The Coffee Portal
Coffee | Drinks | Coffeehouses | Companies | Culture | Preparation | Production
Introduction
Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It has the highest sales in the world market for hot drinks.
Coffee production begins when the seeds of the Coffea plant's fruits (coffee cherries) are separated to produce unroasted green coffee beans. The beans are roasted and then ground into fine particles. Coffee is brewed from the ground roasted beans, which are typically steeped in hot water before being filtered out. It is usually served hot, although chilled or iced coffee is common. Coffee can be prepared and presented in a variety of ways (e.g., espresso, French press, caffè latte, or already-brewed canned coffee). Sugar, sugar substitutes, milk, and cream are often added to mask the bitter taste or enhance the flavor. There are also various coffee substitutes.
Though coffee is now a global commodity, it has a long history tied closely to food traditions around the Red Sea. The earliest credible evidence of coffee drinking as the modern beverage appears in modern-day Yemen in southern Arabia in the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines, where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed in a manner similar to how it is now prepared for drinking. The coffee beans were procured by the Yemenis from the Ethiopian Highlands via coastal Somali intermediaries, and cultivated in Yemen. By the 16th century, the drink had reached the rest of the Middle East and North Africa, later spreading to Europe. (Full article...)
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Caffè Giubbe Rosse is a historical literary café in Piazza della Repubblica, Florence. When opened in 1896, the cafè was actually called "Fratelli Reininghaus". It was named "Giubbe Rosse" (Red jackets or coats) in 1910, after the red jackets which waiters used to wear every day.
The restaurant-café has a long-standing reputation as the resort of literati and intellectuals. Alberto Viviani defined the Giubbe Rosse as "fucina di sogni e di passioni" ("a forge of dreams and passions"). The Giubbe Rosse was the place where the Futurist movement blossomed, struggled and expanded; it played a very important role in the history of Italian culture as a workshop of ideas, projects, and passions. "We want to celebrate love of danger, of constant energy, and courage. We want to encourage going in aggressive new directions, feverish sleeplessness, running, deathly leaps, slaps and blows".
Poets such as Ardengo Soffici, Giovanni Papini, Eugenio Montale, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Giuseppe Prezzolini and many others met and wrote in this literary café an important venue of Italian literature in the beginning of the 20th century. (Full article...)
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Coffee preparation is the process of turning coffee beans into liquid coffee. While the particular steps vary with the type of coffee and with the raw materials, the process includes four basic steps: raw coffee beans must be roasted, the roasted coffee beans must then be ground, and the ground coffee must then be mixed with hot or cold water (depending on the method of brewing) for a specific time (brewed), the liquid coffee extraction must be separated from the used grounds, and finally, if desired, the extracted coffee is combined with other elements of the desired beverage, such as sweeteners, dairy products, dairy alternatives, or toppings (such as shaved chocolate).
Coffee is usually brewed hot, at close to the boiling point of water, immediately before drinking, yielding a hot beverage capable of scalding if splashed or spilled; if not consumed promptly, coffee is often sealed into a vacuum flask or insulated bottle to maintain its temperature. In most areas, coffee may be purchased unprocessed, or already roasted, or already roasted and ground. Whole roast coffee or ground coffee is often vacuum-packed to prevent oxidation and lengthen its shelf life. Especially in hot climates, some find cold or iced coffee more refreshing. This can be prepared well in advance as it maintains its character when stored cold better than as a hot beverage. (Full article...)
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Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that the Chronicle of the 20th Century was so heavy that it was said to be "the first coffee table book seriously to threaten the well-being of coffee-tables"?
- ... that in a copyright infringement case over a coffee-table history of the Grateful Dead, the Second Circuit held that a reuser can still claim fair use despite negotiating with the rights holder?
- ... that the Highfield Cocoa and Coffee House in Sheffield, England, sold tea, coffee and cocoa at a penny a pint and also provided billiards and reading rooms?
- ... that Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly was released after the main creator of Coffee Talk died in March 2022?
- ... that the city council of Bandung in the Dutch East Indies initially met at the site of a former coffee-packing factory?
- ... that Steem peanut butter contained as much caffeine per serving as two cups of coffee?
- ... that Monmouth Coffee Company in Covent Garden was one of the foundations for the third wave of coffee in London?
- ... that actor Tatsunari Kimura ate pancakes and drank coffee while talking for eight hours during the filming of the television drama Old-Fashioned Cupcake?
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Web resources
- World Coffee Research – a 501 (c)(5) nonprofit program of the international coffee industry. (Wikipedia article: World Coffee Research)
- Coffee Research Foundation – based in Kenya, and founded in 1908
- Central Coffee Research Institute – based in Chickmagalur District, India, and founded in 1915