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Grex > Ing > #47: The coffee drinking item | |
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jdg00
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The coffee drinking item
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Oct 25 15:31 UTC 1994 |
Why do these bulk commercial vendors of caffienated sludge seem to
market their products as high quality by selecting only *arabica*
species, as if this is somehow special?
There are only two species of coffee. C. robusta has only been used in
beverages this century, and only to develop the first "instant" coffee
used in vending machines.
Even the worst Brazilian bulk is C. arabica.
What gives?
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| 9 responses total. |
remmers
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response 1 of 9:
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Oct 31 13:34 UTC 1994 |
Marketing hype, what else? Gourmet coffee has snob appeal these days
and everybody wants to get in on the snobbery. (Even Kroger has a
gourmet coffee section.) If it's a fancy name, people who don't know
any better will think it has something to do with quality.
I don't know much about coffee varieties, but I buy and drink the
gourmet stuff because it tastes a lot better than your standard brands
like Maxwell House or Hills Bros. There seems to be a lot of variation
among coffee from different regions, though, and I've developed
preferences, liking Guatamalan coffee more than many others, for
example. If it's not species, what *are* the factors that account for
differences among coffee from different regions?
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kentn
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response 2 of 9:
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Oct 31 15:03 UTC 1994 |
Growing conditions (?)
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jdg00
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response 3 of 9:
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Nov 1 02:57 UTC 1994 |
Kent got most of it. Conditions, mainly, but I understand that there are
varietals, just as in wine. And the growing conditions that produce the
coffee are as complicated as those that produce fine wines, too.
I've been very happy with some high quality espresso roasts I've been getting
from Hill o' Beans in Ann Arbor and Black Gold in Southfield. The H-o-B
has a more complex flavor profile, the B.G. has a longer lasting "crema"
and they have equivalently long lasting acidy finishes. Both around the
same price. B.G.'s is roasted in Walled Lake, H-o-B's in Atlanta. Both
can tell me what day they were roasted, and both get them from their
roasters in 5 lb bags with one-way valves to allow CO2 to outgas.
With both, I find there's a definite fall-off after about 13-15 days since
roasting.
I've recently changed over to buying in very small lots (1/4 lb - 1/2 lb)
at a time, and not freezing the beans. Quite a momentous change. Freezing
really changes the flavor, and I prefer the "unfrozen" roasts, even though
the beans don't last as long.
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lee
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response 4 of 9:
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Nov 7 05:01 UTC 1997 |
(reviving an old item)
Could somebody define the following for me and tell me what the
similarities and differences between 'em are?
1) cappuccino
2) espresso
3) latte
4) mocha
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birdlady
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response 5 of 9:
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Nov 7 06:09 UTC 1997 |
1. pretty hyper
2. *REALLY* hyper
3. kinda hyper
4. chocolate-flavored hyper
<eg> Sorry...
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lee
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response 6 of 9:
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Nov 8 00:05 UTC 1997 |
I was looking more for an ingredients list :)
anyone know?
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scott
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response 7 of 9:
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Nov 12 00:38 UTC 1997 |
Expresso is a very strong coffee, make with very dark, oily looking beans
ground really fine and brewed with steam.
The rest use expresso as a base. Cappuccino has steamed milk added, leaving
a big head of foam. Latte is a mix of expresso and milk (no foam). Mocha
is basically cappuccino with added chocolate (and sometimes mint).
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lee
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response 8 of 9:
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Nov 12 01:30 UTC 1997 |
So the only difference between cappuccino and latte is that the former
uses steamed milk and the latter uses milk straight? And here I thought
they were completely different things :) Thanks for the info... now all I
need to do is get espresso and make the rest :)
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mary
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response 9 of 9:
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Nov 12 13:03 UTC 1997 |
Latte has steamed milk too but the foam is not added
the the cup. I like a good latte with a double hit
of espresso (more coffee, less milk, no foam).
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