Roasting determines the taste of coffee basic knowledge of coffee beans

Generally speaking, each coffee cherry contains two raw beans, and the fragrance is still hidden, waiting to be discovered. In raw beans, it contains a lot of chloric acid. As the baking process, chloric acid will gradually disappear, releasing familiar and pleasant fruit acid-such as acetic acid, citric acid, malic acid in wine. Baking is just right, can present these beautiful sour taste moderately; on the contrary, if the baking is too much, it will completely cover them up.

It is written in a book about coffee,'80% of the taste of coffee is determined by the baker.' We don't know how this percentage is calculated, but the importance of baking in coffee production is not exaggerated.

Baking, as the name implies, is to provide heat to coffee beans, and to produce chemical changes in the internal structure of coffee beans by heating, that is, heating converts starch in raw beans into sugar 5 or acidic substances at high temperature. substances such as cellulose will be carbonized to varying degrees by carbon, water and carbon dioxide will be evaporated, proteins will be converted into enzymes, and the remaining substances of fat will be combined. An oil film is formed on the surface of coffee beans.

The main purpose of baking is to produce this aromatic oil, which is called coffee oil, or, more accurately, coffee oil, which gives coffee beans a strong aroma. This aromatic oil is volatile, that is, it is the main factor that brings flavor and fragrance, and they can accommodate water, which means that people can enjoy it in a cup.

Baking must be uniform, the most important thing is to be able to stir-fry the beans evenly inside and outside. At first, the water in the coffee beans should be discharged smoothly by fire. if only fast and uneven is required, it may cause the beans to have a beautiful appearance but a light internal color, and has not yet begun to decompose. The deep, medium and shallow companionship of beans during baking is decided and controlled by people, and even there is a knack for cooling beans before the end of baking. If the temperature is not cooled quickly, the heat contained in beans will make the beans darker and greasy, and the taste will become bitter.

Baked coffee beans swell, a bit like popcorn, and crackle during baking, just as we make popcorn in a microwave oven. But because the skin on the surface of coffee beans is very tough, we usually don't see coffee beans crack like popcorn.

The color of roasted coffee beans changes from light green to tea brown, which can not only change the unique color of amber, flavor and aroma, but also volatilize the sour, sweet, bitter, mellow and fragrant five obvious taste characteristics of coffee. If the baking technology is good, the beans will be large and expanded, no wrinkles on the surface, uniform luster and each has its own different flavor.

Shallow baking. Moderate baking. Deep baking coffee beans can be divided into shallow baking according to the degree of baking. Moderate baking. There are three categories of deep baking. Generally speaking, the light baking color is lighter, the sour taste is strong, and it has a unique flavor. The deep baking color is darker, the deeper the sour taste is, and the more bitter it is, but the scorched smell of baking makes the aroma more intense.

The only common term among coffee bakers is bottom, medium, and deep. Or sometimes use light, medium and black, which have different meanings for different kinds of coffee.

(this article is reprinted)