Coffee - grounds for debate
Before 1000 AD, the nomadic Galla tribe of Ethiopia realised that their daily ration of a certain local berry ground up and molded into a ball with animal fat was giving them an energy charge. What they were eating was the coffee bean.
Arab traders returned home with supplies, which they made into a boiled drink, called qahwa, 'sleep preventer'. By the 15th century, coffee was being roasted and ground in Arabia and had spread to Egypt and Turkey, where a woman had the right to a divorce if her husband did not allow her a daily supply of coffee.
Robusta, grown primarily in Central and West Africa, is one of the two most common beans used in coffee production. The other is Arabica, a superior bean with more flavor, grown at high altitudes in East Africa, Indonesia, and South America. Robusta, from a low altitude bush, accounts for 75 per cent of the world's coffee, and is used as the base for higher-quality specialty coffee blends, and in canned and instant coffee.
The finest cultivated beans in Ethiopia are grown on the mountains near the town of Harrari. Ethiopians take coffee seriously, roasting the fresh green beans in the kitchen, then serving the coffee in the traditional Ethiopian manner, in a glazed ceramic coffee pot balanced on a tray covered with fresh-cut grass, smoking incense burning in a holder. The coffee is poured into tiny cups and accompanied by the equally traditional basket of popcorn.
There are as many opinions about how best to store coffee as there are about what blend of beans makes the finest drink. Some local baristas recommend storing beans in the freezer, bringing them back to room temperature before grinding, to allow the release of its oils. Ground coffee, however, should not be frozen or it becomes freeze-dried and scorches when used. Other coffee experts maintain freezing causes the water vapor on the beans to crystalize and compromise the flavor. They recommend storing beans in an air-tight container. Others again go for both, storing beans in an airtight, moisture-proof container in the freezer. But everyone seems to agree that for the perfect cup, you should
- Buy beans, not ready-ground coffee, and only in the quantity you will use in a week
- Only grind as many beans as you will use at once
- Only make as much coffee as you are able to drink in 20 minutes
Did you know...
Decaffeinated coffee is not totally caffeine-free. A cup usually contains between one to five milligrams.
Caffeine has a half life of roughly three to six hours in the body.
Robusta beans contain more caffeine than do Arabica.
The coffee with the highest caffeine content is not an espresso but the coffee sold at 7-Elevens, brewed to keep workers awake.
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