Already on Saturday, October 1st, the entire coffee industry will celebrate International Coffee Day, established on this day by 49 countries affiliated with the International Coffee Organization (ICO). As always, at Single Origin, you can expect many delights on this occasion!

Poland, as a member of the European Union, also belongs to the ICO (which includes 49 countries, including the entire European Union). Nevertheless, in Polish media, we can still see that Coffee Day is on September 29th - it's not clear to me, but what can you do? The International Coffee Day designated by the ICO falls on October 1st every year - and for me, that settles it.

You can find more information about the ICO here, but it's worth knowing that this organization has existed since 1963 and practically encompasses all coffee exporters and importers worldwide.

International Coffee Day 2023 - the theme

This year's edition of International Coffee Day is themed around safe and healthy work at all stages of the coffee chain.

Here you can see the leaflet for the current edition, and here is the official International Coffee Day website.

Enjoy your coffee - changes are ahead of us!

The past two years, led by the famous frost in Brazil in 2021, have shown how suddenly the coffee market situation can change - its quality and availability depend on many factors. And although humans have influence over almost all of them, it is usually a decidedly negative influence.

Progressive climate change (by the way, when was the last time you remember 28 degrees in October...?), political and geopolitical factors, as well as local (and global) economic conflicts can lead to us being cut off from coffee, and it may become a luxury good.

Therefore, it is all the more worthwhile to enjoy good-quality coffee while it is still readily available and at a normal price.

And during our celebration of International Coffee Days, you can even reduce the purchase price by up to 25%! Such and even more promotions have been prepared for you at Single Origin Roastery (all special offers and the competition is available only on polish website).

We start on Monday, September 25th, and celebrate throughout the week.

May coffee be with you!

You often ask me what differs African arabica from American arabica, how to grind coffee so it matches a specific brewing method or which roasting level will be the best for you.  So, this article will contatin some information, that can help you answering these questionns.

Arabica or robusta?

There are 2 different variations of coffee that are cultivated worldwide: arabica and robusta. The first of the two is considered a higher quality than the second. Arabica accounts for about 70% of world's coffee cultivation and robusta around 30%. Robusta is sometimes added into mixes of other variatons of coffee to make them "stronger", but it's not necessary. In Single Origin roastery, we only offer arabicas.

What's different between coffees from different world regions?

Both arabica and robusta have their own variations. The most popular method of dividing coffees is by originating country and region. Coffee is cultivated in so called coffee bean belt defined between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Arabica has lots of variations, but coffees cultivated in same regions have some similar features:

- Africa – coffees from this continent are slightly acidic (but they are not sour - you don't need to worry!), they have citrus fruit notes and are rather delicate. I highly recommend Ethiopian arabicas from Sidamo and Yirgacheffe regions - these are the great coffee classics, which are worth a try.

- Central and South America – American coffees are low acidic, have nut and chocolate notes. Their flavor and aroma are considered as "classic coffee". Brazilian arabica „Santos” is very popular, but there are equally great coffees coming from small New World's countries, e.g. Costa Rica Tarrazu.

- Asia – Mostly Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and India. Asian coffees are very low acidic, have "ground/earthy" and "forest" notes. Even though novice coffee drinkers often don’t like their "muffled" character, they have many admirers.

How important is fresh roast?

Coffee is a long term product. Most of big producers determine coffees expiration period for 2 years. However, there is a huge quality gap between coffee roasted a week ago and coffee roasted a year ago. It can be compared to bread. Most of you, probably, like bread straight from the bakery - fragrant, crunchy, just fresh. The same bread can be eaton 2 or 3 days later, but will it still be the same?

It's similar with coffee - you should drink it in 4 weeks after roasting, during this time it will taste the best. Single Origin roastery doesn't roast coffee to store it for later - every kilogram of coffee is roasted for a specific customer.

Coffee roasting types:

1. Unroasted coffee, raw green beans.
2. Light (New England)
3. Medium (American)
4. Medium dark (Vienna)
5. Dark (French or Italian)

In roasteries, raw, green coffee beans undergo thermal treatment (even 250°C), thanks to that we can extract their flavor and aroma. Raw coffee beans have only a several dozen aroma-flavor compounds and their roasted counterparts above 700! Every variation of arabica, depending on many factors, has a roasting level, that enables to unleash the specific coffee beans potential.

General rule is that, the more delicate roasting level, the more noticeable natural flavor notes of specific coffee are.

Stronger roasting levels minimalize acidity, but at the same time make different coffee beans more similar to each other. Single Origin roastery allows every coffee lover to experiment with roasting levels. However, if coffee roasting levels are still a mystery to you, rely on our recommendation

Buy ground coffee or grind it yourself?

Of course grind it yourself! Whole bean coffee can keep it's high quality for a long time, but ground coffee loses it's flavor and aroma quick. Grinding coffee just before brewing is the easiest method to make your coffee even 50% higher quality.

If you have a coffee maker with built-in grinder, then you don't have to worry and if you brew your coffee in a different way, you should consider buying a coffee grinder and grind your coffee beans yourself. It's worth to remember that different brewing methods need different grinding levels:

• fine – for espresso machines.
• medium – for percolators, drippers, filters and AeroPress.
• coarse – for French press and jugs.

At Single Origin we offer grinding coffee for you - we are aware that not everyone has a grinder or wants to do it by him/herself. But I will always encourage you to grind coffee yourself, because it's the easiest method of improving it's quality.

In a fridge? In a jar? Maybe under your quilt? There are many myths and legends surrounding coffee storage. I would like to explain some of them and tell you how to properly store coffee, so it keeps its taste and aroma as long as possible.

What is the expiration date of a coffee?

Coffee is a food product, that can be stored for a quite long time. Most coffee producers say that coffee can be stored up to 2 years. (in case of whole bean coffee).  Indeed - coffee roasted 2 years prior can be safely grinded, brewed and drank, but its taste won't be first-class. It will still be a coffee, but you won't notice any nut, chocolate or citrus notes, that are heavily desired by real coffee lovers.

Thanks to running my own coffee roastery and drinking coffee, to put it mildly, quite often, I can tell that coffee tastes best in 3-4 days after roasting and starts losing its quality after 3-4 weeks after roasting. Why then? Well, after roasting, coffee needs to „rest” and degass carbon dioxide. It's an entirely natural process, that takes place as a result of partial coffee beans carbonization during roasting.

Coffee can be grinded and brewed directly after roasting, but it will reach its full potential after 3-4 days after roasting. But it shouldn't be stored  for too long as it will lose its flavor and aroma. When you intend to buy a coffee, look for its roasting date. Many producers don't include this information as it's not compulsory, but they specify the expiration date.

If you can see that some coffee has, for example, 1 year and 7 months till its expiration date, you can be 99% sure that the producer used a 2-year expiration period, which means that this coffee was roasted 5 months ago. Honestly, I wouldn't recommend buying this coffee, even if it was a product coming from a highly reputable coffee roastery.

In what packaging and where to keep your coffee?

There is a common opinion, which says that coffee should be kept in a fridge. I don't really understand where did this come from, but anyway: it doesn't make much sense. Coffee is a product, that easily acquires other scents. Most people keep meat, dairy products, fish in their fridges.

Do you want your coffee to smell like that? I doubt it. Even if it's tightly packed, low temperatures do not favor it. So - you should keep your coffee in a room temperature closet, so it's not exposedto sunlight.

In what to keep coffee? Some people suggest jars. Indeed, big jar of coffee beans looks nice, but in this case, it's not what we want to achieve. The disadvantage of using a jar is the lack of a vent, which let's the carbon dioxide, that can still eject from the beans. As I mentioned earlier, coffee beans naturally degass carbon dioxide after roasting.

The most intense ejecting takes time during first several hours after roasting, but this process still takes place (in a lower manner) for many days later. Professional coffee packaging have built-in vent, that lets the gas stored inside out, without letting the air in.

They are made in a way, where during normal conditions the packaging stays tightly closed, but when the pressure inside increases (as a result of ejecting carbon dioxide), the vent rises and lets CO2 out of the packaging. These types of packaging are used in our roastery.

On the outside they are paper made, but they are metallised from inside and guarantee that the air doesn't get inside. You can also see their vent in the photos below. Opened packaging can be later closed with an attached strip and put into a closet. You don't have to (and shouldn't) put your coffee in a jar or put it in the fridge.

Whole bean or ground?

Whole bean obviously! I always recommend buying whole bean coffee and grinding it at home. If you own an automatic coffee maker with built-in grinder, it will grind your coffee for you and if you use an espresso machine or any other method (AeroPress, Chemex or Bialetti percolator), then you should definitely buy a grinder and grind your coffee right before brewing.

Grinded coffee beans quickly lose their taste and aroma. Normally, I'm not a conservative person regarding any coffee topics and I don't mind experimating, I will always say: grind your coffee right before brewing, don't store ground coffee, buy a grinder (even a manual one), because thanks to that you coffee wil gain at least +50% on its quality.

Espresso, cappuccino, latte, americano... Surely most of you know which coffee to choose for yourself. But what are the differences between other coffees?

Espresso - everyone knows. Latte has a higher amount of heated (but not frothed) milk than cappuccino. Americano is a ,,big black coffee". But what to choose when you can see coffees like flat white, Romano or Marochino listed in the menu? Gamble and pick randomly or just take cappuccino that you know very well? This short guide will help solve your problems!

First, short explanation. This article focuses on coffees based on espresso, which means a more or less ,,Italian" coffees. Besides Italy, there is a whole world of different coffees and different methods (I already wrote an article about AeroPress, which is a great coffee making tool). Anyway most of the drinks I'm going to write about are so popular, that you can probably find anywhere, so it's a good idea to give them a closer look. Let's begin!

Espresso – one of Italian symobs, right next to Colosseum or Ferrari. Espresso deserves a separate article, so I will just list some important information: it is 25-30 ml, extraction time (water flowing through ground coffee in coffee machine) about 25 seconds, water temperature 88-92°C. ATTENTION! There is not something like ,,expresso", that you can sometimes hear from customers in cafes. The name ,,espresso" has nothing to do with brewing speed, it comes from Italian adjective espressivo, that means expressive.

Cappuccino – following right behind espresso, that it's based on. Cappuccino uses about 100 ml of milk, which after frothing should volume around 125 ml. According to Italian standards, cappuccino should be around 150 ml. Milk foam on top should be 1-2 cm thick, deprived of air bubbles and have creamy consistency. The name ,,cappuccino" comes from Capuchin friars habit color - brown-white.

Latte – where's cappuccino, there also is latte. Latte has more milk (,,latte" means milk) than cappuccino, should be 200 ml or more and should have a small amount of frothed milk at the top. In Italy, Latte (and cappuccino) is traditionally drank with breakfast.

Flat white – this coffee comes from Australia or New Zealand (there still are disputes about its origination). It's traditionally made of double espresso, which is poured with hot milk (it can be a little frothed, but only a little). As the name suggests, it should be flat at the top.

Americano – espresso poured with hot water. The amount of water can be very different: starting from 25-30 ml (which means 1:1 espresso-water scale, this kind of coffee is called ,,italiano" or ,,short americano" in America) and ending at 470ml. It's believed that americano originated from Italy during World War II. American soldiers asked to pour water into espresso to get a coffee similar to the one they drank at home.

Macchiato – espresso with a little amount of frothed milk. In Italian Macchiato means tainted. We can say then, that this coffee is tainted with a small amount of milk. 

Latte macchiato – it's the reverse of macchiato. Latte macchiato is a hot frothed milk with the addition of one portion of espresso (sometimes two). Everything can be covered with whipped cream, but it's not compulsory. A well made latte macchiato has 3 layers: milk at the bottom, milk mixed with espresso in the middle and milk foam at the top. It's at least 200 ml and is often served in transparent glass, so the layers can be easily seen.

Mocha – a variant of latte. It's an espresso with addition of chocolate (can be powdered or as a syrup) and hot milk with whipped cream at the top.

Mocha breve – a variant of mocha. Milk and whipped cream is replaced with heated mix of milk and cream. This coffee comes from America and isn't that popular in Europe.

Marochino – it's an espresso with addition of cocoa or chocolate syrup and a bit of frothed milk. This coffee comes from Italian Alexandria and it's name comes from its color. In Italian Marochino means the type of light brown skin.

Irish coffee – this time not from Italy, but other side of Europe. Irish coffee is an espresso (or just strong black coffee) with addition of heated whiskey, brown sugar. It's decorated with whipped cream. The trick is to not let the cream mix with coffee and whiskey. It's served in a beer glass, which makes it look like stout beer.

Vienna coffee – as the name suggests, thus coffee comes from Vienna. It's an espresso or strong black coffee brewed in a different way, decorated with whipped cream. Some recipes recommend melting chocolate in a saucepan, then adding the coffee into the chocolate. Then pour it into a cup and decorate with whipped cream.

Romano – it's an espresso served with a lemon peel, sticking out at the top of the coffee. There is also a version with the addition of lemon juice. Some people believe that coffee with lemon helps dealing with hangover, but as I already wrote in the myths of coffee article, it's not true.

Corretto – an espresso with a little addition of alcohol. In Italy, traditionally with the use of grappa, but other alcohols (brandy, cognac, whisky) are also as popular. In some bars, espresso and alcohol are being served separately, so you can experiment with alcohol amount. It can optionally be served with frothed milk.

Freddo – a cold espresso. There are many different recipes for making it, but the most popular one recommends pouring ice cubes with hot espresso and adding (optionally) alcohol (e.g. grappa or brandy). Other version recommends using cooled down espresso and some other recipe tells to replace alcohol with a small amount of frothed milk. 

Lungo – which means ,,extended" espresso. In Italian Lungo means long. It's made just like espresso, but after getting around 25-30 ml of extract, instead of stopping it's continued until 50-60 ml, which makes the coffee more delicate. Lungo shouldn't be confused with americano, which is an espresso with the addition of hot water.

Ristretto – is the opposite of lungo. In Italian Ristretto means limited. It's an espresso with lower amount of water (around 15 ml), which is literally one sip.

Dry cappuccino – it's a cappuccino with a low addition of frothed milk and high addition of milk foam (it's also named cappuccino scurro). Sometimes in America the milk foam is replaced with whipped cream.

Con panna – espresso with a small amount of whipped cream.

With honey – espresso with addition of honey and frothed milk at the top.

As you can see, that's a lot of coffees. The list above thoroughly describes the diffrences between most of espresso based coffees. However, different countries (or even regions of the same country) can change the meaning of some names. For example, in America, espresso con panna and Vienna coffee are practically the same, the same thing goes with americano and lungo. Dry cappuccino is popular in America with the addition of whipped cream and in Europe it may be considered as Vienna coffee. In Australia flat white will be the same as latte in Italy.

I hope that this article helped you understand some mysterious coffee names.
Check Coffees Guru regularly and follow me on my Facebook profile. In just a few days, I will unravel the secrets of espresso!

In my previous article I wrote about different coffees, most based on espresso. This time I would like to focus only on espresso as it's the most important factor, which affects the final result of cappuccino, latte or any other espresso based coffee.

Espresso should have 25 ml volume. It's served in a heated porcelain cup of 70 ml volume. There is a dense nutty-brown foam at the top, the foam gives the coffee a sweet taste. Middle part of the cup is named body, which has a dark brown color. At the bottom, lies the heart, which means the essence of espresso, it's the source of its strength and intensity. Served alongside espresso is a glass of water. It's used for flushing taste buds before drinking coffee. Sometimes I can see people who drink espresso first and water second. Don't do that! A cup of espresso is not vodka! Another important thing is the name. Of course it's espresso, not expresso. The name of this coffee has nothing to do with the speed of its brewing, it refers to Italian adjective espressivo, that means expressive.

Espresso originated from Italy over 100 years ago. In 1901 Luigi Bezzera created a coffee machine based on pressurized water flow, but he couldn't get rid of steam, which worsen the taste of coffee. Roughly 4 years later Desiderio Pavoni bought the patent for machine from Bezzera and slightly modified it. The steam however was still a problem and only after 4 decades in 1947 Achille Gaggia creater a new water heating system, that solved the steam problem. All companies founded by men listed above function till this day. Bezzera, La Pavoni and Gaggia are reputable producers of coffee makers for house use or gastronomy locals.

Espresso gained popularity in Italy alongside progressive urbanization. Espresso bars started to appear, their prices were regulated by local authorities, provided that coffee was served ,,on stand". Coffee is small, so drinking it, took only a while. Till this day many Italians still drink their morning ,,small black coffee" in that way. Considering that espresso in good Roman cafes costs around 1€, it's not a big expense.

Global espresso expansion started in 1950s and has a few reasons. First is the emigration of Italians, mostly to USA. Italian diasporas e.g. famous New Yorks ,,Little Italy" were the hearts of Italian culture, including culinary culture. Second reason of worldwide espresso success was the presence of Allied soldiers in Italy during World War II, who after returning to their countries talked about great Italian coffee and often looked for it in Italian diaspores. Another reason that helped espresso reach the national success was... Hollywood. In 1950s and 1960s the fashion for so called „sword-and-sandal" movies, which means that the action took place in the antiquity (and their characters wore sandals - hence the name). It was during this time when movies like „Cleopatra", „Ben Hur", „Spartacus", „Quo Vadis" and many others were created. Most of these movies weren't shot in Los Angeles, but in Italy. Actors took Brioni suits, Ferrari cars and... great Italian coffee.

Over time espresso became one of Italian symbols. To preserve it and give it an appropriate rank, the National Institute of Italian Espresso (Instituto Nazionale Espresso Italiano) was established. It precisely defined the parameters that are characteristic for ideal espresso.

Making an espresso isn't difficult, but it requires a short training and then a bit of practice. Making an espresso is easy, but making an ideal espresso or at least a good espresso is much harder. I won't write how to use a pressure coffee machine, because it's a topic for entirely different article, but I would like to give you some advices, that are worth remembering while ordering an espresso (or any other coffee). First: barista should grind the coffee in front of you.

He has a grinder not for decoration, but for using. If you can see a big amount of ground coffee in the grinders container, you can already leave the local. Espresso is supposed to be the essence of coffee, so it has to be made out of fresh ground coffee beans, right before brewing. Second: espresso should be around 100 ml volume. It happens that baristas make a slightly bigger ones (e.g. 30-35 ml) and it's still acceptable, but conservative Italian would consider that type of drink a lungo, not espresso.

However, if after ordering espresso, you are being served a cup half full of coffee... then something is not right. Third: at the top of espresso, there should be a crema - a light-brown colored foam. It should cover the entireity of coffee. If it's missing or it's a really small amount, this means that coffee beans used to make your coffee were either roasted a very long time ago or they were ground the wrong way and extraction didn't go as it should have gone. So, always look into your baristas hands and don't let them sell you an espresso that isn't even a real espresso. Visit Coffees GURU to expand your coffee knowledge and follow me on facebook to be updated!

Where does coffee come from? The answe for this question seems easy: from the shop, cafe, roastery... But have you ever wondered where is the beginning? How does coffee look in its natural development stage? If you ever wondered about these question while drinking your coffee, this article is for you.

Coffee is cultivated for over 1000 years. The homeland of coffee is Ethiopia. According to a legend, goatherd Kaldi discovered coffee trees. One day he noticed that his goats were exceptionally agitated. Driven by curiosity, he started carefully observing his goats and noticed that the more agitated ones eat small fruit from a nearby tree. He picked some of the fruit and went to a nearby monastery. There, a monk named Chadely crushed them, then put into the fire and after a short while they could smell a pleasant roasted coffee scent. That's what the legend says.

Regardless of how real the legend is, it's a fact that coffee trees originated from todays Ethiopia, where the trees can be still found in the wild. So - first thing: coffee grows on a tree. In the wild it looks like a cherry tree, but has bigger leaves and bears a lot of fruit. The fruit also look like a cherry, but they are a bit smaller. The coffee fruit pulp is sour and isn't edible. The real treasure are their seeds - which means coffee beans. Coffee trees can be several meters tall, but on plantations, they are being chopped down to 1,5 - 2 meters, so it's easier and faster to harvest their cherries. 

Coffee is being cultivated in so called „coffee bean belt". Coffee trees grow within a defined area between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. It includes countries as: Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda in Africa; Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala and Costa Rica in South and Central America; India, Indonesia and Vietnam in Asia. Coffee trees require subtropical climate, which means no division into seasons (it's either summer or spring-summer). Thanks to these conditions, coffee trees can bear fruit several times a year. The other important thing is above mean sea level.

Coffee trees can grow only at the level of 900 meters or higher (only regarding Arabica, worse quality Robusta can grow slightly lower). There are attempts to initiate coffee growing on lower levels, but the problem there is the occurrence of a disease called „coffee rust'' , which makes it impossible to develop a plantation. 

As I already mentioned, coffee grows on ~2 meters tall trees, that bear many fruit few times a year. On big plantations, using industrial machines, the fruit are being harvested with combine-harvesters. It's an economic solution, but it results in lower quality coffee. On small plantations, producing „premium" (only these are being offered in my roastery) coffees, coffee fruit are being harvested manually. Farms, which grow high quality coffee are usually small, so farmers aren't walking very long distances.

What happens next? After harvesting, coffee fruit need to be separated from their seeds - coffee beans. There are 2 methods of separating seed from the fruit: dry and washed. First method means that coffee fruit are laid on mats in full sun. This drying process can last even 4 weeks. During this time the pulp and skin become dry and fall off leaving only the seeds.

The cherries must be turned multiple times per day to protect against rot and to be dried even on all sides. Second method, called „washed" is a little more complicated. First, all the fruit are being put in water. Rotten and unripe fruit start floating on the surface, while ripe fruit stay on the bottom. Then, a special mechanism will separate pulp and skin  from the seed. Cherries are being pushed through stone rollers by pressured water, which rip the skin and pulp, but leave the seed intact. The last thing left is to dry the seeds, pack them into sacks and send them to roasteries all over the world.

At the end, I would also like to mention coffee types. There actually are only 2 types of coffee cultivated worldwide: higher quality Arabica (70% of worlds coffee cultivation) and worse quality Robusta (30% of worlds coffee cultivation).

Arabica is more delicate, has a very extensive aroma-flavor set and results in a much better coffee after roasting. The name „Araboca" is historical and doesn't relate to its origination. Arabica is cultivated in Africa, Asia and America and has many different varieties. Arabica cultivated in Africa, e.g. in Ethiopia will have much different taste than Arabica cultivated in America or Asia.

But what exactly are the differences? Which coffee to choose? This will be the topic of my next article. I invite you to read my blog in a few days and regularly visit my Facebook profile.

Most people who drink coffee tend to limit themselves to determining whether it is good or not. In the case of people dealing with coffee professionally, such terms can not say much. Coffee beans are the second most traded commodity on world exchanges (crude oil is the first). The entire industry, from growers over brokers and roasters, to coffee shops and sometimes home coffee drinkers, had to develop some common methods of testing coffee and assessing its quality.

In this article, you can read how to recognize a good quality coffee, what to pay attention to, what deserves recognition, and what is a defect. You will learn what does acidity, bitterness, taste, body or balance really means in coffee. Getting to know these properties of coffee is not difficult at all and even if you do not have the knowledge and skills of professional tasters (and probably not), you will be able to be more aware consumer of the "little black coffee".

As previously mentioned, coffee is a very salable commodity. It flows from plantations in South and Central America, Africa or Southeast Asia to almost every place of earth. Buyers, both large brokerage companies as well as smaller and larger roasteries, must know what beans they are buying and the mere assurances that "you will be satisfied" will certainly not be enough. The coffee industry relies heavily on coffee evaluation forms in this case. Often these are worksheets developed by the Specialty Coffee Association of America or the Cup of Excellence. The big coffee companies (e.g. Tchibo or Lavazza) sometimes rely on their own forms, but these are similar to the earlier ones and the coffee research process is very similar as well.

To the point! The process of evaluating coffee begins well before it is brewed. At the beginning, the grains prepared by growers are assessed in terms of the quality of the green, raw beans - size, number of defects, uniformity or color.

Then, after roasting, the shade of roasting the beans is assessed. Whether they are roasted lightly or strongly will have an impact on other parameters, e.g. acidity or bitterness. Another important issue assessed on a dry sample is the aroma. It is one of the most important things in coffee. It is worth mentioning that raw, green coffee beans have several aromatic and flavor compounds. Coffee has over 800 of them! The essential oils contained in coffee are similar to those of cocoa, hence the smell of coffee sometimes resembles the smell of chocolate. However, experts in their assessments are more accurate. The International Coffee Organization (ICO) lists 18 aromatic shades of roasted coffee:

Some of them are desirable, while others (e.g. rubber) indicate low-quality coffee or serious errors in the roasting process. As an aside, it can be added that roasted coffee is the most aromatic food product.

After analyzing the aroma of dry coffee, it's time to pour hot water over it. All samples are prepared in the same way: 150 ml of water at 92 ° C per 8.25 g of coffee. Brewing takes exactly 4 minutes. After this time, a special spoon "breaks the shell", that is, with a decisive movement, scoops the grounds floating on the surface of the brew. This will allow you to feel the aroma of the brewed coffee (which may be different from the aroma of "dry" coffee).

Next coffee parameters are assessed on the basis of the sample prepared in this way. These are:

Acidity – this is a feature that is controversial among non-specialists. It is commonly believed that this is something undesirable, you can often hear opinions that someone does not like "sour coffee". It must be said, however, that there is a difference between "sour coffee" and coffee having a certain acidity. Without acidity, the coffee would taste bland. The best coffees from Africa, for example the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, have acidic citrus notes that are noticeable even by laymen, and this is their highly desirable and well-liked feature. The mentioned "sour coffee" is different. This is an undesirable defect that can sometimes result from a wrong production process and resemble vinegar or ferment. In terms of acidity, coffee is somewhat similar to wine: good drinks can have slight citrus notes, while wines that are sour are just bad.

Bitterness - The typical bitter taste of coffee is due to the caffeine it contains. Coffee that is dark roasted has a more noticeable bitterness, which is related to the breakdown of carbohydrates. Roasting too long or roasting at too high temperature makes the coffee too bitter, which is an undesirable effect.

Texture (also named as body or mouthfeel) - The sensations coffee leaves on your tongue. It can be full, which is thick and heavy, or dense (which is a desirable trait) or tart and shallow, which is not very good. The consistency of the coffee is the subjective feeling of stickiness and fullness it leaves on the tongue. If after drinking coffee it feels like a delicate cream on your tongue, it has a "full body". If you feel like a glass of water after drinking it, it is shallow and not very expressive.

Flavor and aftertaste - that is, in fact, the culmination of the aforementioned features. Good coffee has little (to very little) acidity, little to medium bitterness, and a full-bodied texture. The taste is in part the resultant of these features. Coffee has to have some acidity (which doesn't mean it has to be acidic!), There has to be some bitterness in it which comes from the roasting process, and finally it has to be felt on the palate, it cannot flow like water. Good coffee thus oscillates between sweet, bitter and acidic, but not sweet, bitter or sour by itself. For professionals, the so-called "Clean cup", i.e. whether the coffee is free of impurities, "noise", and whether it is free from any sensory errors typical for coffee from a given region (e.g. typical Ethiopia Yirgacheffe should be slightly acidic, with hints of citrus, very little bitterness and medium sweetness, medium to full consistency).

Balance - all the parameters mentioned above and the proportions between them. Coffee may have an intense, desirable aroma and appropriate (usually not too high) acidity, but its other constituent parts may interfere with the perception of the whole (eg bitterness is too high, or the coffee is "flat", ie has not very good "body"). Balance is the point of contact for all the parameters of a good coffee, which is slightly acidic but not sour, has a certain bitterness but not bitter, has a pleasant feeling on the tongue and tastes (and leaves an aftertaste on the palate) just like the coffee in the given the region and the species should be left behind.

I hope that the above article will help you better understand what good coffee should be. Of course, tastes vary, and everyone may like something different.

Getting to know the characteristics of different coffees will certainly facilitate an informed choice. Do you like coffee with a noticeable acidity? Try Arabica from Africa or other continents, but delicately roasted. Would you like to feel nutty and chocolate notes in your coffee?

You will like coffees from America, preferably strongly or at least medium roasted. Or maybe you are interested in "full body" coffees with forest-earthy aromas? Arabica from Indonesia will be perfect for you. The world of coffee, like wine, is quite complex, with lots of varieties and regions of origin, but discovering it is a lot of fun, which I sincerely wish you!

Turkish coffee, a coffee prepared with a specific method, which I describe below, known for over 500 years. It's not that popular and is a bit harder and more time consuming than making a regular coffee, but has an intense and original taste.

Before we get to making Turkish coffee, let's go back in time. First notes describing Turkish coffee come from 15th century from Yemen (by the way, coffee travelling to Yemen was sent through harbor named Mokka, coming from the name of coffee). Over the next few hundred years, coffee spread across the whole Ottoman Empire: Cairo, Mecca, Damascus nad Constantinople. First cafes started to appear and the black drink gained many admirers. The name „Turkish coffee” isn't popular in Turkey, Turks usually refer to it as „coffee”. If you ever visit Turkey, then ordering coffee will most likely result in getting this coffee.

And how is this coffee made? First of all, it's a boiled coffee. Most of you probably use coffee machines. Some of you maybe use alternative brewing methods, e.g. dripper or AeroPress (you can read more about it here). You boil it in a small pot - called cezve. It has to be very finely ground, even more finely than for espresso machine. The beans must be ground to a very fine powder. Most of house grinders can't grind them that finely, that's why it's better to ask a shop or coffee roastery to do it for you.

Cezve should be half filled with water, then you pot coffee in - traditionally 1 spoon for 1 cup. The drink will be strong and aromatic. You can also add (depends on personal preferences) sugar, some spices, like cinnamon or cardamon. Next you have to mix everything together (this is the only moment, that you can mix it, you shouldn't mix it later) and put cezve on small heat. Turkish coffee should be heated slowly, until you can see foam forming on it's surface. Stopping the heating too early results in lack of the foam, which is important for the taste. Heating it for too long results in the foam falling down and the coffee being too bitter.

Turks treat coffee like English treat tea (it's a steretypical comparsion, but it only shows how seriously they treat coffee). They drink coffee when they meet with friends, on buisness meetings and during social rituals. Not that long ago, a fresh married wife could let her in-law parents know, what she thinks of their arranged marriage by making a coffee in a certain way. If the coffee was sweet - she was very pleased, if it was bitter - she was discouraged. Serving a coffee with salt meant insult and objection. French diplomat from the end of 18th and beginning of 19th century, Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand said that coffee should be: "black as the devil, hot as hell and swee as love".