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What's a Good Cup
of Coffee?
We've all watched wine tasters
swirl, sniff, slurp and spit, and then pronounce their
approval or disdain. Drinking a coffee is a complex
experience, involving the same four senses used in evaluating
wines. The drinker admires the appearance, smells its aroma,
finally tasting its flavor, as the tongue feels its
"body"—the sensation of denseness that
differentiates an espresso from all other beverages.
The task of tasting coffee to
identify its characteristics and determine its quality is
entrusted to professionals of the highest level, who might be
called "coffee sommeliers." They work in groups,
comparing their respective evaluations to reach a final joint
decision. They are responsible for deciding which lots of
coffee will be purchased, based on a sensory examination of
samples of the lots of coffee being offered for sale.
Consequently, the moment of the taste test is extremely
important, requiring great attention and a high level of
concentration.
Because the ability to taste
varies throughout the day, the results of the taste test must
be adjusted according to the time at which it took place. The
tasting is also performed quickly, to facilitate the
comparison between different samples. In order to prepare the
coffee for testing, a small machine to roast the beans,
another to measure the degree of roasting, a grinder and a
boiler are all employed. The method most frequently used for
tasting involves making an infusion by leaving approximately
10 grams of ground coffee in 150 cc of boiling water for about
ten minutes.
The tasting is carried out using
a rather wide, rounded spoon called a goûte-café, which is
similar to the tastevin used by a sommelier. The coffee is
tasted without the addition of sugar and is classified using
specific terms that describe the characteristics, taste, and
aroma of the coffee. The classification terminology used by
the Brazilians is the richest, but it is not universally
applied. In Italy, tasting samples are often prepared in such
a way as to determine the specific uses they are best adapted
to: making espresso, brewed coffee etc.
How to taste
The aroma of coffee comes from
the volatile substances that are released during the roasting
process as a result of a series of chemical reactions that
take place within the bean. These transformations are known
collectively as the Maillard reaction, after the French
chemist who was the first to study and classify this process.
These changes begin at a temperature of about 1600C and
continue to occur until the roasting process is interrupted.
Over 1000 different coffee aromas
have been identified. The following is a list of some of the
most easily identifiable ones:
Roasted:
Characteristic aroma resulting from the transformation of
sugars that takes place within the bean during roasting.
Chocolaty: an aroma that is reminiscent of
cocoa with a trace of vanilla.
Floral: an aroma that resembles the smell of
fresh flowers in general, without recognizable single notes.
Fruity: refers to the scent of fresh fruit,
especially that of citrus fruit.
Grassy, toasted bread: aromas that are
pleasant within certain limits.
According to Dr. Ernesto Illy,
"Quality is controlling, controlling, controlling. A
perfect cup of coffee should never be bitter. It makes me
happy when people recognize the flavor of our coffee. Our
level of control is a single bean. That way, there is never
anything but pleasure in a cup of illy."
The Story of
Espresso
The word espresso means
"made to order" and is used to describe food and
drinks that are prepared at the customer's request. Over time
in Italy, this became the most common way to make coffee, and
eventually the word came to be used as a noun referring to the
preparation itself.
This way of preparing coffee
originated at the end of the 19th century, with the first
espresso machine being presented at the Universal Exposition
in Paris in 1855. This new machine was developed to solve the
problems that characterized other methods of preparing the
beverage, such as their slow speed and the loss in flavor
incurred when the infusion was prepared and kept warm until it
was consumed. Therefore, the new machine had to be capable of
preparing one or two coffees in a short time, upon the request
of the customer. To speed up the passage of the water through
the coffee grounds, a high-pressure system was invented, using
steam delivered through a series of valves that were
controlled by the bartender.
In 1935 Francesco Illy
substituted compressed air for the steam, thereby creating the
first automatic machine that was the prototype for the
espresso machine used today.
Espresso is a lot of flavor in a
very small cup. Espresso is not just a beverage—it is not
going to quench your thirst. It is an experience, a relaxed
moment in a hectic day or the final tasting note at the end of
a memorable meal. Dr. Ernesto Illy, who has dedicated his life
to the pursuit of a perfect cup of espresso says, "A one
ounce cup of perfectly brewed espresso provides an intense
aroma and flavor experience, but no calories—it's a
guilt-free indulgence."
Espresso Myths
Exposed
Espresso coffee, while apparently
a simple drink, is in reality a complex product. It is derived
from 1500 chemical substances (800 volatile and 700 soluble).
When prepared correctly it involves 13 independent chemical
and physical variables. There are many myths and
misconceptions surrounding espresso. We'd like to debunk a few
of them.
Myth #1:
Espresso carries more of a caffeine jolt than regular brewed
coffee.
FALSE: The
illycaffe blend is obtained by carefully selecting from
different sources the best Arabica beans, which have a richer
taste and a lower caffeine content than the lesser prized (and
less expensive) Robusta beans. Because a cup of espresso takes
no more than 30 seconds to brew, less caffeine is extracted
than in drip coffee—which takes anywhere from 5 to 7
minutes.
Myth #2: Lemon
peel is the proper garnish for a cup of espresso
FALSE: Lemon
peel is not traditional in Italy. It is used to counteract the
taste of over-roasted, bitter espresso. The oil in the peel
blocks the bitterness. There is no need for lemon peel in a
proper cup of espresso.
Myth #3: Bigger
is better
FALSE: Large
cups don't do espresso justice. The proper portion of espresso
is one ounce, and the cup should be very small so that it
holds the heat. Thick china cups are preferred. Large cups
dissipate the heat and the crema (foam) which carries the
aroma in a fine cup of espresso.
Myth #4: The
darker the roast, the better the espresso.
FALSE:
Over-roasted coffee loses all its complex flavors—they go up
the chimney and leave you only with bitterness. Illy carefully
roasts its coffee to the optimum level to bring out all the
flavors inherent in the bean. illycaffè purchases only
arabica beans for its blend and sorts the beans using
electronic instruments which evaluate the color and
automatically reject beans that are either too green or
overripe. About 50 coffee beans are needed to produce one cup
of espresso, and only one bad bean can ruin its flavor. In
order to better balance the aroma, illycaffè prepares the
blend from nine different lots of arabica before roasting and
uses an air-cooling system versus the more common
water-cooling system.
Myth #5: Put
your coffee for espresso in the freezer for freshness.
FALSE: Freezing
the coffee coagulates the natural oils contained in the bean.
In an espresso, those oils emulsify producing the wonderful
body and satisfying mouthful of this special cup of coffee.
Myth #6:
Espresso is hard to prepare.
TRUE AND FALSE:
Traditional espresso preparation is complicated unless you are
properly trained. That is why Dr. Ernesto Illy and his team
developed the E.S.E. system. Their objective was to find a way
to create a perfect cup of espresso—a happy outcome of that
quest was a method that was also convenient and simple. So
simple, in fact, that Dr. Illy's 4 year old granddaughter
proudly prepares her grandfather a perfect cup of espresso
when he comes to visit using the E.S.E. system.
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