COFFEE

TIME
What is
COFFEE?
Coffee is a beverage brewed from the roasted and ground seeds
of the tropical evergreen coffee plant. Coffee is one of the three
most popular beverages in the world (alongside water and tea),
and it is one of the most profitable international commodities.
WHERE
IS COFFEE GROWN?
Latin America, eastern Africa, Asia, and Arabia are leading
producers of Arabica coffee. The Arabica bean requires a cool
subtropical climate. It grows at higher elevations and requires a
lot of moisture, sun, and shade. Western and Central Africa,
Southeast Asia, and Brazil are major producers of Robusta
Where did coffee
ORIGINATED?
Wild coffee plants, probably from Kefa (Kaffa), Ethiopia,
were taken to southern Arabia and placed under
cultivation in the 15th century. The popularity of coffee
in the Arab world led to the creation of the coffeehouse,
first in Mecca and then in Constantinople in the 15th and
16th centuries, respectively. Coffee was introduced into
HISTORY OF
COFFEE
HISTORY OF
COFFEE
Wild coffee plants, probably
from Kefa (Kaffa), Ethiopia,
were taken to southern Arabia
and placed under cultivation in
the 15th century. One of many
legends about the discovery of
coffee is that of Kaldi, an Arab
goatherd who was puzzled by
Whatever the actual origin of coffee, its stimulating effect undoubtedly
the strange antics of his flock. made it popular. Ironically, though Islamic authorities pronounced the
About 850 CE Kaldi supposedly drink intoxicating and therefore prohibited by the Qurʾān, many Muslims
sampled the berries of the were attracted to the beverage as a substitute for alcohol, also prohibited
evergreen bush on which the by the Qurʾān. Despite the threat of severe penalties, coffee drinking
goats were feeding and, on spread rapidly among Arabs and their neighbors and even gave rise to a
experiencing a sense of new social and cultural entity, the coffeehouse.
exhilaration, proclaimed his
Coffee was introduced into one European country after another
throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Many accounts are
recorded of its prohibition or approval as a religious, political,
and medical potion. By the end of the 17th century,
coffeehouses were flourishing across Britain, the British colonies
in America, and continental Europe. Until the close of the 17th
century, the world’s limited
supply of coffee was
obtained almost entirely
from the province of
Yemen in southern Arabia.
But, with the increasing
propagation
popularity of the
of the plant
beverage,
spread rapidly to Java and
other islands of the
Indonesian archipelago in
the 17th century and to the
Americas in the 18th
century. Coffee cultivation
was started in the Hawaiian
Islands in 1825.
IT IS ALL ABOUT
COFFEE
By the 20th century the greatest concentration of production
was centered in the Western Hemisphere—particularly
Brazil. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, industrial
roasting and grinding machines came into use, vacuum-
sealed containers were invented for ground roasts, and
decaffeination methods for green coffee beans were
developed. After 1950 the production of instant coffee was
PROCESS OF MAKING
COFFEE
 PROCESSING
THE BEAN
The cherries are processed by disengaging
the coffee seeds from their coverings and
from the pulp and by drying the seeds; all
beans must be removed from their fruit and
dried before roasting. Three techniques are
used for processing the coffee: the dry, or
“natural,” process, the wet (and washed)
process, and a hybrid process called the semi-
washed, or “pulped natural,” method. The
coffee resulting from those processes is
called green coffee, which is then ready for
roasting.
The ripened fruits of the coffee
PROCESSING
THE BEAN
plant are known as coffee
cherries, and each cherry
generally contains two coffee
seeds (“beans”) positioned flat
against one another. About 5
percent of the cherries contain
only one seed; called
peaberries, those single seeds
are smaller and denser and
produce, in the opinion of
some, a sweeter, more
flavourful coffee.
GRADING
After green coffee has been hulled and
processed, it is ready to be graded and sold for
roasting. The practice of grading and classifying
coffee gives sellers and buyers a guarantee
concerning the origin, nature, and quality of the
product to aid their negotiations. Each coffee-
producing country has a certain number of defined
types and grades—based on characteristics such as
growing altitude and region, botanical variety,
method of processing, roast appearance, and bean
size, density, and defects—but there is no universal
grading and classification system. Some coffee is
shade-grown and is more likely to be certified
organic. Fair Trade coffee, part of the larger Fair
Trade movement, arose to ensure that coffee is
harvested and processed without child labour and
dangerous herbicides and pesticides and that
growers and exporters, particularly in the poorer
regions of the coffee-growing world, are paid a fair
price. How well such Fair Trade standards are
enforced is a matter of controversy. The Rainforest
DECAFFEINATION
The term decaffeinated coffee
may strike some as an oxymoron,
but a number of coffee drinkers
relish the taste of coffee but
cannot tolerate the jolt from
caffeine. The main methods of
decaffeination are based on
chemical solvents, carbon
filtering, carbon dioxide
extraction, or triglycerides. In all
cases, to make “decaf,” the
caffeine is removed in the green
bean stage, before the coffee is
roasted. Regardless of the method
of decaffeination, some
adulteration of the coffee bean
results along the way, and in no
case is 100 percent of the caffeine
 ROASTING
The aromatic and gustatory qualities of coffee are
developed by the high temperatures to which they are
subjected during roasting or broiling. Temperatures are
raised progressively from about 180 to 250 °C (356 to
482 °F) and heated for anywhere from 7 to 20 minutes,
depending on the type of light or dark roast desired.
The most important effect of roasting is the appearance
of the characteristic aroma of coffee, which arises from

very complex chemical transformations

within the bean.

Roasting too long can

destroy volatile flavour
and aroma compounds,
and Robusta beans are
often deliberately over
roasted (as in the dark
French and Italian roasts)
to rid the coffee of its
natural harshness.
GRINDING
GRINDING
Some coffees are left as whole beans
to be ground at the time of purchase
or by the consumer at home. Much
coffee, however, is ground, or milled,
by the manufacturer immediately
after roasting. In most modern roasting
plants, grinding is accomplished by
feeding the coffee through a series of
serrated or scored rollers, set at
progressively smaller gaps, that first crack
the beans and then cut them to the desired
particle size.
The degree of fineness is important. If a
coffee is too coarse, water filters through too
fast to pick up flavour; if it is too fine, water
filters through too slowly and retains
particles that deposit at the bottom of the
cup.
Effective packaging prevents air
PACKAGING
and moisture from reaching the
coffee. Ground coffee alters
rapidly and loses its aromatic
qualities within a few days if it is
not put into hermetically sealed
containers immediately.
The air, especially in humid
atmospheres, causes rancidity
through the oxidation of fatty
components. Modern packaging
materials, plastic films such as
polyethylene and complexes of
aluminum and cellulose, are
capable of conserving the quality
of coffee for a time. The most
satisfactory solution to the
problem, however, is packing
At the turn of the 21st century,
manufacturers responded to
consumer desire for freshness
and easy-to-brew systems by
producing single-cup
coffeemakers using coffee
capsules—small disposable
containers filled with a
premeasured amount of coffee
and sealed airtight to maintain
freshness. Their ease of use
made them very popular,
though they have been
criticized for the plastic waste
they generate.
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