It's hard to find someone who doesn't like coffee. Almost all of us are used to starting the morning with a fragrant drink. How to choose natural coffee beans? This is a frequently asked question. A good assortment of grains is presented on store shelves, but they are all of good quality, and the prices are very different. Let's look at the question of how to choose coffee beans?
Why choose coffee beans?
Of course, instant drink is much easier and faster to prepare. But real gourmets say that real coffee can only be in grains. And this is true, because low-grade raw materials are used to produce a soluble product - fragments and fragments of grains, sometimes even affected by a weevil. Even sediment formed during harvesting can go into production. It is worth knowing that manufacturers, so to speak, “enrich” the mixture for the drink with various additives of chopped chicory, oats, barley, acorns.
Then all this mass is cooked for three to four hours, after which another as much is evaporated. Knowing the entire production technology, it is easy to understand that there is very little natural coffee in an instant drink. For this reason, experts recommend using a drink made from natural grains. Let's now figure out how to choose coffee beans in the store and what you need to know for this.
Best coffee
In order to know how to choose coffee beans, you need to navigate in its types. In the world there are only two types of grains - arabica and robusta, which are radically different from each other. Arabica gives the drink a very sophisticated taste and an incredibly refined aroma. Such grains are used to make soft, invigorating drinks with a nutty, creamy or chocolate aftertaste. This is the kind of coffee that many of us love.
Robusta itself is not very good. As a rule, it is used to prepare mixtures with arabica. She gives the drink some bitterness and everyone's favorite creamy foam. Robusta is not used in its pure form, since the drink from it is very bitter and strong. It contains three times more caffeine than in arabica. Expensive robusta varieties have a very specific taste, but there are still people who like it.
All arabica varieties are much more expensive than robusta. This is due not only to taste, but also to the fact that it has a lower yield. Its dense grains contain much more aromatic oils, which is why the ripening process takes longer.
Roasting coffee
The taste of the drink largely depends on the roasting of grains. Unroasted beans have a light green tint. Depending on the degree of heat treatment, they change color. In general, ten degrees of roasting are distinguished. The stronger they are thermally processed, the more intense the aroma they exude. Therefore, in order to determine which coffee beans to choose, you need to pay attention to the label, where the degree of roasting should be indicated.
Light roast
Light roasting has several degrees:
- Scandinavian . Grains languish at low temperatures. At the same time, the beans do not open, but slightly increase in size. As a result, the grains have an aroma a bit like the smell of fresh bread. This roasting is suitable for Arabica from Kenya, Nicaragua and Jamaica.
- American The grains have a light brown tint, and the drink turns out to be inexpressive in taste.
- City Coffee from such beans turns darker, and sourness prevails in the taste of the drink.
Universal roasting
Medium roast, or, as it is also called, universal - this is ideal. So fried grains brought from Ethiopia, Costa Rica, Colombia and Brazil.
Medium heat treatment also has its degrees:
- Full city. Such roasting is done before the second cotton. During processing, oily droplets appear on the beans. But the drink from such grains has an amazing aroma and a certain viscosity.
- French, velvet or Viennese. The beans are browned to a dark brown color, resulting in a smoke from burning oils. A drink from such grains turns out to be very strong and rich, with a characteristic bitterness.
Heavy roasting
Strong roasting gives the grains a dark brown tint. A drink from such grains has a very rich aroma and tangible bitterness. In this way, Brazilian varieties, Cuban and Guatemalan robustes and Arabica are fried.
There is also dark roasting, it is also called Mexican, Cuban or Spanish. There is practically no water left in the grains after heat treatment. Beans are used to make blends to get a new flavor palette.
But Italian roasting is used to make espresso mixes. Beans are first deep fried, and then poured with air. After this, the grains remain open for relaxation, since carbon dioxide is still actively released from them. In the future, coffee is packaged in paper bags with foil. It is this package that inhibits the oxidation process and allows you to maintain an acceptable level of humidity.
Knowing all the options for processing coffee beans and focusing on your preferences, in the store you will not have a question about which coffee beans to choose.
Grain Packing
When you come to the store, then, having knowledge on how to choose a good coffee bean, you can safely begin to search for a suitable option. The assortment of goods in supermarkets is quite impressive. What should you pay attention to when making your choice? Of course, on the packaging. It is she who is very important for maintaining the quality of the product.
There are currently several packaging options on the coffee market. One of them is paper bags. They are packed in grains purchased in coffee shops or in coffee houses. Purchasing goods in such places is a great option, but you should not take more than 200 grams, since grains are stored in such packaging for no more than two weeks. So, it is always better to take a serving of fresh ones.
Vacuum packaging
Vacuum packaging can be performed in two versions - cans and pacts. How to choose high-quality coffee beans, if it is already packed? It is worth focusing on the quality of the packaging material. After all, its main task is to protect the grains from exposure to air. If the beans come in contact with the environment, they will react and lose their original taste.
The most popular is gas-filled packaging with a ventilation valve, due to which fumes escape, but at the same time, air does not enter. The valve allows you to feel the aroma of the grains after clicking on the pack. In such sealed packaging, coffee can be stored for 18 to 24 months. Bundles are made of durable material that should not be torn at the folds. Sealed bags with valves and banks are used by those companies that value their reputation. The majority of enterprises pack their grains into cheaper foil bags. Now, knowing how to choose coffee beans in a package, you can easily navigate a large assortment of goods.
Labels
Good and high-quality packaging is not all that is worth paying attention to. Specialists in this matter recommend looking at the label. On it, the manufacturer must indicate the maximum amount of information about the grains, indicating the country of origin, type of grinding and roasting. The degree of grinding may be indicated schematically. The presence of such information allows us to hope that the manufacturer cares about customers and provides information on production technology.
It is also worth paying attention to data on the shelf life, packaging and roasting. Low-quality goods can be recognized by the deadlines. If the packaging has a check valve, then you can smell the grain. In the event that you feel a rancid aroma, coffee should not be taken, because it is stale. Knowing how to choose coffee beans, you can thoroughly approach the purchase, paying close attention to all the nuances.
Appearance of grains
How to choose coffee beans if you buy them by weight? In this case, it is worth paying attention to the appearance of the grains. Recall that arabica and robusta differ even externally. Their beans are not only of different sizes, but also in shape. Grains of arabica in size vary between 5-8 millimeters. Large beans of this kind are an indicator of excellent quality. But even here there are exceptions. So, for example, there are species that have excellent characteristics, but have modest sizes (Yemen arabica).
How to choose coffee beans in appearance? In any mixture, all beans should be about the same size and have the same shape. If you see that the grains have differences, then there is a high degree of probability that a cheaper robusta was added to the mass.
Good coffee should have the correct shape of the beans, which are even velvety to the touch. In the mixture, all beans should have the same color. Pieces of grains and spots on them are not allowed. All these flaws speak of low quality.
Only in mixtures of melange can beans be present that differ in color, since they are combined with different degrees of roasting.
Another indicator of quality is the aroma of coffee. Good grains have a strong aroma in which there are no burnt and refined impurities. Those beans whose expiration date has long expired have a rancid smell.
The cost of coffee
What inexpensive good coffee beans to choose? Any barista will tell you that in this case it’s not worth saving. The higher the price, the better quality drink you get. This statement clearly works for elite species. Good coffee cannot be cheap. Rather, on the contrary, low cost should raise doubts about the origin of such grains. The most avid coffee lovers prefer exactly the elite varieties.
However, ordinary people, as a rule, pay attention to a product of average cost. In this price category you can also find a very decent coffee. Any barista recommends purchasing grain in a specialized store. Of course, this is not a guarantee that you will not come across low-quality goods, but nevertheless, sellers can provide assistance in choosing such places.
Moreover, in such places, coffee does not come into contact with foreign products whose smells can adversely affect the aroma of coffee. In specialized places you will be offered a wider selection of mixtures and varieties. In addition, you will have the opportunity to visually look at the beans and feel their aroma. To make a quality drink, you need freshly roasted coffee, which was stored in accordance with the rules. In supermarkets, this fact is not paid attention to, and at specialized points, beans are stored in containers that allow you to save all the properties.
Coffee for Turks
How to choose coffee beans for the Turks? It is worth paying attention to the grinding of coffee beans. Coffee for the Turks needs to grind into dust. Not every professional coffee grinder copes with this task, and not just that of a home one. The finer the grinding, the greater the degree of solubility of the substances inside the coffee, which means the drink will be more aromatic and stronger. The process of cooking in a Turk takes literally a couple of minutes. During this time, the substances must have time to dissolve and give taste and aroma. This effect cannot be achieved using coarse coffee.
Instead of an afterword
Choosing the right coffee beans is not easy. And yet it is worth it. If you have prevailing coffee preferences, then you need to make a choice reasonably. Following simple rules, you can learn to choose the right grains, from which you can later prepare a great drink.