Are there so many unknown secrets hidden in tiny coffee beans?

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For those who feel uncomfortable without two cups of cappuccino every day, who have to go to a coffee shop before hooking up, and who bring their laptops to the coffee shop to use the WIFI every day, today I want to recommend you this book "World Coffee Atlas", written by James Hoffman, a British coffee master who is known as a legend in the coffee industry.

(Handsome James Hoffman, author of "World Coffee Map")

When handsome James Hoffman started his coffee career many years ago, he wanted to find a comprehensive textbook on coffee culture, but he couldn't find one, so he decided to write one himself. He traveled to coffee planting bases around the world and spent more than ten years writing this book, "World Coffee Atlas".

(Coffee Plantation)

Many coffee lovers may not know what coffee berries look like. In fact, the red, tender and juicy cherry tomatoes sold at the stalls outside your home are coffee berries. When people first discovered this tender fruit, they ate it first. Later, they found that the seeds inside the fruit had a more magical taste, so they began to use the seeds inside.

(Freshly picked coffee berries look a bit like cherry tomatoes)

Of course, we can't just pack these seeds and grind coffee. After the coffee beans are picked, they must go through two steps: "wet processing" and "dry processing". "Wet processing" is the process from peeling the outer skin to drying. "Dry processing" is the shelling and grading process. In this process, the moisture content of the coffee beans will be reduced from 60% to about 10%, which is more conducive to transportation and preservation. Of course, the most important process is the roasting of coffee beans. Before roasting, the coffee beans have almost no taste. It is the roasting process that magically awakens the chemicals in the coffee beans, making them emit different degrees of sourness, sweetness and bitterness.

(Unroasted coffee beans have almost no taste)

(Roasted beans become like this)

People usually add milk and sugar when drinking coffee. But what's the truth? Coffee professionals have always been negative about whether coffee needs to be added with milk and coffee. They think, we work so hard to roast such good coffee beans, with such a rich and mellow taste, why do you need to add so much milk and sugar? Why not just buy some instant coffee?

(Latte is the ultimate in milk foam)

The attitude of coffee merchants is just the opposite. In order to make more people like coffee and not be affected by the first taste of coffee, they use milk and sugar to attract more consumers. Moreover, because of the taste of milk and sugar, the quality of coffee beans is not so high. Gradually, the taste of consumers is cultivated by coffee merchants. This also leads to the fact that no matter whether you drink "latte", "cappuccino" or "macchiato", it tastes like milk and sugar.

Of course, if you are still at the level of drinking Nestle 3-in-1 instant coffee, I can't help you.

When people realized that drinking good coffee with a more mellow taste actually means forcing out the rich flavor from the coffee beans in some way, people invented many brewing methods and utensils, such as mocha, hand-poured, siphon, espresso, French press, etc. What must be mentioned here is the most classic espresso, which is the kind of "sizzling" and steaming coffee that we often see in coffee shops. Because brewing with boiling water alone cannot maximize the essence of coffee beans, people thought of using high-pressure and high-temperature steam to bombard the finely ground coffee bean powder, so that a cup of perfect-tasting coffee can be better extracted. So all the coffees with milk and sugar that you drink today are actually made on the basis of a cup of espresso.

(Siphon coffee makers are a more traditional way of brewing coffee)

(French press is a simpler way to brew coffee)

There is a kind of coffee called "Macchiato". In fact, the original meaning of "Macchiato" is to mark coffee. Many years ago, people were queuing to buy coffee, and some customers wanted to add some milk to their coffee. The guys found that if they added some milk to the coffee, the milk in the coffee might have completely dissolved by the time it was the customer's turn, and it would be unrecognizable. So they put a small handful of milk foam that was not easy to dissolve on the coffee as a mark, and this is "Macchiato".

(Italian joints are always available in the cafe)

So, the various types of coffee you drink today are like this:

Boss: You want an espresso? Okay. I want an espresso, man.

Boss: You want a latte? Sure. (whispering) Waiter: More milk.

Boss: You want a cappuccino? Sure. (whispering) Waiter: Add some milk foam.

Boss: You want an Americano? Sure. (whispering) Waiter: Just add boiling water to dilute it.

Boss: What, you want an iced coffee? Okay. (whispering) Just add a scoop of ice cubes, mate.

If you want to order a latte in an Italian cafe, you must say: "Hi, give me a cafe latte." Because if you say: "hi, give me a LATTE," the waiter may just give you a glass of milk.