What are the most expensive varieties of Arabica coffee beans? which brand of Arabica coffee is better?

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For those who often buy coffee beans, they should be able to realize that there is a wide range of coffee prices in different producing areas. However, it is clear that they are all Arabica coffee beans, so why can the price range to more than a thousand yuan?

The factors that affect the price of Arabica coffee beans can be classified into two factors:

Output: scarcity is precious. Of course, the price of coffee beans with scarce production has been pushed up, such as civet coffee beans.

Whether it tastes good or not: when it comes to whether the coffee tastes good or not, whether the flavor is layered or not, it involves more levels.

The American Fine Coffee Association defines boutique coffee as: "carefully select the most suitable variety and plant it in the altitude, climate, soil and water environment that is most conducive to the development of coffee flavor." Carefully select washing and sun processing, select the most advanced raw beans without defects, zero defects in the transportation process, and send them to the customer's water. After the excellent craftsmanship of the roaster, it leads to the richest regional flavor, and then brews the delicious coffee according to the recognized extraction standard. To put it simply, variety, planting environment, post-harvest treatment procedures, baking techniques, and brewing techniques all affect the flavor of a cup of coffee.

A good beginning is half done. 70% of genetic determination

Coffee in circulation on the market. , but from two varieties: Arabica (Arabica) and Robsta (Robusta).

Arabica flavor is elegant, is the main force of boutique coffee, but also the focus of this article. Robusta, or thick strong beans, has a rough flavor, caffeine is more than twice as high as Arabica, and is not a boutique coffee breed. Thick strong beans are not the focus of this article.

The ancient Arabica native species can be divided into two major species: Typica in Ethiopia and Bourbon in Yemen.

Tibika: the oldest native species in Ethiopia, all Arabica are derived directly or indirectly from it. Elegant flavor, but weak physique, easy to catch rust leaf disease, the result is not much, not in line with economic benefits. The beans are thin and pointed. It's like Lin Daiyu of the coffee world!

Bourbon: juxtaposed with Tibica as an ancient and excellent variety. It can also distinguish between "round body bourbon" and "pointed body bourbon". The round body bourbon is full of vitality, unlike the weak and sickly Tibica, the round side wave has better resistance to rust leaf disease than Tibica, and its flavor is as good as Tibica. The disadvantage is that coffee trees have to rest for a year. (sure enough, it is necessary to save one's energy.)

But in fact, Arabica can be subdivided into many subspecies. Just like humans, there are yellow people, white people, black people and brown people. There are differences between different subspecies. For example, white people are on average higher than yellow people, while black people are more explosive than other people. Therefore, among different Arabica subspecies, some have high productivity, some have good disease resistance, and some beans are larger than other beans. Here are only three of them.

Geisha, which originated from Mount Rosa in Ethiopia, is a member of the Itsuka family. Sofia, who has won many international famous bean cup tests, was sold by Japanese company SAZA Coffee for a staggering $254.8 per pound in the 2017 Best Panama (Best of Panama, BOP) bid.

Kaddura (Caturra), a variant of bourbon gene, has better productivity and disease resistance than bourbon. The most important thing is that it is highly adaptable and does not need shade trees, commonly known as exposed coffee (Sun Coffee).

Elephant beans (Maragogype), which are variants of iron pickups, are at least three times larger than the average Arabica, making them the largest in the world, hence the name.

Supplement 1: in plant taxonomy, coffee belongs to the Coffea Geuns family of Rubiaceae. At present, hundreds of coffee varieties are known, including Arabica and Robusta.

Supplement 2: coffee beans are actually coffee trees bearing coffee fruit (coffee cherry). The seeds in the fruit are what we call coffee beans.

Why did Meng's mother move three times? The environment should not be underestimated.

Dr. Yili, a coffee chemist, once put forward an insightful idea: "70% of the characteristics and mellow potential of coffee beans are determined by genes, and the other 30% depend on the ecosystem of the planting site." Different genes give birth to coffee with different characteristics, which is the main reason why the flavor of Arabica is obviously different from that of Robusta. If the genetic traits are the same, then the overall ecosystem, including latitude, altitude, soil, sunshine, rainfall and temperature, will dominate the coffee flavor trend and advantages and disadvantages. "this also shows that different coffee farms have different ecology, soil quality and microclimate, and the main reason why coffee has a" regional flavor ".

Can't help but chill to the bone, how can you get acid into the mouthpiece?

At the same latitude, coffee beans grown at high elevations contain more sour elves and sucrose, the more mellow the coffee is. This is because higher altitude, lower temperature and large temperature difference between day and night can slow down the growth of coffee and accumulate more nutrients.

Others cover up three ugliness for nothing, but we mention three things for nothing.

When there are shade trees, coffee trees can be prevented from growing in high temperature, so that metabolism will not increase, so that there is plenty of time to develop aromatic substances, increasing sweetness, sour aroma and mellowness.

If you want to do good work, you must sharpen its tools first.

Only with an adequate supply of nutrients can we cultivate high-quality coffee with mellow and sour taste. The coffee bred by volcanic rock and soil has the most balanced and bitter flavor of acid, fragrance, sugar, alcohol and bitterness. The study found that volcanic rocks contain high concentrations of sulfur and sulfides, which happen to be essential for the synthesis of aromatic substances, so coffee grown in volcanic areas usually has a strong aroma.

In addition to volcanic rocks, some studies have also found that coffee in high-humidity producing areas is easy to produce coffee with extra strong fruit. Because high humidity is thought to increase the malic acid concentration of coffee pulp, which is then absorbed by coffee beans.

Supplement 3: Arabica grows in an environment where, generally speaking, the average temperature is about 20 degrees Celsius, the average annual rainfall falls between 1000 and 2000 millimeters, and the temperature difference in a year cannot be too large. The world can provide such climatic and environmental conditions, that is, with the equator as the central line, the area between latitude 25 degrees north and 25 degrees south, which surrounds the earth, is commonly known as the "coffee belt".

When there are good beans, but also to find a good place for fengshui, so it will continue to grow.

As the days went by, it began to bear fruit.

At first the cyan fruit gradually turns yellow, then red, and the best taste is from the scarlet near mahogany "coffee cherry" ─, which is the time to ripen. This color represents the peak of ripening, if possible, as long as the fruit is picked.

The bright red fruit picked will be taken to the processing plant, because the coffee cherries are not resistant to storage, and the sweet pulp will begin to ferment. If the beans are stained with fermented flavor (a common phenomenon), they are worthless.

So once the fruit is ripe, there will be no leisure for a moment from picking it to the follow-up treatment.

Generally speaking, when the red fruit goes in and the green beans come out, that's about it.

There are four kinds of stripping: dry, wet, semi-dry and semi-wet.

The method of taking seeds, or beans, can be divided into four treatment methods: "sun exposure", "water washing", "half sun exposure" and "half water washing". Each method has its advantages and disadvantages, however, no matter which method is used, the key is not to let raw beans infected with mold, absorb peculiar smell and scrap or become inferior beans.

If you want to understand the method of picking beans, you must know the structure of coffee fruit.

Coffee fruit, from outside to inside, can be divided into pericarp, pulp, pectin (viscous substance), pod layer (also known as sheep skin), seed coat (also known as silver skin) and seeds. In principle, the first three layers (peel, pulp and pectin layer) are removed, and the pods are removed when the coffee beans are ready to be exported to other countries. As for the seed coat, during the baking stage, the beans swell and fly away.

Sun exposure-look at the sky to eat

The coffee bean shop dries naturally in the bean drying farm, and the time depends on the climate. In about two to four weeks, the water content of the coffee bean in the fruit can be reduced to 12% and hardened, and then the sheller is used to remove the hard pulp and bean paste, and the coffee bean is removed. The color of sun beans is yellow, and the bean body is prone to horn loss, but this is an inevitable harm.

Advantages: sun-dried beans will absorb fructose essence in the drying process, rich fruit aroma, heavy sweetness, alcohol thickness will also be better than water-washed beans. Countries with low treatment costs and relative lack of water resources prefer this method.

Disadvantages: watch the sky to eat, if it happens to rain or the weather returns to the tide, it is easy to breed mold and pollute beans. Sun-cured beans taste a little sour.

Conclusion: the quality of sun-dried beans is either good or bad, and the quality is different, which affects the appearance.

Washing-favorite of high-quality beans

Water washing is the most popular treatment method at present, and it is also the one with the highest technology of all bean extraction methods. Through multiple screening procedures, the quality of coffee can be ensured. The color of beans is beautiful blue-green, which is why people say mung beans (green bean).

The following steps are simplified into three steps:

Step 1, remove the peel and pulp. It is done by mechanical force.

Step 2, remove the sticky pectin layer. In the way of microbial fermentation, pectin is decomposed into water-soluble pectic acid, which is removed by stirring. During fermentation, organic acids (including malic acid, citric acid, acetic acid, lactic acid and propionic acid) are produced, and some of the acids seep into the beans, increasing the sour taste of the beans. (focus on this step)

Step 3, washing and drying. Stop the fermentation reaction by washing and then keep it in the sun or by drying.

Advantages: the sour flavor and brightness of washed beans are better, and the flavor is clean and free of miscellaneous flavor. Bean Sangjia. The quality is stable. Because of the increase in acidity, even sturdy beans can improve their elegant flavor and price.

Disadvantages: sweetness is not as sweet as sun-dried beans, water consumption is large, 200 grams of beans need at least 2 liters of water, the cost is relatively high.

Conclusion: the process is complicated, but the quality is stable, and it is the most important method to extract high-quality beans.

Half-sun-the best of the two.

Half-sun is a bit like a comprehensive version of solarization and washing. It is Brazil that first removes the peel, pulp and part of the pectin by washing, and then dries the sticky pectin in the sun (the sticky pectin on the bean paste will harden in about a day or so, followed by machine drying). In the drying process, the sugar of pectin can seep into the beans. When you want to export, when you remove the pods, you also remove the pectin from the top layer.

Advantages: half-day sun-cured beans retain the sweetness and mellow thickness of sun-dried beans, and reduce the probability of mold infection of sun-dried beans.

Disadvantages: because pectin is sticky and easily tangled into a ball, it can not be evenly dried, so it is necessary to use a lot of manpower to turn beans up and down in the process of pectin drying. The sour taste of fruit is lower than that of washed beans.

Conclusion: it can be regarded as an improved version of the sun exposure method.

Add: when all pectin remains glued to the pods as much as possible, the whole process should be naturally exposed and air-dried for about one to two weeks, during which time the beans should be turned every hour to dry evenly. It takes a lot of work to ripen it in a wooden container after being completely dehydrated, but the result of "honey brewing" tastes as sweet as honey. This kind of treatment is called "honey treatment". You like sweet coffee, you can try honey-treated coffee! )

Semi-washing-everything is easy as long as there is a machine

First use the pulp planer to remove the peel and pulp, and then use the pectin scraper (this step requires only a small amount of water) to remove the sticky pectin layer, and then move to outdoor exposure.

Advantages: only need to invest in pulp planer and pectin scraper.

Disadvantages: the sour taste of fruit is slightly lower than that of water-washed beans, and the sweet taste is lower than that of half-sun-dried beans, and the flavor is between half-sun and water-washing.

Conclusion: it's a convenient way, so don't worry too much about the taste.

Reference data

1. "Coffee Studies" Han Huaizong

2. The fun of Coffee by Corby Kummer and translated by Liu Shouhuai

3. "the Prince of Coffee makes you addicted to cafe" by Zhang Zhonglun and Tan Yuxin

Arabica coffee bean brand recommendation

Arabica coffee beans baked in front street coffee are fully guaranteed in terms of brand and quality. And more importantly, the performance-to-price ratio is extremely high, each pack of 227 grams, the price is only 70-90 yuan or so. According to the calculation of 15 grams of coffee beans per cup, a bag of coffee can make 15 cups of coffee, which costs only about 5 or 6 yuan per cup, which is recommended by conscience compared to the price of hundreds of cups sold in cafes.

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