Coffee is an important beverage used all over the world. Coffee or kaapi is a drink every household wakes up to in Tamilnadu. Coffee table talks have become synonymous with sipping a coffee and discussing a hit or hot topic.  Methods to arrive at the ultimate brew have always been a subject of discussion and it has the terms Peaberry, Plantation A, Plantation B, chicory  popping up very often. Many of the ardent coffee lovers of Chennai  walk to their favorite coffee shop to get the coffee roasted, ground and packaged in small packages to retain the aroma and flavor. Just an insight into the terms and the lovely bean that quenches the thirst of a degree coffee…

Processing procedure

Coffee processing consists of removing the skin, pulp, parchment and silver screen. The quality of the final product depends upon the manner of processing. It is the curing process that prepares the coffee beans for market. Two methods are employed for processing- the dry and wet. In the dry method the beans are sun dried. In the wet method, known as the washed coffee process, pectin enzymes are used on selectively picked cherries to replace spontaneous fermentation.

Coffee curing process

Cured coffee is graded according to sizes and shapes. The different plantation grades are:

• Pea berry (oval shaped beans)
• A (first size in flats- bold, heavy and well formed)
• B (slightly smaller than O or A)
• C (slightly smaller than B)
• Triage (pale, discoloured, black spotted beans including bits)

The manufacture of coffee powder involves roasting, grinding, blending and packing.

Roasting

During roasting many physical and chemical changes occur, which develops pleasant aroma, flavour, brown colour and good taste.

Grinding

Roasted beans are ground to three sizes, namely, fine, medium and coarse. Coarse ground powder retains aroma and flavour better and longer than fine ground powder. Coarse ground powder is more suitable for preparing coffee decoction by percolation.

Blending

Two types of coffee powder are marketed namely pure coffee prepared from coffee beans only and French coffee containing chicory. The proportion of chicory should not exceed 50%. Strength, flavour, aroma and acidity are the chief criteria in judging the quality of coffee and judicious blending of different grades brings out these qualities ot the best advantage.