Coffee is the second most popular beverage in the world after pure drinking water. And if yesterday the most popular was instant - fast, convenient and cheap, today the demand for natural coffee, in beans and ground is growing rapidly. With an unearthly aroma, indescribable bitterness, thick thick at the bottom of the cup and thus the taste...
An amazing fact - the first tin with ground coffee appeared in US stores in 1878, and already in 1908, Hill Brothers launched the vacuum-packed ground product on the market, which we still use today. In different parts of the world, several thousand varieties of aromatic drink are sold, for the most refined and fastidious taste and color. But natural product can be only in two forms - grains and ground powder.
Ground in stores are bought much more often than grain, although the most fragrant drink is obtained from freshly ground grains. What is the reason?
Someone simply does not want to mess around and turn on the grinder every time when you need to brew a fragrant cup. After all, the ground drink is 100% natural, and few people can distinguish the nuances of taste and smell. Not all of us are such great coffee gourmets.
Someone is used to taking coffee powder to work and brewing it in a French press. Do not rattle the coffee grinder for the whole office? And someone looks at the price - the grain product is more expensive ...
Which is better - ground or grain?
Let's dive a little into the process of making coffee. Each grain is a kind of capsule filled with natural chemicals and essential oils and protected by a hard crust. When roasted, it is the oils that give the grains their unique chocolate hue and smell.
But as soon as the shell is destroyed (after grinding), essential oils instantly enter into a chemical reaction with air and oxidize. In a matter of minutes, the product loses its enchanting aroma and taste.
Coffee experts assure: ground coffee lives 15 minutes after leaving the coffee grinder. Then it's just a dead mixture. It loses its unique smell, becomes boring ( different varieties after 15 minutes, the smell is no longer distinguishable!), Rancid. Delicious, no doubt. But not the magic drink...
Don't believe? Do an experiment. Take two sheets of paper, pour a spoonful of freshly ground coffee on one, leave for 3-4 hours without closing. Then grind another portion, put it next to and smell both coffee slides. The difference is incredible! And if you repeat this experience with store-bought and homemade ground coffee, you will forever bypass the shelves with “aromatic” powder. Only grain!
Video: What is the difference between instant and ground coffee
And one moment. During roasting, carbon dioxide accumulates in the grains, so ground coffee is kept outdoors for several days before packaging. This process is called degassing. Without degassing, powder in vacuum packages cannot be transported - the package will either swell or simply explode. Thus, coffee gets into a pack, having already lost a good half of its aroma.
What are the other benefits of freshly ground coffee over store-bought coffee?
In addition to the bright taste, grinding coffee at home, immediately before brewing, is worth it for the following reasons.
- The manufacturer always seeks to reduce costs. Some in this business show real miracles of ingenuity, adding chicory or even ... acorns to ground coffee. This is not a joke at all, there are a lot of such examples in the harsh coffee market. In a dark powder, you may not notice impurities (fried acorn is invisible), you will only feel a strange aftertaste. And you certainly can't prove anything.
- Not quality product- another reason for the suspicious taste. In ground form, the cheapest coffee is indistinguishable from the elite, so manufacturers are constantly improving in the art of counterfeiting. Usually scammers or cunning firms dilute the smelly Arabica with cheaper varieties. More often robust, but sometimes also Liberica, which rarely goes for export, its place is in the confectionery industry. She has a very bitter taste.
- Each method of preparing a charming drink has its own grinding. For a French press - large, for a coffee machine - medium, for a home Turk or a geyser coffee maker - coffee dust. In your own coffee grinder, this is easy to follow, but the manufacturer does not always give you the choice of grinding.
The conclusion from this is the simplest: buy coffee exclusively in beans and grind it at home. Even the most unpretentious coffee grinder will provide you with a cup of aromatic delicious drink, which cannot be said about the package of store-bought ground coffee. It is better to buy it only for work, office or production, where a French press is waiting for you.
How to choose ground coffee?
If, nevertheless, it is not always possible to buy a product in beans, you need to learn how to choose ground coffee correctly. What to pay attention to?
1. Grinding.
First, decide where you will brew coffee, the degree of grinding depends on it. The “wrong” grinding powder can seriously ruin the result - so if you take coffee dust for an espresso machine, you will get an unintelligible and tasteless brew. All information about the degree of grinding is written on the label.
Video: Coffee grinding: 5 main types
And most importantly - regardless of the grinding (fine, large, medium), high-quality coffee must be homogeneous.
2. Sort.
Thousands of varieties of coffee differ significantly - in flavors (both berry and chocolate), astringency, bitterness, aroma ... But wherever all these coffee trees grow, most of them belong to two types - Arabica and Robusta. There is also Liberica and Excelsa, but they are grown little - to enhance the taste of elite coffee blends, and Liberica is also for confectionery production.
If you're lucky, the manufacturer will put only one variety in the package and be sure to sign: "100% Arabica". But most often in a coffee pack you will find a blend. If “espresso” is written on the package, it is definitely a mixture with robusta: in the proportion of 50/50, 60/40, 70/30.
Try to find coffee where this proportion is indicated - such information is very useful. Arabica has less caffeine, giving your morning energy drink a rich flavor and signature scent. Robusta is stronger, bitter and perfectly invigorating - it has the most caffeine.
If you value coffee precisely for its strength, then choose the one with more robusta. If your heart is playing tricks or your blood pressure is jumping, look for pure Arabica. Another option is decaffeinated coffee. It is just as tasty, but the caffeine was “pulled out” even before roasting, so the invigorating effect is minimal.
But the highest quality tasty coffee- this is still one hundred percent Arabica, processed in a wet way. And ideally - also assembled by hand.
3. Flavored or non-flavored.
Coffee with additives is now at the peak of popularity - cognac, almonds, amaretto, coconut ... But true connoisseurs of this drink still prefer the natural version: strong flavors drown out the taste of even the best Arabica. Not to mention that most additives are “identical to natural”, that is, absolute chemistry.
Definitely artificial additives are cognac and amaretto, almonds and hazelnuts, orange and chocolate. This also includes the most exotic "blends": dessert tiramisu, pina colada, royal cherry, orange with chocolate, banana shake, etc. Natural - only spices: cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg. The most elite and expensive varieties of coffee can also be flavored in a natural way, transported in rum barrels.
The Arabs were the first to flavor coffee. According to one version, they wanted to diversify their favorite drink, according to another, healthy spices reduced the harmfulness of strong espresso. In any case, if you want to experiment, buy spices yourself and add them to your favorite drink. Coffee's best friends are cinnamon, star anise, nutmeg, allspice, cardamom and ginger.
4. Roasting.
The taste, strength and smell of the drink depend directly on roasting, so you need to carefully read the label. Weak, medium, strong or maximum? Although in fact there is no single classification, and different manufacturers can have a product of the same roast that differs markedly in taste.
There is only one way out - to try, although there are general trends. Stronger coffees tend to be more bitter, and if you're into softer flavors, opt for a lighter roast. And note: Italian coffee is usually a heavy roast!
5. Packing.
The first option is coffee in packs.
Ground grains are usually sold in vacuum packaging - hard or soft, the main volume is 250 gr. A soft pack must be chosen with a special degassing valve. Firstly, you can press on it and feel the aroma of coffee, this is how a fresh product is distinguished from an already unusable one. Secondly, the presence of a valve is proof that the coffee powder was packaged immediately after roasting and grinding. Coffee in soft packs - usually coarsely ground, made in the fastest (and cheapest) way.
Hard packaging noticeably wins in comparison with soft packaging - the drink in it retains both the coffee aroma and the special taste much better. It is very easy to recognize such a product - packs of coffee look like solid bricks. The main thing is to check whether the packaging is damaged in any place (in this case it becomes soft).
A big plus of such a package is that it usually always indicates the degree of roasting, the grinding option, in what way this drink is best prepared.
The second option is coffee in pods.
Pods (or monodoses) are disposable portions of ground coffee packed in a paper filter and foil packaging. They are intended for pod coffee machines, which are convenient to use at home, in the office, and in catering establishments. They make this drink open standard Easy Serving Espresso (ESE pods), translated - easy to prepare espresso.
The third option is coffee capsules.
Coffee capsules are a trend of the last decades. Today, there are already more than three capsule coffee preparation systems, but there is one feature - for each coffee machine there are only their own special capsules. Therefore, when purchasing a capsule coffee maker, you are “doomed” to only one type of coffee. With the monotony of varieties and tastes, you can only hope for quality, so when buying a new box, be sure to open and smell it. A bright coffee aroma is a sign of a fresh and high-quality drink.
Video: Coffee machines - is capsule coffee good?
6. Production date.
Freshness for coffee - first of all. When buying a brand new package of your favorite drink, immediately look at the production date. Even last year's small pack has already lost its aroma - as if you opened a large package and left it like that for a month. Most the best way- buy coffee beans in a specialized tea and coffee shop and ask to have it ground in front of you.
7. Brand and manufacturer.
A well-known manufacturer and well-known brand is a guarantee that ground coffee will be produced according to all standards and without suspicious impurities. Today, the main giants of ground coffee presenting their aromatic products in Russia are Jardin (Russia-Switzerland), Paulig (Finland), Jockey (Russia), Illy (Italy), Malongo (France), Lavazza (Italy), Zhivoy coffee" (Russia).
How much does natural ground coffee cost (average price per 1 kg.)?
Moscow and Moscow region
For the first time natural ground coffee, which was packed in cans, released in 1878 in America. And about 3 decades later, Hill Brothers patented this type of vacuum-packed.
There are more than a thousand varieties of coffee currently on the market. lovers natural coffee can be divided into 2 categories: those who buy ground coffee, and those who prefer roasted beans. ground product costs significantly less compared to beans and can be a mixture of coffee from different countries.
Depending on several factors, natural ground coffee can be classified into: caffeinated or decaffeinated, flavored or unflavoured. Interestingly, some varieties are aromatized, you can say "by themselves". Take, for example, a variety of coffee called "Blue Mountain" - it can "boast" of its unique taste due to the fact that it is transported in rum barrels.
The preparation of natural ground coffee requires certain costs, unlike instant coffee, for which you only need to have boiling water, a cup and a spoon on hand. Coffee drinkers know what they brew flavored drink in a cezve (Turk) or in a coffee maker. It remains only to find out which coffee grind is ideal for your coffee maker, since the brewing method is also selected based on the degree of grinding. There is even a certain rule: the shorter the drink preparation cycle, the finer the coffee grind. Undoubtedly, coffee beans can also be used, only they need to be ground before cooking.
So, there are 3 main types of coffee grinding and 3 additional ones. Coarse or coarse grinds are ideal for French presses (piston coffee makers) when the optimal brew time is 7 minutes. For drip coffee makers and for many other brewing methods, it is advised to choose medium-ground natural coffee. Here, the preparation time of the drink is reduced by a couple of minutes. Fine or fine or ground coffee is required for use in coffee makers with cone-shaped filters. Just 1-4 minutes and the fragrant drink is ready.
This information concerned, so to speak, the main or basic types of grinding. In addition, there are 3 more options that are familiar to true connoisseurs of coffee: fine espresso grinding, medium fine (coarse) grinding and powdered, ultra-fine grinding. Natural ground coffee of the last type is very similar in structure to flour and is used exclusively for brewing a real Turkish drink in a cezve.
Some professionals who really understand all the intricacies of coffee grinding believe that even the level of humidity in the air plays an important role here. However, certainly for home cooking it's too complicated. It is quite enough to determine which natural ground coffee is suitable for your coffee maker in order for the prepared drink to suit you.
Calorie content of natural ground coffee 200.6 kcal
Energy value of natural ground coffee (Proportion of proteins, fats, carbohydrates - bju):
: 13.9 g (~56 kcal)
: 14.4 g. (~130 kcal)
: 4.1 g (~16 kcal)
Energy ratio (b|g|y): 28%|65%|8%
Coffee is the most popular drink in the world. There are many varieties and brands of it, so the buyer often faces a difficult choice: which coffee is the best?
In Russia, in terms of popularity, ground coffee loses to instant coffee. But for its lovers, there are many well-known brands on the market with their own lines of varieties.
So how do you choose the perfect coffee for you?
We talked about how to properly brew ground coffee in a cup.
Which ground coffee is better
The taste of coffee beans is determined by several parameters: the conditions for the ripening of the plant, the climate in which it grows, weather conditions, and even the composition of the soil.
Producing country
- Coffee from India is considered strong and has spicy, bitter and sweet flavors. Sourness, which is considered a sign of Arabica, Indian coffee is completely devoid of.
- Kenyan and Yemeni varieties are famous for their high caffeine content and low acidity. Higher acidity - in Colombian and Brazilian coffee. Alpine varieties are different delicate taste and rich aroma. The bitterness characteristic of coffee is practically not felt in them.
- Ethiopian coffee is of impeccable quality. From its grains, a high-quality, strong and deep drink is obtained, in the taste of which chocolate notes are distinguishable and there are light fruit shades.
- Coffee from Brazil often has an unpleasant pharmacy taste. The reason for this is the high content of quinine in the soil. Its grains are rarely used in pure form. As a rule, they are part of blends and mixtures.
- Cuban coffee is exported in the form of blends. They go on sale under the brand name "qubit".
- The best monosorts of coffee are sold in the form of grains. Specialty coffee shops often provide an additional free bean grinding service right at the point of purchase.
Today, the freeze-dry drink is gaining popularity, or what are its main differences from soluble - read the article at the link.
Most delicious recipe we recommend making mochachino in: all the aroma of a quality Arabica variety is in your cup.
Varieties
Roast degree
The brightly colored boxes we see in stores usually contain heavily roasted coffee. Russian and European companies, when buying grains from manufacturers, most often roast the mixture on their own, using Italian roasting technology. This approach to the product is easy to explain. Lightly roasted ground coffee cannot be stored for a long time, even if it is packaged in vacuum bags.
Those who are used to buying grains by weight need to know that the strength of the finished drink depends on the degree of roasting.
For ground coffee, strong and medium roasts are considered optimal. After all, only she is able to reveal the flavor bouquet of coffee beans.
Grinding levels
The classification of grinding degrees is quite simple and understandable even for those who are not professionals in the coffee industry. It includes 5 main steps.
Rating of the best brands of ground coffee
Trademarks of coffee are widely represented on the shelves of supermarkets and are able to satisfy the most demanding and demanding taste. Of course, if possible, it is better to buy single varieties, not mixtures.
The most delicious coffees
Varieties from Central America, Kenya and Ethiopia are highly valued. Professional experts prefer Blue Mountain from Jamaica, Panamanian Geisha and Kopi Luwak (Indonesia). But buyers in different countries of the world have their own preferences regarding the choice of goods.
Today, several thousand varieties of coffee enter the market, and recognizing a quality product is not easy, but possible. Here are some tips for coffee lovers.
All coffee is made from the seeds of two types of coffee trees: Arabian coffee, or Arabica, and Congolese coffee, or Robusta. Moreover, robusta is used only in a mixture with arabica: in itself, robusta is not tasty and less aromatic, but it gives strength to the coffee infusion and is cheaper.
What variety do you prefer?
Several thousand varieties of coffee enter the market! The fact is that in each locality, Arabica acquires flavoring characteristics of soil, water, etc. And therefore it bears a name that mentions the name of the valley, its height above sea level, mountains, cities, countries, even the port from which coffee is shipped . For example, the most popular the best varieties called "Brazilian Arabica Santos coffee": that is, it is Arabica coffee grown in Brazil and shipped from the port of Santos.
Only two groups of coffee are called natural: in beans and ground. Ground coffee, as cheaper than beans, will be a mixture of coffee from different countries or from different vintages.
Ground coffee happens:
- caffeinated or decaffeinated (decaffeinated drink accounts for one fifth of all coffee);
- flavored or unflavored. Some varieties aromatize "on their own". For example, the Blue Mountain variety has its own unique taste acquires due to the fact that it is transported in rum barrels. The number is synthetic flavors huge. Most of all, consumers love the vanilla-nut flavor. Real coffee connoisseurs buy only unflavored; three varieties: the highest (produced only from Arabica), the first and second (can be both from Arabica and from a mixture with Robusta).
Grinding subtleties
Alas, the aroma and taste of ground coffee begins to deteriorate immediately after grinding. Or after you have opened the vacuum package. Ideally, coffee should be ground before brewing. Since coffee beans at home begin to lose their quality after a week of storage, experts advise buying no more than 200 grams of grains at a time. The degree of grinding of coffee depends on how you will prepare it:
- Coarse (or coarse) grinding - grind for 10 seconds (the time is indicated for the most ordinary electric coffee grinder without "bells and whistles"). Coffee particles can be up to 0.8 mm in size. Such coffee is suitable for preparation in a piston coffee maker or for brewing in a coffee pot, cezve. You need to insist it for 6-8 minutes.
- Medium grinding - grinding time - 13 sec. Extraction (infusion) time - 4-6 minutes. Versatile, suitable for many brewing methods.
- Fine grinding - grinding time - 15-20 seconds, insisting - 1-4 minutes. Used in coffee makers with filters. Oddly enough, fine grinding is stored the longest: fine particles lie more densely, worsening contact with air.
- Fine espresso grinding - this coffee is used in espresso coffee makers (a jet of steam is passed through the coffee).
- Superfine grinding - such a powder is similar to flour. Turkish coffee is brewed from it in a Turk.
How to recognize quality?
By price. The most expensive variety, which is sold in our stores, is called Jamaican Arabica Blue Mountain coffee, it costs about 3,500 rubles per 1 kg. The next in price is the Italian "Lavazza": 800 - 1000 rubles per 1 kg. But you can’t focus on price alone: coffee can be expensive simply because it has low yields or grows only in one limited place (for example, in Java).
By packaging. Coarsely ground coffee or cheaper and more fast method, has a valve on the vacuum package: a tiny hole is visible under the transparent "petal" the size of a fingernail. It allows gases to escape, otherwise the package would swell. good coffee do not pack in a plastic jar: only glass or tin.
Appearance. Clay, plastic, starch can be added to coffee. You need to look literally in both. To do this, put a pinch of coffee on a sheet of white paper, smooth it out and see if there are particles of a different color, structure. Chicory, beans, barley, peas, date or orange seeds can also be mixed into your coffee - depending on which country it is packaged in. But to determine the presence food additives” in coffee is possible (albeit after its purchase). Put the coffee powder into a glass cold water. Clean coffee will stick to the surface. Impurities will settle to the bottom after a while. In addition, they stick together and color the water.
Shelf life. Fraudsters can buy expired coffee and fake the date of manufacture. You can recognize the "junk" only by the aroma. Squeeze the vacuum pack by holding the release valve up to your nose: a strong aroma and the absence of rancid smell are signs of coffee freshness.
