Coffee and commuting tend to go hand in hand. The gas may be what gets your motor running, but the coffee is what gets you going if you’re consuming any one of the 400 million cups of coffee it’s estimated that Americans drink every day, making the United States the leading consumer of coffee worldwide.
Stopping by a local coffee purveyor on your way to work is perhaps one of the best ways to make the morning rush bearable. It’s no wonder why. Coffee is aromatic and it has a very robust and distinct flavor. Fortunately, here in Central Massachusetts we’ve got plenty of gourmet coffee houses and mainstream coffee purveyors we can visit to get our java jolt on.
While there is much debate over coffee’s medicinal effects—for instance some say it’s a migraine headache reliever while others say it causes tension in the head—the bottom line is that there’s something in coffee that most Americans crave and that’s the caffeine.
A coffee bean’s caffeine content may decrease with roasting levels. That means the amount of caffeine present in a dark roast may be less than in a light or a medium roast, although brewing methods and grinds may affect the end result. For instance, if you use a French press to steep coffee more caffeine may be extracted from dark roasted beans. Similarly, using a percolator or espresso maker will extract more caffeine from light roasted beans.
Lighter roasts, found in regions such as Java, Kenya, Hawaiian Kona and Jamaican Blue Mountain, tend to keep their signature flavor characteristics most intact while darker roasts may take on flavors associated with the roasting process. The darker the roast, the more difficult it may become to identify the origin of the coffee bean.
Shade-grown coffees, which tend to fall into the family of medium roasts, are popular these days. The crops, located in the mid-elevations of Central and South America, are covered in a natural canopy of trees. In contrast to sun-grown coffee beans, shade-grown areas provide a natural habitat for many animal and plant species that otherwise wouldn’t have a place to call home. A blend that’s quite popular and available now at Starbucks is the Shade-Grown Mexican Coffee, which has been getting rave online reviews from coffee connoisseurs.
“Right now, it’s a very exciting time of year for coffee,” says Domenico Lombardi, owner of Worcester’s The Bean Counter Coffee Bar and Bar and Bakery and Black Diamond Coffee in Shrewsbury. “It’s probably the busiest in terms of coffees from all over the world are landing in coffee shops if not now, very soon,” he says.
Customers at both The Bean Counter and Black Diamond Coffee can experiment with roasts from Costa Rica, Kenya, Honduras, Guatemala and Panama. But, if you’re looking for an Ethiopian or El Salvadoran blend, supplies are limited, so you’ll have to get them while you can, Lombardi says.
If you’re looking to brew a phenomenal cup of coffee at home, Lombardi’s recommendation is simple: Brew it one cup at a time. He recommends using an Abid Brewer, which combines the best of the pour-over method and French press, allowing ultimate control of your coffee brewing—and you determine the steep time so you can make it as strong as you like, although Lombardi recommends one minute of steep time. “I typically use 23 grams of coarsely ground coffee to 1.5 cups of water at 200F [and] [t]he Abid methods yields a nice body to the coffee but retains the clarity of a filter drip,” he explains.
Lombardi’s picks these days: the Kenya from Terrior Coffee and Los Idolos from 49th Parallel Roasters.
By Laura Starczewski
Iced Coffee: The Way the Pros Make It
For a brew at the perfect strength that you can sip over ice:
• Take 102 grams of ground coffee to 750ml of water.
• Pour the brew into a carafe containing 500 grams of ice.
• Fill your cup with 2/3 ice, pour in your freshly brewed concentrate and enjoy.
Recipe courtesy of Terroir Coffee
