Ask Us Everything You Want To Know About Espresso Coffee!

[su_spoiler title=”What is aroma?”]

Aroma, as the name suggest, refers to the smell of the coffee. Your sense of smell is indirectly related to your sense of taste, which is why this first experience of the coffee will ultimately determine the taste for you. Some words used to descibe the aroma of a coffee includes burnt/smoky, chocolathy, caramel, fruity, nutty or spicy.

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[su_spoiler title=”What is acidity?”]

Acidity refers to the taste of the coffee on your tongue. It can range from a low pleasing taste to a high sharp sour taste. People describe acidity from a scale of low to high acidity. Low acidity coffee will have a smooth and pleasant taste on your tongue while a high acidity coffee will leave a stinging impression on your tongue.

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[su_spoiler title=”What is body?”]

Body is the physical property of the coffee that refers to the thickness of it. It is on a range of light/thin/flat to full/strong/intense. Consider this to drinking a cup of cholate – how thick is the chocolate? It is diluted or thick?

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[su_spoiler title=”What is flavour?”]

Flavour refers to the whole drinking experience you get when sipping your cup of coffee. It combines all three elements of aroma, acidity and body of the coffee. Simple descibe the flavour of the coffee with the first adjective that comes to your mind when tasting your cup of coffee. Liken the flavour to other foods such as orange(alot of citrus), jasmine(flora fragrance), cinnamon(spicy) etc.

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[su_spoiler title=”How do I make good and cheap coffee at home?”]

Without bursting your budget, a good way to experience good coffee at home will be to purchase a french press as compared to a coffee maker. A french press is a container in which you put the coffee beans into and pour hot water into it. Use the container to push the residue down to the bottom and there you have it, your home-made coffee brew.

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[su_spoiler title=”How does 3-in-1 coffee differ from self-brewed coffee?”]

Actually, it does quite a lot! Some people say the aroma is lacking in 3-in-1 coffees, while coffee purees simply cannot fathom comparing 3-in-1s to self-brewed coffee because coffee brewing lies in the technique and experience. You should in fact compare it yourself. Try to discern the difference between 3-in-1 coffees and your own home-made coffees!

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[su_spoiler title=”How do I lower the acidity of the coffee I’m drinking?”]

Simply add some milk to it. Fresh milk, sweetened or unsweentened milk will all do the job. It depends on your preference.

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[su_spoiler title=”How does the quality of drip brewed coffee and french pressed coffee differs?”]

Since the coffee is extracted from the beans through the means of gravity, the quality should not differ too greatly. Coffee made this way is described as light coffee as compared to coffee made by pressure brewing.

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[su_spoiler title=”What types of coffee originate from different regions around the world?”]

This question is very broad but nevertheless, I’ll try to help you answer it. As a general guideline:

Asia Pacific region: strong body, low acidity. May have a long aftertaste.

Latin America region: Nutty flavours, high acidity.

Africa Arabia region: Exotic flavours, spicy and citrus. High acidity.

The acidity of a coffee is due to the soil used in growing and producing the coffee beans. For example, almost all coffee from Sumatra is non-acidic precisely because of the soil used in well, Sumatra, Indonesia.

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[su_spoiler title=”What factors affect the brewing of coffee?”]

There are many factors that affect the brewing of coffee. I’ll list some here.

Freshness of water – The more fresh the water, the more fresh is the taste of the coffee without it being stale. Do not use reboiled water. A more picky coffee brewer will only brew coffee using certain brands of mineral water but really, there is no need to go to such extremes.

Temperature of water – Close to boiling water will do fine. Use ninety degrees celsius water and above for optimal results. Eighty degrees and below is a definite no-no. The flavour of the coffee will not come out.

Length of time of brewing – Depending on personal preference, you may want to sit the coffee beans with hot water for about 30s before running it through with hot water again.

Grinds of the beans – Coarsely grinded beans will differ from finely grinded beans. When using coarse beans, add more. When using fine beans, less.

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[su_spoiler title=”What is decaffeinated coffee and how are they decaffeinated anyway?”]

You can most likely tell that decaffeinated coffee is coffee that does not have caffeine, which is true – partially. Decaffeinated coffee is defined as coffee that contains caffeine of not more than 2.5% of it. Therefore, it still may have a very small percentage of caffeine. For those highly sensitive or allergic to caffeine, I do not advise you to try decaffeinated coffee.

Decaffeinated coffee is obtained by extracting the caffeine from the coffee beans. This can be done through using several methods such as methylene chloride processing, ethyl chloride processing, carbon dioxide processing and water processing.

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[su_spoiler title=”I’m thinking of getting a coffee maker. What brands do you recommend?”]

Definitely, what you pay is what you get, regardless of the brands. However, more popular brands amongst coffee lovers and Baristas over the world are of course your usual Braun and Krups, along with Saeco and Breville.

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[su_spoiler title=”Does decaffeinated coffee compromise on the actual taste of the coffee?”]

Depending on the method used, it may or may not lower the taste of the coffee. Methods such as those using carbon dioxide and water retains the flavor of it while methylene chloride processing do not.

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[su_spoiler title=”Is there such a thing as mocha coffee beans?”]

Yes there is. It is called mocha java coffee beans and can be found in Yeman. The mocha coffee you drink today though is made from regular coffee added with cocoa powder to give the chocolate taste in it.

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[su_spoiler title=”Any coffee recommendations?”]

African mocha sanini from Starbucks
Guinea peaberry from Starbucks
The shade grown Mexican from Starbucks
Kona Coffee
Peaberry Coffee

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If you have a question about anything related to coffee that has been bugging you for some time, write in to our experts and share it with everyone! Or if you don’t agree with any of the replies our teams of experts have provided, don’t be afraid of questioning them too. Leave a comment below!