Coffee cups

Coffee cups

Coffee cups is a most important factor when people making coffee. But the issue of the 'right' coffee cup seems to have mainly anecodotal responses. Normally, they knowing the amount of their expresso and how many milk they should add in the cup, then they can select what they wanted.

Otherwise, the type of containers are commonly used for travel mugs which is insulated plastic and metal containers. And their cup can be durable and relatively lightweight. Usually, the plastic and paper coffee cup are handling by producer, which can heat insulation and protect the customer's hand.

Reference 

Galla Coffee, Unit 3 Warwick Road, Fairfield Industrial Estate, Louth, Lincolnshire, LN11 0YB, UK,viewed 28 April 2014

                                                                       Tianxiang Wang

Iced coffee

Iced Coffee

Ice coffee is a special kind of straightforward drink, which has a lot of room for improvement. The biggest mistake when made in restaurant is they always put the hot expresso in the cup, then add some ice inside. Also, this basically results in cold, but have weak coffee, though this effect can be mitigated by starting with a very strong brew.

However, there also have some restaurant keep their special mathod to making ice coffee. First of all, they made the expresso one or two day and put it in the freezer before use. And then, they can take the cold expresso out from freezer when they need use it. Otherwise, they put cold expresso in the cup as well as put milk inside. Finally, some restaurant will also put fresh cream on the top of the cup, and put some chololate powder.

Reference

Galla Coffee, Unit 3 Warwick Road, Fairfield Industrial Estate, Louth, Lincolnshire, LN11 0YB, UK,viewed 28 April 2014

http://www.gallacoffee.co.uk/coffee-knowledge

                                                             Tianxiang Wang

History of coffee

The history of coffee is first begin at the thirteenth century with many myths. East Africa is thought to be the place where the original native population came from of coffee. Arabs maybe first one to grow the coffee beans in the 14th century. The earliest evidence of coffee drink or the coffee tree knowledge  first appears in the 15th century, in Yemen,  Sufi monasteries. In the 16th century, it spread to Persia, North Africa, Turkey and Middle East.  and then Italy, Balkans and rest Europe. then Indonesia and the Americas.
Dutch koffie added the word coffee 'coffee' in 1582, like the meaning of 'wine of bean'.



Reference:
John K. Francis. "Coffea arabica L. RUBIACEAE". Factsheet of U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Retrieved 2007-07-27.
 Bennett Alan Weinberg, Bonnie K. Bealer (2001). The world of caffeine. Routledge. pp. Page 3–4. ISBN 978-0-415-92723-9.
Meyers, Hannah (2005-03-07). ""Suave Molecules of Mocha" -- Coffee, Chemistry, and Civilization". Retrieved 2007-02-03.
                                                                         Sheng Wu

Type of coffee 5

The last type of coffee is Americano. It is a coffee drink made by espresso and covered water. It is a coffee style that put hot water into espresso. It is a different but similar to the comoon drip coffee. Americano is a very very light coffee, it is dubbed 'jus de chaussette' by Frenchmen which means the water wash the socks. Americano is pale bright, which is almost transparent, people can ecen see the brown coffee at the bottom. Pure American coffee into two prart, East coast of U.S is concentrater than West, South is concentrater than North. Europeans pay attention to all sorts of coffee brewing, and Americans drink coffee freely.

Write by myself so no reference.

Sheng Wu

Type of coffee 4

Seventh is Cappuccino, which  Italian pronunciation is [kapputˈtʃiːno]. It is a traditional Italian coffee drink that made by espresso, hot milk and steamed-milk foam. The name came from the hsbits' colour from the Capuchin friars. . In Italy, cappuccino is the diminutive form of cappuccio. In 19th crntury, the Viennese named Kapuziner.

Eighth is caffee mocha. Mocha is a coffee drink mixed by espresso, chocolate and hot milk. It loved by senior general. In the coffee world, there are 3 meanings of Mocha coffee, First is Italian mocha [moka]means coffee pot. Second is mocha coffee beans from mocha port. Third is Mocha chocolate coffee frinks.

Reference::
cappuccino. Dictionary.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cappuccino (accessed: September 15, 2012).
                                                                      Sheng Wu

Is coffee harmful?

Is coffee harmful?

Human health be attacked by coffee are colsely linked due to the ages. Its stimulatory effect was quickly noted, and that, possibly, formed the basis for some very unscientific accusations early on, with "nervous disorders" forming the core of these accusations. Perhaps the peak of the anti-coffee hysteria occurred during the nineteenth century, with coffee being blamed for every imaginable illness and disorder. Conveniently, many of those who blasted coffee also offered alternate products, the most successful being C. W. Post's Postum.

More careful research has been conducted in the last few decades, though fallacious conclusions still occur; some relatively recent studies, for example, failed to take concomitant tobacco use into account. The current research is mixed.

Reference 

Scott Rothstein 2006,Coffee FAQ

http://www.thecoffeefaq.com/

                                                                            Tianxiang Wang

How to growing your own coffee

Growing coffee trees

There are three sprouting coffee could be selected. First of all, coffee cherry, it always contains 2 seeds ( one seed in peaberries). Secondly, an unprocessed seed which still has the pergamino attached. Finally, a processed green bean.

The coffee tree should be kept indoors in plenty of light or placed outside in milder ckimates which no lower than 50 degrees, Fahrenheit. It watered twice a week and fertilized twice a year during the growing season. It could replant in larger pots if needed. Otherwise, some nurseries also carry seedling and small plants, as well as some seed suppliers carry green seeds that have higher germination rates.

Reference 

Galla Coffee, Unit 3 Warwick Road, Fairfield Industrial Estate, Louth, Lincolnshire, LN11 0YB, UK,viewed 28 April 2014

http://www.gallacoffee.co.uk/coffee-knowledge

                                                         Tianxiang Wang  

Type of coffee 3

Fifth is flat white. This is a kind of coffee drink creat and develop in Australia and New Zealand in the 1980s.It is like a double shot espresso sometimes ristretto espresso at bottom and  pouring microfoam cover it like steamed milk. It is smaller than cappuccino and latte but sometime they are similar.

Sixth is caffee breve. This is a coffee type that use espresso as the base and use 1:1 mixture of milk and cream which means steamed half-and-half to cover the espresso, on the top of this coffee drink will add milk form at last. This is  an American variant on the latte.

Reference:
Symons, Michael (2007). One continuous picnic: a gastronomic history of Australia. Melbourne University Publishing. p. 366.
                                                            Sheng Wu

Type of coffee 2

Third is espresso con panna. In Italy, it means espresso with cream. people take the whipped cream on the topo of the espresso with singal or double shot. In the UK, it can also called  café Viennois and can be called café Vienne in the U.S. To compare with latte or cappuccino, these two will be more popular, and espresso con panna will be more traditional.

Forth is cafe latte. It is a cafe drink with espresso and steamed milk. This word is first be used in 1867 and is a short form of the Italian caffè latte or caffellatte which means milk coffee. In English, this word sometimes be spelled incorrectly as latté or lattè with different accents.

                                                            

Reference:
 Davids, Kenneth (2001-05-04). Coffee: A Guide to Buying, Brewing, and Enjoying, Fifth Edition. St. Martin's Press. 
                                                             Sheng Wu

Type of coffee 1

First is espresso, Italian pronunciation is [eˈsprɛsso], which  is brewed by finely grounding coffee beans with few nearly boiling water under pressure. Nearly all the other coffee need espiesso to be the base, like cappuccino, cafe mocha, caffè macchiato and caffè latte. This is perhaps the most important coffee.

Second is espresso macchiato, Italian pronunciation: [kafˈfɛ mmakˈkjaːto], sometimes can also be called espresso machiato. This is a coffee drink with some milk on the cover of the espresso, today usually use foamed milk. In Italy, the word machiato means 'spotted' or 'stained', so we can call  'stained coffee' as directly translate of espresso macchiato.

Reference:
 "Milk Frothing Guide", CoffeeGeek.com, 13th June 2012

                                                                              Sheng Wu

common sense of coffee 2

Temperature

For coffee brewing, the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) prescribes a water temperature of 92 - 96 degrees C (195 - 205 degrees F); see The Basics of Brewing Coffee by SCAA Executive Director Ted Lingle. Avoid boiling then cooling the water to the proper range, or at least letting it boil for more than a few moments; boiling hot water rapidly loses dissolved air and will taste flat. If the water is too cool, the brew will be sour and underextracted. The temperature range during brewing should not vary by more then a few degrees, or extraction will not be optimal. Temperature loss often occurs as a result of heat absorption by the equipment itself (for example, if an espresso machine's portafilter is not kept warm between shots by storage in the machine) or into the atmosphere (as in a uninsulated glass French press during the approximately four minute steeping period). Pre-warming the equipment or insulating it, respectively, will solve these problems.

Water quality

Coffee is 98.5 to 99 percent water, so water quality will critically affect the resultant brew's taste. When making coffee, you should only use water that tastes good enough to drink straight. As a result, the best cups of coffee are made with filtered tap water or bottled water. Carafes or sink-based filters will likely perform better and have a lower per-gallon cost than the modest charcoal filters that some manufacturers include with their auto-drip machines. Do not mistake distilled water for filtered: the former is missing minerals that contribute to the water's taste and aid in extraction. When certifying a coffee brewer, the SCAA uses fresh cold water containing a formulation of between 50 to 100 parts per million dissolved minerals. The water should be fresh; it it has been sitting too long (or has been heated then cooled), it will be missing the dissolved air that is an important component of the water's taste.The water should also start cold: hot water has lost some of its dissolved air, and may have picked up minerals or solubles from your pipes.

                                                                 ShengWu

common sense of coffee

Overall Factor

Coffee quality depends on a combination of factors. Fresh beans, measured by both how long it's been since the beans were roasted and the time elapsed since grinding the beans, are imperative. High quality beans (measured by the specific crop, processing, handling, etc.) are, obviously, desirable, but the highest quality beans are all but useless if stale. Clean good-tasting water must be used, and the coffee must be brewed with clean equipment at the proper temperature for the proper amount of time.

Simply buying top-quality beans is no guarantee of great coffee; if those beans are stale, the water quality poor, the brewing temperature low, or your equipment dirty, you will have wasted money on those expensive beans. Lesser quality yet freshly roasted beans, ground before use, will almost certainly be superior to a higher quality sample that is stale.

With all brewing methods, the goal is to balance strength and yield. These two elements are distinct but often confused. As noted in the section on water quality, brewed coffee is over 98 percent water; this is a measure of its strength--i.e., how much extracted coffee there is as a ratio to water. Not counting espresso or Turkish coffee, this mainly refers to the concentration of solubles; with espresso, that can be broadened to include emulsified oils (Turkish coffee often has a significant component of suspended solids). If your ratios fall outside of the proper range, the coffee is perceived as too weak or too strong. Most commonly this is a function of the quantity of ground coffee used for any given volume of water. However, the quality of solubles that are extracted determine another factor, the yield. If too little is extracted from the ground coffee (because the grounds are too coarse or the water contact time is too short), then the coffee will miss essential taste components. If too much is extracted (the coffee was ground too finely or the contact time is too long), then the brew will be bitter. Rather than being a measure of the total quantity of solubles extracted, yield is a measure of the desirable range of extracted solubles. To put it grossly, if you mix hot water and coarsely ground coffee in a one to one ratio and allow it to extract for thirty seconds, you will have a cup with a very strong grassy taste. A lot was extracted just because of the sheer quantity of coffee, but not enough of the desirable components. Similarly, if you add a tablespoon of finely ground coffee to a quart of hot water and let it steep for ten minutes, you will have a weak yet bitter brew.

                                                                                  Sheng Wu

How to make coffee at your home

How to make coffee at your home 

First of all, we need buy some coffee bean before we start to making coffee. And, we also need prepare water in your coffee machine. Because your coffee machine is not same with cofffee store. Therefore, the air pressure and the amount of water is not same as well.

Step 1: We need wash the water tank and insert & lock water tank into coffee machine.

Step 2: Wash & rinse fillter baskets & portafilter. 

Step 3:  Fill hopper with fresh beans.

Step 4: make sure your coffee beans in hooper already.

Step 5: open coffee machine and wait 60 seconds which will let water be full of the machine, then run water through group head to flush machine.

Step 6: put the coffee powder in portafilter and tamp grinds to plane, then insert & lock portafilter into group head.

Step 7: Insert steam wand to 3 o'clock position inside jug,and then turn steam on. Spin milk ( whirlpool motion). And stop when jug is hot to touch.

Step 8: ture steam off and run steam to clear milk from wand after texturing.

Step 9: finally, wipe steam wand after each use. And put milk in to espresso.

Here is my own make coffee exprience, i hope it can help you.

                                                                   Tianxiang Wang

Basic coffee knowledge

Grading

Generally, the coffee beans are sorted and graded by size and density as well as the larger the coffee beans the better the coffee. The largest bean is known as 'Maragogype' or Elephant bean.

There is no international grading system for coffee beans, with different countries using alternative systems. For example, in many African countries, the highest grade of coffee is AA, but, in Indonesia it is Grade 1.

Roasting

Green coffee beans must first be roasted before they can be used to make a cup of coffee. The roasting process produces the primary flavour and aroma of coffee. Beans are roasted by a skilled coffee roaster, who judges how long to roast the beans in order to produce the optimum taste. For example, Javanese coffee is usually roasted for a lengthy time to give it a full-bodied and earthy flavour. However, if heat is applied to the beans for too long, it will destroy this flavour and give it a burnt aroma and bitter taste.

Coffee is usually sold in two general categories of roasting; medium and dark. As a basic rule of thumb; if you prefer milk chocolate to dark chocolate then you will prefer medium roasted coffee to dark roasted coffee.

Reference
Galla Coffee, Unit 3 Warwick Road, Fairfield Industrial Estate, Louth, Lincolnshire, LN11 0YB, UK,viewed27 April 2014

http://www.gallacoffee.co.uk/coffee-knowledge/from-harvest-to-cup.html

                                                    Tianxiang Wang

Basic coffee Knowledge

Coffee Knowledge

From Harvest to Cup

Coffee is a plant. However, before it can be drunk it must pass through a number of stages and travel thousands of miles.

Harvesting

Coffee beans come from the red cherries of the coffea bush. Each cherry usually contains two seeds, or coffee beans. The exception to this is the Peaberry, where only one bean is produced. The flavour a bean produces is affected by where the coffea bush is grown. Soil, climate and altitude all alter the way coffee tastes; this is why, for example, coffee from Columbia will differ in taste from region to region and from year to year.

Most coffee comes from two species of the coffea bush: Coffea arabica, simply known as 'arabica'; and Coffea canephora var. robusta, simply known as 'robusta'. Robusta beans are cheaper to buy then arabica beans because they produce coffee with an inferior flavour, containing more caffeine.

Pulp and Skin Removal

When the red cherries have been harvested from the coffea bush, the outer layers of pulp and skin must be removed to reveal the green coffee beans inside. There are two common methods of doing this: the 'natural' or drymethod, and the 'washed' or wet method. The natural process of removal tends to give coffee a full-bodied yet mild aroma, whereas the washed process yields strongly aromatic coffee, with a fine body and a lively acidity.

The washed method involves removing the outer pulp by using a mechanical pulping machine before the cherry is immersed into a fermentation tank for between 12 to 32 hours, after which the remaining pulp and skin is washed off revealing the green bean. Finally, the bean is left out in a sunny area for between 12 to 15 days to dry.

In the natural method, the cherry is simply left to dry out in the sun for up to four weeks. During this time the pulp and skin become shrivelled and can then be easily removed.

Reference

Galla Coffee, Unit 3 Warwick Road, Fairfield Industrial Estate, Louth, Lincolnshire, LN11 0YB, UK,viewed27 April 2014

http://www.gallacoffee.co.uk/coffee-knowledge/from-harvest-to-cup.html                                                                                                                                                Tianxiang Wang