The flavor of coffee beans and several decisive factors

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A cup of delicious coffee, the quality of raw beans determines 60% of the cup of coffee, roasting determines 30%, brewing determines 10%.

The quality of raw beans determines its upper limit, baking determines the appearance of beans, and cooking determines its lower limit. As a coffee practitioner, we should open up the pattern and learn more about the whole link of "From Seed To Cup" as much as possible. This is helpful to the link you are engaged in. After all, bakers bake according to beans, while baristas brew through beans and baking ideas.

We know that scientists have extracted thousands of aromatic substances from raw coffee beans, and different coffees have different flavors and aromas. So what are the reasons that determine the difference in coffee?

Different producing areas will have different temperature, rainfall, sunshine, humidity and soil composition. So even the same variety of coffee will be cultivated in different environments with different flavors and aromas.

For example, the rose summer in Ethiopia is different from that in Panama, because coffee trees produce fruits with different flavors depending on the growth environment.

Generally speaking, African beans taste bright and cheerful, and the flavor in the mouth is changeable and lively; Central and South American beans are enthusiastic and unrestrained, with only a mouthful of all the flavors coming; Asian beans are relatively conservative and need to be extracted at high temperature for a long time. Figure it out slowly. I have to say, beans are like people.

Different places of production, even different estates, the varieties of coffee will be different, so the cultivated varieties of coffee are also very diverse, of course, the taste and aroma of coffee are also varied. There are thousands of coffee tree species all over the world, and the more common species are as follows:

Typica: excellent aroma and mild sour taste

Bourbon species (Bourbon): mellow thickness, strong aroma, sweet taste is very bright.

Kaddura species (Caturra): refreshing sour fruit, light sweet taste.

Catimor: bitter, dark chocolate aroma.

Canefra (Canefora): it can also be called Robusta. It has a single flavor and a mugi-cha flavor.

The treatment methods are different, coffee berries are processed after picking, and the representative treatment methods are:

Sun treatment (Natural)

Washing method (Washed)

Semi-washing method (Semi-washed)

Natural pectin removal (Pulped Natural)

-Red honey (Red Honey)

-Yellow honey (Yellow Honey)

-Black honey (Black Honey)

Sweetness-alcohol thickness: sun > natural removal of pectin > semi-washing > washing.

Acidity & aroma: washing > semi-washing > natural removal of pectin > solarization

Solarization is the oldest treatment method, which is not only time-consuming, but also easy to produce defective beans. The water washing method is to make up for the defects of the sun method and was born. The washing method saves time, reduces the occurrence rate of defective beans, and then controls the quality of coffee. However, the flavor and alcohol thickness of coffee processed by washing method are not as good as those processed by tanning method. As a result, people invented the honey treatment, that is, the natural removal of pectin, that is, the peel was removed and the pulp was preserved for drying.

Coffee growers, in order to be similar to the acidity of fruit and have deep dry aroma of coffee, have found that the area suitable for growing fine coffee is the plateau with an altitude of about 1500 meters to 2000 meters above sea level. Because there is a large temperature difference between day and night, the amount of oxygen absorbed by plants increases and the coffee fruit shrinks more frequently. But there are exceptions to this fact. In the Kona region of Hawaii, coffee beans are grown at an altitude of about 700 to 1,100 meters, because Hawaii has a unique island climate, excellent sun conditions, and usually modern facilities. Farmers are very rich, so they all have feelings and integrity.

High altitude:

Over 1400 m-SHB (Strictly Hard Bean) / SHG (Strictly High Grown)

1200 ~ 1400m-HB (Hard Bean) / HG (High Grown)

Mid-altitude area:

600m-900m-PW (Prime Washed)

Low altitude areas:

Below 600m-GW (Good Washed)

Coffee grades from different places also have different classification criteria. Basically, there are four criteria for scoring raw coffee beans:

1. Planting altitude

2. Size of raw beans (sieve size Screen size)

3. Coffee bean flavor

4. Proportion of defective beans

But different countries have different benchmarks. In Brazil, for example, the criteria for taste are as follows (from high price to low price):

Strictly Soft > Soft > Softish > Hard > Hardish > Rioy > Rio

There are about four kinds of defective beans in coffee:

Over-fermented beans: spicy, astringent, sour and bitter.

Black beans: smelly and bitter.

Worm-eaten beans: smelly feet, rotting corpses.

Moldy beans: mildew, rot, bitterness.

6. The new and old degrees of raw beans are different

With the same kinds of beans, manors, elevations and planting methods, there is a great difference between new raw beans and old beans in dry and wet fragrance. Because coffee is also a kind of crop, freshness is very important for coffee.

Changes in freshness of raw beans:

New season beans > overdue season beans > old beans > old beans

New season beans: raw beans harvested within one year

Over-yielding seasonal beans: more than one year.

Lao Dou: more than two years

Aged beans: ripe raw beans.

In terms of water content, the processed raw beans contain about 11-13% moisture. The longer the storage time is, the moisture will be gradually lost. For example, after a year at room temperature, the water content of raw beans will drop to less than 10%. The color of raw beans just processed is blue-green / green, but as time goes on, the color of raw beans will gradually become light green, white or yellow. And with the extension of raw frying, the aroma of raw beans will change from grass and spice to hay or rice, and for a longer time, it will be completely tasteless.

7. With different preservation methods, the flavor and aroma will be maintained for different times.

No matter how good the quality of raw beans is, they will vary according to different preservation methods and facilities. The ideal thing is to maintain an indoor temperature of 15,18 degrees Celsius and an indoor humidity of 50% and 60%. The wrong way of preservation will affect the flavor and aroma of beans, and even deteriorate. It often causes raw beans to fade and whiten and become wet and soft.

White or yellow raw beans: because the temperature of the storage place is too high, or too dry, the moisture of the raw beans will be absorbed by the air.

Raw beans with moist surface: the humidity in the storage place is too high, during the rainy season. If the condition is serious, mold will appear on the surface of the beans.