The appeal of coffee:
Tea and cocoa are poor substitutes for coffee. At least chocolate drinks have body and complexity yet little caffeine. Tea has some caffeine yet lacks complexity and body. The caffeine in good tasting coffee is generally secondary in its comforting effect.
The aroma of coffee is unique and paramount to its pleasurable taste.
Acidity, the brightness or sharpness in coffee can go to extremes, from brisk to flat.
Flavor is specific to a coffee’s origin and also partly dependent on the degree of roast.
Sweetness and bitterness are more determined by the degree of roast and secondarily by origin. All coffees have some bitterness and is mitigated in those with some sweetness.
Body is likewise determined by roast and origin.
With that said, coffee quality is both dependent on the skill of the green coffee buyer and the roastmaster.
Many consumers find dairy the perfect companion to coffee because it mellows the intensity of flavor. Sweeteners balance the natural bitterness of coffee and bring it into ones particular level of tolerance. Dairy extends the aftertaste unless you add non-fat or 2% fat milk. No milk is better than-low fat or skimmed milk. Just the name skim milk, creeps me out.
Coffees have a mundane sameness in flavor that can be wonderfully highlighted by nuance and notes found in the finish or aftertaste. Some highlights are nutty, caramelly sweet, woody, chocolaty and winy notes, as well as the familiar, smokiness.
Espresso has an intensity and heaviness that is best appreciated when it has a low level of bitterness and a high degree of oiliness resulting in heavy body.
Old and stale espresso beans will produce little or no crema. With any coffee, its naturally wonderful aroma is the first quality lost with staling. Rancid coffee has the aroma of cacao.
For the most pleasurable experience, brew fresh roasted coffee with proper technique and use only chlorine free water.
Although coffee drinking originated in Arabia with the blessings of monks who used it to sustain themselves through evening prayers, the pious tried to prohibit it because the more often Moslems frequented the coffeehouses, the less they went to mosque. Activities such as backgammon, mankala, dancing, music and singing were frowned upon by the stricter adherents to Islam.
Coffee acquired its name from the Arabic “qahwah” then through its Turkish form to “Kahveh” becoming Caffe’ in Italian, Café’ in French and Spanish, Koffie to the Dutch, Kopi in Indonesia and Kaffee in Germany.
Coffee is only three centuries old for us in the west. Coming from the Levant and first arriving in Venice, it swept through the cities of Europe and finally into America, changing life styles and attitudes as it went.
Catering equally to the working class and the leisure class, coffeehouses have tended to be democratic in character. A French periodical of 1850 stated “The solon stood for privilege, the café’ stands for equality.”
Coffee has been called the intellectual drink of democracy. In times of upheaval, coffeehouses became revolutionary centers, encouraging the interchange of ideal and often generating liberal and radical opinions. It has been said that the French Revolution was formed in coffeehouse meetings and the Café Foy was the starting point of the revolutionary spirit. The Boston Tea Party itself was instigated by patrons of the Green Dragon Coffee House which Daniel Webster called “ the headquarters of the American Revolution.”
It was in New York at Merchants Coffee House that a group of radicals made the first plan for a “union of colonies.’ In 1788 the United States Constitution was celebrated by unfurling a flag from the Merchants and on April 23rd 1789 president elect George Washington was officially greeted in New York at – as if you couldn’t guess- Merchants Coffee House.