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 500o 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.
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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
