You need to know these basic knowledge about coffee

“Love to drink coffee” is basically the entry point, but many details about coffee directly determine whether you can drink a good cup of coffee.

In order to drink good coffee, let's talk about the specific details from the [practical level] and [knowledge theory level].

-Practical Operation-

Here are some things to note from ordering coffee → drinking coffee → choosing coffee beans → making your own coffee. I suggest you save them for later reference.

01. Order coffee

The trick to ordering coffee is to be familiar with the classification of coffee. There are many classifications of coffee, but the following are the most common ones we see in coffee shops.

Espresso: It is a very strong coffee, usually made by grinding coffee into very fine powder and using high pressure to make coffee (invented and developed in Italy in the early 20th century). It is the base of many coffees.
Americano: Black coffee made with a drip coffee maker. It can also be made by adding espresso to water. It has a high caffeine content and a relatively light taste, making it suitable for weight loss.

Espresso Con Panna: One of the Italian coffee varieties, usually with a proper amount of fresh cream or toffee;
Coffee latte: A combination of Italian espresso and milk, with a stronger milk flavor than cappuccino;

Cappuccino: It was created around the same time as the steam coffee machine in the early 20th century. It is a mixture of equal parts espresso and foamed milk.

Flat White: Although the New York Times calls it a "small latte", it is slightly different from latte. It has a thin layer of milk foam on top, and the temperature is lower than that of cappuccino. It has a smooth taste. Although there is some controversy about its origin, most people agree that it is from Australia. (Thanks for the correction in the comments section)

Cafe Mocha: A mixture of espresso + chocolate sauce + fresh cream + milk. In Europe, there is a chocolate espresso drink, also known as mocha coffee.

Caramel Macchiato: hot milk, espresso, vanilla, topped with caramel, and the caramel macchiato is born;

Cafe Breve (half latte): espresso base with cream and milk, half and half, then topped with milk foam... The proportions of Breve are difficult to control, and many people adjust them according to their preferences.

02Drink coffee

The correct way to drink coffee? There is no such thing as a certain way to drink coffee. Of course , knowing how to taste black coffee will help you enjoy its original balanced and rich flavor, but how to drink it, whether to add milk or sugar or nothing at all, is up to your own taste. Drink it however you like.

But when drinking coffee, you should still pay attention to the following points:

1. It is recommended to let the coffee cool down for a while before drinking it, so that the flavor will be richer.
2. The best way to taste coffee is to hold it in your mouth after taking a sip, but not just holding it in your mouth, but using a method similar to gargling to make the coffee contact all parts of your mouth, and then drink it. This way of tasting can taste the flavor of the coffee in all directions.
3. Don’t drink coffee on an empty stomach, as coffee will promote gastric acid secretion. It is recommended to drink it after breakfast. Also, it is not recommended to drink coffee too late, as it will affect sleep quality. (Of course, this varies from person to person)
4. Coffee and alcohol should not be consumed together, as it can easily lead to drunkenness. Therefore, in daily life, it is best to drink coffee about an hour after drinking alcohol. Of course, a longer interval is even better.
5. It is not recommended for pregnant women, children, the elderly with poor stomachs, and people with poor sleep to drink coffee.

03Choose coffee beans

For coffee beginners, how to distinguish the quality of coffee beans, how to tell whether the beans are fresh, and how to choose coffee beans quickly and correctly are major problems that bother them.

Before we talk about how to choose coffee beans, let's first understand the types of coffee beans. So far, only three types of beans, or bean varieties, have been discovered: Arabica, Robusta, and Liberica.

Types of coffee

As for the "tico, kent, mokka, catimor..." that you have heard of vaguely, they are basically variants or hybrids of these three bean systems. We will discuss this knowledge point in the theoretical knowledge below.

In practical terms, the key points are what you need to pay attention to when buying beans:

1. There are many flavors of coffee beans, which are basically determined by the origin. For coffee beginners, just remember these better flavors:

Brazil (full taste, not sour, sweet aftertaste), Colombia (balanced flavor, thick taste), Guatemala (soft flavor, mixed flavor of chocolate and fruit), Kenya (fruity flavor, high acidity), Ethiopia (floral and fruity aroma), Indonesia (low acidity, high sweetness).

1. When buying coffee beans, you should check the roasting date. The coffee beans will reach their peak flavor about a week after roasting, and this is also when they are best to drink. But be careful not to leave them for more than a month. The longer the time, the less coffee flavor there will be until it disappears.
2. Choice of roasting degree:

Light roasting: The fruity and sour taste is obvious, but this type of roasting can best taste the flavor of the coffee itself. High-quality coffee has a particularly good fruity and sour flavor.

Medium roast: The taste is relatively balanced, the acidity is normal, and it is more suitable for most people's taste. Coffee novices are recommended to choose this flavor.

Deep roasted: rich, mellow, and relatively heavy in taste. Many coffee shops use deep roasted beans, which are less likely to over-extract during the production process.

04 Make coffee

Beginners who want to make hand-brewed coffee should prepare the tools first:

Hand-cranked grinder (or automatic grinder), filter paper (the choice of filter paper is very important), hand-brew pot, cup, filter cup, lower pot (sharing pot), electronic scale, and thermometer.

Next, you need to pay attention to the grind size of the coffee beans, the water temperature, and its extraction technique.

There are three degrees of grinding for coffee beans : coarse, medium, and fine. Coarsely ground coffee powder has obvious edges and corners, medium ground coffee powder is roughly like the white sugar we have at home, and fine ground coffee powder is the same as the refined salt we have at home. It is recommended that beginners choose medium ground coffee powder for better control.

The best extraction water temperature is generally 88-93 degrees. Of course, this is just a theoretical value. The specific value depends on the degree of grinding of the coffee beans. Generally, the finer the grinding degree, the lower the water temperature will be. Vice versa, different textures of utensils will also have different temperatures of water. (This point is also emphasized in the comments)

Tips: Be careful not to use boiling water for extraction.

In addition, you should pay attention to the powder-water ratio before extraction. The powder-water ratio refers to the ratio of coffee powder to water, which is generally between 1:15-1:18. Advanced coffee makers generally adjust the powder-water ratio according to their familiarity with the beans.

The specific extraction process is divided into (simplified version):

Prepare filter paper → Start timing → Steam (this is very important) → Pour the first section of water → Pour the second section of water → Pour the third section of water

(The time interval for segmented water injection is about 10s, allowing the water to flow in evenly. The water in one segment is less than the injected water, the first segment has the most, and the third segment has the least, until the powder-water ratio is reached. This can be seen by timing.)

(Specific operation version):

Step 1: Prepare hot water and coffee beans (according to the coffee bean to water ratio), and put the filter paper into the filter cup. First brew with hot water to make the filter paper fit the filter cup, and heat the filter cup in advance to avoid improper extraction.

Step 2: Pour in the ground coffee powder

Step 3: Slowly pour hot water (depending on the degree of coffee roasting and grinding fineness, medium temperature is generally around 90 degrees) into the middle of the coffee powder. The recommended amount of water to be poured in during steaming is 1.5 to 2 times the weight of the coffee powder.

Step 4: After 20 seconds of steaming , add water for the first time. The amount of water added is about one-third of the total amount, and it takes about half a minute to complete. During the process of adding water, rotate the water in one direction from the middle and do not change the direction. The speed should not be too fast or too slow. Beginners need to practice a few more times.

Step 5: The second water injection: The interval between the second water injection and the first water injection is about 10 seconds. The amount of water injected is about half of the remaining water volume, and it is also completed in about half a minute.

Step 6: The third stage of water filling: 10 seconds apart from the second stage, the amount of water filled is all the remaining water, and the filling time is about half a minute.

Of course, the above method is just one of them, which is more suitable for coffee beginners to practice. Well, at this point, the practical part comes to an end, and the next part is the theoretical knowledge part.

-Knowledge Theory-

Coffee is not suitable for "blind drinking". If you don't understand the history of coffee and some theoretical knowledge about coffee, you will probably never fall in love with coffee itself.

【Birth & Spread】

1. The birthplace of coffee is Ethiopia in Africa. Later, due to war, religion and other reasons, it spread to the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East, Europe and the New World (America).
2. There are many legends about coffee, but there is actually no clear evidence to support them. However, the most widely spread ones are the "shepherd's story" and the "story of birds sucking coffee berries" proposed by Muslims (probably the same, as these two animals are the easiest to eat coffee beans). The two stories lead to the same conclusion, and both discovered the magical medicinal effect of coffee - to invigorate people's spirits.

3. In addition to the trade war, the biggest medium for the spread of coffee is religion. Although Christianity did not make much of a splash in Africa at the beginning, Islam played a vital role in the spread of coffee.

4. If someone asks for a cup of "Arabian wine", it means a cup of coffee. Islam believes that coffee does not violate doctrine and allows church members to drink coffee. Coffee has successfully replaced the status of wine.

5. Islamic countries once included coffee drinking in the law. In 1523, a Turkish marriage law stipulated that "the man must ensure that the woman has an appropriate amount of coffee to drink after marriage, otherwise he must divorce." This country loves coffee to the point of obsession. It is said that "if a Turk is sick, he will not eat anything but drink coffee. If coffee doesn't work, he will start making a will without considering seeing a doctor."

The history of coffee is really interesting. If you are interested, you can learn more about it.

【Coffee Tree & Coffee Beans】

1. Coffee trees are either propagated by grafting or grown from seeds planted in sandy soil.

Coffee tree seedlings

• Coffee cherry is a sweet substance, coffee beans are the seeds of coffee. One coffee cherry has two coffee beans, and only the coffee beans with the skin left on can germinate.
• A coffee tree will bear its first fruit after 4-5 years of growth. Its total fruit-producing period is 20-25 years. In addition, coffee flowers, unripe fruits and ripe fruits will appear on a coffee tree at the same time.

The white coffee flower is a bit like jasmine, but it blooms for only a few days.

• There are three types of coffee: Arabica, Robusta, and Liberian. Arabica is the oldest coffee variety, accounting for about 70% of the world's coffee. Arabica usually blooms after the rainy season, and it takes 9 months from flowering to fruiting.
• Among the variants of Arabica, the more famous ones are "Tipica" and "Bourbon", but Arabica is less resistant to pests than Robusta, but Robusta's flavor is not as good as Arabica. In short, each has its own advantages...
• For special reasons, coffee beans have to be picked manually. The processing methods include: water washing (wet processing) and drying (dry processing). Looking at the beans is actually a technical job. The beans can determine the quality of the coffee flavor. Sometimes a bad bean will affect the overall flavor of a cup of coffee.

Different beans

• Coffee has "light", "medium" and "deep" flavors. Generally, lightly roasted beans have high acidity and low alcohol content; medium roasted beans have a more balanced taste, and the beans do not have oil on the surface, but are very dark in color; deeply roasted coffee beans will have a little oil on the surface and are also dark in color.

Different roasting degrees and uses of coffee beans

• Storage of coffee powder: Remember not to re-can the coffee powder repeatedly, otherwise the coffee powder will be completely exposed to the air and affect the flavor; the lid of the coffee can is small and has better airtightness; the air in the sealed bag should be squeezed out slowly to ensure the freshness of the coffee flavor.

You see, once we start talking about coffee, we can’t stop.

If you want to know more about coffee, welcome to follow Li Zimu's life.