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Understanding coffee brewing and production
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Tuesday, 27 January, 2015, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Mandeep Singh
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fiogf49gjkf0d Baba Budan who introduced coffee to India in the 17th century would not have ever imagined how popular his beverage would become during the British rule in India or enjoy mass popularity in the world irrespective of age, gender, cast or culture.
Coffee is somewhat of a custom offered to visitors when they arrive at your doorstep, enjoyed while outing with friends and family or sipped over healthy office conversations. This most popular drink in the world is prepared and presented in a variety of ways. Some enjoy as bitter Black Coffee to alleviate mild headaches or stimulate appetite while others prefer Espresso Coffee blend with milk, sugar, jaggery or honey to keep them awake and alert. The common beverage sells on almost any street of any town, from small cafeterias to luxury hotels.
‘Arabica and Robusta’ are common coffee blends used in Latin America, Asia and Africa but more bitter extracts of ‘Coffea’ are also found in some parts of America, Europe and Russia. Variety of hot & cold coffee beverages made worldwide depend on the method of preparation or brewing such as Black Coffee with no milk, White Coffee with milk cream, Café au lait with froth of hot milk and chocolate syrup and Irish Coffee with whiskey and milk cream topping.
Filter Coffee is a famous drink in South India served with caramel sugar or honey. It consists of two cylindrical cups with the bottom of inner vessel having small holes. The pierced disc with central stem and covering lid allows crushing of coffee beans or powdered coffee beans. The cup or device filled with hot water is left to stand still for few minutes allowing water to drip inside coffee powder. The caffeine extracts dissolve in water leaving behind bitter coffee contents. A list of coffee brewing is given in the following Table that would give you an idea about style of beverage preferred by fellow countrymen.
Table: Country Style Coffee Beverage Name of Beverage | Country of Origin | Brewing Style | Espresso | Australia | Strong bitter coffee with little water and cream | Black Coffee | Great Britain | Strong coffee with hot water | White Coffee | Indonesia | Coffee with milk cream | Café au lait | France | Coffee with froth of hot milk and chocolate syrup | Cappuccino | USA | Strong espresso with milk froth poured gently into the cup having thick edges of coffee encircling top of cup | Café Latte | USA | Similar to Cappuccino with extra milk and less froth | Café Americano | Latin America | It is Black coffee with lot of hot water and jaggery for sweet taste | Cafe Sua Da | Vietnam | Filtered coffee from fresh coffee beans poured over ice into the glass with sweet condensed milk | Filter Coffee | India | Traditional Indian coffee apparatus covering crushed coffee beans over which hot water and milk is added giving frothy appearance | Flat coffee | Africa | Double espresso with milk micro foam added to an emulsion of coffee bean oil and hot water | Iced Coffee | China | Espresso with crushed ice, cold milk and ice cream | Irish Coffee | Ireland | Coffee blend with whisky and milk or condensed milk |
Coffee as Potent CNS Stimulant
Scientific investigations have revealed that Caffeine is the main active drug ingredient in coffee having potent alkaloid properties. Caffeine is a bitter white alkaloid (C8H10N4O2) with mild analgesic properties that stimulates smooth muscles of Respiratory (Lungs), Cardiac (Heart) and Genitourinary (Genitals) systems by acting on CNS (Central Nervous System). Analgesics are the group of drugs that stimulate sensory nerve endings to produce a soothing, tingling sensation and warmth. These induce a neurologic or pharmacological state of analgesia in which painful stimuli are blunt such that sensations by brain are no longer perceived. Caffeine is also a mild diuretic agent that increases urine output by regulating adrenaline and noradrenaline hormones of adrenal medulla. Neuralgic properties of caffeine relieve headaches, constipation and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) by acting on neural receptor acetylcholine, which is responsible for neurotransmittance at cholinergic synapse, vasodilation and parasympathetic effects. Analgesic preparations mostly use citrated or hydrated caffeine in concentration not more than 10 – 20 mg/ml. Alkaloids synthesised by vascular plants similar to ‘Coffea’ contain bitter and toxic phenolic compounds like opium alkaloids, nicotine, quinine, atropine, and colchicines. Nicotine and Opium alkaloids are classified as narcotic compounds because they contain toxic and poisonous compounds responsible for peripheral vascular disease, endomyocardial fibrosis, partial paralysis, burning in limbs, tingling, restlessness, numbness and hypnosis (sleep) due to their sedative effects. Opium is a bitter, yellowish-brown, strongly addictive narcotic drug that contains by composition morphine 9–14%, noscapine, 4–8%, codeine, 0.8–2.5%, papaverine, 0.5–2.5% and thebaine 0.5–2%. Opium alkaloids find use in number of combinations with caffeine for narcotic pharmacological preparations such as relief from severe pain, diaphoresis, diarrhoea and spasmodic conditions. These are generally termed as controlled drugs (CDs) and available with specialist hospital dispensing chemist. Codeine and caffeine is used for mild to moderate pain relief in cough suppression as an antitussive agent in coryza. Narcotic analgesics can be sedative and suppress the activities of CNS by blocking all neurologic responses from sensory nerves or peripheral nervous system (PNS), therefore used only under the supervision of consulting physician. Narcotic drugs are very addictive and thus only minute quantities are permissible by law in analgesic preparations for moderate to severely acute pain resulting from any infection or disease.
Health problems
There are also a number of health problems associated with excessive use of caffeine due to its alkaloid properties. Though it is a mild stimulant that can keep people awake but it is addictive like other narcotic drugs and can cause adverse health effects. Excessive use of caffeine may obstruct bowel movements causing constipation, lightheadedness (feeling faint and dizzy) and infantile spasms.
“Caffeinism” is a toxic condition marked by diarrhoea, elevated blood pressure, rapid breathing, heart palpitations, insomnia (restlessness), and severe constipation with coffee and other caffeine-containing substances. A study on 18,478 women in Denmark in February 2003 noted adverse effect on pregnancy and childbirth among women addicted to coffee beverages. It was observed that average 4 – 6 cups of coffee a day did not have much effect on childbirth but women who consumed coffee greater than 10 cups per day developed problems during parturition (childbirth) or developed stillbirth (dead foetus). It was concluded that excessive coffee or caffeine intake can cause psychological problems in developing foetus by inhibiting its normal growth process, which further adds to problems in pregnancy and childbirth. The primary psychoactive chemical of coffee is monoamine oxidase inhibitors ß-carboline and harmane. In a healthy liver, caffeine is broken down by the hepatic microsomal enzymes to excrete paraxanthines, theobromine and theophylline as metabolites detected in urine with small amount of unchanged caffeine. A person suffering from liver cirrhosis or jaundice is not able to completely metabolise caffeine.
Coffee caffeine may aggravate pre-existing conditions such as migraines, and arrhythmias to cause emotional disturbances. Caffeine, in high doses can cause anxiety, depression, low vigour and fatigue with associated withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal effects are more common and better documented in heavy caffeine users in many independent studies. About 15% of the US general population analysed with withdrawal symptoms while citing concerns about their health as side-effects of coffee intake.
Coffee Production
Genus Coffea belongs to flowering plants of family Rubiaceae, which are small shrubs native to Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Seeds of this plant are prime source of coffee, generally known as “coffee beans.” It is one of the major commodity for export in some countries like Brazil and Indonesia. Two of most common species of world-renowned coffee beans is Coffee Arabica (Mocha and Java) and Coffea Caneohora (Robusta).
Coffee plants are affected by over 900 species of insects, nematodes, mites, snails and slugs. Arabica is more sensitive to animal species attack and invertebrate predation. Robusta is somewhat cheap and bitter in taste than Arabica used for Espresso blends. Polyphenols in coffee contribute to its acidic nature (pH 5.0–5.1) and free radicals in long alkaloid chain (diterpenes) give bitter taste. The level of polyphenols depend upon roasting of coffee beans and other processing conditions.
According to European FDA, coffee polyphenols do not contribute to dietary antioxidant properties. Oily components of coffee called diterpenes are present in unfiltered coffee brewed using metal filters, but not in coffee brewed using paper filters, which again depends on the method of brewing or processing. Coffee is a major export commodity that tops agricultural export for 12 countries and is the world's seventh-largest legal agricultural export, the second most valuable commodity exported by developing countries. Unroasted (green) coffee is one of the most traded agricultural commodities though some controversy associates coffee cultivation and its impact on the environment. Worldwide, 6.7 million metric tonne of coffee is produced annually according to a report published in 2000. A recent survey of 2013 reported that global coffee prices have dropped more than 50%. Brazil remains the largest coffee exporting nation followed by Vietnam and Indonesia as the third-largest coffee exporter. Nevertheless, organic coffee market is an ever expanding market.
Figure: Steps in coffee production: Berry farming, bean grading and selection, drying and roasting and coffee brewing
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