by Sammy Stein

Created on: September 02, 2008

How did a bitter drink made from roasted berries ever come to be as popular as it is today?

From a stimulant of Africancountries, acepted by Muslims whose religion forbade coffee, this drink has swept the world and now coffee itself is a vlued and muchtraded commodity.
The value is in the quality and this depends on the beans, where they are grown and how long they are roasted for.

Coffee beans can be light, medium, dark or darkest and this depends on the length of time the beans are roasted before grinding. A light bean is roasted for 5-7 minutes and this produces a bean which is flavourful and slightly sharp. A medium roasted bean has been roasted for 9-11 minutes and produces coffee with flavours of spices, aromatic and slightly sweet with an acid under taste. Dark beans are roasted for 12-13 minutes and the beans release oils. These have a complex, chocolaty taste. The darkest beans are roasted for 14-15 minutes after which time some of the sugar in the beans has caramalized and this produces a rich, dark, smokey flavour to the coffee.

The taste also depends where the beans are gown from the slopes of Java to the high altitudes of South Africa, each growing area produces coffees with their own distinctive taste. Even how we drink our coffee differs in countries around the World. The Turkish style is thick, sweet and strong while the Brits go for instant more than any other European nation. Italians like small, sharp and so strong your nerves hum for hours while Americans like it strong, sweet and milky.

Product placement is important and coffee prodcers invest vast sums of money placing their adverts anywhere from posters in the high street and at bus stops, to TV adverts giving each brand of coffee their own identity, whether as a drink to be enjoyed with friends, a relaxing treat for you or an aquired taste reserved for those with a distinctive pallette.

Competition for the largest market - that of instant granules- is fierce and placing a new product on the shelf will not guarantee its sale unless you also provide it with market identity and appeal to your chosen market.

Of course, there is also the market for ground coffee - more for the conniosseur than the general public but good restuarants do not serve instant coffee, going instead for filtered or fresh brewed grinds which offer a deeper, richer taste.

Which coffee should we drink? Well, instant is quick but for the taste of better beans, it is recommended you use a machine or caffettiere- the first one was invented by Elizabeth Dakin in 1841 and the same model is used today.

Coffee has long been a valuable market and the big companies realise its commercial value. It is not that long ago that outsiders were forbiddento trade in Arabian coffee or evenvisit plantations but of course, cuttings and smuggled fertile berries meant the crop was simply grown elsewhere, first by Dutch traders and the by the Eat Indian Trading companies, whose HQ were London and Amsterdam.

Coffe continues to be an important economic aset for countries who have little other income , as it grows well only in higher altitudes like Java, India and Africa.
The huge coffee chains are well established in every town but eventhey have to bow to the public;s wish for a fairer deal for growers and now fairly traded coffee or coffee direct from the growers is on sale even in these multinationals, thus ensuring a fairer deal for the growers.

Coffee is a wonderful drink, a massive economic crop and will continue to be so for years to coe - enjoy!

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