by Serge Remy
Secrets
of
Coffee
www.Book-Coffee.com
Serge Remy. Secrets of Coffee. – Kyiv: 2014. –312 p.
«Secrets of Coffee» is the first in a wholly UNIQUE series of «Tales of a Coffee Expert.» The book is written by a man in love with coffee, with a lot to tell and an engaging ability to tell it simply and clearly. Here you will find fascinating tales, interesting new facts about coffee, and a wealth of wonderful photographs. No coffee lover can afford to be without it.
ISBN 978-1-77192-042-1
© Serge Remy, 2014
The Author
Serge Remy (Sergey Reminny) is a coffee expert and the proprietor of Ionia il caffè, a coffee importing and distributing company in Ukraine. For five years he has been Coordinator for Ukraine of the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe. By training a linguist and translator, he lived and worked for many years in Italy where he learned the ins and outs of coffee. His fascination with coffee has taken him to over 40 countries; he has visited coffee farms in Ethiopia and Yemen, Panama and India, Costa Rica and Hawaii, Colombia and Rwanda, Nepal, Indonesia, Brazil and many others. A maximalist in all he does, he lives the coffee life to the fullest.
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Table of contents Preface ............................................................................................................................7 1. Legend оf Kaldi and the Goats, unexpurgated version..................... 10 2. Coffee in the world’s most expensive hotel........................................... 14 3. Why does the coffee tree need caffeine?................................................ 17 4. The anatomy of the diminutive coffee bean........................................ 18 5. Coffee in the dark............................................................................................ 24 6. Liqueur coffee is being used to treat stroke victims........................... 26 7. Insurance was born in a coffeehouse....................................................... 28 8. «Negative research findings» about coffee ........................................... 31 9. What is Speciality Coffee?............................................................................ 33 10. Peaberry: a handicapped child or a genius?......................................... 37 11. How much of our life is spent making coffee?...................................... 50 12. Is coffee a drug?............................................................................................... 52 13. Coffee from Ceylon?....................................................................................... 54 14. Americano and Filter Coffee – what is the difference?...................... 56 15. On the size of the coffee bean.................................................................... 62 16. «The Pissing Boy» coffee............................................................................... 68 17. Coffee as a weather forecaster................................................................... 76 18. The price of your coffee................................................................................ 77 19. Coffee – the right medicine for low blood pressure?......................... 79 20. This you won’t believe – 800 cups of coffee a day ............................. 82 21. How drinking coffee might save your life............................................... 89 22. What is «Fermentation»?.............................................................................. 93 23. The tale of a fiery Irishman.........................................................................104 24. Is coffee an allergen?....................................................................................108 25. On the varieties of Instant Coffee............................................................110 26. Why is the grind so important?...............................................................116 27. Coffee as a radiation shield........................................................................123 28. 100% Shade-grown coffee.........................................................................124 29. How is coffee prepared in-flight?............................................................135 30. The «newest» beverage: «Salty coffee».................................................138 31. «Fun physics» about coffee........................................................................145 32. The right way to plant a coffee bean......................................................148 33. The Museum of Curiosities: a curious coffee cup..............................151 34. What is the Barista Championship?........................................................157
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5. Smokers should drink more coffee.........................................................164 3 36. Pouring milk into coffee (or is it vice versa)?.......................................166 37. A serving of coffee – with a blank page and a lighter......................169 38. Why does a bag of coffee weigh 69 kg?................................................173 39. What is coffee «Dieci»?................................................................................179 40. The Invention of «The Electronic Nose»!...............................................182 41. Myth busting: Is an oily bean a good bean .........................................186 42. Coffee protects the sight of computer users.......................................190 43. What is «red espresso»?...............................................................................192 44. «Cafe Coado,» or the little cup, Cafezinho............................................196 45. How much coffee does an average earthling consume?................207 46. What is Roya?..................................................................................................213 47. Coffee as a prophylactic against mouth odors...................................219 48. Soup out of a coffee cup.............................................................................221 49. What do «tips» have to thank coffee for?..............................................224 50. Coffee in the battle against free radicals..............................................228 51. The sip: a lot or a little?................................................................................230 52. Coffee against dementia............................................................................231 53. Coffee from chicory......................................................................................233 54. Measuring out your coffee in coffee spoons.......................................241 55. The Mexican Champion (and his coffee tattoo).................................245 56. What else can the coffee fruit contribute?...........................................247 57. Why I envy cocoa...........................................................................................249 58. What kind of person is an Italian «Barista»?.........................................254 59. What is a «coffee bidet»?............................................................................263 60. Coffee, with sugar, or without..................................................................271 61. A message to gourmands – mushrooms out of coffee...................276 62. A coffee office joke ......................................................................................279 63. How coffee helped to improve the sailboat........................................281 64. Painted with coffee.......................................................................................286 65. Coffee with mustard.....................................................................................291 66. What countries is coffee cultivated in?..................................................295 67. Arthur Rimbaud and coffee.......................................................................298 68. The origins of the word «Kaffa»................................................................301 69. My daughter becomes a coffee lover.....................................................305 70. How do you define good coffee?............................................................307 Afterword..................................................................................................................309
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Preface The idea of writing a book about coffee began nagging me in 2006 when I came home from studying the coffee scene in Sweden. And I started making notes. The second time, I put the idea into effect. It happened at the end of a trip to Peru, when my baggage was stolen right from the aircraft. I lost a lot I valued and, most importantly, some irreplaceable photos, from the legendary Machu Picchu to coffee drinking on Lake Titicaca. I also lost my notes about visits to coffee plantations, and a couple of days later had still only managed to recall half of what they contained. I realized then it was not clever to rely so much on memory, and started writing down everything I heard and knew about coffee. For several years now I have been keeping a kind of coffee diary for myself, and do not suppose I have yet discovered a tenth of the secrets of this magical elixir. Nevertheless, there came a moment when it occurred to me that here was something I could share with other fans of coffee, and also with people who might have no inkling of the dramatic change coffee could make to their life if it became a permanent feature. The result is the book you are reading now, which is the first in a new series of ÂŤTales of a Coffee Expert.Âť
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It struck me that, in the small number of really good books on the subject, nobody has really managed to cover all the aspects of the amazing product we know as COFFEE. Even less has anyone managed to do so in a simple, popular way for ordinary coffee lovers, rather than in an encyclopaedia or a specialist survey of «the coffee segment of the beverage market». There is probably a good reason for this. Professionals write for other professionals in a specialized manner, and dilettantes recycle long-familiar material, whether endlessly repeated recipes or endlessly retold tales about Ethiopian goatherds and Capuchin monks. I should say at the outset that this book is not setting out to convert anybody or persuade anybody of anything. Neither is it addressed to coffee specialists, although I hope and believe that most will be pleased with it. It is a book for those who, in Soviet times, were referred to as «the broad popular masses» or, as I prefer to put it nowadays, anyone who LOVES COFFEE.
To enjoy reading «Secrets of Coffee» you do not have to be a keen-eyed coffee expert; you just need to love coffee and be interested in everything to do with it. I have tried to convey some of the more important 8
truths about coffee as I see them, translating them from the language of the professional into the language of ordinary readers. Whether I have succeeded is for you to judge, but I have done my best to make the book simple and interesting. The only liberty I had allowed myself are several tales about, if I may coin a word, «coffee-peripheral» themes. It seemed to me that it would be inexcusable to pass over without commenting upon several coffee-related subjects – for example, «Is chicory coffee a true coffee drink?» «What is the specific distinction between Cocoa and Coffee?» «What role does sugar play in coffee?» In writing these tales I have drawn only on my own coffee notes. I hope you find them helpful, but I make no claim to a monopoly of truth. In the tales in this book you are invited into 70 stories, «penny universities», each with their own clientele and insights, and I think I can promise that after you have read these seemingly unrelated tales you will have a new awareness of the phenomenon known as coffee, and a new respect for the most miraculous beverage in the history of mankind.
I dare not distract your attention further, and so, to the work at hand: coffee discovery awaits us! 9
1. Legend оf Kaldi and the Goats, unexpurgated version And how the story has now been set right
The number of legends in Ethiopia itself about the origins of coffee far exceed the single tale about the now world-famous goatherd by the name of Kaldi. We will speak of the many other variations another time, but for now, I would like to present a somewhat different version of this legend of coffee’s origins. While still a tale about the very same Kaldi, this is its extended version (even more precisely, told in a way that more fully reveals its true significance). I should say that I had always found it somehow suspect that this myth of the origins of coffee is always reported in a truncated way – the goats were aroused, and Kaldi discovered the miraculous properties of coffee – that’s it….
And only recently it hit me, what it is I felt was missing from the tale – it contains not a word about coffee as a BEVERAGE. It is not as though the coffee bean was always chewed – at some or other point in time, coffee as a beverage made its appearance, n’est ce pas? And the personage who made this discovery deserves no less a renown than the goats who have been so immortalized. And so, having heard in Ethiopia the full version of the story, I was overjoyed, for a logical conclusion emerged, and indeed it contained not only the discovery of the properties of the coffee 10
bean but of the beverage as well. At the same time, the hero of the tale remains the very same celebrated Kaldi (I would certainly not have wished to completely alter such an effective icon).
It is impossible to attach today a date to the events described in the legend. Most likely, it is from a period somewhere between the 5th and 10th centuries of our era, though the 9th century is the most commonly cited date. Beginning with the 6th century, Abyssinia (a region of modern Ethiopia) was dominated by Arabs, so that it is not unlikely that Kaldi was Arab. This is particularly so because many of the sources refer to him by his Arab name – Khalid. And so, ladies and gentlemen, here is the FULL version of the most famous legend on the planet‌. Let’s recall that, in the basic version, the Ethiopian shepherd noticed how his goats had consumed the red berries on small bushes, and how this aroused them, so that they began to dance. And thus, he also came to taste of the unknown fruit and he too felt a surge of energy. In this way, the fruit of the coffee shrub was made known to the world. From here on, things proceeded in the following way. As an immediate response to his discovery, Kaldi collected these berries and brought them home to show them to his wife. 11
Please note – brought to his «wife» – that is, judging by all appearances – he was well past his youth. Yet for some reason, our Kaldi is always depicted in images as an adolescent. The coffee fruits pleased his wife as well (I suspect that at first, it was not so much the energizing effect that appealed to her as the flavor – the skin of the coffee fruit does taste somewhat sweet on the tongue).
The woman announced that this is «a gift from the heavens» and that Kaldi should bring the magical fruits to the nearest monastery for attestation. The shepherd agreed and did as he was bid. But the monks were not quite as enthusiastic (as often is the case with all things new) – having tried the coffee beans, the abbot pronounced it the devil’s own creation and in a rage threw them into the fire. It is here that we arrive at the crux of our story. The coffee beans, once roasted on the fire, began to exude a most amazing aroma. The monks became all the more terrified by these unfamiliar odors, extracted the charred beans out of the flames and proceeded to stomp them to pieces, thereby reducing the grounds down to a powder. But because the beans continued to smolder, they stuffed the ground powder into a jug and, to be absolutely certain the fire was out, poured water over it. In this form, the coffee stood undisturbed for several days (and thereby became brewed,) at which point one of monks 12
unknowingly tasted the mix. What followed was an invigorating night spent in intense prayer – and so this monk’s amazement knew no bounds.
He shared his discovery with his brother ascetics. The taste and the effect of the magical potion was unanimously sanctioned by his colleagues, who also took generous draughts of the beverage throughout the night. Thus, coffee would continue to serve them in perpetuity in maintaining their alertness during nightlong prayers. This is how coffee (or more precisely the COFFEE BEVERAGE) began its triumphant march across the world.
All things considered, the legend as it exists in this version offers, I think, a far more complete and persuasively logical conclusion.
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2. Coffee in the world’s most expensive hotel Cappuccino with gold
We often hear about where the most expensive coffee grows andhow it is cultivated, but would you like to know how the most expensive coffee in the world is served? Many of the oil-rich countries of the Middle East remain peaceful oases whose main preoccupation is deciding how to use their overabundance of money, which steadily increases as world oil prices rise. A prime example of this is the Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi. At US$ 3 billion, the complex is the most expensive hotel ever built.
Its main architect, John Elliott, who had already built a palace for the Sultan of Brunei, considers it a mistake to call it the world’s most expensive hotel, because initially the Emirates Palace was planned as a centre for government conferences and only later converted into a hotel. He argues that people would be surprised if it was claimed that Buckingham Palace did not justify the money spent on it. Despite the fact that the hotel has fewer than 400 rooms, it is equipped with 120 kitchens, 20 restaurants and dining areas, and the complex covers an area of around 25 hectares (60 acres). 14
On the top floor, 6 Ruler’s Suites are reserved exclusively for members of the royal families of the United Arab Emirates. A special entrance has been built for their corteges with a triumphal arch, while the hotel’s car fleet consists of a dozen and a half Maybachs.
Some of the staff have golf carts for passing along the hotel’s corridors. «The corridors can be a kilometer long,» the hotel manager says. «If a maid went for lunch she might never get back.» One thousand chandeliers were made to order for the Emirates Palace by Swarovski, and 10 members of staff spend their entire working day cleaning them.
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Rooms cost up to $12,000 a night on floors where marble is adorned with soft carpets. But to get round to coffee. Here is something for coffee fans to aspire to: «We serve coffee to our clients on a silver tray with rose petals, a linen napkin, marzipan and a bottle of imported mineral water. Ladies receive a rose as our gift,» the hotel manager tells me. Do you need a photograph, or are you happy with the picture in your imagination? And there is more. For $25 you can order a cup of Cappuccino sprinkled, not with cocoa or cinnamon, but with 24-carat GOLD dust!
I know one colleague who found the gold dust made him cough, but could not resist trying such an exotic beverage. He drained the cup and said, «This drink is the acme of Glamor Cappuccino.» For myself, I had an uneasy feeling, as if I had just swallowed my wife’s gold earrings. 16
3. Why does the coffee tree need caffeine?
At first glance, a simple enough question When I was asked this, I was at something of a loss. Undoubtedly, nothing in nature happens for no reason. Had the coffee tree really evolved solely for the delectation of gourmets? Of course not. There is a sound botanical explanation. After a number of experiments, American scientists have established that the caffeine contained in the berries and leaves of the plant enables it to resist insects.
Various pests and their grubs were placed in an extract from green coffee leaves and had all died 24 hours later. A concentrated solution of caffeine from the beans killed them within just 5 hours. Another interesting discovery was that caffeine mixed with chemical poisons can potentiate their effectiveness several times over. P.S. A report on the experiment concluded that «wanton gourmets were not taking this as a warning.» Why should they? Some 250 years ago Bernard de Fontenelle was told by a physician that coffee was a slow poison. To this he replied, «Doctor, I have been of your opinion for the eighty years that I have taken it.» 17
4. The anatomy of the diminutive coffee bean The inner world of the tiny bean
The coffee bean does not contain many structures but, unsurprisingly, coffee lovers know very little about its makeup. I have decided to fill this vacuum with an attempt to compose a tale of the inner world of the little coffee seed, one that would make it simpler and more accessible. Customarily, one begins with the most complicated element – the technical terms. The coffee beans consists of such whoppers as the ENDOSPERM, ENDOCARP, MESOCARP, and EXOCARP. A bit complicated, yes? This is precisely why I was tempted in the first place to translate this topic in structural biology into plain English. Thus, I will now proceed to decipher, and paint a clearer picture:
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1. CENTER CUT (it is not visible on the picture – I’ll explain this later). 2. ENDOSPERM (also called the SEED, one and the same as the CORE). 3. SEED SKIN (or the SILVER SKIN). 4. ENDOCARP (or the PARCHMENT SKIN). 5. PECTIN LAYER. 6. MESOCARP (or the FRUIT PULP). 7. EXOCARP (or the OUTER FRUIT HULL, or SKIN) Having this picture, it is now a bit easier, but still not entirely clear, right? I propose we make sense of this by beginning with the external view of the fruit and by proceeding to remove the layers like the leaves of a cabbage, not from inside out, by placing the «center cut» first. Let us continue then. The external skin (same as the EXOCARP) – is the external layer of the coffee fruit.
When the fruit is ripe, it is possible to easily separate the coffee bean by squeezing it out of its skin with one’s fingers, just like removing the pit from its cherry – the coffee berry is in fact very often called a «cherry». 19
This skin of the ripe coffee fruit is juicy and sweet to the taste. Down and deeper in is the «pulp» (the MESOCARP, or the «soft tissue») – cellulose, the «fat» of the fruit so to speak, which is located under the skin.
Between the parchment skin and the pulp of the coffee fruit, there is a slippery-to-the-feel layer called «mucilago» (or «mucilage» in English). The scientific name for mucilage is the PECTIN LAYER. This is precisely what contains the polysaccharides, thanks to which, as I’ve said above, the skin tastes sweet.
Further in is the important structure with the scientific name of ENDOCARP. It is called the «pergament» (from 20
«pergamino,» in English – «parchment,») or the «parchment skin» (though I myself almost never call it that – I can never escape the idea that the «pergament» has something to do with a region in Egypt).
The role of the membrane formed of this layer is essential: after the cleaning of the beans of the skin and the pulp, and after their rinsing – it remains as a sort of shell protecting the coffee seed inside it. One only needs to squeeze the seed that has been dried in this parchment in one’s fingers and «the shell» bursts, revealing inside it our beautiful green bean. In scientific terminology, the seed is called the ENDOSPERM, but we will leave this word for botanists to use.
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But this isn’t all – there is one other component, called «silver skin» – or «silver lining» (again with a not particularly elegant technical name of PERISPERM) – a very thin, transparent layer, which, like a spider web, surrounds the little coffee seed.
This is the last defensive layer of the unripe green seed – if one may call it that, its «undergarment». Usually, the silver skin is removed from with a special piece of equipment, but sometimes one may observe remnants of it in the grooves of the roasted beans.
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Oh, yes. I almost forgot about the aforementioned «center cut». This is what the area between the two «wrapped» sections of the coffee bean is called.
Sometimes, only one of the two halves of the coffee bean survives to maturity (and the other withers). Under such circumstances, the surviving half expands to occupy the space allotted to both and this «product» becomes nearly round. This effect is reffered to as «peaberry» or the «caracolite» – I will tell you in details about it later in this book. Well, and so – I hope that the whole thing has now become just a little bit clearer. By the way, I find interesting what the most botanically precise answer is to the question, «What is coffee?» At some point in time, the popular press was giving much attention to the debate on this subject: what, after all, is a coffee «bean;» is it a fruit or a vegetable? I report here the result: the most scientifically accurate answer was acknowledged to be: «It is the SEED WITHIN THE COFFEE FRUIT». 23