What is good coffee?

There have been a lot of discussions about coffee recently. No matter how you talk about it, you can’t avoid comparing it with Starbucks. Is it better than Starbucks? Is it bigger than Starbucks?

Coffee cherries in the sun

Starbucks is probably the largest chain coffee retailer in the world. Is its coffee good? This is a matter of opinion. Everyone has different tastes. But generally speaking, it is still above average and can satisfy the tastes of most people.

Can Starbucks make better coffee? The answer is yes, it can. But as a company, it has to consider cost-effectiveness. Just like the coffee we make personally, it often tastes much better than Starbucks. Because we drink less personally, we can choose more expensive beans, regardless of the cost. For example, I only drink one cup of coffee a day, and the raw materials cost more than 20 yuan. If the method is fine, the quality will definitely be very good. But this kind of coffee is only suitable for some coffee shops, after all, the wool comes from the sheep. As a chain, if fast food coffee is also sold at this price, how many people will drink it? The highbrow is unpopular, this is something that cannot be changed in any era or any society.

So what kind of coffee is a good cup of coffee? This is back to the old question, everyone has their own preferences, one person's honey, another person's poison. For example, the coffee beans produced in some areas of Brazil contain iodine. Most people can't bear it, but in some areas such as Arabia and Türkiye, it is regarded as a treasure.

But now the general view of good coffee is: First, the varieties should be the original Arabica species, Typica and Bourbon, which are the best. Then the growing area should be good, and the best coffee beans grow in high-altitude areas between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The higher the altitude, the longer the growth cycle, the harder the coffee beans, the higher the quality, and the better the aroma. Then, whether the picking and post-production process can be managed accurately to maintain consistent quality, and the fewer defective coffee beans, the better (if you buy the raw beans yourself, no matter how good they are, you still need to pick them again).

If the above points can be achieved, then you have the characteristics of good coffee beans. Different people have different preferences for the acidity, aroma, and body of coffee. Choose the one you like. Finally, add the appropriate roasting method. This is the best coffee bean you need.

Once you have the coffee beans you like, you are basically done. The rest is just to choose the most reasonable brewing method for this type of coffee. (Different coffee varieties have different requirements for the degree of roasting, grinding, water temperature, etc.)