Tag: Coffea Arabica

Nothing perks up a lazy morning like coffee. What is this dark-colored substance made of and why can’t some people survive a day without having even just one sip of this stimulant?

Coffee, normally taken hot, is made from the coffee plant’s roasted seeds, called coffee beans. Considered the second-most traded commodity in the world, next to petroleum, it is hailed as modern man’s chief source of caffeine for that extra burst of energy. The perceived benefits and hazards of this potent drink remain the subject of debate among coffee drinkers worldwide.

How did the word “coffee” come into being? The term “coffee” is known by many names among various peoples of the world. It came to England in 1598, via the Italian “caffe.” The Turkish term for it is “kahveh,” while the Arabic word for it is “qahwa.” Its origin is still unknown, although some believe that the drink possibly came from the Kaffa region in Ethopia, where the plant originally named “bunna,” the precursor of coffee, came from.

Did you know that coffee drinking was outlawed in Mecca in 1511, and in Cairo in 1532? Due to coffee’s immense popularity, the law was made obsolete soon after. From then on, owing to the pioneering efforts of the British and Dutch East India companies, coffee found its way to Europe in the sixteenth century.

One of the two main species of the coffee plant is “Coffea Arabica,” its name implying that its origin was the Arabian Peninsula, but it is indigenous in Ethiopia. Although Arabica is more prone to disease, coffee lovers consider it to be more flavorful than “coffea canephora” (robusta), which holds twice as much caffeine. However, the later is proven to be a natural insecticide and stimulant, growing in places where the former cannot grow. Thus, it is used as an inexpensive substitute for Arabica in commercial coffee blends and in almost all instant coffee products.

Compared to Arabica, robusta is more bitter, with a burnt-rubber smell and taste. Robusta of finer quality are used in espresso blends for a foamy effect and for better affordability. In fact, Italian espresso blends are made from dark-roasted Robusta.

Some blend varieties are so popular and in demand that they command a higher price, examples of which are the Jamaican Blue Mountain and the Hawaiian Kona coffees. Often, these beans are mixed with other, less-expensive varieties and the term blend is added to the label, such as “Blue Mountain Blend” or “Kona Blend”.

So beat those morning blues with an adrenaline-pumping sip of this favorite drink among caffeine addicts worldwide.

It is a beverage derived from brewed Coffee beans. Through various manufacturing processes the coffee is dehydrated into the form of powder or granules. These can be rehydrated with hot water to provide a drink similar (though not identical) to conventional coffee. At least one brand of instant coffee is also available in concentrated liquid form. The advantages of coffee are speed of preparation (coffee dissolves instantly in hot water), less weight and volume than beans or ground coffee to prepare the same amount of drink, and long shelf life coffee beans, and especially ground coffee, lose flavor as the essential oil evaporate over time.

The ingredients in coffee are water and the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, Coffea Arabica. The chemical constituents of coffee would be those compounds in the roasted coffee seeds that are soluble in boiling water. The following soluble compounds: trimethylphenol, ethylphenol, methoxy, ethylphenol, methylenephenol, dicaffeoyl, quinic acid, ethylphenol, methoxy, vinylphenol, acetaldehyde, caffeine, caffeol, caffeoyl, quinic acid, caffetannic acid, chlorogenic acid, citric acid, daturic acid, guaiacol, hypoxanthine, isochlorogenic acid, putrescine, scopoletin, spermidine, spermine, sugars, tannic acid, tannin, theobromine, theophylline, thiamin, trigonelline and xanthine.

Coffee is commercially prepared through vigorous extraction of almost all soluble material from ground roasted coffee beans. This process naturally produces a different mix of components than does conventional brewing.USES OF COFFEE: Fresh your breath. What to do when you’re all out of breathe mints? Just suck on a coffee bean for a while and your mouth will smell clean and fresh again. Remove foul odor from hands. If your hands smell of garlic, fish or other strong foods you’ve been handling, a few coffee beans may be all you need to get rid of the odor. Put the beans in your hands and rub them together. The oil released from the coffee beans will absorb the foul smell. When the odor is gone, wash your hands in warm, soapy water.

American attempts to create instant coffee began during the mid-1800s, when one of the earliest instant coffees was offered in cake form to Civil War troops. Although it and other early instant coffees tasted even worse than regular coffee of the epoch, the incentive of convenience proved strong, and efforts to manufacture a palatable instant brew continued. Finally, after using U.S. troops as testers during World War II, an American coffee manufacturer (Maxwell House) began marketing the first successful instant coffee in 1950.

Once roasted, coffee beans must be stored properly to preserve the fresh taste of the bean. Ideally, the container must be airtight and kept cool. In order of importance, air, moisture, heat, and light are the environmental factors responsible for deteriorating flavor in coffee beans. Folded-over bags, a common way consumers often purchase coffee, are generally not ideal for long-term storage because they allow air to enter. A better package contains a one-way valve, which prevents air from entering.