Where to get Phượng coffee? Where in Europe can one buy the excellent Vietnamese coffee of the Phượng brand which is shown in the photo?

If you live in or near a major city any large Asian supermarket should carry it or a substitutes to try.  In San Diego, Ranch 99 is one such market.


Is it common to put honey in coffee? I heard from people in France and Bulgaria that people sometimes use honey to sweeten coffee (mostly older people).

Is it common in some cultures to use honey? Or is it just some individuals doing it?

I confirm MT San's point on availability. Sugar has become a commodity, but in the past, it was a luxury item. This luxury trait remains with high-end cane sugar, etc.

In the past people either dos not know about powder sugar, or could not afford it. They used instead honey, maple syrup, or other locally (so cheaper) available sweeteners. This habit remains for some people, usually older, as they have started in their youth, and that became their personal standard.

Interestingly honey can be more expensive than sugar today. Sugar is now a major commodity, and the price is really well "engineered". Honey has lower circulation, and the prices are comparatively high. But now the Elderly may have better incomes too.

By the way, no citation here. This is personal observation of my relatives, and a parallel with chicory, which originally replaced coffee in "poorer" regions of some countries, and the custom remains, even though the regions may not be "poorer" anymore.


Anti-Bacteria properties of coffee? Does coffee have any known anti-bacteria properties? Is it more immune to be consumed by bacteria than other food products? Does it kill bacteria in mouth when drunk by infected people?

I'm interested if there are any scientific research on that matter.

The Following Abstract from this paper suggested that coffee has antibacterial properties

  ABSTRACT The present study was carried out with water soluble portion
  and pure solvent of the acetone, ethanol, methanol, acetonit rile,
  water) extracts of leaves and leaf buds of Camellia sinensis (green
  tea), and beans of Coffea arabica (coffee) . Caffeine (3,7
  - dihydr o
  - 1, 3,7
  - trimethyl
  - 1H
  - purine
  - 2,6
  - dione) was isolated from both plants using a liquid
  - liquid extraction method, detected on thin layer chromatography (TLC) plates in comparison with standard caffeine, which served as a
  positive control. After performing the gross behavioral study, the
  Antibacterial activity was evaluated against Gram
  - negative bacteria included; Escherichia coli , Proteus mirabilis , Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa Both compounds at a
  concentration of 2 mg/ml showed similar anti bacterial activities
  against all tested bacteria, except for P. mirabilis , and the highest
  inhibitory effect was observed against P. aeruginosa using a modified
  agar diffusion method. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of
  caffeine was determined us ing a broth microdilution method in 96
  multi
  - well microtitre plates. MIC values ranged from 65.5 to
  250.0 μ g/ml for the caffeine isolated from coffee and 65.5 to 500.0 μ g/ml for green tea caffeine. Combination results showed additive
  effects against most p athogenic bacteria especially for P.
  aeruginosa, using both antibacterial assays. Key Words: Caffeine, MIC
  values, Antibacterial activity , Coffea arabica .


After cleaning a bean to cup machine can I reinsert the same filter? The Melitta Caffeo Gourmet bean to cup machine has built in cleaning and rescaling programmes. During these it is necessary to remove the Claris water filter.

Can I put the same filter back in? Or do I need to use a new one? Should I tell the machine via the care menu that I am removing/inserting the filter? Or just take it out without selecting remove or insert filter from that menu so it can remember how old the filter is?

I don't know the machine you're using but it seems like the water filters have a lifetime counted in water litters so you don't have to change it everytime , just when it filtered the amount of water it's designed to.

I think you should try at least once to tell the machine you're removing the filter to see if it remembers how old the filter is but you should probably wait to be near to your filter end to do so because if it doesn't remember how old it is you can just change it for a new one. But you should try to tell the machine , you'd rather loose a filter than bug your machine !


Why is a cup of coffee not 6 oz.? According to Google, a cup is 8 oz.

According to Wikipedia, a cup of coffee as measured on the coffee maker is only 5.07 oz.

Every brand of coffee I buy shows directions for 1 tbsp. per 6 oz..

So, why is a cup of coffee only 5.07 oz. when nobody (that I know of) uses a cup that small? In fact, in most establishments, you can't even buy a "small" cup of coffee that is less than 8 oz.

Is this just a conspiracy so that the coffee maker companies can exagerate their capacity while the coffee companies dupe people into using too much coffee per cup or is there another reason?

Why not just make it 6 oz.?

Do not blame the coffee makers for what has akways been an ambiguous meassure - or rather, not a unit for meassuring at all. Only in some areas of the world a "cup" has evolved into a fixed unit.

First and foremost, a cup is a drinking vessel for usually hot beverages and usually with a handle.

How big a cup is, is primarily a cultural thing. To showcase two extremes:

An espresso cup

(source)

vs. a jumbo coffee mug .

(source)

I am from Germany. We typically use [ml] for volumetric meassurements. Whenever I come across a recipe quoting "cups" I start my research: Where did it originate? Is it from the US? I use 245 ml. From current Germany? Probably 200 ml. From my Granny's time? 150 to 180 ml probably fits the bill.

Similar rues apply for coffee, from a small espresso or mokka cup in southern Europe or the Arab world to a mug of filtered coffee in the US.

There seems to be one correlation though - the "stronger" (=more concetrated) a coffe is customarily prepared, the smaller the cup. The amount of ground coffee per "serving unit" seems surprisingly constant for the various preparation styles - about a heaping teaspoon per "cup". The rest is a matter of taste.


What is the hexagon funnel shaped thing that came with my aeropress for? When I bought my aeropress, it came with this weird hexagon thingy:

What is it for?

It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize the purpose of this hexagon shaped funnel, so I am sharing this via a self posted answer.

The hexagon funnel has three purposes:

It is a funnel to make it easier to pour your ground coffee into the aeropress opening.
It is a funnel for cups with a small opening at the top. The image shows a shot-glass as an example. Trying to use an aeropress with a cup that is too small sucks.
It is a stand, so when your aeropress is stowed, it all neatly stacks together.


How many scoops of non-espresso coffee beans should I grind for 1 AeroPress cup? I buy strength "3" coffee beans and measure out 1 scoop into my hand grinder. I then fill the chamber to the top (inverted) and let it brew for up to about a minute. However, I've always wondered if I've been using enough coffee beans as the cup always appears a little watered down.

I've seen plenty of videos and blog posts about how to make an Americano with espresso beans, but i've not found much in terms of making a cup of coffee with non-espresso beans.

I have mine black, no sugar.

Can anyone confirm what is considered standard practice for the number of scoops of beans for a normal cup of coffee (non americano, non-espresso beans)?

Can anyone confirm what is considered standard practice for the number of scoops of beans for a normal cup of coffee (non americano, non-espresso beans)?

The are both ill-defined terms. A better measure is brew ratio, which describes the water to coffee ratio in mass units. On handground.com, there are a lot of recipes for AeroPress with brew ratios ranging from 17:1 at the weakest up to 8:1 at the strongest.

I'd suggest starting somewhere in the middle and adjusting based on the results. Since you're already getting a weak cup, the next step should have a slightly lower brew ratio.

You can either switch to mass units (grams or Imperial units with a simple kitchen scale work fine). The benefits of weight units are twofold:

They're more precise. Most kitchen scales are accurate to the gram or even a tenth of a gram. With scoops, you may need to use something like a little bit less than a full scoop and you'll have difficulty reproducing that exactly, even more so when you want to adjust a little bit.
The units translate to different coffees as well. Suppose you have a coffee with a different roast level, then its density may also vary. As such, a volumetric scoop of one coffee contain more or less coffee than a different variety of coffee. This is more of a factor when working with whole beans, but if you buy pre-ground the grind size will also have an impact when using volumetric scoops.

So I'd suggest switching to mass units and keeping track of adjustments and taste. If you don't like to get into the whole ratio thing, you can just fix the water content and increase the amount of coffee to get a stronger cup. The only time when you need to change the amount of water is when you want to adjust how much liquid you get in your final cup.


Are coffee enhancers bad for you? I buy Buisman Royal Aroma Coffee enhancer from our local Dutch shop.  It halves the coffee grounds needed and makes the coffee taste stronger.  It is basically burnt sugar, as far as I understand.

Is it bad for you?

That site that you linked (from www.buismaningredients.com, and this one) suggest that the main ingredient is caramelised sugar. The claim is simple enough: "caramelised sugars enrich the taste of coffee" (from cited articles). Caramelisation is the thermal decomposition of sugar (sucrose); not precisely "burnt" as such but similar.

I can't find any ingredient list for that product, but the company that makes it basically produces just caramelised sugar and caramel color. I can't find any negative health claims for caramelised sugar itself other than the basic ones for regular sugar (blood-sugar effects, teeth effects, etc.). Some have concerns about caramel color.


Does the bloom matter in French Press? I am a fan of pour-over, generally speaking, and I understand the importance of wetting the grounds, then allowing them to "bloom" for 45 30 seconds or so before beginning the extraction. The main purpose of this is to allow carbon dioxide and other gasses to escape from the grounds, so they can extract more evenly.

I have a coworker who is a fan of French Press, and he does a bloom in the French Press as well. I'm curious if this matters as much in this context, since the grounds are completely submerged the whole time. Is it important? If so, is it for the same reason or some other reason as a pour-over?

I believe there is mysticism to blooming. Don't get me wrong, I feel its important, but I don't think it does all the things that people claim it does. Blooming is important when using fresh roasted beans(and you should be). Blooming simply aids in removing CO2 from the grounds, which would otherwise create negative space between your grounds and the water. It's simply used to provide a more even extraction. Blooming is important in any immersion brewing, and can even aid in pour-over methods as well.

You should also reduce your brew time slightly to compensate for the extraction that takes place during the bloom. I'd typically bloom for 30 seconds, then push the bloom down gently without agitation(agitation effect solubility).

I think its a dubious claim to state that the bloom does anything beyond removing the CO2, thus providing a more even extraction. It would really depend on how you perform your bloom. Do you bloom then start your timer? Do you bloom with a small amount of water first, then add more to prevent too much extraction during the bloom? Ultimately these differences in taste don't have anything to do with the bloom itself, but more so the extraction time brought on by how you perform your bloom.

The bloom itself does not effect taste, and it is an important part of using a french press, as its key to providing even extraction.


Difference between cold brew and iced coffee? What is the difference between cold brew and iced coffee?
Is cold brew better than iced coffee?

Iced coffee is simply hot brewed coffee or espresso that has been poured over ice, and possibly mixed with contaminants like milk and sugar ;)
Cold brew is coffee that has been brewed with cold water over a long period of time, usually 12-24 hours. The process eliminates a lot of the acidity in coffee, and produces a sweet, flavorful coffee when done properly. Some people like cold brew more than hot coffee, it's all just personal preference.


When to use stirring to increase extraction? I often find that some methods of brewing for a particular implement differ on whether or not to stir the grounds at some point in the process.

I understand that stirring while brewing should increase the extraction, but when and why would I use stirring to do it instead of a finer grind, longer brew, higher temp, etc?

Stirring should be used if the grounds were not evenly dispersed in the beginning of the process for some reason (in immersion brewing methods).  For instance, when I am using my pour over at work, if my initial pour leaves some dry spots floating on top.  The Aeropress uses stirring prior to extraction presumably because the short time combined with the tube shape (narrow with all the grounds at the bottom) demand a good mixing.  I've seen many badly designed drip brewers that leave a chunk of dry grounds in the basket when done.  This is because the drip isn't dispersing water evenly and some of the grounds end up wasted,  finer grind, longer brew and temp won't necessarily help bad engineering in that case.


quality of water for cold brew and packaging Can i pack cold brew in a high quality PET bottle? Or must it be in a glass bottle? Also,  must filtered water always be used for cold brew? Or clean tap water can do the job?

This question differs greatly on a couple key factors. First, whether it is just for your own use, and second, how long you want to keep it for.

If you are drinking this yourself, you can make it and bottle it however you like. Whether that means doing what is easiest with what is available or going all out and buying supplies, it's up to you. If you are giving it to others or possibly selling it (your question is pretty ambiguous), then you want to try and create the most delicious cold brew you can at the most economical price. Glass definitely looks a lot better, and as I will talk about next, brings better flavour when kept refrigerated.

If you want to drink it the day or two after you make it, then a plastic bottle is probably fine, but the main difference is how well the bottle keeps out light, and lets out air. It may seem as though plastic is completely air tight, but there can be gases exchanged through plastic that can change the composition of the coffee chemistry. If you want a liquid to stay fresh for longer, glass is always a better bet than plastic.

  Can i pack cold brew in a high quality PET bottle?

You CAN make cold brew however you want. Tap water and PET bottles are fine for easy home brewing. It is, however, widely acknowledged that water plays a much more vital role in coffee brewing than previously thought, and when your coffee grounds are in contact with water for many hours as is the case in cold brew, you can suffer from that. Good water and glass bottles will always be better than tap water and plastic bottles.


Do ground beans or brewed coffee lose flavour faster? I usually roast my coffee in the evening, grind it and brew it in the morning, to drink multiple hours later. I do notice that I do not have the same experience drinking coffee multiple hours after it has been brewed and kept in a thermos, despite me pouring it into a mug as usual.

I've been wondering recently if I should get a french press mug, which will keep the coffee grounds, and when I want to drink, I could add hot water to brew it on the spot.

I know, however, that ground coffee loses its flavour very quickly (I've heard people say that 15 minutes is enough for a tastable change in flavour). So this makes me wonder, is there a difference in how well flavour can be conserved in either ground coffee or brewed coffee? Does sealing either one in a thermos change this outcome?

In the scenario given, you don't have the prefect solution to drink fresh coffee. However, I would opt for carrying a brewing solution (French-press in your case) with me. Let's discuss the two cases separately.

1. Early-brewing

In that case, you can grind fresh beans and prepare your coffee optimally with the brewing method of your preference. However, you cannot protect the brewed cup of coffee to go 'bad'. The reason is, whatever you do, you leave tiny coffee grounds in the water and they continue the extraction process. By time, your coffee gets bitter as a result of over-extraction.

Actually, this is a problem even in our daily routine. Pour-over brewing methods are invented for that. We mostly use paper filters to filter out most of the tiny grounds and have a clean cup to get rid of continuing extraction. Thus, we can have a stable cup while we drink in the next five minutes.

If you follow your taste buds, you can clearly feel this in a Turkish coffee cup or French-press, as most of the tiny grounds are still in the final cup in a French-press (and all of them are still there in a Turkish fincan) you should be quick to drink it. Otherwise, the cup goes crap. (By the way, inverted French-press is can also be used to minimize the effect of tiny grounds. But not effective enough.)

2. Late-brewing

Everybody on this board could admit that after grinding coffee goes stale in a few minutes. (See How quickly does coffee get stale?)

When you grind the beans, the surface area increases so the delicious aromatics evaporate more easily. You probably will end up with a duller coffee experience at the end. However, I feel like over-extraction is a far worse problem in your case.


What is the process for brewing egg coffee? There was recently a question about the history of brewing coffee with eggs, but what is the actual process involved?

Are there different receipies from different cultures? If so, what are they?

I decided to give this a shot and made up a recipe myself:

I started out by simply making a press pot of coffee:

then, after letting the coffee cool and steep for a few minutes, mixed up and tempered two eggs (shell and all) by spooning in some of the coffee and grounds:

This part starts to look pretty nasty, but persevere:

Whip the eggs into an emulsion (or close to it; this will be much easier with a whisk), and pour them into the press pot. Once you're done you should have an eggy crema on top (I think I needed one or two more eggs for the entire press pot):

As far as I can tell, it just tastes like coffee (the egg is hardly noticeable, and just tones down the flavor a bit like cream or milk). Using one or two more eggs (for a full pot like this) would probably have helped. Also, make sure you let the coffee cool enough before tempering your eggs, or you'll just wind up with scrambled egg floating in coffee despite the fact that you tempered it.


coffee with cardamom I recently tried coffee with some cardamom spice which tasted really great. I'm still wondering if it has any negative impact on health if you drink a lot of cups of coffee with cardamom during the day. I usually add some spoons of brown sugar and sometimes even skimmed milk, in the end I add small spoon of ground cardamom and stirr it up. I use regular ground coffee from the supermarket and consume probably around 3-5 cups per day, should I consume less? Are there any food/drinks I should avoid after drinking coffee with cardamom?

WebMD does list some negative side-effects when taking cardamom.  Looks like cardamom has health benefits too.

But I have a suggestion (gleaned from the back of my jar of cardamom pods). Instead of using a spoonful of ground cardamom, consider getting cardamom pods, squeezing 2 or 3 of them to crack them a little bit and placing those in your coffee cup.  It definitely augments the taste of the coffee in the positive direction, plus you're not eating ground cardamom.


Is Nespresso 'real' espresso? When I use an espresso coffee pod, I'm a little skeptical that it qualifies as real espresso. The contents of the cup don't seem to be compressed or 'tamped' in any way, and obviously there's no portafilter involved. As far as I know, steam is simply pumped through the capsule to produce coffee.

It does come out very strong, and with a decent amount of crema, but is it actually espresso?

Akin to the simultaneous fates of Schrödinger's Cat, answers to your question include no, maybe, and it doesn't matter. I have furthermore been unable to avoid philosophical diversion and hypothetical questions in this answer; please forgive me. :)
As @EricPlaton noted in comments, the answer depends on a slightly different question: What characteristics define real espresso? Here I merely compare the beverages produced by the following:

a traditional espresso machine (See this history of espresso machines and production techniques for one view of what is traditionally espresso), and
capsule-based "espresso" systems. There are several capsule-based espresso machines (here's a review of Nespresso and three others). You place a small coffee-filled capsule (a.k.a. "pod", made of aluminium, plastic, paper-wrapped, compressed puck, or other material) into the machine and press a button; seconds later it produces a coffee beverage.

My answers:
No.
In simple point of fact, espresso is not traditionally made with a coffee-filled capsule, so the beverage produced by capsule-based machines might be disqualified from being called espresso on that trivial issue alone. :)
If you subscribe to the INEI being a benchmark of espresso production standards (PDF), capsule systems may not meet INEI parameters... so if they don't, they're not an espresso on technicality alone, with regard to "Certified Italian Espresso" at least. For example:

quantity of coffee (e.g., Nespresso might be light);
hot water should be used for espresso (some do use pressurized water; but it's not INEI espresso if the capsule system uses steam);
Some capsule systems (as noted by @EricPlaton below) do produce espresso-machine pressures, but there could be benefit (or problems) by using pressure that is too high, or on the other hand too low for extraction and crema. That said, it seems that AeroPress can create crema at lower pressures, so perhaps the capsule systems produce a beverage more like AeroPress than espresso.[1]

Maybe.
There have been several taste-tests of questionable "legitimacy" between capsule-based machines and traditional espresso machines. One four-subject test gave higher marks to the beverage produced from a capsule-based machine than a traditional espresso machine. This one agrees. Another test disagreed, giving a capsule-based machine a scathing review. Maybe there are better reviews out there; these are mostly useful for anecdotes.
As you note, the resulting beverage from a capsule-based espresso system is similar to traditional espresso, crema and all. However, if you ordered an espresso from a proper cafe, and they gave you a beverage that was brewed using a capsule-based machine, would you feel cheated on principle? What if the beverage was indistinguishable from traditional espresso... or if you like the capsule-based system's result better?
It doesn't matter.
This is my personal conclusion. The result of the beverage produced by a capsule-based system is a decent replica of proper espresso. Capsule systems also are likely to produce a consistent result. If you like the beverage that results (see above...), what difference does it make if it's "real" espresso or not?
[1] Is AeroPress espresso? I think not (and @Chris in AK agreed and notes "Aerpresso" in comments!), but that's a separate question also...


Environmental/human ethics of common brands I currently try to purchase fair trade coffee, since it at least comes with a policy of attempting to be...well...fair to the producers.  However, just because a coffee is not fair trade doesn't mean that it isn't fair, and there are some coffee plantations that I've heard of that do better than the fair trade standard but don't go for the official certification.

Are there any brands that are:

a. cheaper than fair trade
b. as ethical/better from both a human and environment standard?

The major standards are a bit confusing honestly.  Fair trade provides a baseline above the commodities rates, but they don't ensure that the farmer is getting the most for their product.  Furthermore, the farm has to be able to be certified for conforming to certain environmental conditions prior to being certified.  Many coffee farmers are so far off the beaten path that they simply cannot afford to be certified.  I believe that conscientious importers provide a far better compensation to the farmer.

It looks like Fair Trade assures something between 15 and 35 cents above commodities rates.  This is far below what a roaster will pay for specialty grade coffee.  While fair trade is a good baseline, if you purchase specialty coffee, you are most likely buying coffee that was purchased for significantly better than fair trade rates.  To give you an idea.. I pulled up a random invoice I had in my inbox and it was $1.70 above commodities rate.  Furthermore, importers provide on the ground support to farmers in the form of varietal education and recommendations, disease prevention, washing technique improvements, all of which net the farmer tangible benefits because their coffee will improve in quality, and thus, sell for more.

So.. if you are looking for good ethical compensation for farmers, I would say look for local specialty roasteries.  These roasteries are purchasing high quality coffee from a high quality importer which means that there are people on the ground helping farmers achieve better quality, and thus better compensation.

The link below is a pretty interesting article from a greens buyer I am thinking about working with.  I found it a very interesting read that gave some insight into what importers actually do, and highlights why a lot of coffee farms are not certified..

40 hours in the life of a greens buyer

I know this explanation doesn't directly answer your question, but hopefully it sheds some light on the behind the scenes of how coffee buying works.  Fair Trade, Organic, Rainforest Alliance are all great programs, but they can also exclude a lot of hard working farmers, that produce fantastic products, and are very conscientious of the environment etc.

One last bit of food for thought.. My roastery cannot advertise our product as Organic because our kitchen is not certified Organic (I've been officially open only for a few months, after a years worth of building my business and haven't been able to get certification lined up yet).  Despite this, half of my products are certified Organic.  Looking at it from the business perspective, I would love to advertise my product as Organic, but just haven't been able to navigate the red tape, and I am sure there are other small businesses that are in the same boat.


Is there a difference in quality of using a plastic/wood/metal stirrer? I happen to see in more commercial coffee shops that stirring of coffee for Lattes etc. is done with a metal spoon, however when I order a plain coffee and go add milk/sugar there are plastic stirrers. Similarly when I go and have coffee at work the office has wooden sticks to stir the coffee.

Besides for sanitary reasons, does the type of stirrer used effect the quality of the coffee? Is there an "ideal" stirrer material when preparing coffee?

I'm just reasoning...

Polished gold or porcelain must be the ideal stirrers as they won't chemically react. I opt for porcelain as it may also help keeping the coffee warm as its thermal conductivity is less than gold.

Comparing the three you mentioned:

Wooden: Sometimes I taste it. So, I don't prefer it that much.
Plastic: There are many polymers we call plastic in our daily life. Some of these things are really of bad quality and I am suspicious if their thermal resistance is adequate for coffee. I wouldn't prefer them, too.
Metal: Especially, if you mention polished 18/10 stainless steel cutlery, they probably resist the heat and won't react with anything. So, the only bad thing about them is, they may make your cup colder a bit quicker than usual. Just take the spoon off right after use. This would be my preference.


Best technique to make latte art with an Aeroccino 3? I want to know which are the best practices to make latte art with the Aeroccino 3.

Which level of milk is optimal? Should I use the maximum for hot mark, maximum for cold mark or somewhere below or between the marks?
Should I use the whisk with or without the spring?
Do I need a metal milk jug?

My problem is that the milk turns out too foamy, and I believe it should be denser.

Check this out https://youtu.be/X00xSAndJZU

I also find that the milk will be separated with the foam quite fast so you need to immediately pour the milk out of the can.
Shaking the can also help a lot as the milk will again emerge with foam and give silky result.


How much caffeine is in 1 teaspoon of ground Arabica coffee? Arabica is said to have less caffeine than Robusta. Couldn't find info about this specific  question in Google hence asking here.

The grind I have is for filter coffee.

The caffeine content of Arabica beans is around 1,2% of its mass. A standard measure of a teaspoon is approximately 5ml. That means you get around 5g of ground coffee in one teaspoon, which totals around 0,06g or 60mg of caffeine.

However please consider that teaspoons and spoons are in general a terrible unit of measurement for various reasons. Normal teaspoons are not standardized. American measuring spoons are close to 5ml but not 5ml. And in general they measure volume and not mass, which makes it dependent on the density of whatever you are measuring. For ground coffee this can vary widely and depends on the bean origin, the roast level, grind size and probably other factors I'm forgetting right now.


Where are high-quality coffee beans harvested? Which country produces high-quality coffee beans?  Are the tropical countries producers of high-quality coffee beans?

Many places with various climates do or could produce high quality beans. Guatemala, Peru, Ecuador,  Hawaii, Jamaica, Kenya, Indonesia... the list goes on and on.

Coffee is a fruit, a sort of cherry that can grow in wet or dry, temperate or cool climates. The climate of a location and the specific times of planting and harvest will affect the flavor of the coffee bean itself (which is the seed of the fruit).

But there are other factors that affect the flavor to greater degrees. How the seeds are processed (removal of the fruit and drying of the beans) after harvest is perhaps the biggest factor. Of course roasting, staleness of beans when brewing, and brewing factors all also play significant roles in the final taste of drinkable coffee.

It's close to impossible to control for all these factors. Specialty coffees can typically each be sourced to a single farm and a single harvest because that's the only way to ensure consistent processing of the beans. But even then, logistics of sourcing present challenges to consistently roasting and brewing those beans. And changing climates across the globe will challenge preconceived notions of "where the best coffee comes from" as we move into a bleak future.


What are the 4M's of espresso? "4M" is something that I have been heard of as a requirement set for tasty espresso.

What are these four important quality factors that affect the flavor of final espresso cup?

4M is a term mainly used among Italians for espresso. It is a placeholder for four words that start with "M" in Italian that affects espresso preparation. Some information can be found here.

These M's are:

Miscela: The coffee-blend; it covers the selection and blending of the beans as well as proper roasting.
Macinazione: The grinder; proper grinding of the given blend and its usage when its still fresh.
Macchina: The espresso-machine; usage of the given grounds with a proper espresso-machine.
Mano: Skill of the barista; usage of all above with skill.


Does a plumbed, self grinding coffee machine at 300-500 USD exist? my office is looking for a new coffee machine to replace/upgrade from a keurig. I've been given three constraints.

It can be plumbed so we don't need to keep filling the water reservoir.
It grinds beans as needed.
It can be found new between 3-500 USD

My search yesterday only lead to finding machines that fulfilled 2 out of 3 constraints.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

I had a friend requesting exactly this for his gym recently and we were unable to find a machine that fit all three constraints.

The options were basically choose a commercial level plumbed machine with a separate grinder, or a home level grinder / brewer combo and pour water in yourself.  I think there may be some basic technological problems with sticking a grinder right on top of a brewer, since it would probably be subjected to less than ideal environmental conditions (all that water vapor getting on your burrs / into the bulk beans can't be good)

If it is a low volume situation, the Cuisinart DGB 900BC might work, if high volume I would recommend a plumbed Bunn / Curtis Airpot system.


How to make Autocrat style coffee syrup Has anyone tried converting cold brew concentrate into Autocrat style coffee syrup? My daughters enjoy coffee milk.  Can I cold brew the beans in the syrup, or do I need to add sugar to the concentrate and cook it down to a syrup?

If you are referring to Autocrat coffee syrup, which is basically just corn sugar syrup with a bit of coffee concentrate (and likely some preservatives). So yes you can make it yourself, by making or buying sugar syrup and then add some cold brew concentrate et voilà.

Cold brewing the beans in the sugar syrup I wouldn't try, I don't think it will extract very well, since the syrup is not liquid enough and the water in the syrup already quite saturated with sugars.

If you cook down the cold brew with sugar, it will be super high in caffeine concentrate. I don't know how old your girls are, but high doses of caffeine are not usually recommended for children.


Espresso, pour starts dripping halfway? I have a Espresso machine (Rocket R58).

I'm curious why my pour starts to drip halfway the pull. Is there any explanation why halfway and not from the get-go?

I do understand I need to go more coarse to fix this...

There may be some advice on this. My first will be to check the pressure as you can do this with your pretty machine. Please check if you are around 9 bars when pulling the shot.

One reason of delay is, it takes a while for the water to wet the grounds. So, it is normal to wait for a few seconds to see the first drops. However; if it is more than a few seconds, the most possible problems I can think of are:

The pressure is not enough
You have tamped so forcefully
The grind is too fine


How can I keep several pots of coffee warm? I am the coffee guy for my parish's Fall Festival and every year I hit the same snag when it comes time to serve the coffee.

This is the scenario:

I am given:

20 silver pots with vacuum sealed lids one has to press to open
20 gold pots with flip-top lids that don't really seal at all
one large percolator (100 cups)
one medium percolator (about 65 cups)
one smaller percolator (about 35 cups)

There are about 20 tables and people expect a pot of decaf and a pot of regular on each table.

The tables seat 8-10 people, but sometimes only 2-4 people will sit down at a table.

I will have several servers with nothing better to do than check if coffee pots are full.

How can I keep the maximum amount of coffee warm in this scenario?

Actually, this answer will eventually boil down to the forecasting of time dependent expected coffee consumption function of your guests.

You may expect that, right after a meal or right after they are seated people tend to drink coffee all together at once. Therefore, it is better to keep most (all?) of the pots filled up when you encounter them at first.

Then, the servers may check the pots and replace the most crowded tables' pots with empty tables' pots for a while. During that time, you may prepare your second tank of coffee brew.

To keep the coffee fresh, you may preheat the water, I assume. I'm not sure if your percolators are compatible but you may just heat up the water in the big one. Then use the smaller ones to brew smaller batches of coffee to keep rather fresher and smaller batches of coffee. Also, if some of the coffee remains, it is clear that a smaller batch will cost you less.

Besides, for serving decaf, my approach would be something like that: I would keep a few of the servers busy with serving decaf around the less crowded tables and only leave decaf pots in the most crowded tables. (Assuming that decaf will be consumed less.)

All and all, all of the above is my humble opinion.


How long should I stir French press before "pressing"? What are the pros/cons and effects of stirring, either "too much" or "too short", in a French press?  My rule of thumb for steeping is to let the coffee cool down to a drinkable temperature, then serve immediately.

I was going with the thinking that in whatever chemical reaction is occurring during the brew, I would want to accelerate it with maximum stirring.  Particularly when maximizing caffeine?

The video here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_press#Preparation

shows a quick stir only, however.  They mention a range of brewing times.

(side question:  the only reason not to stir with a metal spoon is to prevent breaking the beaker?)

Based on my experience, I can say that stirring does not affect the brewing process in a French press a lot. The initial stirring is just for homogenously distributing the grounds in the water. Then, the rest of brewing happens itself in the water by chemical extraction itself and the main factors are time and temperature.

According to your question, I can say that you may be over extracting if you are waiting for the water to cool down.

One quick recipe and other related discussion are mentioned here.


Effect of Sugar on Perceived Bitterness in Coffee Abstract: Food and Function

Sugar changes the chemical structure of tea and coffee

Is this effect of sugar in water on coffee solids to be trusted? I like some coffees black (pourover, drip) and some never without sugar (espresso drinks, Aeropress) and sometimes with evaporated milk or cream. I work at a coffee shop as well. Some have said that sugar counteracts bitterness in coffees (I assume due to caffeine). Does this supposed scientific backing have any credibility?

If you are asking whether the science can be trusted, I would say yes.  The effect is already well known.  You even understand it insomuch as you apparently don't drink more concentrated brews (espresso, aerpresso) without a "masking" agent.

All this study is doing is finding a more specific reason for the already acknowledged effect.  People commonly believe that sugar or salt "masks" the bitterness from caffeine.  This study is saying that sugar or salt are not just masking the bitterness, but actually changing the chemical properties of the caffeine in solution, thus changing the flavor.


What is the optimal length of time for pulling a shot of espresso? Assuming:

The beans are ground correctly, and are of good quality
You have the right amount of grind in the basket
The grounds are tamped correctly
The machine is set to the correct temperature (90°C to 96°C (195°F to 205°F))

First: is there an optimal length of time for a shot of espresso to be pulled for highest quality taste and aroma? If so, for how long?

That will completely depend on the blend of espresso you are using.  Different coffees will have different pull times.

In my experience as a barista, you'll aim for about 28 seconds on most shots.  Some of the blends we've used aimed more at 25 to 31 seconds.

TL;DR: Depends on the coffee.


Cleaning a stovetop espresso maker (moka pot) before first use How should a Moka pot be cleaned before first use and does this depend on what it's made of (aluminium or stainless steel)?

Like with most Moka-related things, I'm finding a lot of different information:

Use only warm water (source)
Use soapy water (source, only applies to stainless steel Venus, another source specifically says not to do this on aluminium)
Use water with a tablespoon of salt (source)
Use water with vinegar or baking soda (source)

After this first clean, most sources seem to agree it's good to make a few batches of coffee and throw them away. But I'm curious what I should do prior to this and if there's any point to using vinegar / salt / baking soda?

Check for metal shavings, grind the bottom flat (if needed). Remove the filter and sealing in the top part to check there as well.
Mild soap can be used to remove leftover oils from machining (if present).

For Aluminium moka pots, don't use anything abrasive or even midly aggressive (acidic or alkaline) as it will attack the aluminium, instead use coffe to let a protective oil film build up. Some cloth or paper towels can be used to reduce the "patina" from time to time. Immediatly rinsing with water after use (the top part) will keep coffee from drying and sticking and also keep the oil film intact.

The stainless variants are pretty much immune to wear, except the sealing. However, the filter (in the top part) might also be made from aluminum.


How do I design a Turkish coffee mixture? I am trying to create a Turkish coffee mixture, by combining Colombian, Brazilian, Robusta and a few other types together in some percentage.
I could not find a base at which to stand in designing such mixture. What are the ideal characteristics of Turkish coffee ? How much caffeine, glucose, other chemicals should it contain ?

There is no recipe for preparing a perfect blend.

Before beginning, please read this somewhat relevant question first:

What are the basics of creating an espresso blend?

I, personally, prefer to use Ethiopian Harrar single origin beans, light-to-medium roasted. However, this may all depend. When you go to a commercial Turkish firm, they mostly consume Dos Santos beans from Brazil, which itself is a kind of blend itself, and roast them to charcoal.

To prepare a Turkish blend, all you need to know is the characteristics of the brewing technique (See this previous post for a discussion) as you can see in the previous post. Opposite to the espresso, Turkish brewing is the least acidity revealing technique out there as it uses decoction. Therefore,

you can safely use acidic beans
you don't need to roast a lot to get rid of acidity
and, as a result, you can taste the fruitful notes, go for fruity beans
you may safely try dry/honey processed beans

Then, about the chemicals... You should not put any additional chemicals in it. It should be just ground coffee. I know some commercial products that already mix some herbs or sugar with fine ground coffee; but it has nothing to do with the reality apart from marketing. Think of it as 3-in-1 instant coffee products. You probably don't want to drink them.


Will coffee taste different from a cup with lid (blocking the smell)? I know that as much of our perception of flavour is down to smell as actual taste. When I get a take-out coffee with a lid, am I losing all of the smell that I would get if I drank it out of an open-topped vessel, and does this affect the taste?

To get the full taste should I remove the lid before drinking it?

Yes.  You should remove the lid for maximum effect.  Somewhere around three quarters of our perception of taste comes from smell.  There are varying figures out there, but most are fairly high.

However, much of that comes from the olfactory sense when the molecules pass from our mouth to our sinuses.  So, having a stuffy nose is more likely to reduce the taste of your coffee than drinking it with the lid on.  That being said, the aroma from brewed coffee tends to dissipate fairly quickly, so you might only need to leave the lid off your cup for the first few minutes of your "coffee experience".


How Much Should I Spend When Investing In An At-Home Espresso Machine? I remember discussing the merits of different espresso machines a while back at my local coffee shop with a seasoned barista. His advice was that anything priced below $1000 would produce sub-par espresso.

Is this a good rule of thumb? In other words...

What is the minimum amount of money one should spend when investing in a at-home espresso machine?

For the purposes of this question, I'm interested in semi-automatic espresso machines. It would be used to make straight espresso and espresso beverages.

It's important to note that you should be thinking of your entire espresso budget (i.e. Machine, Grinder, and Accessories) when trying to find the "right" price. If you were to buy a $1000 machine, you'd want to spend minimally $300 on an espresso grinder. If you're looking at spending a $1000 total and go with something that requires a little more technique, maybe the popular Rancilio Silvia / Rocky combination is right for you. Also, some say that the grinder is actually the most important component to consider when trying to make amazing coffee on a budget. It might be worth shorting yourself a bit on the machine to afford yourself a better grinder in the long run. I'd recommend the Baratza Vario as a starting point. It's pricier, but it does a fantastic job for both drip and espresso. Also, Baratza has amazing support/service and a history of quality. That can be worth quite a bit in the long run.


My coffee isn't acidic enough? This question is difficult to google because of the overwhelming amount of people looking for less acidic coffee, but...
My (very cheap) 4-cup Cuisinart drip-style coffee maker (like the kind you'd find in a hotel) fits the bill for me in most ways: size, ease of use and cleanup, simplicity. I've had more involved ways of making coffee in my life and noticed the joy slip away when I have to work for 30 minutes just to have a nice hot cup before my brain is even awake enough to know the difference.
I only buy light and medium roast single-origin coffees from regions like Guatemala and Ethiopia because they seem to correspond to brighter (read: more acidic) and more fruity flavors, and I grind it myself, albeit with a blade grinder, so I'm fairly certain the beans aren't to blame. Also use a 1:17 by weight ratio of coffee to tap water.
I'm interested to know why the coffee I'm making is so muted compared to the other extraction methods I'm used to (pour over, Aeropress, french press). The cup that comes out of this machine is the opposite of bright and citrusy; more like muddy. It's not terrible, but if I add a pinch of citric acid, it certainly brightens up (though there's no accompanying fruity/citrusy smell).
Is it my grinder, extraction method, or coffee maker? Or maybe something else?

To add to cabmeurer's answer, I think a big reason for the lower levels of acidity in your drip coffee when compared with other methods (pour-over, Aeropress, etc.) comes down to temperature. This post shows the results of sticking a temperature probe below the shower screen in a Cuisinart drip coffee machine similar to the one you have: when the water tank is filled with cold (15°C) tap water, the resulting brew is made with water that is 88°C or colder. Meanwhile, the brew temperature of a pour-over or Aeropress made with water fresh off the boil will be much higher, closer to 95°C. Brewing at higher temperatures might be what allows you to get more of the acidity you desire.
Luckily, that same post shows that using hot (45°C) tap water to fill the water tank of the drip machine can help to increase its brewing temperature. With cold water in the tank, it takes a full 6 minutes for the water leaving the shower screen to reach 88°C; with hot tap water instead it takes just 1 minute, and the brew temperature eventually reaches 95°C. Still maybe not as hot as other brewing methods, but perhaps an improvement on what you've got at the moment. Good luck!


What's the recommended way to roast coffee beans at home? There are couple of different methods to roast beans at home. Namely;

Using a specific home roaster
Using a pan
Using a hair dryer
Using a (sometimes modified) corn popper

are alternatives I have heard of. I know that using heated air is advantageous as all beans are homogeneously roast. So, using a pan requires too much attention among these methods.

What do you think? Do you know any other methods? Do you think one of these methods are superior to others?

The best would be buying a home roaster, but that would be expensive.

corn popper does an amazing job considering how cheap and easy it is.
(hair drying is like corn popper in principle, but will need you to manually make sure the heat is used evenly, corn popper just do it automatically)

Using a pan need some practice but could be lot of fun to try.

So if you have the money and want to invest in it go for home roaster if not popcorn popper would be great.

just remember, you cannot make a good coffee out of bad quality coffee beans while the opposite is true.

Have a Good Roasting :)


Why are commercial coffee machines significantly more expensive than consumer machines? I am trying to understand what causes a commercial coffee machine to be more expensive than a consumer system.

In essence, a coffee machine consists of:

Boiler, for the hot water (around 65 °C).
Temperature sensor.
Pump/motor to get the pressure (around 10 bar). (cost: \$390-\$520 USD)
Valves and pipes (to the boiler, from boiler to extraction point).
Pressure gauge, for the coffee extraction .
Relay, measuring the extraction length (around 25 sec).
Precise Temperature, Pressure and Extraction-Time control, via some kind of embedded system, say micro controller.
Chassis, to hold all the parts.
Coffee Taste(Temperature, Pressure, Extration-Time, Coffee Beam Crop)

What is it about the components or implementation that make commercial systems more expensive?

Is there something different about the manufacturing process (and therefore price) of each of the separate components?  Or are there additional electrical components contributing to a higher component price?

Disclaimer: I have no coffee maker designing or manufacturing experience.  This answer is based on internet research and professional experience.  This answer addresses some of the product design challenges and less of the real engineering challenges, but a lead into the engineering challenges. Based on the question and comment I believe OP is interested in designing a coffee maker.

From a business standpoint most organizations strive to service segments of the market that organizations believe they have a competitive advantage. These organizations also try to offer products to meet opening (OPP), mid (MPP) and High (HPP) price points. Also branding place a significant part in product pricing.

Assumption: US dollar = Euro (Approximately, 1 Euro = 1.09 US$)

Coffee Maker Product Landscape
Based on the above I did some research on food services warehouse and selected Grindmaster for this analysis. Base on list price following are the price point classification (Dollars $)

OPP: 1000 - 2600
MPP: 3500 - 4700
HPP: 6000 - 10,000

Below is a table for OPP, MPP, and HPP price segmentation (April 6th, 2015)

Lets assume the following as customer segments

OPP: Small office break room coffee machine
MPP: Large office cafeteria
HPP: High traffic coffee shop, Panera, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts…

Requirements Analysis:
Flow rate was chosen to keep the analysis simple

OPP:  4 - 15 gl/hr
MPP: 15 - 32 gl/hr
HPP:  32 - 50 gl/hr

Engineering Analysis

Product Design
Consider the Motor (Rotor, Stator, Casting) or the heating element from the BOM. Each of the price points (PP) most like need a different type of component. The component price to meet the above flow rate specification can be significantly different. Also the product volume is each PP is different thus for HPP or even MPP product it is highly unlikely to obtain volume base pricing that OPP might enjoy. Thus explains the cost of components.

Product Testing, Validation and Manufacturing
The cost of testing, validation and manufacturing will be much higher for MPP and HPP product because the consumer demands for higher quality product compared to OPP products.  Thus the non-recurring engineering (NRE) cost per machine will much higher for MPP and HPP product than the OPP products.

Product Serviceability and Support
An OPP price point product needs very little from a serviceability and after sale support compared to MPP or HPP product. An OPP customer is most likely replace a defective coffee maker with a new coffee make where is MPP or HPP customer will consider maintenance. Also consider a customer like Starbuck or Panera, they demand for high quality, and zero downtime. Therefore the components used in MPP or HPP coffee makers of significantly higher quality than the OPP coffee makers.

Product Pricing VS BOM price -> General rule of thumb is BOM cost is 1/5 the Product Price. I believe this is a good starting point to figure what take to compete in the intended the coffee maker market. It appears that the coffee maker market is a red ocean. Therefore it important identify the point of differentiation.

References:

Blue Ocean Strategy
Example Coffee Maker BOM
Example Coffee Maker Landscape
Performance Improvement Analysis
Coffee Maker Product Design
Grindmaster Single brew coffee maker product offering example


Should I freeze my green coffee beans to prevent infestation? I get 10 or more pounds of green coffee beans (Colombian Supremo) in a 'burlap bag'.  Should I freeze the lot of them for a few days to rid them of potential pests?

You failed to give us any details about the variety, provenance or history of your green coffee beans. Nor did you elaborate on what kind of potential pests you are worried about so all we can do is speculate vaguely.

The only likely pest to be found in green coffee beans is the coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei. This is a tiny, 2mm black beetle. And legitimate green beans would invariably have been fumigated to eradicate this pest.

Drying green coffee beans to critical water content levels, followed by freezing @ -15C for 2 - 6 days appears to be an effective alternative to fumigation. However this would normally be redundant to fumigation that has already taken place. And there remains some controversy about the impact of freezing upon cherry quality.


Is it good to have the "floating oil" on the surface of some coffee drinks? Coffees prepared with some standard home machines (e.g., non-paper-filtered methods like moka, Turkish, or even some espresso machines) have something on the surface. It looks like oil from the beans.

Filter-based brewing techniques like drip or Aeropress do not result in this oil film on the surface, in my observation. The filter is probably the reason, as it can block the oil and just let water get through.

This oil, if confirmed, is what contains most flavour compounds, so I guess we want to keep it. On the other hand, it is aesthetically nicer to have a clean surface for the coffee drink, which means to act such that this oil is excluded at brewing time.

I am not sure there is a tradeoff here, as "clean" surface coffees are very good (if prepared well), which means the flavour compounds did get down to the drink. So perhaps the surface oil is just that does not participate to the flavour. Any information on this topic?

Nice question. A similar myth has been arisen for Turkish coffee pot; such as it should be cleaned only with water to keep the greasy surface made with coffee oil.

Partly correct, partly not. According to my "Barista's manual" from Lavazza, this sedimented oil may acetify. Thus, end up bad flavor.

Again, (I cannot remember the source) as of my knowledge, paper filters are very good filtering everything; including those valuable oils. (That's why classical French press is still very common to prepare filter coffee, I think.) Paper soak in most of the flavor itself if it does not have proper fibers. This seems like the main problem of any drip coffee machine, V60, Chemex, etc.

Final words: keep it clean in the long run. You may not necessarily clean it until acetifying; which is you may keep it as it is up to one-two days.

Same rule for Turkish coffee pots. :)


What is the most environmentally friendly type of coffee filter? First I want to clarify I live in a city that does compost (Seattle). Also taste is not a concern for the sake of this discussion. Knowing that...

I am not sure what is a more environmentally friendly choice of a type of coffee filter between...

a. Unbleached paper coffee filters that are compostable

b. Cloth coffee filter that is easily rinsable with hot water

Does anyone know which one is the friendlier choice?

I guess it's you can also see it as a city compost vs use of hot water question.

My choice is the Melitta “All natural bamboo filter”.
Manufacturer claims “made with 40% bamboo” and “recycled paperboard” and “100% compostable filter paper”.
I grind my beans using the Turkish setting for a super fine grind and use a hand poured one cup filter system which gives me a really super full rich taste.
Michael Gamble


Is diluting filter concentrate after the brew the same as brewing with the additional water? Recently moved from a Clever Drip coffee maker to an Aeropress. I brew using a 60g to 1 ltr ratio often brewing 24g yielding 400ml on the clever drip and 12g to 200ml on the Aeropress. If I am brewing for 3 people should I brew 3 batches 12g/200ml or something like 36g/150ml and dilute the concetrate with 450ml of water?
TLDR: Is diluting filter concentrate after the brew the same as brewing with the additional water?

No it is not the same. The brew ratio is important to extract the right amount of solubles from the coffee, ideally all the pleasant ones and only few of the unpleasant ones.
If you brew with less water, you'll dissolve less of the coffee's goodness, and diluting that will lead to a thin coffee compared to a correctly brewed one.
Conversely, if you brew with too much water, you'll extract bitter substances you won't like, so if you like a thinner coffe (like an americano) it's best to brew normally and then dilute.
Unfortunately, the Aeropress is not really suitable to serve multiple guests.


What is the difference between Robusta and Arabica? Different coffee packets advertise different amounts of 'Robusta' and 'Arabica'? What do these terms refer to, and how does it affect the taste of the coffee?

One reason that the taste isn't as good for Robusta is that it has more caffeine compared to Arabica. Which may sound like a positive thing but caffeine carries a bitter taste which makes it an unpleasant drink. In fact the Robusta bean has 2.7% caffeine content, almost double the 1.5% of Arabica.
Arabica contains almost 60% more lipids and almost twice the concentration of sugar than Robusta. This factor also probably has a big impact on why we prefer the taste of Arabica.
From a price perspective, green beans of Robusta is about half the price of Arabica green beans on the commodity market.
Robusta is easier to tend to on the farm, has a higher yield and is less sensitive to insects - the extra caffeine is a chemical defense for the coffee seed as the quantity in the Robusta is toxic to bugs.

All of these factors help bring up the supply and lower the input costs for farmers to produce. With this more attractive price point, a lot of roasters back in the day would add Robusta to their blend in an attempt to reduce their costs and increase their profits. When coffee was initially sold in the 1900s the quality of coffee slowly and slowly deteriorated in an effort for companies to squeeze the most profit.
Where you’ll find it: Nowadays, it’s not often you’ll find Robusta in a coffee blends or in coffee shop. If you’re drinking instant coffee? Well, that’s probably all Robusta… but you probably don’t care very much about taste. In your espresso blend? That’s a mixed bag. Literally. Oddly enough, Robusta is still widely used as part of espresso blends – specifically Italian style blends. It is said to help improve the crema.
One thing to note is despite the association with Arabica of being higher quality, and Robusta as being lower quality, it’s not always the case. Top notch specialty Robusta coffee will usually taste as good as or better than low end Arabica. However, high end Robusta isn’t widely used or available. Rather, Robusta is usually used as a filler or cost reducer.

Robusta beans are much more circular, whereas Arabica are more oval.
Chlorogenic acid is a significant antioxidant and an insect deterrent. Robusta is 7-10% CGA and Arabica has 5.5-8% CGA.

Sourced from The Roasters Pack.


Does room temperature matter when dripping? When hand dripping coffee in Winter, some water vanishes into mist. We obviously need to go quick before the water temperature drops too much. Also, a cold room tends to cause more mist, making hard to see the coffee ground while dripping.

Is there a recommended room temperature for "better" drip? Better here may mean higher quality drink result, or just more convenient ways of dripping.

The question is more about hand-dripping, but it could matter with machines as well.

I would say that room temperature can have an affect on the final outcome of your coffee if the room your in is cold enough. Probably not so much if your sitting in a warm room.

I say this because to get a full extraction from your coffee, your water should be between 90°C - 96°C and being in a cold environment can cool that water rather quickly.

If you're interested in calculating the speed at which water cools, here is some "light" reading that goes over newton's law of cooling if you're interested: http://stanwagon.com/public/evaporationportmannwagonmier.pdf

Not sure what the ideal room temperature would be though. I would guess one that would allow your water to stay hot enough for the whole brew time.


Is there a way to get Caffe d'orzo in North America? I know it's not really coffee, but I fell in love with "Caffe d'orzo" on a trip to Italy.  I seems to be ground, roasted barley run through an espresso machine.  The shots don't taste quite like espresso, but grassier, milder, and less oily than coffee (in a way that I sometimes crave).
Can I make it--or something like it--conveniently without living on the Mediterranean?  I think some expensive "pod" (N)espresso makers sell pods for it in Italy.  If I could figure out the roasting myself, I might even invest in a countertop espresso maker, but I don't want to ruin expensive equipemnt.

Perhaps there's a safer way to experiment - ubrik, bialetti, etc?  Anyone experimented with this?

You should be able to find the roasted barley itself in an international food store, often sold for steeping like tea (a tisane). It is often called mugicha (Japanese) or other names. When prepared for tea, it is sometimes sold blended with, e.g., green tea, so be sure to check the label. Alternatively, a home-brewing outlet will probably have roasted, malted barley available. This will be even sweeter and maltier still.

Amazon also sells roasted barley for tea in bags. I'm sure it would be a bit different when brewed like espresso but maybe similar enough and convenient in tea bags. I like the taste of the tea-like infusion, like toasted malt.

I think your idea to brew in a moka pot is a good one, but you'll have to find a grind that works well: I suspect a grind just a bit coarser than you would normally use for moka would be a good place to start. I don't think you need to be worried about equipment damage, but I haven't tried this (yet!). Next time I can get my hands on some mugicha I think I shall!


Can caffeine be extracted by the body when digesting coffee grounds? I'm told my great-grandmother used to drink the coffee, then eat the grounds with some sugar. Assuming there was caffeine left in them, is the body able to extract caffeine from coffee grounds by digesting them, versus getting it boiled out in the form of coffee?

Or in other words, if someone were to eat the grounds without drinking the coffee, could he feel some caffeine effects?

Yes. Coffee grounds are simply the ground up seeds found inside the berry of the coffea plant, so eat up! Even after the beans have been ground and extracted into your favorite coffee beverage, they still contain plenty of caffeine and are perfectly digestible.

Before people learned to brew coffee, folks were eating the beans to get that coffee boost. Today we eat straight coffee beans through all sorts of preparations. Chocolate covered espresso beans are quite popular and pack quite the kick.

Eating coffee beans has even more effect than drinking coffee because not all of the caffeine is extracted through your brewing process. According to the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, leftover coffee grounds from filter and espresso-type coffeemakers are especially abundant in antioxidants. Plus, you'll get all the benefit of the dietary fiber that's not present in your morning brew.  Enjoy!


When and how should I clean my moka pot? I regularly use a moka pot for making coffee, and I've heard different people tell me about cleaning it. The consensus does seem to be that I should never clean it with soap, just rinse it with warm/hot water, but some people insist that it should never be cleaned!

What should my moka pot cleaning routine be?

If you stop washing your mocha pot completely, you'll see a bit of a residue buildup  on the inside of the pot from many past cuppas imparting their special oils to surface. This "seasoning" is said to protect the brew from any off flavors that might be imparted by the bare metal of the pot.

Whether this effect can be quantified by a perceptible difference in taste, I see no reason to part with tradition; it is a badge of honor and the sign of a well-used pot. At the very least, you are saving yourself a lot of trouble in having to clean it out each time. You can certainly clean the outside with an appropriate cleaner if the patina isn't to your liking, but I would just rinse the inside with hot water. Liquid detergents have a way of imparting their own taste, and dishwashers will can quickly oxidize aluminum pots like the Bialetti.


How long does it take coffee beans to degas? A google search brings up a great article by Hannah from Fellow Products called "Understanding Degassing: Is Fresh Best?," in which she claims:

Degassing varies depending on the type of coffee and roast. It therefore can take anywhere from 2 to 12 days until the coffee is ready to brew. Some rules of thumb:
The first 24 hours is when a bulk (approximately 40%) of CO2 leaves the bean.
Darker roasts usually degas faster than lighter roasts
Longer roasts usually degas faster than faster roasts.

Is anyone aware of any other research on this topic?  Can anyone corroborate, or does anyone disagree?

Degassing is discussed a few times. The most cited answer in Coffee SE is probably this question.

In short:

Degassing takes up to 2 to 4 days to achieve drinkable coffee. If you really want to shorten this, grind earlier. But you should try yourself for best timing.
The best flavor is around 1 to 2 weeks. Again, you should follow your taste buds based on the beans and the roast degree.


How much leverage pressure is it needed to compress coffee for an espresso? Some espresso machines come with a lever to compact the ground coffee before the espresso starts the brewing, other machines do the compacting part by themselves.

How much leverage or pressure is it required to make the coffee compact enough to go to the next step of brewing the espresso, and what happens if I put too much pressure (i.e equivalent to 1ton)?

Based on your comment on the question, you are referring to compacting ground coffee in the portafilter. This process is referred to as tamping when making espresso.

The widely-accepted amount of downward force to use when tamping a standard double shot of espresso is 30 lbs. You can view a source here but if you simply do a google search for "espresso tamping pressure" you will see 30 lbs mentioned ubiquitously.

If you are using a tamper directly on the coffee grinds, it is easy to practice putting down 30 lbs of force by practicing on a scale. If you are indeed using a lever to do the tamping, I suggest reading the instructions that came with your machine.

30 lbs of force on the lever may not result in 30 lbs of force on the espresso, depending on the setup of your machine. The lever may even be engineered specifically to stop tamping at 30 lbs. Tamping espresso with a lever setup can be a bit of controversial thing in the coffee world.

Whatever your setup, you want 30 lbs of downward force to result from whatever it is that contacts with the ground coffee and tamps it down.

Putting too much force on the ground coffee is called over-tamping. The coffee grinds can become over-compacted which can slow down extraction (lead to over-extraction) of the espresso, lead to channeling (where water finds inconsistencies in the grind and channels through in small spots, leading to unequal extraction in the espresso puck), or even block it completely.

If you used 1 ton of downward force when tamping, I suggest that you will likely break your portafilter and its basket, along with whatever is beneath it.


Spots on Moka Pot, I suspect they are mold I have this Bialetti Moka pot for over a year. I wasn't using it very frequently until a couple of months ago. Now I use it almost every day.

I think in last December, I made coffee and forget to remove the old coffee from the funnel and noticed it after one week. I cleaned it immediately with detergent and even rubbed it with a dishwashing brush... Then I made coffee again and it smelled horrible, like I wasn't able to remove all the leftover coffee. I noticed that some coffee was actually in the filter and I put one of the hairs of the brush inside every hole to get rid of the old coffee residues. Some of them were attached to each other with mold. It was a terrible experience to clean it, it took more than one hour. Then I brewed 2-3 times and throw away the coffee I made, just to make sure everything is actually cleaned.

I also noticed these spots at this incident. I am not sure if they were there before. I did some research on how to get rid of these spots and realised I shouldn't be cleaning the pot with soap... I don't use soap anymore.

I don't know what these spots are. I couldn't get rid of them and I thought maybe it is just oxidation. I still use the pot and coffee tastes normal, as it should be, but rarely I still get the smell.

Is there a way to get rid of these spots? How can I make sure that they are really oxidation? Should I keep using it?

After the first instance of boiling the water in the bottom part, any mold will be dead. Using a soft brush will easily remove it. So this looks like oxidation damage.

As for the smell, the filter basket has a layer with holes in it, the underside of which is very hard to clean as you have to get to through the funnel.

However, I suspect the top part. There is a filter and a rubber seal. Remove the seal and clean the "hidden" part of the top filter as well as the the area all the way up. The rubber seal is very likely to have picked up a bad odour. This happens quite often when the moka pot  was too hot and burned the seal, making subsequent cups taste (and smell) like burnt rubber. These rubber seals are cheaply available as a replacement part.


What can I use to clean my machine as a substitute for original cleaners? I have access to an automatic bean-to-cup Siemens coffee maker. It has periodic cleaning programs of its own and also its own cleaning materials.

Recently, we have difficulties finding these cleaning materials around. (Sure we can order abroad, but this time customs, etc. probably will be a mess and it will take too much time and effort.)

Does anybody have an idea what can I replace these with?

Cleaner: TZ80001
Descaler: TZ80002

In case you're still searching for alternative cleaning materials, I would recommend citric acid. You can easily find it pretty cheap on Amazon. Its the same concept as vinegar, but without the smell - vinegar will stink up your house and the machine, so I would recommend against it.


Why does a coffee pad machine make such a smooth delicious coffee? In an amateur capacity I have been interested in (as everyone here surely is also) trying to make the perfect cup of coffee/espresso. I have tried all kinds of coffee making process, Moka pot coffee, espresso machines, drip coffee, French press. As well as trying various professional barista type establishments.

I quite accidentally discovered coffee pad machines, such as the one made by Senseo:

And it, to my taste, produces the smoothest least sour/bitter coffee I have tasted.

My question is: Why?
I am curious as to the chemical and physical processes that make coffee prepared in this way so smooth. I realise this is of course subjective. My own pallet comes into play, the type of coffee pads I use and so on.

Another question: Is this a "true" espresso?
It seems unlikely to me that these types of machine can produce the types of pressure seen in the more traditional espresso machines. It produces a crema, but I suspect that this is artificial from aeration, similar to how some of the cheaper espresso basket systems have an actual aerator in the basket to produce the appearance of a crema.

Has anyone had a similar reaction to this type of coffee preparation method? I find it some what ironic that with all the science that goes into coffee preparation -- especially in the context of espresso -- that this simple thing -- for me -- makes the best cup of coffee

The appeal of espresso is the ability to extract, using high pressure, lots of oil within the coffee itself. That isn't easily achieved with any other type of machine.

So for low pressure you can have filtered (anything with paper in between you and the beans), unfiltered (without paper), poured (think drip filter) and full immersion (french press).

The senseo is using a paper filter, removing more oils from the coffee than without a filter and not allowing any "fines" very small coffee particles into the cup. It uses only moderate pressure and it is extracting rather fast.

So these are the variables that seem to create a smooth cup for you. I suggest looking up (or trying) what different extraction durations do to the taste, as well as what the grind size and filter will achieve, both things taht could fill pages ;-)


Home Roasting beginner green bean suggestions for learning? Brand new to stack exchange and I am learning to roast coffee at home. I am wondering if there is an ideal or recommended coffee bean that is great for learning the basics? I understand this may be reduced to personal preference. I usually drink Italian dark roasted beans for espresso but I'm open to more exotic flavors. I'm trying to narrow my focus for learning purposes so I can really develop a sense of how the process works regarding one specific kind of bean.
For reference:
I am using a JIAWANSHUN Home Roaster as seen here on Amazon.
So far I have roasted beans from Guatemala and Ethiopia purchased from Martini Coffee Imports as seen here.

I'm trying to narrow my focus for learning purposes so I can really develop a sense of how the process works regarding one specific kind of bean.

That's a good way to start to learn the basics of your roaster, but keep in mind that other roasters will roast the bean differently, especially a tumble or hot air "popcorn" roaster. You'll learn more about the characteristics of that one bean, rather than how to judge the differences in roasts. To truly understand the roasting process, you need see the common events in different beans.
I suggest learning about roasting by trying several beans to the same roast level. Each will take different times to get there.
Get an Ethiopian, a Central/South American, a Sumatran, and a decaf (Brazil SWP!!) and roast 1/4 lb (125-135 g) lots to end of 1st crack or start of 2nd crack. Take notes on how they behave: time to start of 1st crack, time to start of 2nd crack, do I like the taste of the results, color change versus time, amount of chaff. Enjoy the results, a different cup every morning.
Then take them to the middle of 2nd crack. With fire extinguisher at the ready, take them to end of 2nd crack.
All beans roast differently, even under identical roaster settings. Next year, the same source bean will be slightly different. Some beans are great 30 s after start of 1st crack and others are terrible (Sumatran need to be dark, IMHO, otherwise you get too much "earth"). Some need full city or beyond. A few make a great cup anywhere from 1st crack through 2nd crack with different flavors.


What are the good industrial roasters and grinders ? I would like to know the recommended brands/models for industrial roasters and grinders (targeting 6 Ton per month)

I already know Toper roaster 10 K (it has an economic price about 15k $)
and Toper TKS 36 as a grinder
There is also Ditting

But I am not sure if there is other economic machines ?
and which is better for the grinder ? Toper or Ditting ?

This questions are hard to answer as the answer may be subjective. Still, as far as I understood that you are mainly after Turkish coffee, why not check industrial coffee producers in Turkey? They have specialized roasters and grinders.

Some keywords in Turkish:

"kahve değirmeni" -> "coffee grinder"
"industrial coffee roaster" -> "kahve kavurma makinası".


Aluminium v's Ceramic storage I've been reading a wikipedia article about the best material for a coffee jar for storing beans, which recommends ceramic or dark glass. I then came here and there is a recent question about aluminium packaging for preserving beans. This makes me a little confused, because I thought that aluminium, i.e metal, would affect negatively the taste of the beans. Then I read that ceramic can contain a large amount of lead, which makes me even more concerned.

If you were thinking about the perfect storage for your beans, what would be your material of choice? Thank you.

Typically aluminum packaging is actually a three (or more) layered packaging with aluminum not being in direct contact with the beans.  Aluminum is a superb barrier to air, and it is typically used as an internal layer to prevent air transferring into the bag, without being in direct contact with the beans.

Keys to optimal packaging:

Prevent light from reaching beans.  Light will help to speed oxidation of coffee oils.

Prevent air from reaching beans but don't restrict air from escaping beans!  This is where the 1 way degassing valve comes in.  Coffee will offgas carbon dioxide if it is fresh.  High CO2 levels contribute to oxidation, so you want the ability for that gas to escape without constantly recirculating air in your container (which would also contribute to oxidation).

I think ceramic or dark glass would both be excellent storage solutions provided they have a way to degas the coffee.  These materials (provided they have good methods of sealing the container) would prevent air transfer into the coffee, and would sufficiently block light to prevent oxidation.

An example of an aluminum coffee bag I snagged from the internet has a PET internal liner, Aluminum barrier layer, and an LDPE external layer. So.. basically aluminum sandwiched between foodsafe plastic and something that looks good on a shelf =p


How to avoid soya milk curdling in coffee? I like to make a coffee with soya milk. Sometimes when I add the milk to the coffee, it curdles. ie it separates into lumps floating in translucent liquid. So this tastes and looks a bit strange (but is still drinkable).

So how to prevent this from happening? Does it depend on the type of coffee, or the type of soya milk? Or how and when they are mixed together?

It seems that the cause of the situation of curdling soya milk in coffee is that the acid from the coffee curldes the proteins and/or fats in the (soya or other) milk, being catalysed by the heat of the coffee; so that's what needs to be mitigated.

There are a couple related questions on Cooking.SE, including this one that suggests adding salt to the coffee will help a little (table salt, or even bicarb / baking soda). I have tried adding table salt to the coffee first, then adding the coffee to the soya milk, and it seems to help (a little, sometimes; YMMV). Another Cooking.SE question also suggests waiting for coffee to cool.

The linked TheKitchn article (linked from the aforementioned previous question and @PythonMaster's answer) suggests that cooling the coffee, or pouring coffee into the soya milk (rather than the other way around) helps via similar mechanisms. In my experience in messing with this, I have not found the order of adding ingredients makes much difference (i.e., putting coffee into the soya milk). It absolutely depends on the type of coffee, also, because different coffees will have different degrees of acidity.  See also this table about relative acidity levels.

However, it is certainly the case that adding coffee into the milk will be helpful in general (compare also to tempering of eggs or adding acid into water rather than the other way around).  In this order, these allow temperature and acid (respectively) to more slowly come into balance between the two substances as they are being combined.

IMHO, I have found the brand (i.e., the ingredients and production methods) of the soya milk to be the biggest factor. I (personally, with not-entirely-scientific -- yet! -- trials) find that soya milk brands that contain emulsifiers (or other additives) are less likely to curdle in coffee.  My only guesses are that

these compounds (emulsifiers, thickeners, or stabilisers, such as carrageenan or xanthan gum) interfere with the coagulation, or
something else in the processing (perhaps, e.g., pasteurisation) has denatured the proteins or otherwise chemically changed the nutrients such that they are less likely (cf., UHT or ultra-pasteurised milk)

I generally prefer to avoid the additives, so this is an unfortunate conclusion for me personally.

Freshness of the milk is also an issue; milk of all types will spoil and slowly start to curdle due to natural processes (fermentation, bacteria, other contamination). There's another question about storing soya milk in the freezer, where we reached similar conclusions.

At the risk of making this an even longer answer, here are some other things to try:

Add cold coffee into soya milk.  Does it curdle?  If so, it seems temperature is not your only enemy.
Check your label; does it have carrageenan or so?  If so, this might not be the metaphorical silver bullet.

I'm interested (fascinated, even; obsessed, maybe?:) ) with this, so I'd really like to hear feedback. Of the dozens of articles I've read on this, I've still not found a proper solution.

Happy experimenting; comments welcomed.


Will emptying used coffee grounds into the sink drain damage my pipes? I've been using a French press and emptying the grounds into the sink afterwards The main reason for doing this is that I read somewhere that coffee grounds are a good way to deter pests like cockroaches. I figured washing the used grounds down the drain would keep them from setting up shop in the sink. It only recently occurred to me that this might not be such a good idea and I wanted to know from the more experienced coffee drinkers if I should stop doing this.

You don‘t need the advice of coffee drinkers, you need advice from a plumber (which I am admittedly not, but I have enough contacts in the industry) and a gardener to chime in.

In short: Don’t do it.

Coffee grounds may smell nice and there is that persistent old wives’ tale that will claim that it has [some random positive effect]. It’s not true. Any plumber will tell you that it’s best to pour nothing except liquids down the drains. Coffee grounds are particles that may

clump together
collect like sediment in traps
bind to other fatty residue
provide food to microorganisms that form that slimy and stinky biofilm in the pipes.

And yes, most plumbers will love you for the habit of washing down your grounds, because it keeps them in business.

Coffee grounds are lovely additions for compost, so either simply add them to your garden compost or treat them like you would any other plant-based kitchen waste.


Please Help find Moka Pot Gasket Replacement I have a vintage Carlo Giannini Moka Pot. A family member mistakenly threw away the original rubber gasket. I'm not sure how to determine the number of cups in the moka pot.

Can someone please help me find a replacement gasket so I can start having proper coffee again.

We can’t give you shopping advice, it will depend on your location through which channels you can obtain a replacement part.

What we can help you with is to determine what size of pot you have - and based on that, you can pick the correct size.

First, you can measure the diameter of the “no longer there” gasket, some web shops may actually list that value.
If they simply sell by pot size, measure the amount of water that goes into the lower compartment. For my Bialetti models, the three-cup one takes about 140-150 ml, the six-cup around 300-310 ml. That translates to about 50 ml per cup (will be less after brewing, as some water will be absorbed by the grounds).


White/greyish mold in a cup I had a cup of hot chocolate maybe a few months ago and completely forgot about it and its grown a thick layer of white/greyish mold can i clean and reuse it or should i just throw it out?

Assuming that the cup is made from ceramic or glass there will not be any problem in cleaning and reusing it.

There may be an issue with how things react with metal over time but I sincerely doubt it.


Is Georgia Coffee Sweet? So they sell these MAX Coffees in Japan, and I've heard they're super sweet. Do such sort of sweet coffee actually exist (I've been told it's been like coffee flavored condensed milk). MAX Coffee is supposedly Georgia Coffee, so I wonder if all Georgia coffees are also sweet?

Georgia coffee has both canned coffee and plastic bottle coffees. Max comes in both styles and it is VERY SWEET.
Not all coffees in Japan are sweet though. Max coffee can only be found in certain regions in Japan where the people there prefer this taste. Usually, ready-to-drink coffees come in all levels of sweetness from black to Max coffee level.


What are alternatives uses for an espresso machine? Assuming that you have a real espresso machine, one that also does pre-infusion and has a steam wand, what are going to be alternative uses for it.

If you want you could also list things to be avoided, like those that would damage the machine or create hazards.

Sterilizing smaller items (pacifiers, bottle nipples, toothbrush
heads, etc.)
Loosening threaded bottle and jar lids for honey and other sticky substances
Cleaning small items (watchbands, rings, bits of grunge around the pads for your eyeglasses)
Toothpaste cap cleaning Quickly heating water for tea/chai
Quickly heating water for shaving bowl
Melting butter Blocking hats


Can flavoured coffees alter the shelf life of the coffee? Flavouring a coffee involves introducing flavour oils to the beans after roasting.

I am assuming that the shelf life of an object is measured as the minimum shelf life of its components, so is it possible for these flavour oils to reduce the longevity of the roasted bean, or do flavour oils have as long, if not longer shelf lives?

By shelf life, I mean the length of time before it is unsafe for consumption. Whether the flavour of flavoured coffee degrades at a different rate to unflavoured coffee is most likely a whole new question entirely.

You are quite right - the flavouring does indeed change the shelf life in a certain way. It is necessary to look at this from two perspectives.

Shelf Life by Safe Consumption:

The flavouring compounds used to flavour coffees last longer without degrading. This means that they ARE NOT the limiting factor when it comes to the shelf life of a coffee. Therefore, shelf life is not changed by flavouring the coffee as these compounds degrade (or go bad) after the coffee itself.

Shelf Life by Taste:

Because the coffee has been treated with flavouring compounds, it will hide certain aspects of degradation of the coffee due to aging, decaffeination, and oxidation.

  In addition, these flavors help extend the shelf life of coffee by
  disguising changes in flavor due to decaffeination, oxidation, or
  aging processes.

  Source: How Products are Made

Therefore, shelf life by taste is changed, as the flavouring compounds mask the degradation and therefore the bad tastes of the aging coffee.


Coffee spider web score I have been purchasing unroasted green coffee beans for a while now, and they all seem to have this spider web looking diagram representing a composite score of some sort of the coffee.  this link has an example of what I am talking about (fourth listed image).  Does anyone know how to interpret these scores.  Also, what does "Cupper's Correction" mean?

The graph shown is a spider-web graph that is similar to a line graph but in a shape of a spider web. In this case, the scale (middle line, goes from bottom to top) shows the score each section can get. A blue line (or any color) is drawn according to the scale. A score closer to six will have its vertex nearer to the center of the web and a score nearer to 10 will be nearer to the outside. This graph seems to be scoring the different qualities of the coffee.

A Cupper's Correction is used when the grapher thinks that the total score (add all the smaller ones) should be higher or lower. In this case, it's two so the original total score has two bonus points.

Source for Cupper's Correction: http://legacy.sweetmarias.com/library/content/cuppers-correction

Quote:

  The cupper's correction is a term we use to measure the intangible qualities of a cup: if, for instance, a coffee totals 88 points, but it is high quality enough that we feel it should< be a 90, we add in a +2 cupper's correction.

I think the "<" in the quote is a typo.


Extending the Japanese Brewing Method to Espresso I've heard about the "Japanese Brewing Method" that's been getting some exposure. I usually brew with an espresso machine, and I was wondering if the same logic applies here. Does adding ice to a cup, so the espresso hits the ice immediately, give a similar effect to the Japanese Brewing Method?

The Japanese or Kyoto Method  and espresso a extremely dissimilar in their extraction methods and flavor profiles. It is truly like comparing apples and oranges.

Espresso utilizes pressure as its main component whereas the Japanese method uses time as its main control.
Espresso is concentrated more robust in its taste profile while the Japanese method is "more delicate with a lighter body".

Here is an article explaining the idea of the Japanese method

http://m.drinks.seriouseats.com/2014/03/japanese-style-slow-drip-coffee-cold-brewers-kyoto-yama-hario.html

To your question of adding ice to your espresso. It's should be fine. There are a few methods of doing iced espresso. Here is one of the "clearest" recipes.

http://m.wikihow.com/Make-an-Iced-Espresso

So aside from flavor profile going in you should be good to go


Will I be addicted to caffeine? If I drink coffee everyday, will I be addicted to it, or is it just a myth?

Is there any risk to my own health due to caffeine?

According to this review published in Psychopharmacology, it is very much not a myth.

  The caffeine-withdrawal syndrome has been well characterized and there
  is sufficient empirical evidence to warrant inclusion of caffeine
  withdrawal as a disorder in the DSM and revision of diagnostic
  criteria in the ICD.

More explicitly (emphasis my own):

  Of 49 symptom categories identified, the following 10 fulfilled
  validity criteria: headache, fatigue, decreased energy/activeness,
  decreased alertness, drowsiness, decreased contentedness, depressed
  mood, difficulty concentrating, irritability, and foggy/not
  clearheaded. In addition, flu-like symptoms, nausea/vomiting, and
  muscle pain/stiffness were judged likely to represent valid symptom
  categories. In experimental studies, the incidence of headache was 50%
  and the incidence of clinically significant distress or functional
  impairment was 13%. Typically, onset of symptoms occurred 12–24 h
  after abstinence, with peak intensity at 20–51 h, and for a duration
  of 2–9 days. In general, the incidence or severity of symptoms
  increased with increases in daily dose; abstinence from doses as low
  as 100 mg/day produced symptoms. Research is reviewed indicating that
  expectancies are not a prime determinant of caffeine withdrawal and
  that avoidance of withdrawal symptoms plays a central role in habitual
  caffeine consumption.

As for health risks, beyond the symptoms of withdrawal, caffeine has been linked to a number of conditions, such as:

Aortic stiffness among hypertensions patients.
Incontinence among women
Insomnia
Cardiac Arrest

So to summarize: Yes, you can be addicted to caffeine. No, it is not a myth. And it seems like you need as little as 100mg a day to be addicted, that is the equivalent of 1.5 espresso shots, according to this link.. Prolonged caffeine use can be harmful, moderation is recommended.


I like a really mild tasting coffee, not to bitter, a little bit sweet but not overly sweet, what beans have this kind of flavour My dad has a coffee bean roaster, so he buys green beans and roasts them himself , he really likes his coffee beans to have a strong flavour. I would like to find a green beans that are more mild in flavour, if it helps I drink my coffee as a latte.

So to be specific with my question. What region of the world produces coffee beans with a mild flavour, or even if u know an exact farm that produces mild tasting beans

Thanks, I’m looking forward to your suggestions

I think your question may need a bit of disentangling, however I will try and deal with your main points. First there are several factors that influence coffee bitterness, and origin, albeit important is not the most influential factor. More on that later. Secondly it is not clear what you mean with "mild" coffee. Do you just mean "not bitter"? Because non bitter coffee is by no means necessarily mild. It can even be more flavorful with very fruity flavors and a lot of acidity, while bitterness may cover up a lot of these flavors.
Regardless of that I will now write some points about how to reduce bitterness.

Arabica tends to be lower in bitterness and astringency than Robusta, because Robusta contains more caffeine and chlorogenic acids. So take care you buy 100% Arabica.
The roasting is a very important factor. Dark roasts are much more bitter than light roasts, while lighter roasts emphasize floral, fruity flavors and acidity. In my opinion most people who complain about bitterness in coffee could fix that by drinking lighter roasts. Unfortunately for most people roasted coffee has to look dark brown to almost black with a glossy surface. In most cases beans like that are over roasted. So  you may want to try your dads beans with a different roast profile.
How do you prepare your coffee? Bitterness is often a result of over extraction. Make sure you extract your coffee properly so you get a flavorful, but delicate and pleasant taste. You will find instructions for your preferred preparation method here on the stack exchange, on many websites of specialty coffee shops or you could ask in your favorite specialty coffee shop.
Last but not least, origin can play a role in bitterness. Overall you could probably say (all else equal) that many african coffees are lower in bitterness and higher in acidity. You could try Ethiopian and Kenyan coffees. Ethiopian coffees tend do be very delicate, floral with nice acidity while Kenyan coffees are higher in acidity and fruitiness. Central or South American coffees are probably (all else equal) slightly more bitter, but if the roast and extraction is right, bitterness also shouldn't be an issue. They would have more nutty, chocolaty flavors. Of course there's exceptions. Panama Geishas would be relatively high in acidity compared to other Central American coffees (also much more expensive and the bean is originally an Ethiopian heirloom variety).

To sum it up though I would recommend you first focus on point one to three. In my opinion they are more influential here. I'm assuming that you are already using Arabica, but I suggest to try different roast profiles and recipes. If you already did that I would recommend you to buy some washed Ethiopian beans as they produce delicate (you could maybe call them "mild" although I don't think it's the appropriate term) cups.