Coffee or tea?
Photo by Devin Sizemore
The finer points of beans, grinds and making your favorite cup of joe
Shirley Larkins, owner of Tahoe Roasting Company, presents a few tips to getting the most flavor out of your morning cup of joe at home.
Storing coffee
The best way to store coffee is to keep it in an airtight container in the fridge. Keep it whole bean and grind it right before brewing.
Grinding the beans
Though storing the beans at a cold temperature is best, you want the beans to be at room temperature before grinding to get the most oil out of the bean. If you are brewing in a French press you should have course grounds. For a percolator, it should be a little finer but it should be almost a fine powder for espresso. Grinders will tell you how long to grind for.
Brewing the coffee
Use about a tablespoon of grounds per cup. For the best brew, coffee fanatics usually pour their grounds into a French press. The press is a concentrated steep, which pulls the flavor and caffeine out of the beans evenly and fully. Let it steep for three to five minutes. With a percolator the water drips through the grounds in a different way, making an inconsistent cup of coffee that doesn’t take full advantage of all the grounds.
Though all sugar does is make the coffee sweeter, creamer will bring out the different undertones in each blend. Half-and-half is usually the best creamer to bring out the flavor for a cup of coffee.
Photo by Devin Sizemore
Coffee tastes
Coffee taste differs by how long it is roasted. The longer it is roasted, the bolder and more flavorful it is but it also loses its caffeine.
There are almost as many different coffee blends as there are countries. Most coffee enthusiasts find a region of the world they like and stick to it. Here are a few of the most popular blends
Kona Coffee: This is a mild coffee taste with a smooth and silky texture. It is popular because of its rich flavor and aroma. Most places serve a Kona blended with other coffees because it is rather expensive.
Costa Rican Coffee: It is a sweet coffee with a bit of an herbal taste, but it also has a full-bodied coffee flavor that is strong and mildly acidic.
Sumatran Coffee: This blend comes from Indonesia. It has a similar taste to Costa Rican coffee, but it has more of a wine-flavored undertone and it is a little lighter.
Mocha Java: This is an African coffee with a chocolate undertone that is enhanced when creamer is added.
Terrific tea takes delicacy and care, otherwise leave it to the experts
Tea leaves actually have more caffeine per pound than coffee beans, but with the proportions used while making the brews, coffee has more caffeine per cup. Here are a few tips from Clara Knight, owner of Belle’s Tea Cottage, the only tearoom in Reno.
Loose leaf tea
For the best cup of tea, loose leaf tea is the way to go. Letting loose leaf tea steep in the teapot gives the tea room to spread out, which allows the water to best absorb the tea.
Storing tea
Since tea leaves are very absorbent and very sensitive to light, the best way to keep tea is in a metal airtight container in a cool place, like a kitchen cabinet.
Heating the water
Heat the water to right before it boils. Boiling the water takes all of the oxygen out of the water, which is bad for tea. Heating the water properly is the most important part of good tea.
Steeping the tea
Let the loose leaf tea steep in the teapot for about two to three minutes before serving. Then pour the tea through a strainer to get the best cup of tea. Teabags or metal tea balls aren’t the best ways to brew tea since they constrict the tea too much to get the full flavor of the leaf.
Photo by Devin Sizemore
Tea types
All teas come from the same plant, known as the Camellia sinensis. The difference between them is how they are processed.
White Tea: White tea is harvested when the tea leaves are still in their immature bud form. Since it is harvested early, it has a lighter flavor.
Black Tea: This is the most common type of tea. It is processed the longest, meaning it is fermented and dried longer. It absorbs other flavors the best and is strongest.
Green Tea: This tea most resembles the tea leaf in its natural state and hasn’t been processed very much. It looks green and has an almost grassy taste.
Oolong Tea: This tea is partially dried and fermented so its characteristics are somewhat between green and black tea.
Herbal Tea: Herbal tea is actually a misnomer because it doesn’t have any Camellia sinensis leaves in it. It would be more accurately called an infusion. Herbal teas have a variety of different herbs, roots, berries, pollens and honeys in them.
Reap the benefits of the hot and caffeinated
HEALTH BENEFITS OF COFFEE
Harvard Medical School recently published an issue of the Harvard Health Letter outlining the health benefits of coffee. The report found health ties between coffee and blood cholesterol, cancer and many more. But these studies did not come without a similar report from the Harvard Women’s Health Watch about the health risks of coffee. This report showed a negative affect on heart rate, heart murmurs and the presence of an addictive stimulant.
- Researchers performed a study last year by which they found that coffee drinkers were 50 percent less likely to get liver cancer than non-coffee drinkers.
- Kahweol and cafestol are two substances in coffee that raise cholesterol levels, but they are normally filtered out with paper filters. Those who drink lattes and decaffeinated coffees are more likely to raise their cholesterol levels, but every other kind of coffee drinker should be safe.
- Coffee has shown that it may contain chemicals that lower blood sugar. A coffee habit also may increase one’s resting metabolism rate, leading to a higher defense against diabetes.
- Men, but not women, can defend against Parkinson’s disease with coffee. This is because estrogen and caffeine need the same enzymes to be metabolized and the estrogen captures the enzymes.
- Studies have shown that coffee can have particular ill effects on one’s heart rate, heartbeat, blood pressure and women’s health issues, such as breast cancer and osteoporosis. But the studies also show that these effects only emerge with excessive drinking and heavy consumption.
HEALTH BENEFITS OF TEA
Harvard Medical School also issued reports on the health benefits of tea, which is more commonly recognized as being a healthy drink. The Harvard Women’s Health Watch connected tea to cholesterol, hypertension and heart disease.
- Tea contains a high content of flavonoids, which are plant-derived antioxidants. Green tea contains catechins, which are more powerful than vitamins C and E in halting oxidative damage to cells and have other disease-fighting properties.
- Studies have shown a somewhat direct association between the consumption of green tea and a reduced risk for skin, breast, lung, colon, esophageal and bladder cancers.
- Green and black teas reduce the risk of heart disease and green, black and oolong teas help block the oxidation of bad cholesterol, and increase the good cholesterol while improving artery functions.
- Drinking a few cups of tea a day will absorb antioxidants and other healthful plant compounds. Adding a lemon or drinking tea between meals will counteract impeding the absorption of iron with these other substances.
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November 11th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Great article! Actually, I think that’s the best article of this entire semester - and I say this as both a long-time reader and as the leader of the Brotherhood of Caffeine. Keep up the good work, and may C8H10N4O2 be with you. :^D
November 11th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
“If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.”
-Abraham Lincoln
December 18th, 2008 at 3:28 am
Thanks for the great tips.