Coffee facts & tips
Is Brewing a cup of coffee as simple as…Boiling some water, adding some pre ground coffee and then adding sugar and milk? Noo.. of course not!
#1 Water temperature. 90-69C or 195-205F
Tip "When making filter coffee (pour-over) at home wait 30 seconds after the kettle has boiled before making your brew.” If you have a thermometer double check the temperature before brewing.
#2 Correct grind for the style of brew. This tends to be a bit of preference. However, it largely affects the taste of coffee. Read our other blog posts about grind.
#3 Keep your beans at their freshest. How? Store them in their Coffee bag. There is a one way valve that keeps out oxygen on most if not all coffee bags. As beans sit in the package they off gas CO2. Some companies Purge the bags with nitrogen before sealing this helps by a narrow % (we already have 78% nitrogen in our air)
Once opened continue storing the beans in this bag. Fold over and sinch tabs or use the ziploc on some bags. Sealing the bag like this still helps a great deal because of how the bag is made.
Avoid putting coffee into humid areas. This degrades the coffee quickly. If you need to store the coffee for a long period of time. Place the whole bag into a vacuum seal bag. Then use the sealer to remove all the air. Seal the bag and place in the fridge or freezer until you need the beans. At this point do not put the beans back in storage.
#4 Know your beans
There are two main types of Coffee.
Robusta
Arabica
Each type of bean has hundreds of varieties. We’ll stick with basic information on the two main types.
Robusta is generally used in blended coffee’s Over all Robusta is generally considered low quality for its overall flavour.
However Robusta does have some great attributes.
Crema,
Body (mouth feel)
Caffeine content (as much as 80% more than arabica beans)
The Cultivar is more disease and climate resistant
Negative attributes
Low on flavour ( low fat, low sugars)
High in Bitterness (Chlorogenic acid, caffeine both of which cause bitterness)
Cheap (Robusta’s net 50% less income to farmers)
That said There are some higher end Robusta out there but awfully rare.
Arabica
These beans represent roughly 75% of world production
Pro’s
Flavour density and profile. From tea like florals to fresh fruit to nuts and chocolates
Two to three times more sugar content, up to 60% more more fats and higher overall acidity levels.
Lower caffeine content (about half)
Con’s
Susceptible to disease and climate change
½ the caffeine of robusta
Twice as expensive as robusta (for farmers and consumers)
Requires specific environmental conditions to grow (like high altitude )
Arabica facts
Ethiopia is considered the birthplace of coffee
Brazil is the #1 producer followed closely by columbia
1000’s of flavour profiles. Wine and coffee are much alike… except there are no hangovers… Just productivity!
Coffee after dinner?
"If you want to have a coffee after dinner, you’re better off having an espresso.
"Despite what many people think, espresso has less caffeine than many other styles of coffee, with only 40-80mg per cup compared to filter coffee, which has 115-120 mg per cup."
So you read that right.. Pour over for Breakfast, Espresso or espresso based drink in the afternoon or evening. But don’t go overboard. Caffeine has a half life too.. So if you are sensitive, no caffeine after noon. Studies have shown the half life is around 12 hours give or take.
If you have any questions or comments please do send us a message!
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Highwood Coffee
sales@highwoodcoffee.ca
James & Sara
JC
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