Drink coffee every day, but you may not have seen coffee trees, right?
Do you know what kinds of coffee beans there are? How to choose good coffee beans?
Three simple tricks, anyone will pick coffee beans!
Aoi sorted out for three whole days and shared it with you today!
Coffee tree
This green is the planted coffee tree.
In natural conditions, it can grow to a height of 10-12 meters, but artificial cultivation is generally controlled at about 2 meters in order to increase the yield of coffee beans.
The coffee tree is an evergreen shrub plant in the family Rubiaceae.
The flowers of the coffee tree are white and generally open in spring or summer.
The fruit of the coffee tree is a red or yellow berry that contains two coffee beans.
Coffee trees are tropical plants suitable for growing at altitudes of 600 to 2,000 km.
Coffee trees need a warm and humid climate, and their growth requires plenty of light and moisture.
Coffee type
There are more than 40 species of coffee in the family Rubiaceae, but only three are truly useful and commercially valuable for us.
Small Coffee (Arabica)
Synonymous with specialty coffee.
It is mainly produced in Asia and Africa.
It has a high acidity and sweetness with a slight bitterness, and is best enjoyed under medium roasting.
Medium Coffee (Robust)
The flavor is inferior to small grain coffee, and it is more instant coffee.
It is mainly produced in Central and South America and Africa.
It has a relatively low acidity and sweetness, and the taste is more intense, suitable for enjoying at a higher degree of baking.
Large grain coffee (Riberica)
It is also one of the most productive coffees.
This coffee tree is mainly produced in Africa and the Indian Ocean region.
It has a relatively low acidity and high bitterness, and the taste is stronger, which is suitable for roasting into darker coffee beans.
How to choose coffee beans?
1 Choose a good coffee variety
When it comes to the varieties of coffee above, the simple selection method is from small particles to large particles.
Small grain coffee (Arabica): The Arabica coffee from Colombia, Ethiopia and Kenya is the most famous. Arabica coffee has a high acidity and sweet taste, along with a slight bitterness.
Medium-grain coffee (Robust): This coffee tree has a larger fruit, relatively low acidity and sweetness, and a more intense flavor.
Large grain coffee (Riberika): This coffee tree is mainly produced in Africa and the Indian Ocean region, and has a relatively low acidity and high bitterness, and has a stronger taste.
Regarding the types of coffee, a picture summarized by Zhihu Da Neng is shared with you first, and then summarized separately for you:
2 Choose coffee from high altitude
The higher the altitude at which coffee beans are grown, the better the taste.
Is it the first time you have heard that choosing coffee beans depends on the altitude of the production area?
Why choose high-altitude coffee?
As mentioned earlier, the growth environment of coffee trees, coffee trees like sunlight and rain.
The high altitude brings plenty of sunlight, plus the coffee trees themselves grow in the tropics with plenty of rain.
This makes the coffee beans grow strong!
The altitude at which coffee grows directly affects the size, appearance and taste of coffee beans.
Generally speaking, Arabica coffee prefers to grow in highland areas with cool climates between 1800-2500 meters above sea level, while Robuster coffee prefers to grow in lowland areas with warm climates between 600-2000 meters above sea level.
From this, we can see that altitude greatly affects the quality and taste of coffee.
How to judge the altitude of coffee growth?
Altitude directly affects the appearance of coffee beans.
When you look at green coffee beans up close, you'll see that each coffee is different in size and density.
Coffee beans in your hand:
Are beanies small and dense?
Is the gap in the middle of the beanie tightly closed?
Is the gap curve in the middle of the beanie curved?
The best coffee beans are usually firm in texture, and high-altitude coffee beans grow extremely slowly, so the density of the beans is high, and the gap between the beans should be closed and curved.
In contrast, coffee beans grown at lower altitudes are usually less dense with slightly open gaps in the middle.
What else is the topic of coffee? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area to discuss!