Coffee have become more and more prevalent all over the internet. There is so much information online about coffee. People discussing facts, preference and opinion.
I am here to do just that. COFFEE IS LIFE. Coffee is a metaphor for life that has transformed how I go about my decisions. Quality of coffee has soared higher than expected within the past 10 years. Coffee connoisseurs today fine tune coffee to the last particle, accounting for roast profile, extraction rate, grind size, water temperature, along with the other hundred factors. Other’s say it’s JUST coffee, give me some coffee with some cream and sugar, it’s a simple commodity. The question is not who is right, but what can I learn from both those perspectives. Quality is what gives us purpose. Quality of food, relationships, exercise, experiences and YES something as simple as coffee.
The culture around coffee is not what has given me such inspiration to pursue it as a career, but rather my personal relationship to the seed (coffee is the seed of a fruit). Caring about something so simple in my life, a detail between all the clutter that surrounds my ever-changing, complex existence. My realization is, YES IT IS JUST COFFEE and the details of our life are what compile the whole. Caring for such details throws life in perspective and when you put your attention on a craft and care for details attentively, the world can transform. Your relationship with yourself and others can transform, not just coffee can do this but any craft for that matter.
Making a cup of coffee at home is a ritual that should be cherished, just as anything you do everyday should. Caring for the process and result of your coffee every morning makes for a splendid outlet for peace of mind. Undoubtedly my favorite method for home brewing is pour-over style coffee. Go check out the instructions for how to properly do a pour-over coffee in my Coffee Philosophy tab, if you haven’t already.
Since I started making coffee every morning with care, my life has taken a turn. Every morning I was groggy, it was hard for me to wake up and be excited about my day or excited about life. Yes the caffeine did get me excited but that wasn’t what really did it for me. I wake in the morning excited to dive into the process of making that cup. Heating the water, grinding my coffee and taking the time to create something of quality and importance. Taking that into my day has transformed how I go about my life. Caring for the people, including myself, my food and every part of my day with that same intention of creating quality.
This newfound gratitude for quality, has led to the creation of 11th Hour Coffee. The creation of this company has emerged from this transformation. The process is what gives it purpose not the result and I will make it something I am proud of, something with comprehensive quality. The result will be of my intention.
Purposeful | Intentional Quality.
Happy Wednesday.
Live every day like its your FIRST.
Now a little on the fundamentals of coffee
Coffee Freshness
The freshness of coffee plays an important role in how coffee tastes. Like food, the fresher the ingredients the better
the flavour. As freshly baked bread tastes better than bread a week old, so do freshly roasted coffee beans.
The two processes which affect the length of time coffee stays fresh for are roasting and grinding.
Roasting
In green bean form, coffee can stay fresh for up to 2 years. However, once it has been roasted it only stays
fresh for up to 2 weeks. Ideally you should purchase your coffee in small amounts – only as much as you
would use in a 1-2 week period. Coffee beans should be stored in airtight containers in a dark, dry and cool
location.
If you have to buy more then a 2 week supply of coffee beans, you should freeze part of this purchase. Freeze
the beans in a waterproof and airtight container and they will stay fresh for up to a month.
Frozen coffee beans must be allowed to fully defrost, between 2-4 hours at room temperature, before they can be
ground; and great care must be taken to ensure that no ice from the freezer comes into contact with the beans, as
moisture will cause them to deteriorate.
Grinding
Once coffee has been ground, it should be used as soon as possible. Air is coffee’s worst enemy, and as a ground coffee bean has a much larger surface area then a whole coffee bean, it is therefore more exposed to air and becomes stale quicker.
If you do not have a coffee grinder at home and so buy your coffee pre-ground, then it is a good idea to divide your coffee supply into several smaller portions. Keep each portion in an airtight container and take coffee from only one of these portions at a time, using up all the coffee grounds before moving on to the next one.’
Caffeine
Caffeine is only one of several hundred chemicals found in coffee. However it is the most notorious
because of the many physiological affects it has on the human body. Caffeine naturally occurs in
many other plants apart from the coffee bush, such as tea and cocoa plants.
There is a long established link between coffee and mental stimulation, which gives a cup of
coffee a certain appeal. In fact it could be argued that coffee drinking has helped change the
course of history. In 1773, it was in a Boston coffee house where citizens planned the Boston
Tea Party; and in 1789, it was from Café Foy that Camille Desmoulins led the angry mob that
later brought down the Bastille.
Whether caffeine is actually good for us is a long and much argued debate. Caffeine is commonly
used by endurance athletes to permit them to train for longer and aid their recovery afterwards.
Scientific studies have also linked it to the prevention of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.
However, too much caffeine can lead to insomnia, diuresis, gastro-intestinal disturbance,
arrhythmia, psychomotor agitation and osteoporosis.
The amount of caffeine in an average cup of coffee (8oz/230ml) varies from between 80 to 150 milligrams.
This variation is due to a number of factors. The main difference is caused by from where, and from
which variety of plant, the coffee beans are harvested. As caffeine has natural anti-fungal properties,
coffee plants grown in environments less favourable to the growth of fungal spores contain less
caffeine. At high altitudes, the temperature and humidity is such that spores germinate too slowly to
have too much of an effect on a coffee plant. So, generally speaking, the higher the altitude at which a
bean is grown, the lower its caffeine content. Also Arabica beans typically have half the amount of
caffeine when compared to Robusta beans.
The roasting process alters the amount of caffeine in a coffee bean. A common misconception is that,
the darker the roast level, the lower the caffeine content. However, this is not really the case as caffeine
changes very little during the roasting process. Caffeine has a very stable structure with a boiling point
above 315°C, well above roasting temperatures which rarely exceed 245°C. Nevertheless a small
amount of caffeine is lost due to sublimation, where a substance changes directly from a solid state
to a gaseous one. This occurs in caffeine at approximately 175°C.
The roasting process dramatically alters a coffee bean. A bean loses weight, mostly due to water
evaporation, causing the level of caffeine by weight to increase. However, as beans nearly
double in size when roasting, the level of caffeine by volume decreases.
The final factor affecting the caffeine content of your cup of coffee is the brewing method.
Different brewing methods require different amounts of coffee, ground to different sizes.
Many people believe that an espresso contains less caffeine then a regular cup of coffee.
But as you require more coffee to make an espresso then a regular cup, and the coffee is
ground finer, increasing the surface area, this means that the caffeine content is roughly the same.
However the effects will be felt more quickly with an espresso, and wear off faster, as caffeine is
absorbed more rapidly when taken in concentrated doses.
