What are the qualities of a good cup of coffee? They tell you

In fact, modern people have given coffee an "excessive" meaning. Coffee shops need to be beautiful so that they can spend an entire afternoon there; coffee cups need to be exquisite so that they can take selfies in a grid; some people can recite a list of coffee types in one breath, but cannot distinguish the flavors and characteristics of different types of coffee.

Those who value form over content are not true coffee lovers. Those who are truly fascinated by coffee must love the rich flavor of coffee itself, the aftertaste after it passes through the throat, and the sweet aroma released by good beans.

What kind of cultivation should be possessed to make a fascinating cup of good coffee?

Today I will introduce three coffee documentaries to you, so you can learn about people in the coffee industry and how they work hard for a good cup of coffee.

01

Coffee: The Drink That Changed America

A day without coffee is like a day without air

The documentary begins with the first appearance of coffee in the United States, using time as a clue to tell how Americans gradually accepted coffee and regarded it as a symbol of American independence, and then returned to the essence of coffee.

One of the two hosts is Dean Cycon, a gray-haired coffee roaster who mainly talks about the development of coffee in the United States. The other host is Judith Jones, who is a food writer and travels abroad to explore the context of coffee.

At the beginning, Grandpa Dean explained the difference between Arabica and Robusta in commercial coffee.

Arabica and Robusta are both coffee varieties. Arabica has better quality, while Robusta has relatively weaker quality due to relatively loose planting conditions.

Dean explained the difference in quality between the two beans based on objective conditions.

Coffee beans traveled all the way from Africa to the United States. It was not until the Boston Tea Party that coffee became a symbol of resistance and gradually became a daily dish on everyone's table. But in fact, not all Americans love to drink coffee, such as this honest boy...

And Grandpa Dean himself, who "betrayed" coffee and enjoyed drinking tea.

As history continued to develop, the coffee beans that were originally transported in old and moldy ship cabins gradually became regularized. More and more people spent time and energy to improve the flavor of coffee. It changed from a symbol of resistance and a refreshing drink for soldiers to an everyday drink for the American people, returning to the meaning of coffee itself.

Of course! In order to work well, you must have a cup of coffee first!

02

Barista

Every barista is as unique as the coffee in his hand

Barista means coffee master. The World Barista Championship (WBC), the "Olympic event of the coffee industry", attracts the best coffee masters from all over the world to participate every year.

Last year, Taiwanese barista Wu Zelin won the championship, becoming the first Chinese champion in history, and it was the first time that a contestant from mainland China entered the finals.

"Barista" was filmed in 2013 and followed five baristas, starting three months before the competition, documenting their preparations and mental changes before the competition, and most importantly, the WBC competition itself.

The competition lasts only 15 minutes, and each barista needs to prepare 3 types of coffee for 4 judges, namely espresso, latte and a creative coffee with a strong personal touch.

In addition to preparing coffee, baristas also need to prepare music and commentary for these 15 minutes, design a tasting manual, and coordinate with their own coffee making process.

In just a quarter of an hour on the stage, the calm and composed but slightly trembling hands can make people feel the nervousness and hard work of all the baristas, a triple test of their intelligence, physical strength and mental strength.

The names of foreign baristas are a bit long, so I won’t introduce them one by one. But everyone will work hard to show their best 15 minutes, seize every opportunity to practice, and constantly conduct cupping, just to find the best coffee beans.

Cupping, using a special brewing method to taste coffee, is open to anyone. Coffee cuppers will use a strict scoring system to evaluate coffee, and baristas will use this form to select the best varieties to participate in the competition.

In actual competitions, even if you have experimented with the secret coffee countless times, you may still fail in the middle of the performance.

Baristas who can participate in WBC are already the best baristas in the world. Even if they don’t win the championship, they are still undoubtedly excellent.

After the competition ended in 2013, two of the five baristas changed their careers. Charles, who won the runner-up, continued to participate in 2014 and was the runner-up again, until he finally won the championship in 2015. In this competition, you have to defeat your opponents as well as yourself.

03

A movie about coffee

If you want to understand the outline of modern coffee, just look at this

The name is straightforward and the content is outstanding. If you only want to watch one documentary about coffee, it is the best choice. It is 1 hour long, which is exactly the time it takes to take a subway to work.

Starting from one of the best coffee producing areas, Rwanda, the book tells the relationship between growers, baristas, traders and consumers in the coffee chain, making coffee come alive, rather than just some brown beans in a paper bag.

The Rwandan boys sang and danced, stepping on the coffee beans to remove the stickiness.

In this film, the essence of coffee is emphasized, and every step is to present the coffee better and less detract from the flavor. Picking by hand, turning the coffee by hand, ensuring that the coffee is clean and evenly dried.

The legendary coffee shop "Dabou Coffee" located in Omotesando, Tokyo has a solemn feeling. Everyone who enters is automatically silenced, and all the attention is in the hands of Daibou.

Watching the water flow change from drops to columns, sometimes you may even forget that this cup of coffee is meant to be drunk.

However, Dafang has closed the coffee shop, so this kind of humility towards coffee can only be found elsewhere.

There are many kinds of good coffee, but there are only a few good documentaries about coffee. If you still have a vague understanding of coffee, these three documentaries may give you a deeper understanding of coffee.

No matter what industry you are in, if you want to do well and do outstandingly, you must be diligent and work hard.

The so-called cultivation of a cup of coffee is actually the cultivation of the person who makes the coffee.