What is coffee made of? Where do they make coffee? Production of instant coffee

Unlike tea, which is brewed from a wide variety of herbal materials (herbs, flowers or berries), coffee is made exclusively from the seeds of the trees of the family of the madden (Rubiaceae). But despite the narrowness of narrowness, the breeders brought out many varieties of this delicious, invigorating morning drink. The history of his discovery is shrouded in legends. The road that he made from Ethiopia to the tables of European gourmets was long and fraught with dangers. Let's find out what coffee is made of, and what technological process the red grains go through in order to turn into a fragrant black drink with a beautiful foam.

Legend of invention

The legend narrates the following. A certain Kaldi, an Ethiopian shepherd, noticed that his goats, having eaten the leaves and reddish-brown berries of the coffee tree, become vigorous and enduring. He told about the plant to the abbot of the monastery, who decided to try the action of grains on monks, forcing those to chew bitter fruits before the all-night vigil. And later the monks learned to dry and fry the seeds, to make a drink from it. It was around the middle of the 9th century. So began the cultivation of a wild tree with wonderful grains. But for a long time no one outside of Ethiopia knew what coffee is made of.

True story

For a long time raw berries were simply chewed, getting a charge of vivacity from them. Then in Yemen learned to make a drink from dried green grains. "Kishr" or "keshir" is also called "white coffee". It was produced by pressure of grains. A method of mixing ground berries with animal fat was also common. A little milk was added to the mass, rolled balls, which were taken on the road to raise the tone and restore strength. By the way, green (raw) coffee perfectly burns excess fat. And now it is used with various additives in dietetics for weight loss. What green coffee - raw grains are made of - was then fried. Having gone through heat treatment, the berries liberated their aroma and rich taste, they perfectly sucked. Such a powder of Arabs was flooded with water and brought to a boil. Drink without sugar, adding to it a variety of spices (ginger, cardamom, cinnamon). But until the XII century Arabs retained a monopoly on the production of coffee.

Victory procession on the planet

From Turkish chronicles it is known when the first specialized beverage store was opened. Istanbul "Kiva Khan" opened its doors to buyers in 1475. Also the capital of the Ottoman Empire belongs to the idea of public coffee houses: the first of them was opened in 1564. In Europe, the grain was brought by Italian merchants, purchasing them in Turkish ports. But the drink was not very popular, because they used it, copying the Arabs, without sugar. Everything changed in 1683 with the next siege of Vienna by the Turks. The Ukrainian Cossack Yuri-Franz Kulchitsky conducted Allied troops to the besieged and helped to plunge the Turks into flight. In recognition of the Zaporozhye recognized as an honorary citizen of Vienna and gave him the cargo left by the enemies - 300 bags of reddish-brown grains. Kulchitsky had little to know what coffee is made of, he needed to somehow make the Viennese addicted to this drink. Therefore, a smart Cossack is also considered the inventor of advertising. He guessed to add sugar and milk to the drink. His first promotion is connected with a bagel, which every patriot thought it necessary to eat (with a cup of coffee, of course) in memory of the victory over the Turks. Kulchitsky opened his coffee shop in Vienna in 1684. A couple of years, a similar institution has earned in Paris - the owner of Le café Procope was Pascal himself. France - a recognized fashion trendsetter - just doomed coffee to world success.

Expansion of the range of trees

Despite the pan-European boom, world coffee production was concentrated only in North Africa. But the pilgrims of the Islamic world were sent to Mecca, not only in Hajj. In XVII one such traveler secretly took out a coffee tree seedling to India. Approximately at the same time Dutch merchants brought the plant to the islands of Java and Sumatra. At the beginning of the 18th century, the French attempted to plant coffee plantations on the island of Bourbon (modern Reunion). So the monopoly of the Arabs was not only undermined. It turned out that the taste of coffee varies from the territory of the growth of trees. There were varieties of "Arabica bourbon" (from the eponymous island), Blue Mountain (from the mountain terraces of Jamaica) and others.

What do coffee do?

The family of madder trees Rubiaceae has more than ninety species. But only two are used in industry. This Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora. The second species is often called a robust or Congolese drink. World production of coffee is based on arabica. This type accounts for about 69% of all output. Arabica is pleasant in all respects: aroma, taste, high foam. Oblong grains have a curved line in the shape of the letter S. But robusta contains more caffeine, and therefore, it invigorates. Trees of this species grow, in contrast to arabica, at an altitude of 600 meters, they are unpretentious and resistant to pests. This fast-growing species accounts for about 29% of the world's coffee production. The remaining two percent is too expensive to become a mass product. So, the grade "Kopi Luvak" needs to be missed through his gastrointestinal tract by the animal palm civet. Approximately the same technological process passes the grains of the variety "Monkey Coffee".

Where do they make coffee?

In this matter, it is necessary to distinguish between countries that grow trees and harvest crops, and states where grains undergo a complex process from roasting to grinding and packaging. After all, the taste and aroma of the drink depend largely on how the grains were prepared: mixed the optimum melange, brought to the required degree of calcination, created all conditions for maximum preservation of the aroma. Grains are grown in more than 60 countries of the equatorial and tropical climatic zones. The most recognized leader in the production of coffee is Brazil. It accounts for approximately 40% of the total production. In exporting countries, grains are only cleaned of natural shells and dried. They are transported in green - raw - form.

Closer to the consumer

In our bustling age, many scientists are working on how to make the product faster and easier to prepare. This is a lot of surprises for coffee makers: after all, the process of preparing the drink for them is a sacred activity. However, if you hurry to work, it is important to get the result as soon as possible. After all, how to make instant coffee? Just pour the powder with boiling water. Who loves sweet coffee, before adding water pours into a cup of sugar. And then you can pour a little cream or milk. Instant coffee was released in the distant 1899. It was created by Max Morgenthaler, a chemist from Switzerland. Since then, more than a hundred years have passed, and during this time the production of instant coffee did not stand still. Scientists have worked hard to maximize the taste of the drink, obtained from a chemical powder, to a natural, welded from grinded grains.

Caffeine blockade

Scientists have long determined what substance is responsible for the invigorating and "awakening" effect of this amazing drink. This is a series of purine alkaloids, to which, by the way, if you consume the drink quite often, the body develops a dependence. Caffeine, theophylline and theobromine can also cause insomnia and jumps in blood pressure. Therefore, scientists conducted research in the direction of reducing the negative impact of the drink on the body. In this they helped the case. Once the ship that transported coffee to Europe fell into a storm. As a result of a small hole, the sea water got into the hold and fairly wet the cargo. The owner did not want to give up so easily and took the coffee to an expert, the German chemist Ludwig Rosemus. He examined the grain and was surprised to find that the drink has not lost its flavor and aromatic qualities, but ... completely lost unwanted alkaloids .. Now you probably guessed how to make decaffeinated coffee. After Rosemus received a patent in the United States, such "harmless" grains were widely known throughout the world.

Coffee in Russia

Coffee in Ukraine was known long after the Turkish conquests. But he began to penetrate into Russia only under the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich. However, then it was used exclusively as a bitter mixture for migraine and other diseases. Peter I inherently voluntarily tried to introduce the "drinking of the kofia" at his own court. As historians assure, the king "brought his boyars closer to Europe" by forcing their beards by force and giving them a "bitter swill". In 1703 the first coffee house was opened in St. Petersburg. But the fashion for the drink - at least in the higher circles - was introduced by the Empress Elizabeth. She not only consumed kofi in large quantities, but also made cosmetic scrubs out of it.

The production of coffee in Russia is very good. For example, in Tver since 2011 a powerful Paulig plant operates. There, the production cycle of grain from South and Central America and India is completely completed. First, the raw material passes selection and blending. Then the green berries are to a different degree fried, sent to the grind and vacuum packaged.

Roasting

Well, in the end, let's look at how to make a delicious drink. Which coffee should I choose? It depends on where you will prepare the drink - in a traditional dzhezve, a geyser or filter machine, an espresso or a french press. From the method depend both roasting and grinding. There are four degrees of heat treatment of grains. Scandinavian roasting is the weakest. The grains remain greenish. More powerful - Vienna, French and Italian. Scandinavian roasting is used to make a drink in a French press (a special flask, where the strainer separates the strainer). Dark, almost black "Italian" grains are made for espresso machines.

Milling

The finer the grain is, the more they give away their fragrance. If you are making coffee in jezve (another name for this dish is the Turk), you need to grind the grain very finely, into dust. A coarse crushing of grain is suitable for a French press or a filter type coffee maker. It is best to buy fried grains. After all, no matter how you store the ground powder, it still loses its amazing aroma after a while. To prepare a delicious drink, the smell from which will caress the nostrils of not only your household members, but also your neighbors, grind the grain immediately before consumption.

Is there a good instant coffee?

All of the above concerns natural grains. But what about such a convenient powder? Can it meet those high requirements for taste and smell? For a long time the connoisseurs of the drink chanted "no!" Categorically. But now the production of instant coffee has made some progress. The fact is that the powder was obtained in two ways. The first is a high-temperature one, also called the drying-spraying method. Finely ground grains were treated for four hours with boiling water under a pressure of about fifteen atmospheres. Then this natural coffee was filtered and dried with hot air. Obtained frank ersatz famous drink. A new method of "sublimation" is that the finished natural coffee is frozen, the ice is crushed. Then pass through a special tunnel, where in a vacuum the snow evaporates, bypassing the liquid state. This method allows you to preserve all the flavoring qualities of natural coffee.