Tunisia is a small country and the coffee consumption is concentrated in urban areas. The Ministry of Commerce (OCT) is controlling the coffee import. The coffee is sold to the roasters at the same prices whatever it is: around 2€/kg.
Author: Ennio Cantergiani
Origin of Some Coffee Defects: Fermented Coffee
A few years ago, a lot of natural coffees were defined as fermented ones. Today, the cursor moved to accept more natural processes and therefore, natural coffees. Flavours are described as “complex” in opposition with “clean cup” for the coffees processed with the washed method.
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Origin of Some Coffee Defects – «Baggy»
A few companies have developed hydrocarbon free jute bags. They use Rice Bran Oil (RBO) and the producers of these bags claim that less contamination occurs with RBO compared to JBO.
Origin of Some Coffee “Defects”
In the 90s, about 20% of Brazil’s coffee production presented the so-called ‘Rio defect’, characterized by a strong off-flavour, often described as medicinal, phenolic, or iodine-like. Occasionally, this defect also occurs in coffees from other origins. Sign up to read more…
How New Technologies Impact Coffee Equipment? (Part 3)
Refractometers and the “Perfect Cup”
For the last episode of this small review of new techs related to coffee, I will try to consider the use of refractometers for the “Perfect Cup” preparation. Barista’s refractometers such as the VST and Atago are the most popular on the market. I will propose in a future post a scientific and statistical comparison between VST, Atago and the RE40D from Mettler-Toledo (professional laboratory refractometer).
How New Technologies Impact Coffee Equipments? (Part 2)
Barista Drive System (BDS) from La Cimbali – Bluetooth communication This tool implemented by La Cimbali in some of their machines and grinders allows facilitating the non-experimented barista work. Using Bluetooth connection, the professional espresso machine and the grinder(s) are able to modify the grinder(s) parameters in order to keep the initial settings for the “perfect cup”, let say 25ml
How New Technologies Impact Coffee Equipments? (Part 1)
I am not a «geek» or maybe a « coffeegeek » interested on coffee and how to prepare the best final product based on coffee. As an AST (Authorized SCAE Trainer) for Brewing, Barista and soon Roasting modules, I am very interested on how will new technologies impact the Barista or Roaster work. Let have a look to some of the innovations
How to Select a Good Cascara?
Cascara, meaning ‘skin’ or ‘husk’ in Spanish, is the outer peel of the coffee cherry (berry). In biological terms, we can say that cascara contains exocarp and mesocarp. The mesocarp contains a lot of pectins and small sugars while exocarp contains mostly polyphenols. It was for a long time a by-product of coffee production. Today, cascara has an added value as food and food ingredient.
The classic use of this by-product is infusion in hot water, but you can now find it as flour. It can then be used in flour blends to add colour, fibres and caffeine.
So, cascara is becoming popular and we expect in the next few years a big increase of its consumption. Why? Simply because Starbucks is launching a cascara latte. They will make cascara a trendy product.
Now, the most important part of this brief article:
How can I choose a safe cascara ?[Sign in to continue]
Why are Espresso Blends so Complex?
The complexity of an espresso blend is something very important for the roaster. It is part of his “savoir faire” and his own knowledge. By coffee roasters, the recipe is the identity of the brand and therefore all recipes are well protected against hard copy. As recipes can’t be protected by IP, a way to do it is to complexify