Gourmet Coffee Beans - A Brief Overview
By Jerry Powell, Fri Dec 9th
The coffee plant has two main species. There is the CoffeaArabica, which is the more traditional coffee and considered tobe superior in flavor, and the Coffea Canephora known morecommonly as Robusta. Robusta tends to be higher in caffeine andcan be grown in climates and environments were Arabica would notbe profitable. Robusta is also typically more bitter and acidicin flavor. Because of this Robusta tends to be less expensive.High quality Robusta is also used to blend espresso for morebite, and to lower costs.
A little known fact is that some coffee beans improve theirflavor with age. It is the green unroasted beans which are aged;the typical length of time is 3 years, though there are somehouses which sell beans aged to 7 years. Aged beans have afuller flavor and are less acidic.
Growing conditions, soil types and weather patterns during thegrowing season all contribute to the flavor of the bean,creating the differences in flavor from points of origin, suchas Kenya or Brazil. However, roasting adds its own flavor,sometimes to the point that it is difficult to tell where thebeans originated from, even by experienced cuppers.
The lighter the roast the more the natural flavor of the beanremains. This is why beans from regions such as Kenya or Javaare normally roasted lightly, retaining their regionalcharacteristics and dominate flavors. There is a method ofroasting in Malaysia which adds butter during the roastingproducing a variety called Ipoh White Coffee.
Beans roasted to darker browns begin to taste more like themethod of roasting than the original flavors. Dark roasts suchas French or Vienna Roasts tend to completely eclipse theoriginal flavor. Roasting to whatever degree, while addingstronger flavor does not effect the amount of caffeine of thebean.
Fry pan roasting was popular in the 19th century, since thebeans were normally
