Storage and Cooking
The most desirable coffee is grown in altitudes about 3000 feet. The altitude
produces more elegant, complex flavors in the coffee cherries which
contain the beans. The fruit must be hand-picked from trees which can bear
flowers, green fruit, and ripe cherries all at the same time.
The outer pulp and parchment of the coffee cherry are removed to reveal two beans,
which are then cleaned, dried, graded and hand-inspected. The beans range in
color from pale green to dark yellow when raw. They are exported in their raw
state for roasting, blending and grinding at their final destination. Most commercial
companies use primarily C. robusta and C. arabica in their
blends.
• American (regular) roast: beans are medium-roasted, resulting
in a moderate brew, not too light or too heavy in flavor.
• French roast and dark French roast: heavily-roasted beans,
a deep chocolate brown which produce a stronger coffee.
• Italian roast: glossy, brown-black, strongly flavored,
used for espresso.
• European roast: two-thirds heavy-roast beans blended
with one-third regular-roast.
• Viennese roast: one-third heavy-roast beans blended with
two-thirds regular-roast.
• Instant coffee: a powder made of heat-dried freshly brewed
coffee.
• Freeze-dried coffee: brewed coffee that has been frozen
into a slush before the water is evaporated, normally more expensive that instants
but with a superior flavor.
• Decaffeinated coffee: caffeine is removed from the beans
before roasting via the use of a chemical solvent (which disappears completely
when the beans are roasted) or the Swiss water process which steams the beans
and then scrapes off the caffeine-laden outer layers.