Coffee, Café

With 90 percent of the food consumed in Puerto Rico imported, coffee’s roots here are special—and go back to 1736 with the Spanish immigrants. 

The coffee plant was born in Africa in an Ethiopian region (Kaffa). It spread out to Yemen, Arabia & Egypt. Some stories say a goat carried the seeds from Africa to Yemen first. Later the coffee plant made it to the Pacific, Central & South America and the Caribbean. Europe was the first to make it a popular drink. To the Europeans it was known as Arabian Wine.

The cool, sun-kissed mountains of the Americas, the Philippines, Africa and Arabia boast well-drained, fertile soils—perfect conditions for coffee production.

You may have been reading from time to time how drinking your cup of coffee is healthy for you. Research shows coffee can help protect against heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even some cancers.  They say drink no more than 4 cups a day. I’ve read decaf does not yield the same benefits.

Life would not have evolved without the help of this guy… the wet and wild hydro guy; but for me coffee is the only thing to get my body’s motor going. I think coffee is the undisputed king of the liquids, taking center stage at the café, in your kitchen; offering us whistles and heart catching aromas.

Closing in on that first cup in the morn is life’s big pleasure. I’m sure this stubborn goat may not be able to get too far without her cup of Joe.

“Be a coffee-drinking individual—espresso yourself!” —Author Unknown

Of more than 60 different types of coffee plant, only a few are suitable for making coffee… The coffee plants which produce the best coffee are:

Coffea Arabica and Coffea Robusta

Of the two, the Arabica is definitely the premium bean. Arabia is the land of kings, and boy oh boy, Arabica coffee is king for flavor and aroma.  I threw myself into the vat of coffee on a coffee production farm recently and this is what I was told as well.

In world trade, coffee ranks first among the enjoyment goods, surpassing alcohol, tea and tobacco.

Coffee has been around for 11 centuries.  Over 400 billion cups are consumed every year! The largest consumers of coffee in the world, per capita, are Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

The Japanese even try to improve their skin and reduce wrinkles by bathing in coffee grounds that were fermented with pineapple pulp. Drinking coffee was an expression of freedom after the heavy tea tax imposed on the American colonies in 1773, which caused the “Boston Tea Party" and resulted in America switching from tea to coffee.

Many factors determine the quality of the end product. Such as, where the coffee is grown, (ideal elevation is at least 1,200 feet above sea level or higher) soil, climate and elevation, not to mention harvesting, processing and roasting of the mature beans.

Agriculture

I discovered the coffee industry is considered one of the jewels of the Puerto Rican agriculture. It represents the livelihood of thousands of PR farmers.

During the month of February, we celebrated the coffee harvest. This is done for the workers, neighbors and friends. The tradition is kept alive by the townspeople.  They open their door to visitors and reminisce of the old days, informing young people of living conditions 70 years ago. They make it memorable.

However, the industry is going through a downward spiral due to urban sprawl and a lack of workers willing to work the somewhat grueling task of hand picking coffee. So, some farmers have reached out to big roasters overseas and some coffee is mixed with inferior beans.

The Department of Agriculture is throwing its full support behind the island’s coffee market; to ensure it’s survival so it can compete with other markets like Jamaica, Hawaii, Columbia, etc.

Coffee is no stranger to revolts. The French Revolution was born in a French Café.  A coffee revolt broke out in Prussia because consumption was restricted to the nobility, the clergy and high officials in 1785.

Climate

Arabica coffee accounts for about 80 percent of all coffee produced in the world. It prefers higher elevations and drier climates than its cousin Robusta.

The tropics of South America provide ideal conditions for growing Arabica coffee which grows best between 3,000 and 6,500 feet but has been grown as high as 9,000 feet. Generally, the higher the plant is grown the slower it matures.

This gives it time to develop the internal elements and oils that give coffee its aromatic flavor. Here in the Tropics, the plant enjoys moderate temperatures in the mountains, humid air, and daily rainfall to make it flourish and flower. 

The Coffee Plant

Clusters of fruits are attached to its woody branches by very short stems. The fruits vary in color from pale green when they first develop to deep crimson when they are fully ripe and ready for picking. The fruits develop over the six or seven months following the flowering of the fragrant white blooms. These last only a few days (and in the area I visited they only bloomed for 24 hours—so I made a second trip. I had to see it again). 

Ripe fruits at harvest typically contain two seeds, (the coffee beans) surrounded by sweet pulp.  The raw fruit had no taste to me. In Africa, the raw coffee beans, soaked in water and spices, are chewed like candy. The beans are then dried before being used in the production of coffee.

Harvest

In central America, harvest can be from February to April. In Africa, harvest is between March and September.

The plant reaches its peak yield between its 6th and 10th year of life and the mature coffee plants can grow to between 10-12 feet although they are pruned to make picking the fruit or cherry easier. 

Picking of the fruit is done by hand. No easy task picking—you are on the edge of the mountain with holding hooks for bringing in branches into the position for picking, perhaps a ladder, and a container for transporting the berries to the processing area.  I found it difficult work.  A lot of the equipment was made from bamboo.

For best quality coffee beans, you can only harvest hard-ripe (mature, red in color) and soft-ripe (mature, red to dark) berries.  Immature or overripe ones produce inferior beans which cannot be improved by processing.

Arabica is the most sought after bean for its quality and richness of flavor.  It is a temperamental plant, highly susceptible to disease, frost and droughts.  These beans sell at a higher price due to their quality.

Robusta is a hardier species which grows more quickly and at a lower altitude, and adapt well to all conditions.  The beans are smaller in size with a less pronounced flavor, but higher in caffeine content.  These bean are largely used in instant coffee.

The coffee berries must be pulped on the same day they are harvested. Farmers commonly dry their coffee beans under the sun, then they go through a dry processing, where they are passed through a huller to remove the dried pulp, parchment and skin.  Some farmers have pulping machines.

Vats

I was expecting to smell coffee at this stage. I tasted the pulp, I chewed on the beans—nothing, except for some fermentation smells. The purpose of fermentation is to remove the sticky and slippery mucilage which adheres to the coat of the seeds.

Drying

The beans are washed and sun dried or by mechanical hot air drying.
The beans then are ready for curing which involves hulling or peeling the parchment layer off, polishing away the silver skins and then grading takes place - sorted and  picked out by hand. Again, no easy task.

Beans

The color of first class raw beans is bluish-green to grayish-green.

The aroma from one of the high class batches made for me by my coffee farmer will always be nostalgic. The chemical sensor deep inside of us pluck that incredible scent of coffee finally… and it was worth the couple of trips, the climb of the mountain, the picking of berries, smelling, tasting and waiting for that delicious, freshest, fine taste.

                                 Black as the devil, Hot as hell,
                                Pure as an angel, Sweet as love.
                                         —Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord

Here is a wonderful song to check... it is Frank Sinatra’s Coffee Song, “There’s A Awful Lot of Coffee in Brazil."

Bach wrote a coffee cantata in 1732 and Beethoven, was very particular about his coffee. He always counted 60 beans when he prepared his brew. Me, I’m content with 58.