A bit about coffee

Every year the world produces more than a million bags of coffee and each bag weighs around 60 kg. The largest coffee producers are Central and South America with around 70% of the world’s production followed with Asia with 20% and Africa with 10%. Most of the world’s plantations are located between the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer. These are prime coffee areas thanks to the warm and damp air that is best for growing coffee bushes.

The green unroasted coffee beans are one of the most traded agricultural commodities in the world. Currently coffee is the third favourite beverage in the world after water and tea. Thanks to its caffeine content, coffee also helps to wake people up.

Coffee is a plant that belongs to the Rubiaceae family. It grows in the tropics, usually at around 200 to 2,000 m above sea-level in the form of small evergreen bushes or trees ranging from 3 to 13 metres tall. Coffee beans from the coffee bushes are similar to a cherry but unlike a cherry, the outer meat is not the goal, rather the stone inside is processed. After basic processing, specifically collection, bean selection, drying and roasting, we finally get a coffee bean of some quality. One of the most important processes for quality beans is roasting as this has a fundamental impact on the resulting taste of the coffee in the cup.

Types of coffee

The most frequent types of coffee we encounter are Arabica and Robusta; another that is less well-known and more infrequently used is Liberica. Arabica coffee grows at elevations from 800 to 2,000 metres above sea-level. It represents ¾ of the world’s production. It grows in areas where the temperature varies from 15 to 24 °C with total rainfall of around 152 cm. With regards to taste, Arabica is more aromatic and less bitter with smooth astringent characteristics. Canephora, more-known as Robusta, grows at elevations from 200 to 600 metres above sea-level at temperatures from 23 to 30 °C. The coffee delivers a bitter, full-bodied taste and creaminess. It is also characterised by higher caffeine content of 2 to 2.5%.

Mainly coffee blends can be found on our market. These are the result of blending different coffee beans from different countries which may have been processed using different methods. All of these factors influence the final quality and characteristics of the blend, which should result in a balanced product with defined taste, aroma and structure.

The Coffee&Co Blend

Our new blend, Extra Blend No. 10, is composed of 10 different types of coffee beans that are roasted especially for our blend. It contains 85% Arabica coffee beans from selected plantations in Costa Rica, Guatemala and Nicaragua. The remaining 15% is Robusta from some of the highest quality beans in the world - Indian Parchment and Monsoneed. Our blend is characterised by a velvety, rich and very stabile cream. The characteristics of the new coffee blend are ideal for preparing espresso (foam is generated along with a spicy flavour with hints of bitter chocolate) as well as for milk-based varieties where the dominant coffee flavour and bouquet remain pronounced.

„Healthy Coffee“

There are numbers of fundamental criteria that must be met in order to achieve a "healthy coffee”. The first prerequisite is proper settings on the coffee machine (a pressure of 9 bar, water temperature of 90 °C ± 3 °C) and the coffee grinder (proper granularity of the blend following coffee machine requirements). The coffee extraction period (7 g with a pressing force of 20 kg) is between 20 and 30 seconds (depending on the variety). Coffee prepared in this manner preserves all of its characteristic traits (sweetness, bitterness, and acidity, traces of wild berries, roasted almonds and bitter cocoa) and an ideal level of caffeine depending on the type of coffee bean. If you want to taste a healthy coffee, make sure you choose a coffee house that gives its full undivided attention to following all of these criteria. That is how we do it at our Coffee&Co coffee houses.