Outdoor coffee: deep mountains, stone tools, the most primitive ancient roasting, endless joy, pictures and reality

Wen / Liu Jijun (author of a series of popular science books "Literacy talking about the History of time")

That night, deep in the mountains (Xihulin, Mentougou, Beijing), we returned to the Stone Age.

The middle-aged literary and artistic owner of the Ashkar Cafe said, "I wish I had a cup of coffee!"

The camp suddenly fell into a dead silence, and even the courtship tits held their breath.

This is a serious camping, in the face of such conditions, the human beings present have long given up all kinds of decadent illusions of pleasure, and suddenly someone put forward such an unreasonable request, which led everyone to think deeply.

For a long time, a timid voice said: I have 20 grams of raw coffee beans.

What happened next...

Before we finished the whole process, the barista sent out some pictures to play with, as a result.

Here is the Weibo. It has been posted for about three hours and has been read more than 10, 000 times. It is reported that it has already exceeded 20, 000.

Well, here's the whole process of the original manual baking--

If life does not stop trudging, food will not stop migrating. These 20 grams of raw coffee beans come from as far away as Brazil.

20 grams is a negligible weight. However, each of them belongs to the Arabica species with pure pedigree. Even in the coffee belt, the Arabica species is not willing to grow anywhere. Its excellent quality stems from uncompromising pickiness: it must be a fertile weakly acidic soil, the soil thickness should be more than 1 meter, the moisture content is abundant, and the drainage must be good. The slope of the woodland had better not exceed 30 degrees. And, the right amount of sunshine, Rain Water, altitude, timely picking, drying, bean selection, storage. It is also a necessary condition to ensure pure flavor.

However, getting the coffee you want is only the first step in enjoying the coffee. After every step, as long as the slightest mistake, it will fall short of success.

Therefore, Lao Liu, thousands of miles away, carefully carried these 20 grams of raw coffee beans and came to Beijing.

These 20 grams of coffee beans, from the deep hidden rainforest, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon, to gradually into the world, read the vicissitudes of life, has gone through thousands of miles, thousands of people. To get this good product, it must be baked by hand from the ancient method in order to extract its long and mellow deep flavor.

Yes, Lao Liu needs to find the most primitive tools.

Beijingers, scientifically named "Beijing Homo erectus", lived in the Paleolithic Homo erectus and were active in Zhoukoudian in Beijing about 700000 years ago. Beijingers have an obvious division of hands and feet and are able to make and use tools.

Suddenly, a wave of primitive stone tools from 680000 years ago appeared in front of Lao Liu. But not the one in my heart.

Lao Liu frowned, then turned and walked toward the mountain.

Xihulin, some of the ancient mountain villages in Mentougou District of Beijing, were inhabited by human beings as early as the Neolithic Age. Mentougou exposed strata are relatively complete, marine facies, continental facies each account for 50%, sedimentary rock, magmatic rock, metamorphic rock, everything, known as the reputation of the geological museum.

What Lao Liu is looking for is the kind of limestone with a delicate feel and a slightly green color.

Limestone, a kind of sedimentary rock, is deposited in shallow sea environment. With its long age and rich causes, it contains an indescribable sense of history. It is a perfect match for roasting Arabica coffee beans that have been passed down for thousands of years and traveled thousands of miles.

Of course, only Xihulin has the most suitable limestone.

This is not an easy job, you have to carry dozens of jin of materials, along the mountain spring upstream, to reach the spring.

Camping means the end of the journey, but also means that the artifact in the heart can not be found.

However, Lao Liu finally found it. An excellent limestone slab. It knew he would come. Therefore, the vicissitudes of life, it is still foolishly, faintly waiting in the grass. It's at the camp.

Yes, at this moment, as expected.

Slate has been in Lao Liu's hand, this is the taste of the mountain, the taste of the wind, the taste of the sun, but also the taste of time, the taste of human feelings. These tastes have been mixed with feelings and beliefs such as hometown, fellow villagers, nostalgia, diligence and frugality, perseverance and so on for a long time. Only then will they reach the tip of their nose and heart, and in another two hours, they will reach the tip of their tongue. Which is the taste, which is the feelings? No one can tell.

Using local materials and operating on the spot is the essence of ancient roasting coffee.

Zhuoshi is different from Huansha. Must be in the spring, vegetarian hand water, vegetarian hand brushing stone, gently wash the dust, but do not stir the spring water. Because, the turbid spring water is directly related to the success or failure of brewing coffee. The picture above is a stone pestle for grinding coffee beans.

The slate in my heart, which has already been washed, is firmly sitting on the stove built by several kinds of rocks, quietly feeling the temperature of the firewood.

The contribution of slate material to flavor is not difficult to understand. What is usually difficult to attract attention is that the selection of slate-shaped materials is also extremely exquisite.

This is an irregular slate with a size of about 9 × 26 × 37 (cm). The surface of the slab is smooth and slightly concave, and an elegant slow arc can be seen from the short side of the flat view.

The smooth, slightly concave surface and the right Radian can not only hold the coffee beans from rolling down, but also prevent them from accumulating to the low point in the center, thus keeping the heat uniform.

About 9cm thickness, can make firewood heat from the bottom to the top in 20 minutes, but also to ensure that the temperature is not too high, too strong, the water is easy to boil and the beans are not easy to scorch.

What is even more wonderful is that this seam running through the slate not only keeps the slate unbroken, but also allows the flames of pure natural logs to swim along the seams, carrying the original smell inside the slate, filtering out the smoke and dissipating the restlessness, slowly diffusing in the coffee bean community, there is communication and no harm between the flame and the coffee beans.

If you want to bake a cup of coffee with pure taste, you can't be careless in every detail. So, Lao Liu stared at everything that was hard-won in front of him, and he was observing the color difference of each coffee bean.

The benefits of picking beans and turning beans by hand are obvious: the baking degree of each bean is under control, and its color evolution can only be developed along the experience of the baker.

The experience of the baker is written not only in the hair, but also in every subtle movement of the hand. Of course, the close observation and continuous reminder of the assistant baker is an indispensable and important link.

Now, the baking is coming to an end.

It is not easy to enter the second baking smoothly. The baker should wrap the already hot stone lid with a dry sweat towel, pick up and cover the coffee beans (as shown in the steps shown), and bake them over the fire. Due to the proper selection of stone thickness, there is no need to worry about coffee beans being scorched in a short period of time.

Before that, it must not be forgotten that the right amount of local potatoes and sweet potatoes roasted to 9 minutes should be placed near the 6cm of the coffee beans and roasted together with the coffee beans. This is to make coffee beans absorb a small amount of rural flavor.

The taste of the South Atlantic monsoon interweaves with the mysterious oriental flavor at this moment, dreams and memories blur the boundary, mellow flavor, cultivated by romantic and simple, magnificent and delicate, heroic and warm temperament, more vigorous, long, amazing.

After listening to Lao Liu's explanation, the assistant baker said that he wanted to go to the seaside immediately to blow the wind, so that his heart could slowly calm down with the rise of the moon.

However, his love of coffee and his responsibility to the camp team allowed him to defeat his inner impulse in an instant. Because, when to add firewood, how to control the fire, how to control the trend of the flame, every detail is related to the trend of coffee flavor. All this would never have been done without an experienced assistant baker. No one knows, he went to the other side of the sea, the baking assistant here in the mountains, who else can do it.

During the baking period, use wooden chopsticks and steel spoons to lift the stone cover every 1 minute and 55 seconds (warning: practice shows that it is very hot and refuses to imitate without professional training), observe the color change of coffee and flip one by one. Beans with excessive color difference from their peers should be transposed as appropriate.

Now, the second baking has come to an end.

When the coffee beans are generally quasi-brown, the stone lid can be removed. Roasting while hot, pay attention to chromatic aberration, coffee beans that have reached the given baking depth must be selected by hand, and the rest will continue to bake, which is the long-awaited three roasting. The method is still to flip grain by hand. Of course, the baking is too uniform, which affects the richness of taste and flavor. Therefore, keeping the right depth difference is a test of the baker's ability to control.

This process requires not only eyesight and skill, but also endurance and perseverance. The flavor created in this way, and the sublimation of the connotation, is amazing, forming a part called culture, which can be passed on.

An hour and a half later, the three baking was finally completed and entered the stage of manual grinding. The stone pestle washed in front had been waiting for a long time and came in handy. Stone pestle material selection is in line with ergonomics, texture affinity, comfortable grip, is the love of senior baristas.

Baristas know that the finer the coffee beans are ground, the deeper the extraction, but the longer they take, especially by hand. The freshly roasted coffee beans give off their fragrance quickly. Although time is the best friend of mellow, it is now the mortal enemy of fragrance. Therefore, an excellent barista must strike the best balance between the fineness and speed of grinding.

The roasted coffee beans are crisp and hard, and the broken grains are easy to collapse when grinding. To reduce processing wear and tear, it all depends on the barista's mastery of skill and strength, and, of course, the meticulous care of the other hand.

At the edge of the spring, the work of collecting spring water with a filter is running with precision. To ensure the original flavor, natural spring water should be used naturally. The blue sky set off this sacred ceremony.

The iron pot with a diameter of 16cm is the sacred vessel for extracting coffee in the field. The fragrant coffee powder, already in the pot, is sentimental and deeply blended with the spring water. One minute is the time limit for Shengquan cold bubble.

The tongue of fire has begun to kiss the bottom of the pot. Baristas, assistant baristas, firefighters, and firefighters keep a close eye on every slight change that is not allowed to escape their eyes. Of course, the spout is the key. When the spring water can not help rolling coffee, there are clouds gushing out, with a strong smell of coffee. This smell, no one can resist, no one.

The strainer, which is absolutely indispensable, is very important when pouring out brewed coffee. The filter screen sold on the market is generally too poor in size, heavy in front and light in front, wide on the left and narrow on the right, and the mesh is either large or small, which is very uncomfortable to use and will affect the taste! Although we are ancient methods of extraction, we must not be careless! Speaking of this coffee filter, we met a blacksmith in Gaopu Village, northwest of Xihulin. His workmanship was exquisite, the price was reasonable, and he was young and old, so he customized one and it was extraordinary to use it.

Only a cup and a half, the camp is already filled with the smell of coffee, laughter has rippled in my heart. Later, the laughter rippled in the mountains. At this time, it is the season when mulberries are ripe and apricots are swaying.

You don't know the taste of coffee until you taste it with your heart. So, the ultimate secret of coffee is that as long as you love it, it has no secret from you.

Coffee is not only a drink, it is also an attitude towards life. Stay awake, burn passion, embrace romance. How far the memory is, how far the irresistible mellow can float.

THE END

PS:

Thank you for patronizing this article. Senior friends can see that the whole process of making coffee in this article is realistic, but the details described are jokes and can not be taken seriously. if there are similarities, they are pure piracy.

However, this method of roasting coffee, the flavor is really pure and unique, really delicious! Unfortunately, it is only 20 grams, each person a small bite, the meaning is not enough.

This time the original method of roasting coffee was accidental. As mentioned earlier, when we went into the mountain to set up camp, the owner casually said, "I wish I had a cup of coffee." It suddenly occurred to me that the 20 grams of coffee beans given with the book were still in the backpack. I had intended to go to the company cafe that day and let the barista bake them.

Ashka is engaged in oil exploration and development technical services, the benefit is very good, the coffee shop is for employees to rest, office, and receive customers, but customers outside to drink coffee, also welcome. The boss loves coffee and hired a professional and dedicated full-time barista. However, the coffee shop is not allowed to make a profit (in order to grasp the direction of service), and all the income is donated to the Ashkar Micro Public Welfare E Fund, which is used to support poor students in oil colleges (the company's website is publicized, you can check it out if you don't believe it). Therefore, this article is not a coffee advertisement, we will not promote our own coffee shop, but if friends go, we are welcome!

Thanks to the author of Coffee Coffee for the 20 grams of coffee raw beans given with the book! Ashka Cafe still has a collection, and more good books, good coffee and good friends are waiting for you!