The taste of your coffee is affected by many different factors, and few people stop to pontificate as to why their preferred cup of coffee tastes the way it does.
It’s one of earth’s greatest mysteries, yet 99% of you haven’t even given it a second thought.
Worry not, that’s why you have me here to educate you.
The keener amongst you will be muttering the word Arabica, and you would be right - the variety of bean does indeed affect the taste. I myself prefer the Arabica to the Robusta. In my humble opinion that is not the overarching reason your morning pick-you-up tastes the way it does.
Let’s consider where your coffee was grown. Was it South America? Africa, perhaps? Or maybe your coffee was grown in the Philippines. What altitude was your coffee grown at? Lower altitude coffees are less acidic. Was it grown in the shade? How was it dried? Naturally, or fermented? How was it picked? Were pesticides used? Was it from this year’s crop? Has it been stored correctly?
Questions, questions, questions. That’s before we have even got to the roasting machine, where the roaster will do his/her utmost to bring out the best characteristics of the bean. How long was the roasted coffee rested for? In a great number of cases commercial beans supplied by supermarkets are already well past their best drinking days.
Finally, the dreaded words: blended coffee. Why would you take a perfectly good single bean and mix it with another? Unless one of the beans is inferior, and now we are talking about commercial enterprise, profits, the bottom line.
If you, like me, love your cup of coffee then ask the questions; you may be surprised by what you learn. I could go on but you probably just want to enjoy your coffee now, so I will sign off. Coffee Addict.
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