SCENE 1
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| Hawaii and Central America:
Bright, snappy. Pop music. Okay, you with me?
|
Hawaii Pop Music |
| East Africa and Yemen:
Brooding, but still catchy. Beethoven, on a good day.
|
East Africa Beethoven |
| Then you've got Sumatra and
Indonesia: And the coffees down there are just plain funk. No way around it.
|
Sumatra Funk |
Aw, geez. I've got to go.
GUEST: Dr. Don Wilson, Master Roaster
Now at this point, the beans are referred to as
'green'. They
don't look a whole lot like coffee
and to tell you the truth, if you were to brew up a cup it wouldn't taste a much like
coffee. It would taste much more like ... well ... yard clipping soup
probably. Now it
requires the
talents of master roasters at this point to fulfill the flavor potential of the bean
through the
application, judicious application, of heat which is the next step. Because once
they are
sucked up through this hopper these beans will head into this giant, oversized ... well
...
gas-powered clothes dryer, I'd guess you'd say, which is being operated by a master
roaster,
in this case Doctor Don Wilson.
DON WILSON: Hi, Alton. How are you doing?
AB: How you're doing, Doc?
DW: Good thanks. Good.
AB: Thanks for having me in.
DW: You're welcome.
AB: I got a question for you.
DW: Yeah.
AB: What exactly is it that roasting does?
DW: Well, what we're going to do is bring the beans up through temperature and we're looking for color, consistency, and most importantly
we're going to look for chemical change in the beans to bring out the aromas, the
flavors. It's a process called pyrolysis.
Pyrolysis: Chemical change resulting from exposure to heat.
DW: The First Crack is where the water comes to boiling temperature and it
pops and starts to turn to steam.
AB: Kind of like popcorn?
DW: Yeah. And it cracks the bean and pops the chaff out.
AB: We actually hear that? You hear the pop?
DW: You'll hear it.
AB: What do you think is the kind of optimum balance between the flavor of the bean and the flavor of the roast?
|
DW: It's a question of personal preference. As people learn more about coffee, they'll learn that different levels of roast suit particular coffees better. [they begin to hear cracking] That's the first crack. You're hearing it now. |
different roasts for different beans |
AB: Yeah.
DW: We're going to take frequent samples to determine when it's absolutely at it's best.
Don's looking for the "sweet spot" where acidity, flavor and body balance.
DW:
We're going to see a little bit of oil appearing ...
AB: Uh, huh.
DW: ... just in the center of the surface of the bean.
AB: That's starting to look like a seriously cooked coffee bean.
DW: I got seconds there to get this right. So, I'm going on a combination of eye, nose and ear. Okay, we're ready to drop.
Since Don was after a bright acidity and a regional character he stopped these beans at a Light City Roast. A few minutes down the line would have been a Full City usually considered a perfect balance of flavor and body. A little further than that a French or Vienna Roast trades flavor for body. Then later an Italian Roast which at this point is, well, it's practically charcoal and no real flavor of the bean remains. Just roast. |
Light City
|
|
DW: The further you roast coffee the lower in caffeine it becomes. So an Espresso Roast has actually got less caffeine per ounce than the Light City. |
The darker the roast, the lower the caffeine |
AB: Well Don, thank you very much for the tour.
DW: You're welcome.
AB: I appreciate your work. Beautiful job.
Well now that they've reached their peak of flavor each
one of these tiny beans is also a
ticking time bomb. That's because unless they're stored in air tight containers
immediately,
they start going stale. The problem is that these beans, at least for the next
couple of days,
will be giving off prodigious amounts of carbon dioxide. So much so, in fact, that
they'll
basically blow their way, appropriately, out of any container you seal them in. But
there is
a way to diffuse the situation.
A coffee house that roasts on premises can avoid
explosive situations by moving beans
straight from the roaster to jars which when opened on a regular basis allow for
venting. Now, as long as the coffee house enjoys speedy turnover, staleness will never have a
chance to happen. Now a good coffee house, by the way, is like a good fish
market: the busier it is the fresher the product
is. Now as far as grocery stores go, well,
that's a
whole 'nother can of beans.
|
It used to be by the time a coffee gassed out and was shipped to a retailer it was well on its way to staledom. But, in the 1960s an Italian engineer came up with away to keep freshness in while giving CO2 a way out: an air-tight bag with a one-way value laminated right into the side. Just feel around your bag. You'll know if its there. Thus contained, beans can remain fresh for two, maybe three months. By the way, whole beans are not always fresh beans. Given a little air, a little time, a little light even the most noble beans will be rendered flavorless. So, beware open bean bins. |
One Way Valve
|
Oh, geez. I've got to get moving.
|
These two bags may look alike, but they're not. See, this bag is actually sealed. While this bag is merely closed. See, your friendly, neighborhood roaster never meant for you to keep beans in this bag. He just didn't want you to have to carry them home in your pockets. This sealed bag on the other hand is an acceptable storage device. But remember, once it's breached the time bomb clock starts ticking again. You can diffuse the situation by getting all of these back into an air tight environment. Do not be fooled by these little twist ties. These are not acceptable containers anymore. But a canister is fine as long as you know that the seal is air tight. |
Air Tight Container
|
Now as for temperatures, freezing or refrigerating may
be popular with coffee fans but
not with coffee beans. See, each time you fetch them from the chill, moisture
condenses
on the surface of the bean which only makes them degrade faster. Now as long as you
don't stash this near the oven, room temperature will do just fine.
Now that we have procured and secured quality beans we only have 97
percent of the
coffee ingredients to go.
Oh geez. I've got a boat to catch.
Coffee is mostly
water. Not only does
H2O work
as a solvent liberating flavor compounds
from the bean, but it blends its own flavor to the equation. Now most of us receive
our tap
water from municipal supplies pumped from rivers and lakes into huge basins where various
suspended solids are removed via sedintation and coagulation. Now various
disinfectants,
neutralized various pathogenic organisms and various filtration mediums clarify matters
further.
| Now besides chlorine and fluoride, you're average tap water contains at least trace amounts of other chemicals which insure its wholesomeness. Which is not say it makes it taste good. Luckily a simple carbon-based water filter can wrestle away most of the offending flavors. | carbon (charcoal) water filter |
| In areas that have either excessively hard, soft or sulphury water you should probably go with bottled water. But avoid distilled water. It's so flat and empty that it really just can't chemically get a grip on the grounds. | too hard go bottled NOT distilled |
Oh, geez. Time to talk mythology.
You know, brewing coffee is a lot like black jack. It's a gamble. But just like the good gambler knows how to play the odds, the good brewer knows how to play the odds.
| For instance, a good brewer knows that 30 percent of the beans total weight is extractable by water. He would also know that of that two thirds tastes really great. Would also know that that last third would tastes really rotten. So, the question is how far are you willing to go. Cause if you extract just enough you'll have a great tasting cup. But if you go too far, oooo, busted. Oh well. Hopefully making coffee won't ever be as painful as this. | 30% of bean is extractable
|
| And it won't be as long as you can control four specific functions. You've got to be able to control the temperature of the water, the size of the grind, the proportion of coffee to water and finally the brew time. | H20 Temperature |
If you've got those down, every single cup is going to be a winner. Well, better luck next time, sir. Appreciate that.
Oh, geez. I've got to go.
Lloyd's of London started as a coffee house in 1668.
GUESTS: Chuck, Sleepy Neighbor
{???} ... appreciate the fact that most human beings brew
their coffee while in a quasi-somnambulistic state. That's why we've designed a brewing system of such cunning
design
as to render the highest amount of flavor for the smallest amount of both financial and
mental investment. Now just to prove how easy it is to make truly, truly great
coffee
we've invited over my sleepy-headed, late-night working butcher neighbor, CHUCK, to
give it a test spin.
CHUCK: Mister Brown is that you?
AB: Right over here Chuck. Over here. Nice of you to join us, buddy.
C: I was having the nicest dream.
AB: Yeah? About a nice, steaming mug of mocha java?
C: That's right, molten lava.
AB: Poor kid. Helps on the way. Look what you're going to be testing for us.
A manual drip brewer featuring a thermal carafe.
C: Gerbil giraffe.
AB: And that's not all. We've got an electric coffee grinder here and an electric
kettle. And now I know. You want to ask me why all the
separate components.
C: Desperate doughnuts.
AB: These components will give you control. And flavor is all about control. Now, Chuck, in your opinion what would you say are the top coffee
making mistakes?
C: Poppy raking with snakes.
AB: Most of us don't put near enough coffee in our coffee. Look, the ratio is two tablespoons of freshly ground beans to six ounces of water. Okay? Now we're going to make four perfect cups of coffee. And that means we're going to need 24 ounces of water, right? Which I've already loaded up into this kettle. So if you'll just plug that in for us we'll get going, okay? |
6 oz. H20 + 2 Tbl Coffee 4 servings = 24 oz H20 |
A lot of people don't think they like strong coffee when in reality what they don't like is bitter coffee. Now logically to take care of this they decide to brew with fewer grounds. The problem is is that makes the bitterness even worse. And here's why. If this filter was full up with grounds then as the water were to moving through it, it would just kind of extract the right amount of solids as it went through. But if its only got, maybe, coffee up to here then you've got a lot more water crossing a smaller amount of grounds. That means it's going to extract a lot more flavor and a lot of that flavor is bad. Bitter. We don't want that. |
fewer grounds = over extraction = bitter coffee |
AB: Hi. Um, what do you think is the biggest favor you can do your
beans?
C: For fiends.
AB:
Right. Grind your own. I mean you want to open these guys up and get their power out as close to brew time as possible. I mean after all
you wouldn't buy a bottle of champagne and
then ask the cashier to uncork it for you, would you? |
$20 blade grinder |
Now grind time and of course grind size is completely dependent on the brewing method. Now a fast brewing coffee like espresso can use a very, very fine powdery grind where a longer brewing method like, say, French press needs a pretty, big chunky grind. Now I've found that for drip machines either manual or automatic work fine with about a 15 second grind. |
15-20 sec. grind for all drip makers |
AB: Chuck. You're there. You're there. Come on back. Good job. Okay. That's perfect. Now this is a two tablespoon measure. We're going to use one of these for every cup of coffee, okay. So take this and let's have four spoonfulls right there. |
2 Tbls per 6 oz H20 |
Now if you don't have a coffee scoop just make sure ...
AB: That's not cereal,
Chuck. Coffee, not
cereal. There you
go.
... make sure you that you use two tablespoons for each cup. You've got that. Now a lot of folks like to use paper filters and they're fine. Although I find that these gold filters besides being a little easier on the local land fill allow more of the body producing compounds to pass through from the coffee and I like that. These little guys will pay for themselves in one year.
AB: You know, I think the water is ready.
C: I don't want to go steady.
AB: The kettle? Oh, wait, wait, wait. Now this is important. The ideal extraction temperature is between 190 and 205 degrees which is just off the boil. So hold that for about 10 seconds, okay? Now here's another little tip. Since coffee grounds have a tendency to float when you pour in the water give the top a little bit of a spritz. By pre-saturating those grounds you're going to have cleaner extraction. Which is a good thing. Now you may pour. |
190° - 205°
|
| Now, odds are good he's going to have to fill that cone about three times. And it's probably going to take a total of four minutes. And that is perfect because the last great secret to coffee brewing is that you want a four to five minute extraction. That is the window where the flavors we are after will come out. | 4-5 minutes brew time |
|
Want to know how many six-ounce servings your electric maker can crank out? Just fill it full of water, measure how much it holds and divide by six. |
To re-calibrate your electric brewer's
capacity, |
Four minutes to brew, three minutes to heat the
water. If you ask me, seven minutes is
not too much of an investment for a perfect pot of coffee. Of course, the very best
thing
about this carafe is that when he wakes up in a few hours this will still be hot.
Oh geez. I've got to go.
GUEST: Judy Crim, Dietitian
Well, it looks like our friend, Chuck, is now friskier
than a heard of Ethiopian goats.
AB: Uh, hey,
Chuck. I can't help but notice you're mopping my floor.
C: Ah, it's the least I can do, Mr. Brown.
AB: Okay.
What I want to know is what's got him feeling so darned good. Luckily I've got a registered Dietitian hanging around the place who can answer these kinds of questions.
AB: So, why is he feeling so darned good?
JUDY CRIM: It's the caffeine. He's wired from the caffeine.
AB: Yeah, I think he drank like the whole pot of this thing. How does that stuff work?
JC: Well, it works because in the brain the caffeine prevents adenosine from being released in the brain. And adenosine is a compound
in our brain that helps to keep us calm. And when that's not released you just stay high
all the time. You stay very energized.
AB: Now I noticed he's working very quickly. Would you say he's working better or just faster?
JC: He's working faster but not better. Because what happens when we're so high and up all the time, we have the illusion of working better but the quality of work
is very poor.
AB: So in other words it makes you faster but it doesn't make you better.
JC: Right. So you better check your floor because it's not, probably not very clean.
AB: So most people think of caffeine as just kind of, you know, this mild little thing. That doesn't look very mild.
JC: No. For some people it can be very, very strong and have this kind of effect and while other people can drink a cup of coffee with caffeine in it
before they go to bed and it never affects them. And you just need to be aware of how it affects you. And if it affects you in a hyper way you probably shouldn't drink it.
AB: Unless you like that kind of thing.
JC: Unless you like that kind of thing.
AB: Okay, got to go, doc. Thanks a lot. Um, hey, Chuck. Go home.
Legend has it that coffee was discovered
around 800 B.C. by
an Ethiopian who noticed that his goats became excited after
eating
berries from a mysterious shrub.
Now all this caffeine talk begs the
question. Is
there such a thing as a great cup of decaf? Well, it's not really a simple
question. It's got a lot to do with
economics.
Now lets say that
this cup of decaf and this cup of regular both cost 100 dollars. But we're okay with
that
because we know that quality beans cost, right? Okay, now even at it's best,
decaffeination is
like doing surgery with a hand grenade. I mean, you may get most of the caffeine,
but a lot
of the good stuff is going to go down the proverbial drain with it.
To make up for that, decaffeinaters have to use the best quality beans
called double A.
They're not really gold but you get the idea. They of course cost more money. There. Oh, did I mention that decaffeination is a complicated process requiring expensive
factories. There you
go. And you don't have to be a fat cat industrialist to know that means
more of
these.
So, now you've got your decaf. And it's pretty darn good but it
costs a heck of a lot
more than my regular which we consumers just won't tolerate. Now coffee processors
respect that. So, there go the double A beans. Pity. That doesn't even
things up. Well,
we can't do without the factories so we'll have to go with substandard beans. There,
now
they cost the same. Of course now this cup taste a lot like a wet "ruff, ruff,
ruff."
So, either settle for drinking less of this hard stuff here or seek out
expensive
decafs. Until
someone genetically engineers a coffee tree with a no-caffeine gene, this is the best we can
do.
Now we hope we've inspired you to wake up and smell ... yeah, well, you
know. Just
remember that beans and water are ingredients. Brewing is cooking. And
if you take the
time, pay attention to details, this is good eats.
Last Edited on 08/27/2010
NEIGHBOR #4: But how?
AB: Friend, humanity demands it. Besides, I don't know
about those little bunnies there, hose little lambsies you've got on, but these little piggies we're not made for beating
the mean streets. So, are you with me?
a whole lot of time. So, strap
in tight. Pay attention. And believe me, the next
cup you brew will be seriously ...
The coffee bean is actually the pit of a cherry like fruit that
grows, botanically speaking,
on one of two varieties of coffee tree. Now Robusto trees are hardy and
high-yielding but
their beans render a brew that's all power, meaning caffeine, and no flavor. There
kind of
the malt liquors of
the hot beverage world. On the other hand, Arabica trees, like
this one
are shy, finicky, delicate mountain dwellers that produce a measly two pounds of beans a
year. But, oh the beans.
terroir. Which means that not only are
beans
from the three major world growing areas different from each other but within each of
these areas there are hundreds of different subtle variations. Now as much as I
don't care
for gross generalizations, I do have a little analogy that I've been working on to kind of
sum
up this whole world coffee thing. So here I go.
