Coffee is one of the three most popular drinks in the world, along with water and tea. Produced from coffee beans that were roasted and ground. It was adopted by humanity as a habit, being offered on several occasions.
Discovered by a shepherd in Ethiopia, coffee has crossed continents, and oceans and crossed military, social and religious conflicts. Coffee cultivation survived the attacks of pests and diseases and had its value recognized in the agricultural development of several countries until becoming the 2nd most desired commodity in the world.
Currently, coffee is produced on four continents and consumed in all six. The chemical components that originate the drink are part of scientific research on the benefits of caffeine in the human body.
It has become indispensable for most people as a way of life in coffee shops and a complement to improving attention and concentration.
The coffee exceeded expectations, and today it is even present in the espresso machine on the International Space Station.
The smell of fresh-made coffee is one of the world’s greatest inventions.
-Hugh Jackman – Australian actor
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Jump To Section
- The Origin of Coffee
- What is Coffee?
- The History of Coffee
- The Coffee Barons
- The Brazilian Coffee
- How Coffee is Made?
- The Bean Belt
- Types of Coffee Roasting
- Health Benefits Of Coffee
- Methods of Preparing Coffee
- The Coffee Market
The Origin Of Coffee
The origin of coffee is somewhat uncertain, but according to researchers, a goat shepherd would have discovered the coffee tree in Ethiopia. When he observed his animals full of energy after eating a red fruit from a bush. It wasn’t until the 13th century that people started roasting coffee beans, the first step in the brewing process we know today.
The word “coffee” has roots in several languages, such as Mahwah in Yemen, Jahveh in Turkish, koffie in Dutch, and coffee in English.
Coffee is a noble agribusiness product, occupying a prominent place in the history of the development of producing countries. Nowadays, it is the most valuable commodity traded in the world, second only to oil.
There are many questions about the benefits of coffee for our health. However, researchers are discovering the medicinal properties of coffee, highlighting the positive impacts in preventing depression and its effects on attention, concentration, memory, and learning.
Coffee is not just caffeine. The drink has been demonstrating itself as a food capable of promoting humanity’s quality of life.
What Is Coffee?
Coffee beans come from the coffee tree, a shrub in the family Rubiaceae with more than 100 different species of plants grouped in the botanical genus Coffea. Initially, the beans are green, but when it ripens, it becomes red or yellow with a pulp sweet indicating that it is at the exact moment of harvest and then dried, roasted, and consumed.
Despite the great diversity of coffee species, only two have economic relevance in the world market: Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora.
Arabica coffee originates from Ethiopia and accounts for about 70% of the world’s coffee bean production. Its cultivation develops better at higher altitudes, generally in regions above 800 meters where the flavor’s drink stands out, since the maturation of the beans happens slowly, providing a more significant accumulation of sugars for specialty coffee production.
The other species is Coffea canephora, which represents approximately 30% of world coffee production. Originally from Congo, Africa, it is represented by the Robusta and Conilon varieties, which differ in their adaptability to specific regions.
The term “robusta” refers to the coffee bean’s rusticity and resistance, as it adapts better than Arabica in regions closer to sea level.
In addition to being less vulnerable to pests and weather conditions, mainly to rust fungus – Hemileia vastatrix is a devastating disease that can reduce coffee production by between 30% to 50%.
Canephora coffee varieties – robusta and conilon, have higher levels of polyphenols that benefit our health and have almost twice as much caffeine (2.2%) compared to Arabica coffee (1.2%).
Both robusta and conilon are preferred for the soluble coffee industry, besides the blend’s production, which is the mixture of coffee beans with Arabica, for example, to enrich the flavors and aromas of the final product.
The History Of Coffee
Originally from the Ethiopian highlands, coffee spread to the world through Egypt and Europe.
According to records, the history of coffee would have started around the 6th century, when a shepherd named Kaldi observed that his sheep became agitated after eating leaves and cherry-colored fruits from a bush.
The shepherd took the fruit to a monk, which, according to him, put the flock in a good mood when eating it. The monk tasted the fruits through an infusion and realized that it helped him stay awake during his meditations.
Knowledge of the effect of coffee increased in Kaldi´s tribe, and in the region where they consumed the coffee, the beans were macerated and mixed with animal fat.
From Ethiopia, the coffee beans went to North Africa and finally to Arabia. Around 900 AD, arabica coffee arrived in the Arabic country, where it was used as raw food and in medicine.
In 1000 AD, the Arabs already prepared coffee by infusing the dried fruit in boiled water to fight sleep. From there, the first coffee cultures established themselves in Yemen, and the habit of drinking coffee became popular in Constantinople, present-day Istanbul, Turkey, where the first Turkish coffee shop, Kiva Han, appeared in 1475.
In 1480 the Quran forbade alcoholic beverages, which would increase the acceptance of coffee growing in the Arabian world, which was also used in religious ceremonies.
In 1615, during the Crusades, coffee was introduced in Europe through trade between Europeans and Arabs. Simultaneously, roasting and grinding began to be practiced on the European continent. During this same period, the Egyptians started the habit of sweetening coffee with sugar. In 1652, Pasquar Rose, the first local coffee shop, opened in London, England.
During the 18th century, the Arabs tried to take measures to maintain the monopoly of coffee production. However, the Dutch managed to contraband the fresh fruit to their Asian colonies and later transport it to North America, where it was consumed in New Amsterdam (New York) and Philadelphia, where the first coffee shops opened.
Simultaneously, coffee shops spread across Europe, and the first café in Paris, called Le Procope, opened.
In 1718, coffee seedlings were taken from the Amsterdam Botanical Garden to Suriname. From there, they moved to French Guiana, and in 1727 the coffee trees arrived in Brazil through the city of Belém, in Pará, north of the country.
However, it did not settle well in the Amazon region for a lack of good natural conditions, not having achieved greater economic significance there. In 1760, Rio de Janeiro was already producing coffee due to good adaptation, but the producers still turned to sugar cane cultivation.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the first coffee-producing farms emerged in the Vale do Paraíba, São Paulo, located in the southeast of Brazil, due to climatic, relief, and soil circumstances.
Brazil begins to dominate the world supply, starting the so-called Coffee Cycle, with production extending to the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais. As a result, Africans were trafficked for forced labor as enslaved people on coffee farms.
In 1820, France created the prototype of the espresso machine, and Ferdinand Runge, a German scientist, isolated caffeine.
With Brazil producing 45% of the world’s coffee in the mid-18th century, the country became a coffee power, with 26 million planted trees. In 1840, Brazil became the world’s largest producer and still occupies that position today.
However, the Civil War in the US caused a significant drop in exports and international prices. Even so, Brazil continued to be the world’s largest producer of coffee beans.
With the abolishment of slavery in Brazil in 1880, the impacts on farming were significant, and producers had to hire Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese immigrants.
In 1908, Melitta Bentz invented the paper filter, with a prototype made of blotting paper and an aluminum filter holder.
Then, in 1935 Illycaffè launched the Illetta, the first high-pressure espresso machine on the market, a predecessor of the modern appliances that we know today, thanks to the patented separation between heating and water pressure.
However, in 1946 the Italian Achille Gaggia created the cappuccino, whose name derives from the drink’s color, similar to the robes of the Capuchin monks.
In the early 1960s, the International Coffee Organization (ICO) was created, the most significant regulatory agency for the sector worldwide, headquartered in London. The main focus of the ICO was to guide economic aspects, such as the export quota regime for producing countries.
In 1995, coffee became the second largest traded commodity in the world, surpassed only by oil, and prices fluctuated between US$150 and US$180/bag.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, specialty coffee production emerged in some countries, especially Brazil, where exports reached a record US$3 billion.
Germany overtakes the US as the biggest importer. However, in 2001, the price of coffee dropped to less than US$35 per 60 kg bag, one of the lowest in history, recovering its price only in 2011, when it went to US$350/60 kg bag.
Today, coffee is one of the most valuable commodities traded in the world, surpassed only in value by oil. Its farming, processing, transporting, and trading generate millions of jobs, which are fundamental for many developing countries’ economies and politics.
The coffee movement continues to grow with the increase of small producers and coffee shops. Their sustainable beans are locally roasted with characteristics that may or may not please each consumer’s taste.
The Coffee Barons
The cultivation of coffee was the basis of the economy of the Brazilian Empire. At that time, the Brazilian flag was characterized by the painter Jean-Baptiste Debret (1768-1848) with a branch of coffee.
By the 19th century, Brazilian coffee was filling up the European and American cups as the largest coffee exporter in the world.
This scenario greatly enriched the country, and a new society was formed, ruled by the so-called “coffee barons,” the wealthy owners of the coffee grain farms.
Besides the economic power in Brazil, coffee barons also handled significant political power, such as contributing to the Proclamation of the Republic and influencing the country’s future presidents’ elections.
During the coffee era, Brazil experienced a period of significant progress, with the agrarian elite investing in bank institutions, infrastructure, railways, credit expansion, and industrialization, increasing exports, and making essential changes in the country’s society, economy, and culture.
The Industrial Revolution began in England in the 18th century. There were changes in the relations of work and production with the emergence of a working-class, in which slavery was discarded because they were not paid for their work and would have no purchasing power.
Although England was the leader of the slave trade, it began to fight this movement as it believed that the free people could increase their consumer market.
At that time, agriculture relied almost entirely on the ownership and working of enslaved people. After the abolition of slavery in 1888, the coffee production industry nearly collapsed.
As a result, the solution to the lack of labor and the coffee barons was soon found with government programs encouraging European immigrants to work on the Brazilian coffee farms.
Thus, thousands of Italians, Swiss, Germans, and Japanese crossed the ocean to work in the new world. The European workers formed a contemporary society, accelerating the country’s urbanization and increasing the internal market, contributing to the national industries’ growth, and changing Brazil’s face forever.
The Brazilian Coffee
According to Forbes magazine, coffee exports from Brazil in 2021 were made to 122 countries, accumulating a volume equivalent to 40.37 million 60-kg bags, resulting in a revenue of US$ 6.24 billion, the largest of the last seven years.
The coffee bean crop in Brazil for 2022 was calculated at 55.74 million bags of 60 kg, of which 38.78 million bags are Arabica coffee and 16.96 million are Robusta and Conilon, said Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa).
It is estimated that the cultivated area in Brazil is around 1.82 million ha with about 300 thousand producers, most of which are small coffee growers, spread out in the states of Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Espírito Santo, Bahia, Rondônia, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Amazonas, and Pará.
Data from the National Supply Company indicate that the total area of
Conilon coffee, on the other hand, occupies about 390,000 ha in Brazilian territory, with 95% of its production being in the states of Espírito Santo, Bahia, and Rondônia.
Brazil has a diversity of climates, altitudes, and soil types that favor the cultivation of coffee from the North to the South of the country, making producers have the most varied standards of qualities and beverage aromas. This scenario meets the different demands of tasting by producing specialty coffees at affordable prices for consumers.
Brazil develops the world’s most extensive coffee research program. Significant genetic advances in Brazilian coffee production are related to investments in research in areas such as plant breeding, agriculture, production quality, and biotechnology.
Consequently, coffee growing is one of the most watchful socio-environmental issues, with a concern for guaranteeing the production of sustainable coffee.
The coffee activity is developed based on strict labor and environmental legislation. These laws respect biodiversity and the workers involved in coffee farming, with severe restrictions on any type of work analogous to slavery or child labor. Brazilian producers preserve forests and native fauna, control erosion, and protect water sources.
The search for an environmental balance between flora, fauna, and coffee is a constant and ensures the preservation of one of the most extraordinary biodiversity in the world. Brazilian labor and environmental laws are one of the coffee-producing countries strictest.
Currently, coffee is a relevant source of income for hundreds of cities and an essential sector in creating jobs in national agriculture. The expressive performance of exports and domestic consumption provide economic sustainability to the producer and activity.
Every year, investments in certifications increase, which promote environmental preservation, better living conditions for workers, and better use of land, in addition to more efficient management techniques for properties, with rational use of natural resources.
The expressive volume of sustainable coffees produced annually and the high quality and diversity of Brazilian crops make the country a reliable supplier capable of meeting the needs of the most demanding national and international buyers.
How Coffee is Made?
Coffee trees are perennial crops; they don’t need to be replanted yearly. After harvest, they automatically grow back.
Therefore, implementing and maintaining a coffee farm are pillars of its production and longevity sustainability. Any mistakes during and after field cultivation will impact coffee quality and producer profitability.
Farm planning is part of the administration of an enterprise and consists of making decisions and always seeking technical support, such as Agronomists or government technical support.
A technically prepared Coffee Grower will identify the impacts of the region’s climate on the crop, soil deficiencies, and the infrastructure to be implemented, such as an irrigation system, machinery, area for grain processing, and harvested methods, such as manual or mechanized.
It should study the availability of qualified labor, identify suppliers and technical services in the region and understand the legal aspects of natural resources, like permanent preservation areas (PPA), land, water, and air.
Producers need the knowledge to invest in technology, like precision agriculture, focused on developing and enhancing the tools and processes to most efficiently use resources in crop production and reduce input use, like water, fertilizer, seeds, herbicides, and insecticides.
As a result, the farmer will have the necessary decision-making tools for crop planning in pursuit of efficient management with cost reduction, increased productivity, and low environmental impact.
Climate And Soil
The requirements between the varieties, Robusta and Arabica, differ in altitude and temperature.
Arabica coffee – planting at altitudes between 600 and 1200 m; temperatures between 18ºc/64ºF to 22º C/72ºF.
Robusta coffee – planting at altitudes of up to 450 m; temperatures between 22º/72ºF to 26º C/79ºF.
The annual precipitation for both varieties should be distributed during the vegetative development and fruiting periods between 1200 to 1800 mm.
Regarding the soil, it must be fertile and not stony or excessively sandy, with good drainage and a minimum depth of 1.20 m, and good conditions of texture and structure.
Physical limitations, such as compacted soil, rocks, and gravel, hinder the deepening and development of plant roots.
Seedlings Production
For seedlings production, they are placed in specific bags or tubes with substrate – soil, compost, manure, and nutrients.
After germination, the seedlings stay about six months in the nursery. Then they are transported to the planting site and cultivated until their first harvest, which begins at about two and a half years.
Coffee growers who choose not to produce their seedlings must purchase them from registered nurseries. These seedlings must have 3 to 6 pairs of definitive leaves, have standard root and stem development, and be free from pests and diseases.
Land Preparation And Planting
The land preparation begins with the area defined while the seedlings finish their stay in the nursery.
All procedures at this stage are fundamental in establishing a crop, such as land clearing, soil sampling, preparation, and fertilization of the area.
Cleaning involves removing roots, stumps, and undergrowth to make it easy to open pits or grooves.
Soil is a dynamic environment, and its physical-chemical and biological properties significantly impact the absorption of nutrients by plants.
Soil conservation is an integral part of a sustainable crop production system. Carrying out its chemical analysis becomes necessary as it is linked to the productivity and useful life of the plantation, impacting the costs of the farm.
It will be the starting point for the producer to identify the need to correct acidity and possible deficiencies of macro and micronutrients in the soil.
The coffee grower must also evaluate the physical conditions of the soil to verify the occurrence of compaction, which is corrected by using an agricultural ripper to break up the ground, followed by loosening or turning the soil.
The next phase consists of opening grooves or holes to plant seedlings, which can be manual or mechanized using a furrower.
The planting season comprises the period from October to December, corresponding to the spring and summer seasons in the Southern Hemisphere and autumn and winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
Intercropping
Intercropping is the cultivation of two or more crops simultaneously on the same field. Between the rows of coffee seedlings, it is also possible to cultivate beans, corn, bananas, cassava, yams, sunflowers, soybeans, peanuts, and rice.
This practice has some advantages, such as soil conservation, protecting the coffee seedlings against winds, using it as a windbreak, incorporating nitrogen into the soil when planting beans, and as an additional income for growers.
However, labor expenses, fertilizer, water, and chemical consumption cannot be discarded. There is also the possibility of the intercrop being a focus of pests and diseases and making mechanized coffee harvesting difficult.
Cultural Practices
Cultural Practices on the farm are all those activities that take place before, during, and after field cultivation and planting. They are referred to as Pre-planting, Planting, And Post-planting operations.
The main cultural practices are pruning, fertilization, manual and chemical weeds, pests and diseases control mites, coffee rust, crickets, leaf-cutting ants, brown eye spot, and fusariosis that causes significant economic damage to coffee plantations.
Coffee Harvesting
In the southern hemisphere, the harvest coffee season is between May and September, while close to the equator, it can be throughout the year.
The seedling reaches maturity in the first year when flowering occurs. In the second year, the flowers give space to the beans, which are initially green and then turn red or yellow, reaching the stage called “cherry,” indicating that they are ready to be harvested.
In addition to the color indicating the harvest point, the producer can also analyze the percentage of grains maturation. So, the harvest can be carried out if a coffee tree has 80% ripe fruit.
There are coffee growers who hire a quality technician team that evaluates the harvesting time through samples in which they peel, dry, roast the beans, and prepare the beverage for analysis.
Through the technique called “cupping,” in which 10g of powdered coffee is diluted in 150ml of hot water, they evaluate the potential, flavors, and aromas determining if it is the right time for harvesting.
Choosing the most suitable harvesting method for each crop is essential for a good cost-benefit relationship for the producer.
The manual harvesting or picking of coffee occurs when the beans are ripe, firm, and red, like cherries. This type of harvesting still happens in many regions of the world.
The semi-mechanized harvest is carried out with workers who select and prune the branches containing ripened beans on a canvas approximately 70m long by 2m wide, spread out on the ground between the coffee lines.
The end of the canvas is then fixed to an axis of the harvesting machine that automatically rolls up, collecting and throwing the fruits and branches into the machine hopper, separating the beans from the stems and leaves.
Then, the beans are taken to be dried, and branches and leaves are crushed by the machine and spread out in the coffee lines to protect the soil as organic matter.
Mechanized harvesting works using a machine to strip the cherries off the branches. It is recommended on land that allows the transit of heavy equipment. Slope areas are difficult for machines and agricultural implements, making the operation onerous and sometimes unfeasible.
It is important to emphasize that coffee is a biennial crop; that is, it produces an abundant harvest in one year, followed by a smaller harvest in the next year, and then the cycle repeats itself.
In the adult phase, the coffee tree becomes a bush approximately 6 meters or 20 feet in height, making cultural practices and harvesting difficult.
For this reason, some farmers prefer to perform drastic trunk pruning, about 20 cm from the ground, after the 4th consecutive year of production.
As a result, a new bud appears, flowering occurs in the first year, what producers call “zero crop year,” and harvests only in the second year, starting a new cycle of 4 more years.
Coffee Beans Processing
To make coffee, the consumer uses roasted, ground, or soluble coffee beans, which result from the product’s industrialization. The processing of raw coffee beans, or “green beans,” aims to separate the husk from the beans to meet market standards.
Therefore, coffee cherries must be sorted and pulped. This processing can be done through the three main types of coffee processing: Washed, Natural, and Honey.
Washed Processing
Washed processing involves using water and a wet mill to remove all of the mucilage from the coffee cherry before drying. This way makes the flavor come almost exclusively from the seed itself, which can be seen as an expression of coffee’s terroir, a growing geographic condition.
Honey Processing
Honey processing involves drying the seed with a portion of the mucilage still intact. This method generally produces a sweeter and fruitier beverage.
Dry or Natural Processing
Natural or Dry Processing
Natural or dry processes can be done in two main ways. The first is spreading beans out under the sun on concrete slabs or patios. Then the dried skin and pulp are pulled off by a dry milled to get to the green beans inside. The second is by using dedicated mechanical coffee dryers. With temperature, time, and airflow controlled, this equipment reduces the moisture within the green coffee.
Later, the beans pass through a cylinder to separate them from the husks by friction or impact.
The dried and milled bark from drying is spread out on the coffee plantation streets as a source of nutrients and organic matter.
Coffee Beans Storage
The storage of processed bulk coffee can be in silos or in “big bags” with a capacity of 2000 kg.
However, coffee needs adequate storage conditions. Otherwise, the inventory will turn into qualitative and quantitative product losses.
Environmental conditions must be favorable during storage to avoid moisture and steam gain, insect infestation, and deterioration due to fungal proliferation.
Under ideal conditions, coffee beans can be stored for years, waiting for a better market price.
The Coffee Belt
The Coffee Bean Belt is a horizontal region of the planet that stretches from the Tropic of Cancer across the Equator to the Tropic of Capricorn. The area covered is ideal for growing coffee cherries. Coffee beans come from the seeds of coffee cherries.
Like many plants, coffee plants have specific needs to produce good quality coffee.
The climate of the tropics is ideal for coffee-growing plants. There are plenty of sunny days and rain, and the temperature ranges from 70-85ºF or 21-29ºC year-round.
Coffee plants prefer volcanic soil or thick and sandy clay soils, which are the characteristics of the coffee belt soils.
Coffee plants prefer to live in hilly regions with milder temperatures. The elevations range from 1,300 feet (400 meters) to 6,500 feet (2000 meters).
The regions where coffee is grown in the coffee belt include Africa, Asia, and Central and South America. Coffee also grows on many Caribbean, Atlantic, and Pacific islands.
Types Of Coffee Roasting
Roasting is one of the final stages of coffee production before consumption. After harvesting and processing, coffee beans do not have the aromas and flavors we so much appreciate when tasting the drink. The green coffee bean is bitter and flavorless.
Roasting is a player in the heat process that determines the quality and type of the beverage, turning coffee into the fragrant, dark brown beans we know.
To be roasted, coffee undergoes a process of degradation of its chemical components such as acids, polysaccharides, and amino acids. For this to occur, the roasters’ temperatures vary between 180º and 240º C for a period ranging from 7 to 15 minutes.
The roasting time will determine the shade of the bean, which can be a light golden brown to a dark, almost black appearance.
A long or sharp roast is used to hide impurities in low-quality coffees, hide changes in the beans, or indicate that wood bark, twigs, and soil, among others, were roasted together with the coffee.
The roasting temperature also determines the intensity of the aromas, the degree of acidity, bitterness, and body.
The body is the sensation we feel in the mouth when we have a drink, in this case, coffee. A moderate to dark brown roast results in a full-bodied coffee. However, the drink loses its body and acidity when roasted for a long time, making the beans very dark.
The degree of roasting can also affect aromas that are less pronounced when they go through lighter processes but intensify when the beans are subjected to medium to medium-dark roasts.
Roasting times for robusta, arabica, and blend coffees vary. Robusta coffee, for example, undergoes short heat cycles to enhance the body and mitigate the woody feel of the beans. Arabica beans are roasted in medium cycles to intensify the sweetness and enhance their flavors. The beans intended for blends are roasted in long cycles.
The degree of roasting also varies according to the requirements of the country and region. For example, in Brazil, a medium-light to dark roast is preferred. In Denmark and Norway, long roasting is preferred until the beans have reached a chocolate color. In Italy, preference varies from region to region.
Roasts generally fall into light, medium, medium-dark and dark categories.
Light Roasts
Light roasts provide lighter, more delicate flavors and can often be more acidic. As the roasting time is short, the original flavor of the beans can be enhanced. High-quality beans with very distinctive flavors are often lightly roasted to allow their originality to remain prominent.
Medium Roasts
Medium roast beans will have a chocolate brown color, a dry surface, and a full flavor. These beans will have less acidity than lightly roasted beans and a slightly sweet and toasty flavor. Due to the balanced flavor and acidity, this is the most popular roast on the commercial coffee market.
Dark Roasts
Depending on the degree of roast, the beans may have a slight shine or an oily appearance. In the dark roast, the sugars begin to caramelize, and the oils rise to the surface of the grain, getting an intense, smoky, spicy, and sometimes bitter flavor. This type of roasting is often used for lower-quality beans.
Coffee And The Health Benefits
Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages globally. Despite the doubts about the health effects still circling the minds of coffee lovers, having a simple espresso can bring more benefits than the simple pleasure of tasting the traditional drink.
Scientific research has been carried out in Brazil, the United States, Europe, and Japan, with significant discoveries about the medicinal properties of coffee highlighting the relevant effects of caffeine and the possibilities of its use in the prevention of depression, in addition to the positive effects on memory and focus.
Coffee gets its kick from caffeine, a natural stimulant that makes you feel more active. But the caffeine in coffee doesn’t just wake you up. It works on the brain to improve memory, mood, reaction times, and mental function. Caffeine can even enhance endurance and performance during exercise and decrease the risk of several illnesses.
For years, coffee was believed to be a possible carcinogen, but the 8th edition of the American Dietary Guidelines 2015-2020 helped consumers change that perception. The guide states that moderate coffee consumption can be incorporated into healthy eating patterns.
“Moderate coffee consumption (three to five 8-oz 227ml cups/day or providing up to 400 mg/day of caffeine) can be incorporated into healthy eating patterns.
DIETARY GUIDELINES FOR AMERICANS 2015-2020
In 2020, Cleveland Clinic published an article about the health benefits of coffee. They start the article by saying,
“Coffee is a source of nutrients, including B vitamins, potassium, and riboflavin. The beans are also rich in antioxidants that protect cells against damage.
CLEVELAND CLINIC
Moreover, drinking coffee on a regular and moderate has been shown to decrease the risk of several illnesses:
- Type 2 diabetes: Multiple studies found that regular coffee consumption lowers the odds of developing Type 2 diabetes.
- Neurological diseases: Regular daily caffeine intake is linked to a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
- Liver disease: Coffee seems to protect against liver cirrhosis in people at risk of the disease, such as those with alcohol use disorder or fatty liver disease.
- Cancer: Researchers have found that coffee drinkers have a lower risk of liver and colorectal cancer — two of the leading causes of cancer deaths worldwide.
- Depression: Several studies have found that the more coffee a person drinks, the lower their risk of depression.
The potential benefit of coffee may be the polyphenols, which are plant compounds that have antioxidant properties, according to Dr. Giuseppe Grosso, assistant professor of human nutrition at the University of Catania in Italy.
Coffee with milk is the healthiest drink for children and young people worldwide because, in addition to not causing obesity, it also offers calcium, vitamins, and other basic nutrients for maintaining human health.
Caffeine was the first chemical substance identified in coffee, in 1820, in Germany, by Ferdinand Runge. No other substance has been studied more since then in the entire history of medicine.
Recent research shows that claims that caffeine consumption – even in moderate amounts – is harmful to human health are wholly and entirely unfounded.
“There is no relationship between coffee consumption and the occurrence of coronary disease, cardiac arrhythmias, arterial hypertension, as well as deaths from diseases or various causes, in men and women aged 30 to 59 years.
KLEMOLA P. AUTORA DO ARTIGO CONSUMO DE CAFÉ E RISCO DE DOENÇA CARDÍACA CORONÁRIA E MORTE.
Contrary to what was thought, scientific evidence characterizes coffee as a healthy product for its food and medicinal properties, which can bring many benefits to human health.
Methods of Preparing Coffee
If you can’t imagine life without coffee, you’re not alone. There are so many famous coffee drinks to choose from. Walking into a coffee shop without enjoying a good cup is almost impossible. Basically, the preparation versions are divided into hot and cold drinks.
Black Coffee
Black coffee is a beverage made from roasted coffee beans. The beans are ground and soaked in water, which releases their flavor, color, caffeine content, and nutrients.
Decaf Coffee
It’s coffee made from coffee beans with at least 97% of its caffeine removed.
There are many ways to remove caffeine from coffee beans. Most of them include water, organic solvents, or carbon dioxide.
Coffee beans are washed in the solvent until the caffeine has been extracted from them, then the solvent is removed.
Caffeine can also be removed using carbon dioxide or a charcoal filter — a method known as the Swiss Water Process.
Expresso
A 100% Italian method, espresso is a short, strong, full-flavored, concentrated form of coffee served in shots and is made with the same beans as a traditional coffee. However, what differs in taste and aroma is the method of preparation.
Expresso is a coffee-brewing method in which a small amount of nearly boiling water is forced under pressure through finely-ground coffee beans.
The traditional way of preparing this drink is not to contain milk. Its intense flavor and aroma are because of its high concentration in terms of both ground coffee ratio and extraction time.
Latte
A cafe latte consists of 2 fluid ounces of espresso, 3 ounces of steamed milk, and typically a thin layer of foam on top. It can sometimes be referred to as a “Wet Cappuccino.”
Cappuccino
A cappuccino is a specific blend of a shot of espresso and steamed and frothed milk.
Most baristas agree that a cappuccino’s excellent coffee-to-milk ratio is 1/3 espresso to 2/3 milk.
Macchiato
Macchiato is an espresso with a dash of milk. The name macchiato comes from Italian, meaning marked or spotted with milk in quantity just enough to lighten the color of the coffee.
Americano
Americano coffee is the simple addition of hot water on top of a shot of espresso. Adding the water on top mixes the espresso shot and dissipates the upper layer and crema, resulting in a balanced and less strong drink.
Cortado
A coffee cortado is made of one part espresso and one part milk. The milk makes the espresso’s bitterness more subtle and, therefore, drinkable. It is also called Spanish Gibraltar coffee.
Mocha Coffee
It is an espresso-based beverage unique from others, such as latte, cappuccino, and macchiato, due to the presence of chocolate notes. Mocha refers to any mixture of coffee with chocolate flavoring.
Irish Coffee
Irish Coffee is a cocktail with four ingredients: coffee, Irish whiskey, cream, and sugar. This drink combines the smoothness of Irish whiskey with the strong and rich flavor of black coffee.
Iced Coffee
Iced coffee is a beverage served cold over ice or in cold milk. Sweeteners and flavoring may be added before cooling as they dissolve faster.
The Most Expensive Coffee in the World
Ospina Dynasty Premier Grand Cru Grand Reserve Coffee
Grown in Colombia, a kg of Café Ospina Dynasty Premier Grand Cru Grand can reach US$ 3,200/kg. The production is valued because it takes place on a farm of around 3 thousand meters. In addition, the land is unique because it is a volcanic region. The grain, which is of the Arabica type, has an aroma that mixes peach, orange, and jasmine with notes of chocolate, coconut, and macadamia.
Kopi Luwak
Anyone who has watched the movie “The Bucket List” with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman remembers well the scene in which they laugh and cry when Freeman reveals to Nicholson the origin of Kopi luwak coffee.
Kopi luwak, or Civet coffee, is made from the droppings of the Asian palm civet or musang (Paradoxurus Hermaphroditus), a small carnivorous mammal from Indonesia.
The animal ingests the coffee beans. During the digestive process, enzymes and acids are released on beans, which undergo a natural fermentation process and, after being defecated, are collected and sold.
Specialists say that the coffee produced inside the Civet acquires a light taste of red fruits without acidity and a slightly bitter taste. A half-pound pack can cost up to $600 in high-end retail stores.
Black Ivory Coffee
Black Ivory is made from coffee beans grown at an altitude of 1,500 m in Thailand and hand-picked after being ingested and defecated by Thai elephants. Those who have tried it say that coffee has low acidity and a flavor of herbs and chocolate. Black Ivory was invented by a Canadian, Blake Dinkin, and a 35g packet sells in the US for around $130. Toronto Life magazine says it’s “almost tea-like, not bitter, with hints of cocoa, tamarind, tobacco, and leather.”
St Helena Coffee
Santa Helena coffee is produced in British territory on an island in the South Atlantic. The island is famous for its history, which involves Napoleon Bonaparte, who was exiled to the region and was a great fancier of the local drink. A kilo of this coffee costs approximately US $330/kg.
Jacu Coffee
Grown in Venda Nova do Imigrante in the Espírito Santo state of Brazil, Jacu coffee is the most expensive in the country. Its production is made from the feces of the Jacu, a bird from the Atlantic Forest typical of the Espírito Santo region. A kilo of Brazilian exotic coffee costs approximately US$146.
The Coffee Market
The importance of coffee in the world economy is absolute. It is one of the most valuable commodities traded in the world, second only to oil in value.
Coffee is central to the economy and politics of many developing countries; for many countries with minimal development, coffee exports contribute up to 70% of foreign exchange.
Brazil is the world’s biggest coffee producer, and the world’s largest site is located in the State of Minas Gerais. The country is still the second-largest consumer market, but it is far from catching up with Italy and Germany, the most significant exporters of processed coffee.
Germany is the largest buyer of Brazilian green coffee beans, importing, adding value to the product, roasting, grinding the beans, and selling to countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America.
The passion for coffee in Italy dates back centuries, influencing the drinking culture as we know it. Italy occupies a special place in the world of coffee for how it prepares the drink, especially the espresso machines created in the 30s by Illycaffè, which later spread across the globe.
Thus, Italy became a pioneer in the rapid preparation of coffee, allowing an agile service to coffee shoppers.
China, the world’s traditional tea consumer, is increasing its coffee consumption about eight times faster than the rest of the world.
Coffee was introduced to China by the French at the end of the 19th century, and the business continued to grow. Small coffee shops that opened their doors about ten years ago now have dozens of stores across the country.
The Starbucks chain opened its first store in the Asian country in 1999, bringing the coffee culture and lifestyle along with the American chain. China now has the most significant number of Starbucks stores after the US.
By the end of 2022, Costa, a British multinational coffee shop, plans to open 1,200 stores.
However, Starbucks and Costa will face fierce domestic competition as the Chinese economy grows and the culture opens up and integrates with foreign ones.
With the market in full expansion, the Chinese are concerned with meeting customers’ demands who want to know where their coffee comes from.
What was once a market without many expressions, now Chinese traders specialize in South Korea, Japan, and the USA to understand the sector and bring the coffee culture to their country, especially coffee shops, where people seek comfort and tasty coffee that maintains its originality.
Like fine wines, the Chinese are concerned with the origin of the bean, flavor, and characteristics of the coffee served.
The current coffee market in Asia is expanding rapidly, at about 4% a year, compared to the global rate of 2%. The increase in Asian demand contributes to coffee’s position as the world’s second most desired commodity.
In the context of world coffee production, estimated at 168.9 million bags of 60 kg for 2021, Arabica production was estimated at 99.3 million bags, a volume corresponding to 59% of production worldwide.
Despite Brazil being the primary producer and with the Asian market in full expansion, the list of countries that consumed the most coffee in the world in 2021 was led by Scandinavian countries.
Finland is the first, with an average of 12 kg of coffee per person per year, followed by Norway, with 9.9 kg of the drink; in the 3rd position is Iceland, with an average consumption of 9 kg of coffee per person per year. Denmark appears in 4th with 8.7 kg. Only in 14th place in Brazil, with an average of 5.8 kg per capita.
Bottom Line
Globally, around 2 billion cups of coffee are drunk daily, generating a total value of 200 billion yearly for the coffee sector.
As a versatile product, coffee is part of a healthy diet and can be found in most homes worldwide. The attention of scientific research has turned to the drink in recent decades. Several studies point out that moderate coffee consumption helps prevent depression and several other diseases, in addition to the positive effects on attention, concentration, memory, and learning.
Its cultivation and production are still the livelihoods of more than 120 million people and their families worldwide.
With $9.00, you can buy 1kg of Brazilian green coffee or 3 cups of cappuccino at Starbucks. But the same amount can buy about 350g of organic roasted coffee.
Consequently, in this chain, the one who roasts the grain picks the most profit, but the one who only cultivates harvests the lowest value.
In this way, support for farmers is essential, as they are the most vulnerable part of the coffee production and commercial chain.
Coffee growers face various challenges ranging from seedling production, land preparation, maintenance of the coffee plantation, respect for the environment, the search for qualified labor, and investments in technology to produce a grain that generates an indispensable drink for many.
When we are in a coffee shop drinking our espresso, we do not imagine the journey from the coffee beans to our cups and the stories related to the drink.
As part of scientific research, its impacts on the crop, the environment, and the development of society. The dedication, the farmers’ passion, and the consumer satisfaction for a single grain fascinated and changed the intense international negotiations until it became a global commodity.
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