The Art of Coffee

Coffee’s rich brew begins with the fruit of a coffee tree, also called a “Cherry”. Resembling a cranberry in size and shape, the red, fully ripe cherry has a sweet pulp and two flat-side green seeds or beans. The bean is protected by a parchment-like husk and a silky, opaque chaff, called the “Silverskin”.

Most plants bloom first, then bear fruit. The coffee Tree does both at once, blooming with jasmine-scented white flowers at the same time that is bears rips and unripe fruit. This makes growing and harvesting coffee extremely labor-intensive because the ripe beans must be picked selectively. The average healthy coffee tree produces 5 pounds of green beans annually or about 2,000 beans.

The bean can vary in taste significantly dependent on the coffee growing region. Factors like climate, altitude, soil, growing conditions and human care for the harvest will dictate that inherent taste of the bean. Factors like exposure to moisture and cold temperatures adversely effect bean quality.

Other contributing factors are blending, roasting and brewing of the coffee beans. Great skill and experience are necessary in blending and roasting. Our Master Roaster and coffee production equipment enable us to deliver only the finest quality coffees sourced from around the globe to you. Lastly, the brewing process is as critical as any other element of the process. Bodecker Brewed has achieved coffee excellence through a combination of Research, science and Technology.

“Even the best coffee can be spoiled by a bad brewing process”

Originally found in the area around the Red Sea and named Qahwa, the poetic word for wine, (note that wine was forbidden to followers of Islam in most of the region) coffee quickly became popular in the capitals of Europe. Coffeehouses soon became gathering places where everything from politics to the art of living was hotly debated.

Coffee was grown as far as the Caribbean, South America, Southeast Asia and Africa, and is now the world’s foremost agricultural product. Today, coffee is a major economic resource worth approximately
20 billion (U.S) dollars annually and is the most valuable agricultural product. It is the second most valuable commodity in the world, far behind oil at $250 billion (u.s.) dollars but ahead of wheat at $13 Billion (U.S.) dollars. A total of 6.3 million tons of green coffee is traded each year. A burlap bag contains 130 lbs.; that’s 106 million bags annually.

Control of the vast world coffee market is in the hands of the countries of the northern hemisphere, which fix prices and regulate trade with those of the southern hemisphere. Since 1880, coffee prices have been quoted in two main financial centres. In London, England, Robustas (an inferior grade of coffee and primarily used for blending for instant coffees) are traded in lots of 5 tons and quoted in dollars per ton. In New York, Arabicas (better grade used in gourmet coffees) are valued in 250 bag lots and quoted in u.s. cents per pound.

Many factors affect the coffee markets. Climatic problems like frost, labour issues, excessive or regressive demands, natural disasters like earthquakes, social and political instability, changing tastes, and other issues. The futures market is a complicated business. The market in which actual coffee is bought and sold on a daily basis is the “spot market”. The “futures market” where options are taken for future delivery is based on information, research and speculation.

The volume of trade in futures can be 15 or 20 times greater than that of the “spot market.” This means that every coffee bean may change hands 15 or 20 times before it is actually sold. The sellers of green coffee are for the most part independent producers or cooperatives. Some are state-owned like in Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania. In Colombia, a halfway system between producers and government is followed to export their treasured commodity.

The quality of the coffee, the expertise of the roaster and the virtues of the type of coffee maker used, are all wasted if sufficient care is not taken in the final preparation. Here are a few hints for making perfect coffee.

Up until the 17^th century, coffee was looked upon as a medicine rather than a foodstuff. Some praised its value to the digestion, others maintained that it made men sterile. Now, medical and scientific research has set the record straight.

Some benefits:

• Caffeine may help to relieve mild asthma in some people.
• It may help soothe some migraines by acting on the cerebral circulation.
• It is a mild diuretic.
• It is a mild laxative.
• It increases the secretion of hormones by the pancreas, stimulates the formulation of acid in the stomach and prevents the formation of kidney stones.

Some drawbacks:

• It causes the blood vessels to dilate.
• Boiled coffee has been shown to increase blood cholesterol.
• Excessive intake can cause shaking, irritability and anxiety.

With over 900 separate aromas (orange juice has 3), coffee is exceptionally complex. Like wine – with which it is often compared – it has its own terminology, tasting rites and rituals.

• Water 12%
• Carbohydrates including sugars 49%
• Proteins 11%
• Oils and waxes 11.4%
• Chlorogenic acid 7.6%
• Small amounts of alkaloids (caffeine)
• Trace amounts of calcium, potassium, copper & iron