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Gourmet Espresso beans are commonly referred to as oily dark roasted beans however, in reality there is no such thing as espresso beans or espresso roast. Espresso coffee is achieved by blending a variety or beans as well as special roasts with the objective of creating the best possible tasting espresso. As no two blends are exactly the same, achieving this goal can be a challenge.
Depending upon what espresso beverages the blend will be used for the choice will vary. Espresso coffee used in milk based drinks such as cappuccino or lattes will possess different characteristics than a blend of coffee used for a true espresso to be drunk without any additives. The milk based espresso beverages must have an unique aroma that will balance its full flavor and be enjoyed when blended with milk based froth.
Many roasters will have their own signature blends of espresso with strictly guarded formulas. Since individual palates are unique, it is best to sample different espresso gourmet coffee blends until you find one that is suitable to your taste.
Mocha is the name of a port on the southern end of the Red Sea, near Yemen. The port has been of little importance since the late eighteen hundreds. Java is an island off the coast of Indonesia. And Mocha referred to those beans being shipped from the port of Mocha, and Java pertained to those beans grown on Java. Thereby Mocha Java was the first successful marketable blending of two varieties of coffee. During the mid to late 1800”s it was believed that coffee roasters acknowledged that there were certain aspects to the Yemeni bean that when blended with Java beans resulted in a very pleasing taste. Or it may have just been convenient to mix these two well known coffees together.
Regrettably, the uniquely original Mocha-Java blend that was very popular during the 1800’s has been lost forever, since a blight of coffee leaf rust (Hemileia vastatrix) destroyed the old Java coffee tree stock prior to the 19th century. Over time the island’s Java coffee trees were replanted however, coffee aficionados claim the original flavor of the old java coffee trees was never duplicated. Today’s highly skillful roasters try to imitate the Mocha-Java blend flavor, although they often blend beans that are neither Indonesian Java nor Yemen Mocha to accomplish this. Since no one can truly know for certain the flavor of the original Mocha-Java-Blend coffee, using coffee beans from other than Indonesia or Yemen origins is not necessarily inauthentic.
If you are passionate about drinking the very best coffee, give Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee a try.
What is Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee?
Although other Caribbean islands grow coffee, certainly Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee is the best, and the most well-known. The name Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee is a registered trademark of Jamaica’s Coffee Industry Board. Connoisseurs characterize Jamaica Blue Mountain as a perfect combination of acidity, body and aroma. It is rich and flavorful, with no bitterness and a hint of chocolatey sweetness – a very smooth, mild coffee. Some say it is also very low in caffeine.
Blue Mountain is not a brand, but a coffee-growing region. At the Eastern end of Jamaica, the Blue Mountains form the backbone of the island and are among the highest mountains in the Caribbean, rising to 7,402 feet. To be called Jamaica Blue Mountain, the beans must be grown at altitudes between about 3,000 and 5,500 feet in the parishes of Saint Andrew, Saint Mary, Saint Thomas or Portland. Above 5,500 feet, the lushly wooded forest, which is home to over 800 species of plants and more than 200 species of birds, is maintained by the Jamaican Government as a Forest Reserve. (By the way, there are great hiking trails throughout this area.) Beans grown at lower elevations are called Jamaica Low Mountain or Jamaica High Mountain, based on elevation, and, while they may produce fine coffee, they tend to be more acidic and cannot legitimately be called Jamaican Blue Mountain.
There is usually a cool misty cloud cover hanging over the Blue Mountains and the region gets about 200 inches of rain each year. This constant mist gives the mountains a bluish hue, which is where they derive their colorful name. Combined with volcanic soil rich in potash, nitrogen and phosphorus and good drainage, it makes for an ideal coffee-growing region (think about the climatic similarities with the Hawaiian Kona coffee-growing region). This perfect combination of factors causes the beans to mature more slowly (as many as 10 months to harvest), developing more character and producing a larger, harder bean with more intense flavor. This is compared to other regions in the world where the beans mature in 5 or 6 months. Most of the coffee trees are of the Arabica Typica variety which produces delicious coffee.
History
Coffee is not native to Jamaica. The beans were brought to the island in 1728 by the governor at that time, Sir Nicholas Lawes, and coffee growing began as a plantation slave crop. Jamaica was able to produce such high quality beans that the industry grew quickly, resulting in more than 600 coffee plantations by 1814. After slavery was abolished, many former slaves acquired their own land and began to grow their own coffee. This caused a dramatic decline in the industry primarily due to labor shortages and, by 1850, only about 180 coffee plantations remained in operation. Revived in the 1870s, some (mostly white) plantation owners started designating their coffee as Blue Mountain to distinguish it from the beans being produced by the emancipated slaves. These estate owners had access to better processing equipment and benefitted from their connections to merchants in colonial Britain (in power at the time), so their crops could be sold at the highest prices. Their reputation for high quality caused a high demand around the world even though this Blue Mountain coffee was only a small part of Jamaica’s total production.
Jamaica’s coffee production has suffered many hardships caused by unscrupulous dealers, hurricanes and lack of organization. But in the 1950s and 1960s Japan developed a taste for their coffee, forming relationships with growers and processors, and investing in the production of the coffee crop. Today, Japan buys over 80% of the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee crop under contract, adding to its rarity in world coffee markets.
Regulation
Responding to the various problems, the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board (C.I.B.) was established in 1953 to reorganize and develop the industry, control the quality of the crop and provide assistance to farmers. Quality was once again the number one priority. The Coffee Industry Board carefully examines crops, evaluating bean size and other qualities to determine whether or not the coffee will be certified, and how to grade it. Grade One Jamaica Blue Mountain is the finest coffee. Today, there are many coffee cooperatives consisting mainly of small farmers with plots between ½ to 10 acres. Jamaica’s farmers send all their beans to designated pulperies and are paid per box by CIB. Once certified, the coffee can be sent for roasting to a CIB-licensed roaster who is also the only entity authorized to market Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee in Jamaica and around the world.
In addition to its use for brewed coffee, the beans are the flavor base of Tia Maria coffee liqueur, another delicious Jamaican product.
Because of the restricted geographical range where it’s grown, Jamaica Blue Mountain is available in limited quantities and can sometimes be difficult to find and rather expensive. Its production of about 2,000,000 pounds per year makes Jamaica a small fry in comparison to the large coffee producing countries of the world like Brazil, Columbia, Guatemala and Costa Rica. About 65% of the total production is exported, with about 95% of that going to Japan. That doesn’t leave much for the rest of us and it explains the high prices this great coffee commands!
Its coffee exports earn between $25 and $30 million a year – far less than its other exports like sugar, bauxite and rum. But Jamaica can rightfully say it produces the premier coffee of the world!
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EnzineArticles.com/ expert Theresa Goodell
Love those delicious and costly drinks you can only get at the nearest coffee chain? Want to make your own? As a refined coffee connoisseur, maybe you’ve just purchased your very own espresso machine; or, perhaps you are thinking of becoming a professional barista and you want to know how to create that nice, creamy froth that rides like silk on the top of your favorite cappuccino. Well, from an experienced barista, here’s how.
Instructions
Things You’ll Need:
- An espresso machine with a steam wand, of course
- Freshly ground espresso beans
- 6-8 oz. of milk. Use skim if you’re are making the frothy cappuccino
- A stainless steel steaming pitcher with a thermometer. Keep the empty pitcher refridgerated until you plan to use it.
If this is your first attempt, start with a latté until you are comfortable using the equipment. The cappuccino is slightly more difficult and will be easier when you are used to handling the steaming wand and pitcher.
Following the manufacturer’s directions for your machine, add the appropriate amount of ground espresso for brewing and get it set to brew. But don’t push any buttons . . . yet.
Using a damp rag, wrap the hot steam wand and turn the knob to blow hot steam through the holes in the end. This makes sure the wand is clear and can produce good steam.
Pour cold milk into the cold steaming pitcher and insert the wand into the picture. Slowly begin turning on the steam, keeping the steam tip just below the surface of the milk.
As the steam builds, tilt the pitcher so that the milk begins to swirl. You don’t want big, soapy-looking bubbles to form, but rather, a nice soft froth of teeny-tiny pin-prick sized bubbles.
Hold the pitcher so until the temperature reaches 100 degrees.
When the milk reaches 100 degrees farenheit, plunge the steam wand into the bottom of the pitcher. Again, don’t allow big bubbles to form. Just let the milk keep churning until the temperature reaches approximately 140 degrees.
At 140 degrees, quickly turn off the steam and remove the wand. The temperature will continue to rise for a bit, but it is important that it does not pass 180 degrees or the milk will scald. If larger bubbles have formed despite your efforts to prevent them, just tap the pitcher on the counter top gently a few times to break the bubbles down. You can even let the pitcher “rest” for a minute or so.
Now you can brew your espresso. When the last drop is brewed, pour it into an empty cup. Taking your steamed milk, pour it gently into the side of the cup, allowing the crème to swirl up into the milk in a lovely, caramel fashion.
CAPPUCCINO VARIATION:
Prepare almost exactly as above with a couple of slight variations. First, you should always use skim milk as skim produces a better froth than 2% or regular whole milk. (Of course you can also use soy milk in either version, but with different frothing results.)In the end you want to have a drink that is about 1/3 espresso, 1/3 steamed milk, and 1/3 froth. A cappuccino tastes stronger than a latté because it is “drier”.
When you begin to froth, always keep the tip of the wand just below the milk’ s surface, riding up as the milk rides higher in the steam pitcher. Continue to do this rather than plunging in when the milk reaches 100 degrees.
The goal is to produce a fine froth that looks like shaving cream, not bubble bath. It should even have a gloss to it if it’s done correctly.
Building up the milk properly will make the difference between a gas-station cappuccino and a gourmet beverage!
When you are finished frothing your milk, don’t pour it in like you did the latté. First, add the brewed espresso to your cup. Then, spoon in a mound of the nice froth (filling about 1/3 of the cup). Finally, pour in the steamed milk. The froth will rise up like a white tide and create a dreamy drink sensation!