Caffe Pronto

Proper brewing enhances the taste of coffee by allowing you to extract the proper amount of flavor from the bean. Under-extract and you get a thin watery brew; over-extract and you get a heavy, bitter brew. The goal then, is to extract all the flavor out of the coffee in the correct ratio to water and leave behind the undesirable elements that contribute to bitterness, astringency, and sourness.

More specifically, each of the following elements are essential for good brewing:

1. Correct Coffee-to-Water Ratio:
Because coffee is a strong flavoring agent, it takes relatively little to produce a robust brew. The generally accepted ratio is 1.0 – 1.5% coffee to 98.5 – 99% water. Therefore, measure carefully. We recommend using two level tablespoons (8-9 grams) for each six ounces of water (cup markings on home brewers are usually 6 oz. cups.) Pre-measured coffee scoops are usually available at your local coffeehouse.

2. A Coffee Grind That Matches the Brewing Time:
Use the correct grind. There is not one “all purpose” grind for all types of coffee makers. Each brewing method requires its own grind. Too fine a grind will cause over-extraction and bitterness. Too course a grind will produce under-extracted watery coffee. In general, longer brewing times should be paired with larger particles and shorter brewing times with smaller particles. For drip brewers, use a medium to fine grind.

3. Properly Operating Brewing Equipment:
Because your brewing equipment is responsible for the quality of the extraction, it is important that it be precisely calibrated, clean and well maintained. Your brewing equipment will control important variables known as the Three “Ts”: Time, Temperature & Turbulence. Time refers to the length of time that the coffee is in contact with water, this may differ from the total brewing time that includes heating of water; Temperature refers to the temperature of the brewing water; and Turbulence is the amount of mixing action during flavor extraction.

4. High-Quality Water:
Start with quality, fresh, cold water. Water should have no odor & contain no visible impurities. Bottled or filtered water is recommended. In general, water that contains 50 – 100 parts per million of dissolved minerals will produce the best-tasting coffee.

5. An Appropriate Filtering Medium:
A well-made filter is essential to clarify the beverage and separate the extract from the coffee grounds. Various filter mediums have different advantages and disadvantages. Perforated screens or wire mesh allow for good water flow of water and typically prevent the risk of over-extraction, but will also result in more sediment in the brew due to fine particles passing through the screen. Cloth or paper, on the other hand, will do the best job of clarifying the brew and give you a very clear beverage, but also may restrict the flow of brew resulting in over-extraction and bitterness in the cup. Also, be careful to select a paper that doesn’t transfer any taste to the brew.

Additionally, we recommend that you brew only as much as you plan to drink. Coffee can be kept warm on a burner or hot plate for only about 20 minutes before the flavor starts to become bitter & unpleasant. Coffee flavor solubles have a much lower boiling point than water and will convert to gases and escape from your beverage in the steam. An airtight thermos or carafe will keep coffee hot & preserve flavor for about 2 hours.

Freshness & Storing Your Coffee

To preserve freshness, store coffee in the smallest practical airtight container or in a foil bag with all the air squeezed out. Store on your counter or in a pantry. Purchase your coffee frequently from a reputable retailer, buying only as much as you will use in a 1 – 2 week period. Do not store coffee in your refrigerator. Moisture condenses on cold coffee when it’s opened, and flavor deteriorates when the moisture is absorbed.

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The Dancing Goats Found it First

Coffee, as popular legend goes, was discovered in Ethiopia by a goatherd named Kaldi.

Back in the day, goatherds let their goats roam about the countryside to munch on whatever the goats could find. When the goats were tired of their meanderings, they found their way back to shelter to enjoy a cool drink and deep slumber.

But one night, deep slumber was not to be had. Strangely, the goats were awake all night. An imam of the local monastery thought the goats were either poisoned or bewitched. Kaldi followed the goats the next day, and he found them dancing around an unfamiliar dark-leafed shrub bearing red berries.

Kaldi shared his discovery of the mysterious plant with the imam, who, being of a deductive turn of mind, experimented on the plant’s fruit and its seeds. When the imam drank the beverage that resulted from boiling the berries, he experienced a state of intoxication unknown before  the world’s first coffee buzz. To his surprise, his pulse quickened and his thoughts raced, although it was nighttime.

Around the sixth century coffee was carried across the Red Sea to Arabia (modern day Yemen), where it was cultivated first as a medicine, then as a beverage. The Arabs made wine by fermenting the pulp of the berries; they also made a drink by boiling green, unroasted seeds, or beans. In the late 13th century they began roasting and grinding the coffee beans before adding them to boiling water.

Around the World in Six or More Centuries

The Arabs carefully protected their discovery of coffee and their monopoly on the coffee market by forbidding the seeds and plants to leave the country. However, by the 1500s, Turkey, Egypt, and Syria all boasted coffee plants, and around 1650 the legendary Muslim pilgrim Baba Budan carried seven coffee seeds secretly bound to his belly back to his native India. Additionally, Constantinople, Damascus, and other Near Eastern cities boasted coffeehouses, where European travelers and traders were introduced to the enticing drink.

The Dutch were the first Europeans to cultivate coffee commercially, first in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), then on the Indonesian island of Java, and finally in South America. Like the Dutch, the French and Portuguese were also interested in the money-making potential of coffee. In 1714 the gourmand Sun King, Louis XIV of France, wheedled a coffee tree out of the Dutch. The French botanists built the first-ever greenhouse for the royal plant, as it was living in the decidedly non-tropical Paris. The plant thrived and produced seedlings.

The French guarded the royal coffee vigilantly, but they couldn’t stop the visionary Chevalier Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu from stealing some of the royal seedlings and making sail for the Caribbean. During the voyage, a fellow traveler tore up most of the seedlings in a jealous rage, after which the ship was attacked by pirates, nearly sank in a storm, and finally was becalmed. Never doubting his vision, de Clieu shared his meager water ration with the one remaining coffee seedling. This scraggly plant finally made it to Martinique and flourished. Coffee soon grew in French colonies around the world, including the Island of Bourbon (Réunion), whose farmers cultivated the acclaimed bourbon variety of arabica beans.

The Portuguese were jealous of the Dutch and French success with coffee, and soon found an opportunity of wooing their coffee away literally. Brazilian Francisco de Melo Palheta was asked to negotiate a border dispute between French and Dutch Guiana. He not only successfully negotiated the settlement but also charmed the wife of French Guiana’s governor. She in turn sent him several coffee seedlings hidden in a bouquet of flowers. Today Brazil produces and exports 35 million bags of coffee a year, supplying one-third of the world’s coffee.

Coffee’s voyage around the world was not complete until it was introduced to Kenya and Tanzania, mere hundreds of miles away from its native Ethiopia, in 1893.

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The Arabs discovered in the late 13th century that applying heat to coffee beans, grinding the beans, and boiling the grounds in water, would release the unique aroma and taste of coffee. Many other methods of preparing coffee were practiced. The berries can be fermented to become a wine, the leaves and flowers can be dried and prepared as a tea, the raw beans can be soaked in water and spices and eaten like candy, or the husks of the dried coffee fruit can be boiled with spices to make qishr, a Yemeni drink.

Despite all this, roasting, grinding, and steeping the beans produces the drink that captivated the world. When the coffee bean is roasted, oils are produced that give coffee its beloved primary tastes. In addition, sugars in the bean caramelize, contributing to color, body, sweetness, complexity, and flavor.

The Arabs roasted beans over an open fire, and the Europeans roasted the beans in their ovens. In the 19th century large roasting equipment developed, turning coffee roasting into a commercial operation.

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