Portal:Coffee
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Introduction
Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from roasted coffee beans, the seeds of berries from certain Coffea species. The genus Coffea is native to tropical Africa (specifically having its origin in Ethiopia and Sudan) and Madagascar, the Comoros, Mauritius, and Réunion in the Indian Ocean. Coffee plants are now cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in the equatorial regions of the Americas, Southeast Asia, Indian subcontinent, and Africa. The two most commonly grown are C. arabica and C. robusta. Once ripe, coffee berries are picked, processed, and dried. Dried coffee seeds (referred to as "beans") are roasted to varying degrees, depending on the desired flavor. Roasted beans are ground and then brewed with near-boiling water to produce the beverage known as coffee.
Coffee is darkly colored, bitter, slightly acidic and has a stimulating effect in humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is one of the most popular drinks in the world, and it can be prepared and presented in a variety of ways (e.g., espresso, French press, café latte). It is usually served hot, although iced coffee is a popular alternative. Clinical studies indicate that moderate coffee consumption is benign or mildly beneficial in healthy adults, with continuing research on whether long-term consumption lowers the risk of some diseases, although those long-term studies are of generally poor quality.
Selected general articles
Espresso (/ɛˈsprɛsoʊ/, Italian: [esˈprɛsso]) is coffee of Italian origin, brewed by expressing or forcing a small amount of nearly boiling water under pressure through finely ground coffee beans. Espresso is generally thicker than coffee brewed by other methods, has a higher concentration of suspended and dissolved solids, and has crema on top (a foam with a creamy consistency). As a result of the pressurized brewing process, the flavors and chemicals in a typical cup of espresso are very concentrated. Espresso is also the base for other drinks such as a caffè latte, cappuccino, caffè macchiato, caffè mocha, flat white, or caffè Americano.
Espresso has more caffeine per unit volume than most coffee beverages, but because the usual serving size is much smaller, the total caffeine content is less than a mug of standard brewed coffee, contrary to a common belief. Although the actual caffeine content of any coffee drink varies by size, bean origin, roast method and other factors, the caffeine content of typical servings of espresso vs. drip brew are 120 to 170 mg vs. 150 to 200 mg. Read more...- This is a list of notable coffeehouse chains around the world. This list excludes the many companies which operate coffeeshops within retail establishments, notably bookstores and department stores, or restaurants or convenience stores which also serve coffee. Read more...
This map shows areas of coffee cultivation by type of coffee:
r: Coffea canephora (also known as robusta)
m: Both Coffea canephora (robusta) and Coffea arabica (arabica)
a: Coffea arabica
Coffee is a popular beverage and an important commodity. Tens of millions of small producers in developing countries make their living growing coffee. Over 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed in the world every day. Over 90% of coffee production takes place in developing countries - mostly South America, while consumption happens mainly in the industrialized economies.
25 million small producers rely on coffee for a living worldwide. In Brazil alone, where almost a third of all the world's coffee is produced, over 5 million people are employed in the cultivation and harvesting of over 3 billion coffee plants; it is a more labour-intensive culture than alternative cultures of the same regions as sugar cane or cattle, as it is not subject to automation and requires constant attention. Read more...
A latte (/ˈlɑːteɪ/ or /ˈlæteɪ/) is a coffee drink made with espresso and steamed milk.
The term as used in English is a shortened form of the Italian caffè latte [kafˌfɛ lˈlatte], caffelatte [kaffeˈlatte] or caffellatte [kaffelˈlatte], which means "milk coffee". The word is also sometimes spelled latté or lattè in English with different kinds of accent marks, which can be a hyperforeignism or a deliberate attempt to indicate that the word is not pronounced according to the rules of English orthography. Read more...
Demitasse spoons with matching demitasse cups
A demitasse spoon is a diminutive spoon, smaller than a teaspoon.
It is traditionally used for coffee drinks in specialty cups and for spooning cappuccino froth. Read more...
Coffee cupping, or coffee tasting, is the practice of observing the tastes and aromas of brewed coffee. It is a professional practice but can be done informally by anyone or by professionals known as "Q Graders". A standard coffee cupping procedure involves deeply sniffing the coffee, then loudly slurping the coffee so it spreads to the back of the tongue. The coffee taster attempts to measure aspects of the coffee's taste, specifically the body (the texture or mouthfeel, such as oiliness), sweetness, acidity (a sharp and tangy feeling, like when biting into an orange), flavour (the characters in the cup), and aftertaste. Since coffee beans embody telltale flavours from the region where they were grown, cuppers may attempt to identify the coffee's origin. Read more...- South Indian filter coffee is a coffee drink made by mixing frothed and boiled milk with the infusion obtained by percolation brewing of finely ground coffee powder in a traditional Indian filter. The drink known as Kaapi, is the South Indian phonetic rendering of "coffee". The drink is also referred to as Madras filter coffee, Madras kaapi, Kumbakonam degree coffee, Mylapore filter coffee, or Mysore filter coffee. Outside India the term "filter coffee" may refer to drip brew coffee, which is a distinct form of preparing coffee. Read more...
- This map shows areas of coffee cultivation by type of coffee:
r: Coffea canephora (also known as robusta)
m: Both Coffea canephora (robusta) and Coffea arabica (arabica)
a: Coffea arabica
The following table lists the total coffee production of coffee exporting countries. Read more... - Caffè crema (Italian: "cream coffee") refers to two different coffee drinks:
- An old name for espresso (1940s and 1950s).
- A long espresso drink primarily served in Germany, Switzerland and Austria and northern Italy (1980s onwards), along the Italian/Swiss and Italian/Austrian border. In Germany it is generally known as a "Café Crème" or just "Kaffee" and is generally the default type of black coffee served, unless there is a filter machine.
As a colorful term it generally means "espresso", while in technical discussions, referring to the long drink, it may more narrowly be referred to as Swiss caffè crema. In addition, there's also Italian iced crema caffè.
Variant terms include "crema caffè" and the hyperforeignism "café crema" – "café" is French, while "caffè" and "crema" are Italian, thus "café crema" mixes French and Italian. Read more...
Caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant of the methylxanthine class. It is the world's most widely consumed psychoactive drug. Unlike many other psychoactive substances, it is legal and unregulated in nearly all parts of the world. There are several known mechanisms of action to explain the effects of caffeine. The most prominent is that it reversibly blocks the action of adenosine on its receptor and consequently prevents the onset of drowsiness induced by adenosine. Caffeine also stimulates certain portions of the autonomic nervous system.
Caffeine is a bitter, white crystalline purine, a methylxanthine alkaloid, and is chemically related to the adenine and guanine bases of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). It is found in the seeds, nuts, or leaves of a number of plants native to Africa, East Asia and South America, and helps to protect them against predator insects and to prevent germination of nearby seeds. The most well-known source of caffeine is the coffee bean, a misnomer for the seed of Coffea plants. Beverages containing caffeine are ingested to relieve or prevent drowsiness and to improve performance. To make these drinks, caffeine is extracted by steeping the plant product in water, a process called infusion. Caffeine-containing drinks, such as coffee, tea, and cola, are very popular; as of 2014, 85% of American adults consumed some form of caffeine daily, consuming 164 mg on average. Read more...
Café Cubano (also known as Cuban espresso, Cuban coffee, cafecito, Cuban pull, and Cuban shot) is a type of espresso that originated in Cuba. Specifically, it refers to an espresso shot which is sweetened (traditionally with natural brown sugar which has been whipped with the first and strongest drops of espresso). However, the name is sometimes used to refer to coffee-based drinks that include Cuban espresso as their main ingredient, such as café con leche.
Drinking café cubano remains a prominent social and cultural activity in Cuba and in Cuban-American communities, particularly in Miami, Tampa and the Florida Keys. Read more...
Cafestol is a diterpenoid molecule present in coffee beans. It is one of the compounds that may be responsible for proposed biological and pharmacological effects of coffee. Read more...
Ristretto is traditionally a short shot of espresso coffee made with the normal amount of ground coffee but extracted with about half the amount of water in the same amount of time by using a finer grind. This produces a concentrated shot of coffee per volume. Just pulling a normal shot short could be confused as a Ristretto, however, it is not a Ristretto, only a weaker shot. The opposite of a ristretto is a lungo, which is typically double the shot volume. Ristretto means “shortened” or “narrow” in Italian whereas lungo means “long.” The French equivalent of ristretto is café serré.
Regardless of whether one uses a hand pressed machine or an automatic, a regular double shot is generally considered to be around 14–18 grams of ground coffee extracted into 60 ml (2 fl oz or two shot glasses). Thus, a “double ristretto” consumes the same amount of coffee beans but fills only a single shot glass. Read more...- Coffee syrup is a sweetened coffee concentrate and key ingredient in coffee milk. The syrup is prepared by straining water and sugar through coffee grounds. Read more...
Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee or Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee is a classification of coffee grown in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. The coffee was introduced to Jamaica in 1728.
The best lots of Blue Mountain coffee are noted for their mild flavour and lack of bitterness. Over the past few decades, this coffee has developed a reputation that has made it one of the most expensive and sought-after coffees in the world. Over 80% of all Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is exported to Japan. In addition to its use for brewed coffee, the beans are the flavor base of Tia Maria coffee liqueur. Read more...
Long-handled coffeemakers in an Armenian cafe, 2008
Coffeemakers or coffee machines are cooking appliances used to brew coffee. While there are many different types of coffeemakers using a number of different brewing principles, in the most common devices, coffee grounds are placed in a paper or metal filter inside a funnel, which is set over a glass or ceramic coffee pot, a cooking pot in the kettle family. Cold water is poured into a separate chamber, which is then heated up to the boiling point, and directed into the funnel. This is also called automatic drip-brew. Read more...
Lungo (Italian for "long") is a coffee beverage made by using an espresso machine to make an Italian-style coffee – short black (single or double dose or shot) with much more water (generally twice as much), resulting in a larger coffee, a lungo.
A normal serving of espresso takes from 18 to 30 seconds to pull, and fills 25 to 60 millilitres, while a lungo may take up to a minute to pull, and might fill 130 to 170 millilitres. Extraction time of the dose is determined by the variety of coffee beans (usually a blend of Arabica and Robusta), their grind and the pressure of the machine. The optimum is obtained with 9–12 bars 130–150 ml. Read more...
Coffee milk is a drink made by mixing coffee syrup or coffee extract and milk together in a manner similar to chocolate milk. It is the official state drink in Rhode Island. Read more...
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee, related coffee drinks (latte, cappuccino, espresso), and – depending on country – other drinks including alcoholic. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks such as iced coffee and iced tea; in continental Europe, cafés serve alcoholic drinks. A coffeehouse may also serve some type of food, such as light snacks, sandwiches, muffins or other pastries. Coffeehouses range from owner-operated small businesses to large multinational corporations.
While café may refer to a coffeehouse, the term "cafe" generally refers to a diner, British cafe (colloquially called a "caff"), "greasy spoon" (a small and inexpensive restaurant), transport cafe, teahouse or tea room, or other casual eating and drinking place. A coffeehouse may share some of the same characteristics of a bar or restaurant, but it is different from a cafeteria. Many coffeehouses in the Middle East and in West Asian immigrant districts in the Western world offer shisha (nargile in Greek and Turkish), flavored tobacco smoked through a hookah. Espresso bars are a type of coffeehouse that specializes in serving espresso and espresso-based drinks. Read more...- Kahawa Sūg, also known as Sulu coffee or Sulu robusta, is a single-origin coffee varietal grown by the Tausug people of the Sulu Archipelago, Philippines. It is a robusta cultivar, belonging to the species Coffea canephora. It originates from robusta plants introduced to Sulu in the 1860s. It is an important part of traditional Tausug culture. It is mostly consumed locally, though it has started being exported more widely in recent years. It is currently endangered by the introduction of modern higher yield coffee varieties. Read more...
Did you know...
- ... that Benjamin Franklin played chess at Old Slaughter's Coffee House?
- ... that after working for the International Coffee Organization in London and as a consultant for the World Bank, Owusu Afriyie Akoto became Ghana's Minister of Food and Agriculture?
- ... that Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission biologists tried to visit Coffee Brook in 2001, but were unable to reach it?
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Selected images
Robusta coffee flowers.
Illustration of Coffea arabica plant and seeds.
The Coffee Bearer, Orientalist painting by John Frederick Lewis (1857).
Brazilian coffee sacks.
Over the door of a Leipzig coffeeshop is a sculptural representation of a man in Turkish dress, receiving a cup of coffee from a boy.
Map showing areas of coffee cultivation:
r:Coffea canephora
m:Coffea canephora and Coffea arabica
a:Coffea arabica
Café Central in Vienna, Austria. A staple of the Viennese coffee house tradition, it has remained open since 1876.
Instant coffee
Unroasted coffee beans.
A coffee can from the first half of the 20th century. From the Museo del Objeto del Objeto collection.
View of Mocha, Yemen during the second half of the 17th century.
Small-sized bag of coffee beans.
A late 19th century advertisement for coffee essence.
First patent for the espresso machine, Angelo Moriondo (1884).
Arabica coffee berries on the bush
Davoser Café by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1928.
Traditional coffee beans drying in Kalibaru, Indonesia.
A 1919 advertisement for G Washington's Coffee. The first instant coffee was invented by inventor George Washington in 1909.
Coffee container
Map of coffee areas in Brazil.
A flowering Coffea arabica tree in a Brazilian plantation.
coffee distribution
Enjoying coffee, painting by unknown artist in the Pera Museum.
A coffeehouse in Cairo, 18th century.
Coffee "cuppers", or professional tasters, grade the coffee.
Skeletal formula of a caffeine molecule.
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