The Coffee Pot

On a fine chilly evening, savoring the great coffee, allowing the aroma to waltz through the room, putting your hands around the warm cup of coffee are some of life’s small pleasures. Well the idea of writing about coffee on m blog also dawned upon me on one of these cold evenings sipping coffee. Well I simply love everything about coffee. Right from the taste, the aroma, the warm feeling you get after having hot coffees, just everything!!

Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages in the world. 70% of the world consumes Arabica coffee which is mild and aromatic. The remaining 30% drink Robusta which has a more bitter taste to it, but has 50% more caffeine content than Arabica. Similar to wine, coffee gets its aroma from the climatic environment in which the plant grows. The common coffee flavors are fruity, floral, earthy, buttery, caramel, nutty, smoky, etc.

Coffee cultivation is basically done in the tropical belt of the globe. This belt typically has moderate sunshine, rain and steady temperatures with rich and porous soil, which is the most favorable environment for the coffee to grow. Everywhere across the globe, coffee notes differ depending upon the type of soil it is planted in. The coffee bean is actually a seed inside a bright red cherry, the fruit of the coffee plant. Coffee berries are dried and stripped down until all that’s left of it is a green bean. Once stripped, the beans are roasted at about 500^o F, and a few minutes later a bean will pop once more. The second pop means that the bean is done and is ready to be served.

Well, as we all know that coffee is a very large base to cover, am going to just write about two coffee types, i.e., Espresso and Americano.

Espresso coffee is basically prepared by judiciously blending of the finest grinds of various coffees with very little amounts of water and very high pressures, which helps in creating a rich, intense aromatic and velvety body. An espresso always has a high caffeine content and a very strong and thick taste. It is topped with a creamy hazelnut colored foam. The aroma has a touch of floral, fruity, chocolaty notes. Espresso acts as the base coffee for all the infinite variations of coffee such as latte, cappuccino, mocha, etc, to suit every taste. I would not delve into the details of other types of coffees here (maybe some other day). Espresso would be mainly categorized into Espresso Con Panna which is a double shot of espresso finished with whip crema and Espresso Macchiato is a double espresso shot with foam. Espresso is usually served in small sizes as it has a very high caffeine ratio. Espresso is served immediately out of a brewing machine, in a pre heated cup.

Americano on the other hand is a a style of coffee by adding hot water to an espresso. Almost 20-25% is the espresso and 75-80% is the hot water. Americanos, and especially long black style americanos, are well suited for beans that produce strongly-flavored espresso. Some drinkers may find undiluted espresso shots overpowering, that’s why they choose Americano over espresso. There are many variations to an Americano. Iced Americano combines espresso and cold water. A lungo is made by extracting the espresso shot for a longer time. It makes for more volume and a more bitter taste. A caffe crema is made by extracting the espresso shot for period of time even longer than a lungo.

Well I being an avid coffee drinker, I would prefer pure coffee over diluted ones.. I like espresso shots more than Americano, and white coffees as well.. More on coffee, hot and cold would be on some later date. Till then keep sipping… J