Coffee 101

Would you like to learn how to make the ultimate cup of coffe or how to pull a perfect espresso shot everytime?  Or maybe you just want to find out how goats discovered coffee?

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We are happy to share these time honored secrets and fun facts.  Scroll down to learn more.

 

Coffee Brewing Tips

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  • Always use fresh cold water
  • Use a professional grade coffee brewer that is capable of achieving a water temperature of 200 degrees F.
  • Keep your brewing equipment clean.
  • Only use a high quality filter designed for your machine
  • After brewing...do not leave coffee on a warming element for any longer than 20 minutes.
  • Finally, only use Java Works Coffee.

Fun Coffee Facts

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  • Coffee is actually a fruit. There are two coffee beans inside the Coffee Cherry, which is picked from the Coffee Tree.
  • It takes 4,500 coffee cherries to make 1 KG of roasted coffee
  • It takes 56 coffee beans to make an espresso.
  • A typical cafe will use about 10 million coffee beans per year.
  • Coffee is actually green in colour before it is roasted
  • There are over 1 billion coffee drinkers on the planet
  • Legend has it that coffee was first discovered in 850 AD when a herdsman named Kaldi noticed his goats began to dance after eating the red fruit from a certain tree. Kaldi decided to try the fruit himself and noticed how much they stimulated him and how he was able to stay awake longer…The rest is Coffee history.
  • Coffee is the world’s most popular drink with over 400 billion cups consumed each year

Steps to making the perfect Espresso

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  1. Keep things hot:
    The key thing to remember is that espresso cools quickly as it is a small volume of liquid – therefore it is essential to maintain everything coming into contact with the coffee at a high temperature. Make sure the machine and group handle (porta-filter) are hot. Cups should be kept on the warming shelf on top of the machine. If you are making the first few espressos of the day before the machine has seen much action, it is an idea to warm the cups with a little hot water before commencing.
  2. Crema:
    The best indication of good espresso is the crema. It should be a mahogany caramel colour with enough consistency to hold half a teaspoon of sugar on the surface for 3 seconds or more. The appearance of the crema is an excellent indication of the quality of your espresso. If the crema is more white than brown, the coffee is under-extracted and needs either a finer grind and/or firmer tamping. If the crema looks burnt or is very dark in the middle, the coffee is over-extracted; perhaps the grind is too fine, the dose too large, the tamping too hard, or too much water has run through the coffee.
  3. Pressure:
    Tamping the coffee is the process of compacting 7g of ground coffee in the porta-filter with a tamping device. Use the tamper on the underside of the grinder or a hand held tamp. Apply firm pressure - enough to hold the grind when the porta-filter is turned upside down, but not too firm, otherwise this will lead to a longer extraction time.
  4. Timing:
    Perfect espresso takes 18-23 seconds plus 2-3 seconds pre-infusion time - too long means your coffee grind is too fine, the coffee should be the texture of coarse sand. If the coffee is too fine your espresso will be harsh and bitter from over-extraction. Less than 18 seconds means either your coffee grind is too coarse or the tamp pressure is insufficient. An under-extracted coffee will result in a thin bubbly crema and weak espresso.
  5. Finally, the perfect espresso shot is made best with any Java Works signature espresso coffee....Espresso Bravado, Athans Classic Espresso, or Mountain Gems Swiss Water Decaf & Regular Espresso.