Chapter One
From Bean to Barista
To understand the passion that drives today''s coffee culture, one must begin with ancient history. On the other hand, to discover the future of coffee is to take a trip off the beaten path.
Let''s go back to sub-Saharan Ethiopia a thousand years ago, a far-off land once called Abyssinia. That''s where a stimulating drink was first prepared from crushed, fermented beans found in the berries of evergreen trees that flourished in the highland rain forests. It wasn''t long before traders and pilgrims began transporting the beans across the Red Sea and into the Arabian peninsula, where native Yemenis roasted them to concentrate flavor, eventually grinding the roasted beans for brewing with water. Throughout the Middle East, the drink became a requisite accompaniment to religious ceremonies, helping the pious stay awake during lengthy prayer and study.
Coffee first appeared on European radar in the sixteenth century. Italian merchants developed an appetite for the heady beverage as they transported woven carpets from Turkey across Mediterranean shipping lanes to the homes of wealthy continentals. When the exotic beans began to arrive in the port city of Venice, coffee was embraced the way the Ottomans had come to enjoy it in Constantinople-dark, strong, and served in small cups.
In time, coffee fostered public gathering places as the vibrant trade economy fueled Renaissance culture already thriving in Italy. The casa di caff? provided a destination for affluent classes to congregate, gossip, read, write, or just pass the time while sipping. These convivial settings, enveloped with the seductive fragrance of roasting and brewing, became an essential slice of the Italian way of life.
Most certainly, the great Italian coffee tradition owes much of its hallowed position to espresso, the very essence of coffee, and to a man beyond legend by the name of Luigi Bezzera. At the turn of the nineteenth century he found a way to add pressure to the brewing process, forcing hot water and steam through the ground beans and into a cup, not only reducing brewing time but extracting more noble flavor, aromatics, and texture from the beans. His invention aroused a national cultural addiction and spawned the honorable profession of barista.
In Italy, barista is a coveted title, one that requires lengthy apprenticeship and trade certification in coffee preparation. The vocation demands an intimate knowledge of cupping, sourcing, blending, and roasting, as well as knowledge of the espresso machine, its technical operation and maintenance. The barista is expert in the full discipline of coffee and a source of Italian pride.
While much of the world outside Italy has seen the skills of human coffee preparation replaced with automatic equipment, it was inevitable that a contravening campaign, inspired some say by the Slow Food movement, would surface from independent coffeehouses. The renewed commitment to expertise and innovation behind enlightened coffee counters promises to elevate the m?tier of barista. Just as Iron Chef competitions have become showplaces for the prowess of restaurant chefs, so too have a new wave of barista competitions and championships slowly emerged into the spotlight. These contests are incubators where talent is fostered, where the impulse to discover and create is celebrated, and where espresso rock stars are born.
In a typical event, baristas may be required to make and serve as many as four espressos, four cappuccinos, and four original or signature drinks-all in a dramatic display of precision and efficiency. Judges evaluate participants based on a range of technical and sensory criteria, then award honors for outstanding performances and production. While grace notes of the past are evident in the standard preparations, time-honored tradition is given a fresh take, especially with the spellbinding craftsmanship and artistic rebellion of the signature drinks.
This compendium serves as a coming out of sorts for a restless band of artisans who have in common the touch and feel for delivering something grander-provocateurs who are unwilling to surrender to the tyranny of the ordinary. Their forays into the culinary arts, to say the least, provide unexpected pleasures.
Whatever ideas about coffee you hold dear, expect them to be healthily destabilized here. If a purely-pulled espresso is your thing, consider it just a hint of riches to come. On display are dashes of vigorous theatricality. Yet for the most part, offerings show a sense of inquiry, virtuosity, and respect for Italian doctrine. You will be surprised and delighted by handcrafted mixtures that are, above all, accessible to the home brewer.
This trove of formulas includes alluring signature drinks developed at and inspired by competitive events, as well as corretto drinks, coffee "corrected" with alcohol, devised by progressive mixologists. Every recipe is an original, fueled by imagination and steeped in a spirit of exuberance.
For you, dear reader, I offer a formal invitation to the brave new world of coffee-a taste of things to come.
Michael Turback Ithaca, New York
Chapter Two
Caff?logue INGREDIENTS, TOOLS, TECHNIQUES & EQUIPMENT
Dedicated baristas have engaged in devious experiments to find new delights for the coffee connoisseur in a range of beverages, and this book is intended to advance the current state of the art with their generous contributions. Once limited to the purview of competitive professionals, these formulas have trickled down to home kitchens and dining rooms of coffee-loving civilians.
The theme that unites this liquid assemblage is specialty coffee in general, and espresso in particular, with added measures of inspiration and exploration. But before we begin with the recipes, let''s take a few pages for an overview of essential components and tools of the trade.
INGREDIENTS
Besides the exquisite taste on its own, coffee has the ability to become the platform for many other flavors. A culinary approach to coffee requires an informed choice of ingredients as well as an informed approach to preparation. While many ingredients on the following pages will be available at your local supermarket or coffee shop, you are encouraged to stock your cupboard with a few of the more unusual fixings, often available from online merchants (see Resources beginning on page 98). All you need is enthusiasm and a little extra effort to enjoy these epicurean concoctions at home.
Practiced baristas are often compared to sommeliers. Actually, in their fanatical sourcing of beans, they are more like vintners selecting grape varieties to produce fine wines. Like venerable wine grapes, the finest coffee beans reflect terroir-they develop different characteristics when grown in different regions. Each contributes a distinctive aroma, personality, and complexity to the preparation''s final character.
Coffee
Let''s get right to the point: the humble coffee bean engenders a special kind of loyalty among the 100 million Americans who drink an astounding 350 million cups of the stuff every day. Although there are more than twenty species of coffee plants, only two, robusta and arabica, account for the lion''s share of commercial coffees.
Robusta beans have a woody, bitter taste and aroma, and they are for the most part relegated to mass-produced, pre-ground coffee blends and freeze-dried products. In Italian tradition, robustas are often included in espresso blends to boost crema, the alluring layer of tiny, smooth bubbles that trap precious aromatics.
Arabica varieties, descendants of the primitive Ethiopian coffee trees, are the most desirable beans down here where mortals tread, appreciated for their distinctive bouquet, sweet, wine-like tones, and superior acidity, or "high notes." Beans from different origins are blended to make a coffee that is higher in quality than any of the ingredients individually, often to create a proprietary or signature blend. But superior arabica varieties usually stand alone as single-origin and estate coffees.
As beans are lightly roasted, they change into a buttery gold color and develop a very mild, nutty flavor. Further roasting adds more body, and the darkest, or French roast, produces savory, rich characters with satisfying bittersweet and smoky flavors. Each variety has a peak roast level that brings out its optimum taste, and skillful professional roasting involves the senses of sight, hearing, and smell, as well as focused attention on time and temperature. If you''re adventurous, you can buy green beans and roast coffee at home in a pan or wok, or in the oven, but these methods won''t produce a uniform roast. You may want to shop for a specialized home coffee-roasting appliance (see Resources on page 98).
The differences between coffee and espresso are in the fineness of the grind, the brewing time, and the amount of water used in the process. Beans for espresso are ground very finely, with a consistency almost like that of powdered sugar; beans for drip coffee are ground more coarsely, a slower process in which water is in longer contact with the grinds. An invigorating shot of espresso is made with just an ounce and a half of water, taking just twenty-five seconds to pass through grounds to extract stronger, more concentrated taste profiles.
Progressive roasters are reinventing the coffee business with "direct trade," the purchase of beans directly from farms and cooperatives that grow them, and "fair trade," ensuring that workers who produced them, usually in developing countries, earn a fair wage in safe working conditions.
Syrups
The first syrups date back to antiquity, when fresh fruit juices were preserved with honey so that flavored beverages could be enjoyed year-round. By the end of the nineteenth century, Italy and France were enjoying delicious limonades and sodas concocted from grenadine, mint, orange, lemon, and orgeat (almond) syrups.
In Europe, flavored syrups are added to mineral waters to make Italian sodas. On this side of the Atlantic, they have been commonly used to flavor and sweeten lattes and cappuccinos, an idea conceived by Brandy Brandenburger of General Foods and first promoted by Torani & Company of San Francisco.
Flavored syrups are very concentrated, and just a little goes a long way. Used judiciously, they can add whimsical bursts of flavor to artistic drinks without overpowering components of the coffee.
Chocolate & Cocoa
Mutual attraction between coffee and chocolate is on display in many favorite drinks and desserts. A package of fine chocolate will list the percentage of cocoa butter and/ or cacao solids it contains. High-quality chocolate contains more fat, which results in more flavor and a luxurious feeling on the tongue, or mouthfeel. The higher the percentage, the better the chocolate. Superior chocolates, the couvertures used by professional chefs, consist of 56 to 70 percent cacao solids and include 31 percent cacao butter.
Unsweetened chocolate is pure chocolate liquor and about 50 percent cocoa butter. Bittersweet chocolate blends at least 35 percent liquor with as much as 50 percent cocoa butter, as well as sugar and vanilla. Semisweet chocolate has the same ingredients as bittersweet with the addition of more sugar. Milk chocolate, which contains about 10 percent chocolate liquor, takes the process a step further by adding about 12 percent milk solids. Chocolates called for in the following recipes usually come in blocks and must be chopped or shaved before use.
Cocoa powder is made by extracting much of the cocoa butter richness from chocolate liquor (ground, roasted cocoa beans), then pulverizing the dry residue.
There are two types of cocoa, natural (nonalkalinized) and Dutch process (alkalinized). Natural cocoa powder (also called unsweetened) is simply untreated cocoa powder. Dutch process cocoa has been treated with an alkali to make the powder more soluble. Along the way, "Dutching" gives the cocoa a deep mahogany color and Oreo-cookie flavor. The most popular American brands of cocoa powder contain about 7 percent cocoa butter, while specialty and European cocoa powders contain 12 to 24 percent cocoa butter. Recipes in this book call for pure cocoa powder, not cocoa mixes that include artificial flavors, nonfat dry milk, preservatives, soy lecithin, vanilla, and sugar.
Cocoa powder is often used aesthetically, as a light dusting to add pleasing color and aromatics to a drink or dessert presentation.
Spices
These are the dried roots, barks, berries, and other seeds of tropical fruits. Spices are among the earliest commodities to have crossed the globe in trade networks. The notion of adding these powerful, lyrical, sensual aromatics to amplify the natural flavors of coffee can be traced back many hundreds of years.
For best results, buy small quantities of ground spices and store them in tightly closed containers in a cool, dark, and dry place for no longer than a year. Before using, sniff. If the fragrance of a spice has dimmed, toss it out. Chances are the flavor has weakened as well and will do nothing to improve your recipe. If you''re using nonsoluble spices in your recipe, place them in a tea ball or wrap them in cheesecloth before dropping them into liquid, so you can fish them out later.
Store vanilla beans completely submerged in granulated sugar. This process preserves the moisture and freshness of the beans, and it creates an aromatic vanilla sugar that can be used for making cookies and other baked treats.
Sweeteners
Sugar is persistently valued not only for sweetening drinks and desserts but also for adding volume, tenderness, and texture. Twenty-seven percent of American coffee drinkers add a sweetener to their coffee, and sweeteners add extra dimension to the already complex flavors in many specialty drinks.
Granulated white sugar or table sugar has medium-size granules and is the sugar most often called for in recipes. When heated, granulated sugar takes on a toffee-like color and flavor.
Confectioners'' sugar, which has been crushed mechanically (and generally mixed with a little starch to keep it from clumping), is favored for its dissolving properties, especially in an iced chocolate drink.
Brown sugar is simply white sugar with a bit of molasses to give texture and color. The depth of color will depend on the amount of molasses added during processing. The darker the color, the stronger the taste, so use one that suits your taste preference. Substituting brown sugar for white sugar in a recipe will add notes of caramel and molasses. Turbinado and Demerara sugars are raw, amber in color, and coarse-grained; they are obtained from the first pressing of the cane and retain natural molasses in the crystals. Blocks of solidified, concentrated sugar syrup used in Indian cookery, called jaggery, provide a sweet, winey fragrance and flavor to a range of drinks and dishes.
Honey is a sweetener that can dramatically change a cup of coffee. You will need to experiment when choosing a particular honey because the pronounced flavors in some varieties may overwhelm the subtleties of a recipe. Since honey is sweeter than table sugar, it takes less to affect the palate. For more robust, bittersweet flavors, natural molasses is a one-to-one substitute for honey.
Conversions & Equivalents
FLUID MEASURES 10 ml = 2 teaspoons (t) 50 ml = 3 tablespoons (T) 100 ml = 3 1/2 ounces 250 ml = 1 cup + 1 (T) 500 ml = 1 pint + 2 (T) 1 liter = 1 quart + 3 (T) 1 teaspoon = 5 ml 1 tablespoon = 15 ml 1 ounce = 30 ml 1 cup = 235 ml 1 quart = 950 ml 1 gallon = 33/4 liters
DRY MEASURES 10 grams = 1/3 ounce 50 grams = 1 3/4 ounces 100 grams = 3 1/2 ounces 250 grams = 8 3/4 ounces 500 grams = 1 pound + 1 1/2 ounces 1/2 ounce = 14 grams 1 ounce = 28 grams 1/4 pound = 112 grams 1/2 pound = 224 grams 1 pound = 448 grams
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Excerpted from Coffee Drinksby MICHAEL TURBACK Copyright © 2008 by Michael Turback. Excerpted by permission.
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