2017-01-12
Nathan Hart
Coffee is a magical bean, giving super powers to the ordinary and energy to the exhausted.
It is also the second most traded commodity on the planet! (Second to crude oil — gross!). So by indulging in it you are far from being elitist. Understandably though, you wish to be as informed as possible and you don't want your daily pick-me-up to be a downer for the planet.
History
First discovered by an Ethiopian goat herder in the 11th century, no one could have imagined that it would become the world's second largest traded commodity as it is today.
The now famous goat herder, Kaldi, noticed that when his goats ate from a certain plant, they had trouble sleeping at night. Intrigued, he ate some of the berries himself, and then took a few to a local monastery to report his findings. However, the Islamic monk at the monastery disapproved of their use and threw them in the fire — the resulting aroma of the roasting coffee beans ignited the interest of other monks, so they immediately ground the remaining coffee beans and mixed it with boiling water, and with that, the first ever cup of coffee was made.
While that story is much more likely to be fiction than reality, what we can be sure of is that coffee was first consumed in Ethiopia more than a thousand years ago and that the first regular coffee drinkers used it to aide worship, as it increased concentration and spiritual intoxication, perhaps a more honourable use than what it is mainly used for today.
Ethiopia strictly controlled the trade of coffee, not allowing any unroasted, green beans out of the country — until this all changed with the first and most influential drug mule in history, when a man strapped seven green coffee beans to his waist and smuggled them to Yemen. From here it spread to the rest of the Arab world through the port of Mocha (ring a bell?) then to Asia and Europe. Although it would take a few hundred years before Europeans embraced coffee as they do today, the fact they did was due to Pope Clement VIII in 1600. As coffee had come from the Muslim world the church believed coffee to be 'the bitter invention of Satan'. However, history has it that when Pope Clement VIII tasted coffee for the first time he exclaimed 'This Satan's drink is so delicious that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it.' And so, slowly, coffee houses started to replace teahouses throughout Europe and the colonised world.
The progression of the coffee industry, pushed by those who source beans, roasters, and baristas has changed the way we consume coffee. But how do you know if what you are drinking is good coffee? How do you know if your barista has the skills for the perfect cup? Is your habit destroying the planet or exploting workers?
Beans and origin
Coffee grows best in hot, humid climates; think Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Peru, El Salvador, Ecuador, Venezuela, Honduras, Uganda, Ethiopia, Thailand, Vietnam, India, and Papua New Guinea just to name a few. Each region or origin produces different tasting coffee.
The tree coffee grows on is medium sized, and takes four years to start producing berries. Every single coffee bean that goes into your espresso is picked by hand.
Without getting into varietals, there are essentially two types of coffee.
Arabica grows best at high altitudes and accounts for roughly 75 per cent of global production. It produces a lower yield per tree than robustas, and its taste is far more influenced by altitude, climate and soil. For this reason roasters and baristas prefer it as its flavours are more nuanced.
Robusta grows well at low altitude, produces a higher yield for each tree, and is known for its strong and bitter profile — it is also considered to be of a lower standard compared to Arabica coffee. The majority of instant coffee is derived from robustas.
Fair trade
Thankfully, people are becoming more conscious consumers and understanding their purchasing decisions can have a positive impact on the less fortunate. This is why 'fair-trade' coffee is so important. Coffee picking is hard work and the pay and conditions must remunerate the workers fairly.
The fairtrade price of coffee takes the market price of coffee, which is set on the coffee exchanges in New York and London, and adds on a fairtrade premium. This money is then returned to the communities to help build roads, schools, hospitals and other essential infrastructure. Put simply, if the coffee you are buying is not fair trade, then the farm workers and supply chain is being exploited — this is why you should try to avoid cheap coffee from service stations, or large takeaway chains.
Processing
There are two major types of processing — washed and natural.
90 per cent of coffee you find will be washed, as it is the most efficient and effective way to remove the skin or husk before roasting. It involves lots of water, and tanks — beans are soaked in one tank then flow to another, and then another, slowly the husk comes off and leaves only the bean. Washed process produces great flavours for espresso.
Natural process coffee is left in the sun to dry, turned by hand every few hours and covered up at night time to protect from moisture. These coffees are known for having a beautiful sweet profile, due to the sugars of the husk caramelising and soaking into the bean as it dries under the sun. Ideally, they are used for pour over, cold drip, cold press or batch brew. A natural process coffee usually comes at an additional expense because of the extensive labour needed to turn the coffee continually while it's laid out in the sun.
Environmental impact
Since the 1970s 'sun cultivation' has become the popular growing method for coffee as it produces the highest yield. This is where land is cleared so coffee can be grown in monocultures, with no forest canopy — resulting in the loss of ecosystems, biodiversity and causing erosion. It is estimated that in South America alone, 2.5 million acres of land has been cleared for coffee production in the last few decades.
The other thing to consider in coffee production is wastage — the commercial washing process of separating the cherry from the pulp generates an incalculable amount of waste each year. Horrifically, this waste often ends up in waterways as part of the 'washing' process — resulting in damaged ecosystems.
The best alternatives to choose are 'shade-grown coffee' and 'natural processed' coffee. Shade-grown coffee is grown within an established forest, and natural process coffees are dried without washing the skin into the river system.
Roasting
Each coffee roaster has their own philosophy on how coffee should be roasted; it's a unique process that although guided by some key principles, is open to experimentation and interpretation. Generally, a light roast emphasises the acidity of the coffee, a medium roast develops sweetness, and a dark roast brings up the body. This presumes that these qualities are present in the bean to begin with, because many coffees lack some or all of these characteristics. The roast profile can influence this a bit; a fast roast will make the flavour brighter at the expense of some body, a slow roast will bring up the body at the cost of some front palate flavour. Some speciality coffee shops (like Padre in Melbourne) offer free cupping sessions; it's a great way to develop your taste palate for a better understanding of the roasting process.
The barista
Now that the coffee has been picked by hand, washed, travelled half way round the world, roasted and then transported to your local café, it's up to the barista to ensure its epic journey isn't wasted.
Here are some tips to ensure you can hold your barista accountable. From an onlooker's point of view, extraction is your best indicator. It should take no more than 30-35 seconds for a double shot, and 25 for a single shot. You can time it from when the barista hits the extraction button or lever on the machine to when the machine switches off. Too long and the coffee will be bitter; too short and the coffee will lack flavour. Secondly, listen to the milk. You should only hear the nozzle 'frothing' the top of the milk while it is heating up; if you continue to 'stretch' or froth the milk once it's warm you destroy the creamy texture. The temperature should be around 65-70 degrees. If the barista has done these two things correctly, the chances are you've got a great cup on the way. Finally, latte art is no sign of a great barista. I'd much prefer to have a plain looking, but sensational tasting coffee than the opposite.
Consistency
The hardest part of making coffee in a commercial setting is consistently producing the perfect shot — there is no point having the best bean, expertly roasted and perfectly dialled into the grinder and espresso machine unless the barista can dose, tamp and extract the exact same shot time after time. As technology advances, new espresso machines (like the DE1+ from Decent) are able to measure precise extraction time, temperature and pressure changes — expect to see more of these espresso machines in the future.
Current industry standard is to measure the dose (the amount of coffee grounds) with scales and then using 'volumetrics' to measure the volume of water being extracted in what timeframe from the espresso machine. Each bean and roast requires a different recipe for the best taste, and being able to replicate this in a commercial setting should be each café's highest priority. At the minimum, if your café isn't weighing dosage and volumetrics, go somewhere that is.
The vessel
As a conscious consumer, the final thing to consider is the cup. It can take more than 50 years for your disposable cup to break down in landfill, and for every 15-20 coffees you drink, you consume enough plastic to produce a sustainable, re-useable cup.
We need to change the way we use plastic, especially 'one use' plastics that are endemic in food delivery. Limit one use plastic in 2017 by purchasing one of our Standing Up for What Matters mugs. If your favourite café won't let you bring your own mug or reusable cup, it's time to find a new fave.
And the next time a conservative makes fun of you for being a 'latte-sipping leftie' just tell them that coffee has been blessed by The Pope, so technically it's God's will that you drink it — they will be beside themselves.