Delicious Coffee
Coffee clears the cobwebs of sleep from
the mind in the morning, energizes us during the day and fuels
creative work late into the night. Balzac, a prolific French
author, drank up to 50 cups a day.
Coffee is the most popular beverage after water, with worldwide consumption estimated at 1.4 billion cups a day, and the world’s leading agricultural commodity, grown on 4 continents in over 76 countries. There are over 200 varieties of coffee—a world of flavour to explore!
Whether it be robust or mellow, strong or mild, black or with milk or cream, sweetened or not, there are rules to producing a truly good cup of coffee.
Freshness Buy just a little at a time. Roasted coffee beans oxidize in three weeks, ground coffee within five days. Once opened, coffee should be used within a week and stored in the fridge or in an airtight container.
Grinding Grind consistency depends on the brewing method: extremely fine for espresso machines; fine for automatic drip, French drip and Italian pressure coffee makers, and finally coarse for French press or plunger coffee makers (Bodum). The faster the extraction method, the finer the grind.
Water If you have hard or chlorinated water, use faintly mineralized spring water or a tap-fitted water filtering system.
Dosage Making full-flavoured coffee requires precision. Allow 1 rounded tablespoon (10-12 g) of coffee per cup. For maximum flavour, sprinkle grounds with a few drops of cold water and let stand a few seconds before pouring hot water over them. Never use boiling water, it heightens coffee's acidity. Boiled coffee is ruined coffee
Café au lait or latte Coffee with hot steamed milk and up to a quarter inch of foamed milk on top. Hot milk cuts coffee's acidity or bitterness. Did you know that milk casein combined with coffee oils can trigger excessive gastric juices leading to indigestion’
Espresso or Expresso Very strong coffee made with a machine that forces steam through extremely fine grounds. Steam pressure is the key to good espresso—the higher the pressure, the stronger the coffee. A shot of espresso topped up with hot water is called an Americano, with light cream an Espresso Breve. Espresso can also be flavoured with alcohol like calvados or cognac.
Cappuccino Real Italian cappuccino has no whipped cream. Fill a large cup one-third full with espresso add less than half a cup of steamed milk and spoon foamed milk on top. Sprinkle with cinnamon, cocoa or shaved chocolate. Good any time of the day.
Mocha Chocolate syrup, espresso and steamed milk in proportions of one third each, topped with a dollop of whipped cream and sprinkled with cocoa.
Viennese Coffee In a big cup, combine strong coffee, melted chocolate and light cream. Top with whipped cream and shaved chocolate.
Iced Coffee Make ice cubes with strong espresso. Make more coffee and let it cool. Combine crushed ice cubes and cold coffee in a cocktail shaker along with ice cream, milk and sugar to taste. Shake and pour yourself a refreshing drink.
Mazagran Pour strong coffee over ice and add seltzer water to taste.
Instant Coffee It takes time and effort to brew good coffee. Instant coffee is a snap. Just-add-hot-water coffee was invented in 1901 by a Japanese-American. Now most instant coffees use very strong varieties such as Brazilian or African Robustas, although some use Arabica. There are also milk-added instant coffees like instant cappuccino.
Flavoured Coffees Flavoured coffees hinting of faraway places were developed to boost consumption among young adults. To entice young people used to soft drinks, coffee companies have started selling amaretto, chocolate-almond, Irish-cream, French vanilla, an endless variety of flavoured coffees. Although a marketing flop in Europe, they have proven quite popular in North America with young and old alike.
Decaf Please! Green beans are decaffeinated before being roasted. Unfortunately, drawing out the caffeine from the beans also draws out a fair amount of their aromatic compounds.
Breakfast The continental breakfast of coffee and a croissant didn't originate in France as many believe but in Austria. The crescent-shaped croissant was invented by Viennese bakers to celebrate the defeat in 1685 of Turkish armies fighting under Islam's crescent banner.
In France breakfast typically consists of café au lait and toast with butter and jam and in Holland of sliced fresh tomatoes served with Gouda or Edam. Greeks start the day with goat cheese and melon or apricots preserves; Germans enjoy coffee, cold cuts and various types of bread, and Italians a ristretto, a short shot of highly concentrated espresso.
After Dinner Unless table conversation is too interesting to interrupt, after-dinner coffee is normally served in the drawing/living room along with port, brandy or liqueurs.
According to the rules of etiquette, the host pours the wine and the hostess pours the coffee.
Hold the saucer and cup in your left hand and lift the cup to your lips with your right hand or the reverse if you are left-handed. No need to raise your pinkie.
Nightcap Coffee is served with calvados in Normandy, with anisette in southern France, with grappa or sambucca in Italy, with Kahlua in Spain, kirsch in Germany, rum in the Caribbean…
To make an Irish coffee, combine one measure of Irish whisky and three measures hot strong, stir in a spoonful of raw sugar and float heavy cream on top. Sprinkle with shaved chocolate. Sip the coffee through the cream.