of stone fruit), and there are usually two pips (or stones) inside each cherry.
Sometimes, there is only one pip, so this fruit is called a peaberry. This doesn’t happen very often, but some people believe the single pip fruit yields a better coffee flavour.
How are coffee beans made into coffee?
After the coffee beans are harvested, they are dried and sorted. They are then roasted, packaged, and sold worldwide before undergoing the final grinding and brewing process that ends in a cup of our favourite coffee.
Now that coffee is a global artisan trade and is associated with the dynamic and growing “coffee culture”, the final part of the coffee bean journey is complex, lucrative and particular.
Coffee experience involves everything from choosing beans sourced ethically and responsibly, to analysing flavour profiles, experimenting with craft made coffees, blending food and coffee events and showcasing barista prowess.
What type of coffee beans are most popular?
The four main beans are Arabica, Robusta, Liberica, Excelsa, all with distinctive properties and flavours.
1. Arabica beans are grown in Brazil and have a flavour profile that is soft and sweet
2. Robusta beans are grown in Africa, India, and Indonesia and are higher in caffeine as well as having a harsher and more dominant flavour.
3. Liberica is grown in Southeast Asia and have a fruity and woody profile.
4. Excelsa is grown in a range of regions, including North Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. The Excelsa beans are the rarest and most expensive bean with a tart and fruity flavour.
How is coffee brewed from coffee beans?
Coffee must be roasted before it can be consumed, and the process involves dropping the green beans into a rotating drum of some kind, and heating them to temperatures of around 200 °C (392 °F). The beans are then cooled at the end of the roasting cycle.
During heating, a process called caramelization occurs, in which intense heat breaks the starches down into sugars, and the beans turn brown.
During roasting, some flavours and oils weaken and others are released. It is the caffeol oil, released at around 200 degrees, which gives coffee beans their characteristic aromas and flavours.
Roasts can be dark or light, and while roasting does not affect the amount of caffeine in the beans, it does alter the strength and pungency of the flavours.
What are the different styles of coffee?
A style of coffee depends very much on its base. This refers to the kind of beans used and the way they are prepared to make the cup of coffee.
For instance, instant coffee, produces a different coffee experience to roasted whole beans, freshly ground and prepared following certain precise steps to achieve the final brew.
It is safe to divide coffees in to the following categories:
- Instant and flavoured coffees – these refer to coffees made quickly with pre prepared coffee bases such as powder and syrups.
- Iced coffees – includes all iced milk drinks made with either syrups or premade and cooled espresso shots. Iced coffees typically contain cream, ice cream and sugars.
- Black coffees – typically made with a single (or more) shot of espresso made from freshly ground roasted whole beans
- Lattes – coffees with an espresso base to which milk and milk foam are added
- Iced latte – coffees with an espresso base to which crushed ice and a small amount of milk are added, but no sugar or other dairy products
- Decaffeinated drinks – this category refers to all coffee drinks made with beans which have had the caffeine removed
However, from here, coffees are divided again into brewing methods which range from the simple addition of boiling water to the long and complex slow drip cold brew method.
Why do people like coffee so much?
People love coffee because it provides reliable and efficient boosts of energy at timely intervals of the day. Coffee can restore confidence, revitalize tired ideas, energize the morning, and help reach final deadlines.
Coffee itself has a range of dynamic and intense flavours and lends itself to all kinds of culinary arts, as well as providing motivation for socializing, meeting, and catching up.
It is typical for coffee lovers and connoisseurs to have favourite styles of coffee, coffee houses and cafes, and to create coffee rituals around their chosen brew.
How do you describe a cup of coffee?
We typically describe our coffee first of all by how it makes us feel. Thus, we will refer to being revitalized, motivated, refreshed, and even reignited.
Then we get to the aromas and flavours of the experience: we describe the drink as hot, strong, powerful, rich, smooth, intense, rough, or good.
And finally we will refer to our appreciation (or not) of what we’ve just had, and we might judge the coffee as perfect, brilliant, weak, useless, wonderful, or well made.
Hi, I’m Jen Williams, chief editor and writer for ThirstPerk.com.
I’ve been drinking coffee and tea for most of my life, but it wasn’t until I started working at Thirstperk.com that I became an expert on the subject. I’m a total caffeine addict who has spent hours upon hours reading about and experimenting with the different types of coffees out there in my search to find the perfect cup of joe.
I’ve been a tea lover for as long as I can remember as well. I grew up in a house with a mom who loved to drink herbal tea, and I think that’s where my love for tea first began. These days, I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting teas to try, and I love experimenting with different brewing methods and flavoring combinations.
