Talking coffee with South Coast Roast

Luke from South Coast Roast invited me down for an evening to learn more about where coffee comes from, the different types and everything else you need to know.

More recently I have now become more interested to learn about coffee and the different types out there since I went to the London Coffee Festival the other week. Luke started off by talking about how it even came about. The story involves a man called Kaldi from Ethiopia and goats climbing trees. Yes it’s a weird one, but we’ve now got coffee as a result so I’m not complaining.

Coffee basically comes from four main regions: South America, Central America, Africa and Asia. I learnt how coffee from region has it’s own general characteristics. For example, Brazilian coffee will tend to be quite

sweet, nutty and chocolate like and have a low acidity whereas African tea which mainly comes from Kenya and Ethiopia is more delicate and be floral and tea like almost.

There’s so much to learn about coffee and I could go on to talk loads more about what Luke told me about how coffee differs. I’m still getting my head around it now. The best thing to do, which is what Luke said as well, is if you’re unsure about a particular type, just ask your barista about it.

I then wanted to learn more about terms you often hear people describe coffee with, so the body of coffee, what arabica and robusta coffee is and what speciality coffee has to be. So body is how the coffee feels in your mouth, if its gritty, soft and chewy. So if something has more body the coffee will fill your mouth more or hit more taste spots.

Arabica and Robusta describes how high up the coffee is grown up a mountain. So arabica is grown at a higher altitude so that less animals eat them, which means arabica tends to be more expensive. Then speciality coffee has a real niche specification. A uniform size, no defects and then, to use of a better term, a ‘special trait’ like an

aroma, acidity or body. We then looked at the different ways in which it can be picked, how it can be washed, pulp natural and natural and then the roasting of the bean.

ways in which it can be picked, how it can be washed, pulp natural and natural and then the roasting of the bean.

We talked coffee for over two hours as well Luke teaching me how to pour a good espresso shot, which is a lot harder than it looks. Grinding the coffee correctly, levelling out the coffee, knowing when the espresso is done. We called it a day after two hours of drinking a lot of coffee, but I was overloaded with all the information he through at me. I’ve been going South Coast Roast for quite a while now so I was pretty chuffed when he asked me to come and learn more. I'll hopefully head down again some and maybe even attempt some coffee art if I'm brave enough.

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