A few days ago, with Dr. Zhang Wenhong’s statement that “gay men drinking coffee can prolong their lifespan,” although he later said, “This conclusion is based on some big data statistics and is not valid, but at least one thing is certain, that is, drinking coffee has no harm,” the topic “Zhang Wenhong talks about drinking coffee to prolong life” still became a hot search on multiple platforms.

It was also with this favorable wind that coffee tasting, which was originally shrouded in mystery, was quickly pushed to the forefront by various experts. Under their popular science, not only the unproven effect of extending life, but also whether it will cause osteoporosis, were thoroughly exposed. For example, the positive effects, such as refreshing, reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, were thoroughly discussed; for example, the negative effects, such as the possibility of aggravating gastric ulcers and causing yellowing of teeth, were also not able to escape everyone's scrutiny.

But in any case, thanks to this wave of popularity, the public's view on coffee has undoubtedly undergone a positive and subtle change - at least many of my friends, in their subjective judgment, no longer only regard tea as a drinkable object, but also put coffee on the list of substitutes. This is quite good for China, which does not have a comprehensive coffee consumption habit.

However, since we have decided to drink coffee (or try to drink coffee), we should still know something about its origin, varieties, prices, taboos, etc. So today, let’s talk briefly about various little knowledge about coffee.

1. The Past and Present of Coffee

Coffee is a common modern beverage native to Ethiopia, made from roasted coffee beans through cooking and brewing.

In terms of its history, the world generally believes that although coffee was born in Africa, its rise and spread were greatly influenced and strongly supported by Arab countries. Take Turkey as an example. In the 16th century, the country even had a law that "the man must ensure that the woman has a proper amount of coffee to drink after marriage, otherwise he must divorce." This shows how much they love coffee!

Later, with the continuous contact between Arab countries and Eastern and Western countries, coffee was gradually popularized in the West over time, and has since become a popular drink loved by everyone in Western countries; as for the East, despite the strong opponent of tea, since the rise of Western civilization, under the influence of its culture, Asian countries have gradually accepted its existence.

Today, coffee has become one of the world's three major beverages along with cocoa and tea. It is also popular among the public for its rich aroma and unique effect of enhancing brain wakefulness.

2. Main coffee producing areas

In this era, although coffee consumption is mainly concentrated in the United States, Europe, Japan and other places, in terms of cultivation, except for the United States which has a considerable production area, the main coffee producing areas are generally concentrated in Asia, Africa and other American countries.

Among them, the main coffee producing areas represented by Ethiopia, Colombia and Indonesia are not only recognized worldwide for their taste, but their output is also firmly ranked in the forefront (within the top ten); in addition, Vietnam, as the main coffee producer in South Asia, has also performed quite well in the market. Not only does it maintain an output of more than 1.5 million tons all year round, it is only second to Brazil in the world, providing about 20% of the world's coffee supply; as for Brazil, which ranks first in output, although the country's coffee producing areas are not all over the country, but are mainly concentrated in the three states of Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo and Paraná, relying on good natural conditions, the country's coffee output can reach more than 2.5 million tons, basically accounting for 30% to 40% of the world's total output.

In addition to the above countries, there are several countries whose coffee varieties, although less abundant in production, are also popular due to their outstanding flavor and acidity. For example, Blue Mountain Coffee from the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, Kona Coffee from Hawaii, USA, and Costa Rican Coffee from Costa Rica are all excellent varieties. (Of course, as the other side of the outstanding taste, the price of coffee beans produced from these origins is also quite amazing)

In addition, in China, there is also a considerable scale of coffee planting in Yunnan Province. Even a few years ago, it was famous for its unique floral and fruity aroma. Unfortunately, due to deviations in flavor and market positioning, in recent years, Yunnan coffee has gradually fallen into a situation similar to Vietnamese coffee - more commercial-grade coffee and less boutique-grade coffee.

3. Daily Varieties of Coffee

Generally speaking, most of the coffee we ordinary people (referring to those who don’t know much about coffee) are exposed to instant coffee sold in supermarkets. If we want to have a little atmosphere and a little romance, we are mostly limited to national consumer coffee brands represented by Starbucks and Luckin Coffee. So from this perspective, coffee brands like Blue Mountain Coffee and Kona Coffee, which are obviously too high-end, have actually exceeded the upper limit of what we can usually taste.

However, even if we limit the varieties to the range we can touch, there are actually quite a lot of types of coffee to choose from. If we count on our fingers, there are four or five types, including Italian, American, cappuccino, latte, caramel macchiato, etc.

So, what are the characteristics of each of these coffee categories?

1. Italian coffee: Italian coffee is sometimes also called espresso. It is a type of coffee with a strong taste. Its production method is to use extremely hot but not boiling water to extract coffee by high pressure through finely ground coffee powder. It got its name because it developed and evolved in Italy.

2. Americano: Americano itself is a very common way of drinking coffee. Although it can be made with a drip coffee pot in theory, more often people make it by adding water to espresso (in short, it can be regarded as diluted espresso).

3. Cappuccino: The essence of cappuccino is a 1:1:1 stack of equal amounts of espresso, milk and milk foam. The only difference from latte is that in the world of cappuccino, the volumes of these three layers are basically the same.

4. Mocha coffee: Compared with the above coffees, the production of mocha coffee requires slightly more diverse raw materials. It not only requires the two conventional combinations of espresso and milk, but also two delicious ingredients, chocolate sauce and fresh cream.

5. Caramel Macchiato: The production of Caramel Macchiato is not too difficult in practice. Just add hot milk, vanilla, and caramel to the Italian coffee and it is ready (for home cooking, you can also add some caramel syrup to adjust the taste);

4. Sources of imported coffee

Since the quality and quantity of coffee in our country cannot meet domestic demand, in the process of commercializing this beverage, we are actually very dependent on foreign manufacturers for raw materials.

Among them, Vietnam and Brazil, as the top coffee bean producers in the international market, provide about 31% and 15.4% of the market demand for my country's coffee imports respectively. In addition to these two countries, the supply of Guatemala, Colombia, Malaysia and Ethiopia is also relatively considerable, with absolute values ​​exceeding 1,500 tons.

However, one thing worth noting is that although the above-mentioned countries have relatively high market shares, except for Malaysia and Italy whose average unit prices are higher than 70 yuan/kg, the unit prices of other major coffee importing countries are still relatively low - this means that at least 80% of the coffee beans imported by my country are used for daily commercial consumption, and real boutique-grade coffee is actually very rare.

Table of coffee imports with a quantity of more than 1,000 kg and a unit price of more than 100 yuan/kg in the first five months of 2020

As shown in the above figure, in the first five months of this year, there were actually only seven coffee importing countries with a certain import scale and an import unit price higher than 100 yuan/kg, and the total quantity was only 758.7 tons, less than 2.9% of the overall scale.

So from this perspective, for friends who like to drink high-end coffee, such as Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, it is really necessary to carefully taste the coffee they have tasted to prevent the market chaos of selling inferior products as good ones.

5. Notes on coffee tasting

In the eyes of many masters and high-end coffee consumers, drinking coffee actually has certain norms and needs to follow certain rituals and steps, such as how to extract coffee liquid, how to smell the aroma of coffee, how to drink it, whether to use the tongue or the mouth, and so on.

Objectively speaking, the above are certainly not wrong, but for beginners, there is really no need to limit yourself too much. If you like the aroma of black coffee, try to feel its rich aroma; if you like the soft and sweet cappuccino, you can also enjoy the happiness it brings you... However, from the perspective of health, I do have a few suggestions for your reference:

First, try not to drink coffee on an empty stomach, because drinking coffee on an empty stomach can easily lead to excessive secretion of gastric acid, which, in the long run, can easily affect your gastrointestinal function.

Second, it is best not to drink alcohol with coffee. Since both of them can excite the nerves, mixing the two will not only easily lead to the disadvantages of excessive drinking, but also easily cause cardiovascular burden.

Third, people who have trouble sleeping should not drink too much. Especially for some people who are sensitive to caffeine, drinking coffee at noon may affect their sleep at night - and this obviously deviates from the original intention of enjoying life.

Fourth, control sugar intake. Some coffee lovers prefer sweet taste and often put too much sugar in their coffee. However, in the long run, this behavior will increase the risk of obesity and diabetes, and is not recommended.

VI. Conclusion

Coffee is a popular mainstream beverage in the world. There is a lot of knowledge about coffee in the process of planting, harvesting, purchasing, roasting, brewing, etc. As for the classification during production, with the promotion of more and more varieties, it is gradually becoming overwhelming. Perhaps it is precisely because of this reason, and the various high-cold halos that domestic coffee shops try their best to give to coffee, that many people are often scared away by the common contempt chain in society when they first become interested in coffee.

But as the old saying goes, a towering platform is built from the ground. Any research on a certain aspect, in fact, develops from the basics from the very beginning. So, if you really have a certain interest in tasting coffee, then you might as well start from the most convenient place for you. You don’t have to care about the brand and origin. Have a cup of instant coffee first, and there’s still time to talk about other things!