Specially Coffee's knowledge about boutique coffee

The Origin of selected Coffee

In an exclusive interview with Tea and Coffee in 1974, Erna Knutsen was the first to use the term "Specially Coffee" to describe premium coffee beans with excellent flavor, which is different from commercial coffee (Commercial Coffee), which focuses only on marketing rather than quality.

The United States is the world's largest consumer of coffee. At that time, the market was almost dominated by commercial coffee, and Americans were getting bored because of their poor flavor. Knudsen's call to the top has undoubtedly established the trend status of selected coffee.

Knudsen, who immigrated to the United States from Norway as a child, did not come into contact with coffee until he was in his 40s, first as executive secretary at a coffee company in San Francisco (B.C.Ireland). At that time, she found that the company's imported robusta beans were sold in large quantities to well-known General Foods (General Foods) and Sears Brothers (Hills Broa.) The company. These companies mainly deal in commercial coffee, mix robusta beans into products, make canned or instant coffee, and then market them all over the United States with intensive advertising.

At that time, although the company also imported high-quality Arabica beans, the demand was pitifully small, usually less than a container (about 250bags, or 15000 kilograms). Knudsen tried to sell these high-quality beans to small local roasters, and the results went quite smoothly, showing that regional coffee makers pay more attention to flavor and have their own coffee confidants. Knudsen went on to promote a selection of coffee with a small number of deals, achieving extraordinary success, and eventually even ascended to the position of president.

Knudsen has won the Lifetime contribution Award (Lifetime Contribution Award) from the American selected Coffee Association (SCAA) and serves as a director of the association.

In 1986, she founded the Knutsen Coffee Ltd Coffee Company, located in Sacramento Coffee, which has a high position in the selected coffee market.

The significance of selected Coffee

In fact, the concept of select coffee is not created by Nu, it originated from a coffee business model many years ago. Around the turn of the century, some old coffee shops were selling high-end beans to be proud of. The old chef baked the beans behind the counter and immediately sold them from the front, so customers were guaranteed to have good fresh coffee. However, due to the success of the industrial revolution, people walked from their families into factories and offices, the pace of life became tense and busy, and everything began to crave convenience and speed; coupled with the strong sound and light temptation of the national commercial advertisement for commercial coffee, the selected coffee was gradually forgotten, and it was not until after the 1970s that it was aroused by a group of conscientious people and rapidly increased its market share.

So far, no one dares to define a selection of coffee. It is not a variety, nor a trademark, nor a brand; it is a concept, a comprehensive phenomenon of coffee quality and flavor. We can understand what a selection of coffee is from the following angles.

Coffee in terms of variety

The main varieties of coffee are "Aribica" and "Robusta". The former grows in cool areas of the highlands, has a better flavor, accounts for about 70% of the world coffee production, and is the main source of selected coffee; the latter grows in low elevations, has strong disease resistance, but has a bad flavor and has a strange taste, accounting for about 30% of the world coffee production.

However, not all Arabica beans are selected coffee, only a few high-end beans come from high mountain areas, or after strict selection and classification, they are considered selected coffee because of their hard texture, rich taste and excellent flavor. It only accounts for about 10% of the world's coffee production. As for Robusta beans almost all enter the commercial coffee market, only a very small number of fine beans can be regarded as selected coffee.

Looking at coffee from the way it is handled

Due to the different ripening time of coffee fruit, good coffee must be harvested by hand in 3 to 6 times. In the process of treatment, no matter using the sun method or water washing method, we have to be careful, and the coffee beans have to go through strict selection and classification to ensure the stability of their quality. Therefore, although some areas have good local conditions and can produce excellent coffee, they can not be classified as fine coffee if they are not handled properly or are just leftover inferior products. For example, almost all Brazilian beans are Arabica, but most of them are harvested by machines, leading to a mixture of good and bad; and like some of the lower grades of Mantenin, they are the second-grade products left after selection, and they cannot be regarded as selected coffee.

Years ago, Ted Lingle, CEO of the American selected Coffee Association, printed a selection of coffee categories that clearly defined dizzyless raw beans and coffee with special flavors as selections.

In this chart, the next level of selected coffee is "Premium". In fact, it doesn't seem to have any obvious shortcomings, but it still can't be included in the selection. From this, we know that the selection of coffee is absolutely special, far exceeding the level of "it tastes good".

Looking at coffee from the way it is roasted

The year, type, room temperature, moisture content of raw beans are closely related to the baking temperature. Generally speaking, the selected coffee is usually roasted in a small amount, which requires strict testing and analysis in advance, and will not stop until the baking is in the best condition. In this way, the coffee beans can be evenly cooked inside and outside, ensuring the perfect quality. Commercial coffee, on the other hand, uses a lot of roasting in order to roast raw beans to brown, giving people the feeling of coffee.

Select Coffee in terms of freshness

It is an indisputable fact that only fresh coffee can be regarded as selected coffee. The word "fresh" here refers to the freshness after baking, not the freshness of raw beans after harvest. After roasting, the flavor of coffee beans reaches its peak within about 1-7 days, which is the best time to drink; once stored for too long, the coffee will naturally decay and suffer oxidation, and the flavor will not be as good as it used to be. Therefore, fresh is the basic law of good coffee, not fresh enough coffee can not be said to be selected coffee.

Looking at coffee from the way it is sold

Specialty stores of selected coffee should sell whole beans and let customers take them home and grind them by themselves. As the freshness of coffee beans is very important, the date of baking should be kept within 7 days in order to make a good coffee. On the contrary, commercial coffee uses iron cans, glass cans or plastic bags to pack poor coffee beans, coffee powder or instant coffee, leaving it on the shelf waiting for customers who accidentally come to the door.

Generally speaking, if selected coffee stores also sell coffee drinks, they will certainly use fresh beans, freshly ground and boiled, and bring out a cup of fresh and delicious coffee; if you use stale and bad beans, although they have a gorgeous appearance, they cannot be said to be selected coffee.

Coffee from the Perspective of Commodity name

Good coffee beans have their own characteristics, and they are not willing to remain anonymous and are only called "coffee". Therefore, in order to highlight a variety of unique styles, good coffee beans have their own names, such as Blue Mountain in Jamaica, Yirgacheff in Ethiopia, Sulawesi in Indonesia, Antiqua in Guatemala, Kona in Hawaii and so on. Sometimes, it is even marked with a grade as part of the name, such as Kenya's AA (AA is the highest rating in the local classification).

This method is found not only in coffee beans, but also in other commodities, such as Taitung Chi Shang Mi, Ilan garlic, and Tai Ma Li Sakya. Because of its good quality and delicious food, it certainly enjoys its own name and shines magnanimously on the shelves.

Humans used to drink a selection of coffee.

The coffee beans originally used by humans belong to the Arabica species (Arabica), which originated from Ethiopia in East Africa and was first planted by Arabs in Yemen and spread to all parts of Europe and Asia. (at that time, it was only known that coffee was imported from Arab countries, and the word root had the meaning of Arab "Arabica".

The name of the original Arabian coffee is "Typica" (meaning "original"), and then a new "bourbon" (Bourbon) occurs. Nowadays, these two varieties are the main sources of selected coffee, especially "bourbon coffee", which is the guest of honor in the selected coffee market. Human beings are originally drinking two kinds of coffee, in other words, human beings are drinking select coffee.

Unfortunately, because of the temptation of commercial interests, businessmen began to bake a lot and sell them all over the world through channels at low prices. To keep prices low, merchants introduced commercial coffee mixed with robusta beans and instant coffee with instant food; selected caffeine was nearly swallowed up by the two turbulence.

The Centennial Eve of selected Coffee

The rise of commercial coffee

Commercial coffee sprouted at the end of the 17th century, but at that time the capital was not concentrated and the technology of mass marketing was not yet mature, so commercial baking was considered a luxury at that time. After 1846, the agricultural society gradually turned into an industrial society, and people went out of their farmhouses and into factories or offices, so they had no time to bake their own coffee, so they gave commercial coffee a chance to develop. At that time, large commercial roasters appeared one after another. Commercial coffee is still on the rise.

Around 1871, Arbucle Brothers of the United States was a famous commercial coffee supplier at that time. Abak is good at commercial advertising, including a representative color flyer: a sad-looking man touching carbon ash said by the stove, "too bad, I've scorched the coffee beans again!" Another well-dressed woman sat in a chair and said, "learn from me to buy Abak coffee. You don't have to go to so much trouble!" There are also some words at the bottom of the leaflet advocating that bagged coffee is cheaper and more evenly roasted, which is not something that ordinary people can do. At that time, the coffee business was booming, there were more than 100 warehouses across the United States, and the commercial coffee form had been established.

Arbach dominates the East Coast and Midwest markets, while three other brands are emerging in the West, namely, Folger's, Hills Bros and MJB. However, all the coffee beans and powdered coffee are sold in bags or cans. as the coffee is oxidized and lost its aroma in the marketing process, the good fresh coffee has obviously been forgotten!

Found Robota beans

The second turbulence encountered by select coffee is the discovery of "Robusita". Mr. Han Bou-hsien, a well-known coffee player in Taiwan, translated it as "thick beans", but he really wanted to be appropriate, in sharp contrast to the exquisite Arabica.

In 1898, Emil Laurent, a Belgian Congolese colony, discovered a new variety of coffee and was accepted by a horticultural company in Brussels, calling it "Robusta", and began to grow and promote it. At the beginning of the 20th century, Java was badly hit by leaf rust; the Dutch introduced new varieties from Brussels to Java in 1902, and almost all of the region has been converted to Robusta, making it the world's largest supplier of sturdy beans.

This kind of sturdy beans can grow in low-altitude and high-temperature areas, have a higher unit yield, can be harvested two years after planting, and can resist leaf rust. Arabica beans, by contrast, are much more delicate and can only bear fruit and contribute to production capacity five years after planting. However, Robusta is bitter and stinky, so it can only be used as low-grade coffee or mixed with Arabica beans, and only a few good robusta beans can be listed as selected coffee.

At first, Robota beans were mainly used for instant coffee, but it was not until 1950 that they were significantly involved in the baked bean market. Starting in Europe, especially in the countries of the Robusta colonies, such as France has French West Africa (French West Africa includes Senegal, French Guinea, C ô te d'Ivoire, French Sudan and Dahomei); Portugal has Angola (Angola).

The French use a high degree of heavy roasting to scorch the beans to cover up the strange smell and form French roasting (French Roast). Italians also like to use Robusta's espresso to improve its mellowness, and some are even mixed with more than 40% robusta beans.

In 1954, the United States imported the first 215000 bags of robusta coffee from C ô te d'Ivoire for only 57 cents, which was obviously much cheaper than Arabica beans. At this time, it was the heyday of commercial coffee, many operators began to add a large number of thick beans, and the proportion increased year by year, some up to 30%, some even as high as 50%.

In addition, what is even worse is to mix other substances in the coffee powder. The main adulterant is the root of chicory (Chicory), which is scorched by the fire, ground into powder and mixed with coffee; it is said that rye flour, straw, sunflower seeds, sawdust, roasted horse liver, charcoal ash, cocoa shell and so on are used.

Specious instant coffee

A bag of well-known brands of instant coffee carry-on bag, its packaging says: sugar 51.7%, cream 33.3%, M brand coffee 15.0%. Excuse me: is this called coffee?

The invention of instant coffee makes coffee culture fall into a specious myth, because it is almost useless except for convenience, and it does not have the original mellow taste of coffee. No wonder locals in Central and South America often say, "instant coffee is not coffee at all!"

The idea of powdering coffee to make it soluble in water originated in the 18th century. During the American Civil War, powdered coffee was used as a quota powder for sergeants. Later, new technologies were discovered one after another, but no production was invested. The modern spray drying method was invented by Nestl é in Brazil in 1930. Nestl é has been the leading brand of instant coffee since its inception in 1938.

During World War II, the United States began to distribute Nestle and Maxwell instant coffee to non-commissioned officers to drink, which contributed to the future development of instant coffee. After the war, instant coffee invaded the market at an alarming rate, and Nestl é entered Europe, Latin America and Asia with intensive advertising promotion, dominating the entire American market. Maxwell then followed suit to develop national commercial advertisements and step into the international market.

At first, it was just a competition of promotional activities, which competed with each other for brands, but later it turned into a price competition. Instant coffee accounted for 17% of total coffee consumption in the United States at the end of 1952, and reached 34% in 1978, a historical peak. Fortunately, it has declined year by year, and now it is less than 10%. Thus it can be seen that coffee-loving Americans finally spit on instant coffee.

However, the American experience of instant coffee has established a model for these big international companies to promote new markets, especially for countries that traditionally drink tea, such as post-war Britain and Japan. While the growth rate of commercial coffee in the United States is declining year by year, consumption in other emerging markets is gradually increasing. Since 1956, Maxwell and Nestl é have erected large billboards on important streets in the UK and launched intensive television advertisements, resulting in a sharp increase in the consumption of instant coffee. Once accounted for 90% of the country's coffee retail market.

The same model, which was later used in Japan, now points to some emerging regions. Over the past decade, there have been a staggering number of advertisements for instant coffee in Taiwan, with large billboards everywhere and TV commercials bombarded with fatigue.

Instant coffee has a poor flavor, so it doesn't matter what beans are used. In order to reduce costs, manufacturers begin to adulterate a large number of robusta beans, and over-extract the ingredients of each coffee bean, making instant coffee more bitter. Some large factories have invested a lot of advertising and take the lead in the share of each other, but consumers have no loyalty to the brand of instant coffee and become completely price-oriented. therefore, the quality is getting worse and worse, forming a vicious circle.

In 1964, General Foods invented the "freeze-drying method" to make instant coffee. The new method is different from the high temperature instant crystallization method used in the past, although the flavor has been improved, it still can not retain the original flavor of real coffee.

The Dawn of selected Coffee

1962 can be said to be the watershed between select coffee and commercial coffee, when the average daily consumption per person in the United States was 3.12 cups, an all-time high. Since then, consumption has declined year by year, stagnating at about 1.7 cups in the 1980s and 1990s, and the coffee market has survived more than 20 years of recession in the United States. However, the selection of coffee has sprung up quietly, and its market share has increased rapidly.

The rise of selected coffee can be attributed to many people who work silently, which we cannot introduce one by one. However, in addition to the previously mentioned Knudsen, the legends of Peet and Starbucks have to be talked about.

The Legend of Alfred Peet

Avery. Pitt, like Knudsen, is an immigrant from Europe, and his father, Henry, originally opened a coffee roaster in a small town in the Netherlands. Little Pitt was exposed to a variety of exotic coffee beans from an early age, worked as an apprentice to a sizeable coffee import company in Amsterdam when he was in his teens, and returned home at the age of 18 to help his father run the bakery. In 1948, Pitt went to Indonesia alone, a Dutch colony with his favorite espresso. Here he has a more specialized experience in the treatment of raw beans. Pitt loves coffee and has long and complete experience in processing coffee; he unwittingly started a revolution in selected coffee.

In 1955, Pitt went to San Francisco to dominate the world and worked for Johnson (E.A.Johnson&Company) for several years. Johnson's business is to import coffee beans for large bakeries, and its main customers are Sears Brothers and Foggis. Pitt was puzzled: why does the United States, the world's largest consumer market, always import mediocre coffee beans from South America and even Robota beans from Africa? And why is such a rich country drinking such low-grade coffee beans? During this period, the United States rarely imported good Arabica beans, and almost all of them went to coffee-savvy Europe. As a result, Pitt had the idea of starting his own business and selling selected coffee.

In 1966, the Pitt Coffee and Tea Store opened in Berkeley, San Francisco. The store is small, but it has a drum roaster that takes a small amount of roasting and sells all fresh, high-quality coffee beans.

At this time, the American market is almost full of light-roasted coffee beans. Because, the shallower the roasting, the less weight loss of the coffee beans, the more money can be sold. But Pitt adheres to the ideal of "re-baking". He bakes the coffee beans to a dark brown with a glossy appearance, which he thinks can show the Fully Body taste of the coffee. Later, Baldwin and others, who founded the "Starbucks" coffee company, learned this roasting method from him, because Pitt is known as the ancestor of American heavy-roasted coffee.

Early Starbucks

When the American people are deceived by commercial coffee, Baldwin, Pork, and Seeger know quite well that this is not the coffee they want to drink.

When they were in college in Seattle, the trio took a year off to travel to Europe together and became bosom friends. Once Pork found a Murchie coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada, specializing in delicious Arabica beans, so they often drove north from Seattle, not afraid of long distances, just to buy a few bags of heavy-baked mochi coffee. On a return trip, passing through Lake Samis, a glow from the lake shone on their faces. Pork suddenly blessed his heart and thought, "Why not open a coffee shop in Seattle?" The other two quickly agreed, and Seeger went south to San Francisco to visit Pitt, who generously promised to give them coffee beans. In 1971, in a simple ceremony, Starbucks officially opened a select coffee store in Park Market in Seattle. They often go to Berkeley stores to learn the knowledge of coffee, and under Pitt's instruction, they learn the technique of re-baking and officially become the descendants of selected coffee.

Starbucks was originally the name of a first mate in the American literary masterpiece Moby Dick. Because of its perfect font, it was chosen as the name of the store by three people.

In 1979, Pitt reached the age of 60, so he sold his revered career and announced his retirement. In 1983, the buyer wanted to sell again, which was a great opportunity for Bowende. The apprentice became a master and had the meaning of inheriting Datong. As a result, Bowende borrowed money from the bank to buy Pitt Coffee and Tea, bringing their coffee business into the San Francisco area.

Bowende and others, who held two jobs and traveled to two places, had a heavy burden. They sold Starbucks in 1987. The successor is Howard, the company's original business manager. Schultz (Howard Schultz), who continued to develop select coffee and transformed into an international chain.

Today's Peet's Coffee and Tea

After selling Starbucks, Baldwin concentrated on running the Pitt Coffee and Tea Company in California, and his results are still bright and often crowded, with several stores in the San Francisco Harbor area. In January 2001, the company went public at $8 a share and rose to $9.38 on the same day, indicating its popularity. Many tourists also like to visit the Berkeley store. In addition to tasting fresh and strong coffee, they can also revisit the legends of Pitt and Starbucks. For those who can't visit in person, you might as well go to their website (www.peets.com) to get a lot of knowledge about coffee and mail-order coffee.

Establishment of the American selected Coffee Association

The legend of Pitt and the success of Starbucks have led to the vigorous development of the selected coffee market, and good news has come from small roasters or coffee shops in various regions. In 1983, some people who worked silently further United to set up the "American selected Coffee Association" (Specialy Coffee Association of America, referred to as SCAA) to carry out the research and promotion of selected coffee. They developed coffee-related equipment and set some standards for the industry to follow. SCAA's publications and books are quite practical, and educational courses benefit many coffee workers. Coffee lovers can buy good books and get a lot of information on their website (www.scaa.org).

Looking forward to a selected coffee culture

The United States is the largest coffee market in the world, where consumers begin to know what good beans are. As a result, commercial coffee is increasingly rejected, thus establishing the status of selected coffee.

In Asia, more and more people agree with good coffee, and many cafes appeal to select coffee. As far as Taiwan is concerned, commercial coffee is noisy, various signboards are set up on the streets, and advertisements appear more often in prime time. Although some foreign brands are stationed, most of them sell imported baked beans, in other words, "fresh" has long disappeared on the way of transportation. When will we have a truly selected coffee culture? Is worth discussing and looking forward to.