PODcast #51 : Espresso Pods News

Welcome do The PODcast, PodMerchant's newsletter of espresso pod news, education, tips and deals. Back issues of The PODcast are available online.

2010 "I'm Too Busy" Issue

I had planned to have a new installment in the new "Tales of the Torrefattore" series, but things just weren't falling into place and I've run out of time. I'm sure that some regular readers were wondering what had happened to the January issue. So, with apologies, I present some of our more popular past articles.

Espresso Elucidation

Pronouncing Italian Roaster's Names

Miscela d'Oro... Just how do the Italians pronounce "Mixtures of Gold"? Misk-el-a-DUH-or-oh? Not quite. Being born and raised in Texas, Italian is hardly my native language. But let's try to get a reasonable approximation of how these wonderful products are pronounced by native speakers. With the help of Hausbrandt's Sergio Panu — a native of Genoa — PodMerchant presents our...

Italian Roaster (Torrefattore) Name Pronunciation Guide:
When possible we've used common words (e.g. "love") to convey the sound. Also, the use of the tilde ("~") indicates that the sound is held for a little extra time as the leading syllable bridges to the next syllable.

Amigos Caffe : ah-MI-ghos cuff~FAY (Not Italian, but Spanish, of course)

Caffè Borbone : cuff~FAY bore-BONE-ay

Caffè del Doge : cuff~FAY dell DOE-jay (the Doge was the Venetian Grand Duke)

Caffè Gioia : cuff~FAY joy-yah

Caffè Mako : cuff~FAY mah-koh

Compagnia dell'Arabica : KOHM-pahn-NEE-ah dell ah-rahb-ee-kuh

Danesi Caffè : duhn-nay-zee cuff~FAY

Espressione : Es-prays~see-OHN-nay (an invented marketing name)

Illy Caffè : EEL~lee cuff~FAY

Izzo Caffè : EET-soh cuff~FAY

Lavazza : love-AHTS-ah

Lucaffé : LHOO-cuff~FAY

Miscela d'Oro : Mee-SHAY-lah-DOOR-oh ("sc" always prounced "sh")

Segafredo Zanetti : say-gah-FRAY-doh Zah-NAYT~tee

And lastly, two other very important Italian words for us coffee lovers:

Torrefattore : tohr~ray-faht~toh-ray, which means "roaster," and

Torrefazione : tohr~ray-fahts-yo-nay, which is the roasting process.

Coffee Primer

A little elementary knowledge of the different types of coffee will help you to find just the right coffee for you. Let's start at the basics: The coffee plant is a shrub of the genus Coffea. We are concerned with only two of the dozens of species of the genus: coffea canephora (Robusta) and coffea arabica (Arabica). In the wild, coffee plants grow to a height of 8 to 10 meters, but on coffee plantations they are kept at a height of about 2.5 meters. The fruit is bright red in color and resembles a cherry. They are, in fact, called cherries. Each cherry normally contains two green seeds.

Here are some comparisons between the two types of coffee:

• The Arabica bean (seed) has 44 chromosomes but the Robusta bean has only half that number.
• The Robusta tree is more resistant to parasites, disease, and heat than the Arabica bean.
• Robusta plants are generally grown near sea level whereas Arabica is usually grown in a narrow altitude band in the mountains.
• The Arabica bean contains from 1 to 1.7% caffeine whereas the Robusta bean is about twice as strong, containing 2 to 4.5% caffeine.
• Robusta beans contain more of the acids that can cause indigestion.
• A cup of Arabica coffee is milder, more aromatic, and less astringent than a cup of Robusta coffee.
• The Arabica bean is flatter and longer and has a sinuous groove on the flat side. The Robusta bean is more convex and rounder and the groove is almost straight.

Most coffees sold are blends of Arabica and Robusta beans, the Robusta being added for fullness to the flavor. Also popular are the coffees that are 100% Arabica.

From the above, it may sound that Robusta beans are inferior and undesirable. It is true that fine coffee is made from Arabica, whereas food-service grade coffee is predominantly Robusta. But Arabica by itself can be bit one-dimensional. Blending Arabica with Robusta enhances the flavor and body. One should realize that as there are high quality and low quality Arabicas, there are also high quality and low quality Robustas. A roaster of fine coffees will choose the high quality Robustas for blending.

Most roasted coffee is a blend of beans grown in different regions. To begin with, it is most often a blend of Arabica and Robusta beans — those coming from different regions. Beyond that, both the Arabica and Robusta components themselves are blends from different growing regions. Take for example, Miscela d'Oro, which is a blend of Arabicas from Santos Brazil and Central America with the Robusta coming from Uganda and Colombia. By blending coffees from different regions the roaster achieves a more balanced coffee with a wider appeal.

Single Origin coffee, on the other hand, is composed of strictly one type of bean from a specific region. As far as I know, single-origin coffees are always Arabica beans. Single-origin coffees present the unique flavor of the beans grown in the particular region: Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Kenya, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Jamaica, etc. The individual-region coffees each have their own unique qualities which are both their strength and their weakness. By blending, the roaster can achieve a roast that will be enjoyable for many coffee lovers. Single-origin coffees, in sacrificing balance and wide appeal, offer the discriminating coffee aficionado a valuable flavor experience. One is able to enjoy the pure flavor and aroma characteristics peculiar to a given region. You may find that a particular region's coffee is your "cup of tea," so to speak. Or you may simply enjoy sampling the variation of the world's coffee growing regions. One might compare single-origin coffees to single malt whiskeys vs. blended whiskeys. Hausbrandt specializes in Single Origin coffees of extraordinary quality.

And finally, there is Single Estate coffee. This is single kind of bean from a single plantation. These are truly specialty coffees. Generally a single estate coffee would be a premium product from a boutique grower. One such single estate coffee is the exclusive Aloha Island Kona. The plantation owner controls all aspects of planting, growing, harvesting, washing, roasting, etc.
 

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That's all for this issue of the PODcast.


Kevin Garrett, The PodMerchant.