Gourmet Coffee: An Executive Summary Part II
Posted by Jimmy Craig on 25 Nov 2009 | Tagged as: Gourmet Coffee
Gourmet Coffee: An Executive Summary Part II
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Coffee is brewed or prepared in numerous ways like boiling, forcing steam or very hot water through the ground coffee mass, or steeping the grounds in a receiving vessel. For many years, most Americans used a percolator coffee maker to make their daily fix. Today, automatic machines of various sorts are making serious inroads on the percolator coffee pots in the USA. One reason is that it is simpler and faster to brew small amounts of coffee (one or two cups) with the new automatic macines. Another reason is that it is possible to find a wide variety of coffee flavours, incuding flavoured coffees, with the small automats – gourmet coffee for one.
The percolator coffee pot uses an engineering process called a thermosyphon to make the coffee – everything happens in one container, the water in the bottom portion is heated to boiling and rises through a small center pipe to be distributed over the ground coffee held in a metal filter above the water level. The boiling water extracts the aromatic oils and other flavour and colour components from the coffee grounds as it trickles down, or “percolates” through the bed of coffee grounds, gravity being the driving force. That is the source of the name “percolator.” I don’t think there are many people who would term percolator coffee gourmet coffee – what do you think?
The traditional Italian coffee maker uses the same general idea, but in this case the water is boiled and using the pressure this generates, it forces its way through the more densely packed ground coffee, through a final metal filter, and into the container at the top of the pot. When the water is completely evaporated, the coffee is done. Many people think that the concept of gourmet coffee got started with the traditional Italian stovetop coffee cooker.
The Melita-style European coffee filter is essentially just that – a funnel that is lined with a disposable paper filter. The ground coffee is placed in the filter, hot water is poured over the grounds, and the coffee beverage is collected at the outlet (bottom) of the filter.
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American ranch house coffee is very simple: put water and coffee into a pot, and heat up everything on the (wood) stove – if you have the chance, let it settle off the stove before you serve it. This is the “steeping” method noted at the beginning. Sometimes there are some additives used to keep the grounds together (more or less) so that there is mostly liquid coffee and not much coffee grounds in the coffee cups or mugs. This is hardly gourmet coffee, unless you’re “punchin’ doggies” all day for a living, in which case it might taste pretty darn good!
Most of the automatic single-cup coffee machines use the same principle as the Italian coffee maker, except that the coffee is contained in a small disposable container, often called a pod, and the water is in a larger interior pot that does not have to be refilled after every preparation. It might even be attached to a water supply, so that no manual refilling is necessary (this is also the case for many vending machine versions).
There are other fascinating methods to brew coffee to your own taste and cultural inclinations, but I think that covers the major methodologies. You should be able to see some of these more unusual methods for preparing coffee in other posts on this blog in the future. Stay tuned!
All of these methods use some way to separate the used grounds from the liquid coffee. This is because the used grounds tend to be abrasive, hard, and bitter tasting. On the other hand, house plants and outdoor plants and flowers really appreciate the occasional coffee grounds – their acidity reduces the natural basic pH of soil that is often watered, and provides the potential for increased aeration, water retention, and organic material. Coffee grounds also work well in composting solutions, so don’t throw them away in the garbage!
Naturally, you have to understand that gourmet ground coffee or coffee beans are just the very front end of the gourmet Gestalt for a large number of gourmet coffee aficionados. Some like it black and hot, others want it sweet, foamy white, and some with added flavours as well. What kind of flavours? Cinnamon, chocolate, mint, strawberry, vanilla, and many others. If you go for these variations, you are in for two surprises, one being the taste, and the other being the hit to your pocketbook! Doing something like this at home has definite financial advantages, and you can put whatever you want into your coffee with no regard for what your table neighbours will think!
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Gourmet Coffee: An Executive Summary Part II
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2 Comments »
on 31 Jul 2010 at 07:36 1.
Rafael Cruikshank said …
interesting article.. I like your point of view on this matter. Although there are a few points I disagree on I believe you did a good job purposing your review. GJ.
on 24 Jul 2011 at 00:49 2.
Thomas Ellis said …
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