Uncooked: coffee
Whether German filter coffee, Turkish mocha or Italian espresso - almost all coffees are made from the two bean varieties Arabica and Robusta, with Arabica accounting for about two thirds of the amount. Other coffees such as Liberica or Excelsa have a market share of less than one percent. The fact that coffee still tastes different everywhere is due to the origin, weather conditions and roasting of the beans. Every country has its own preferences. Incidentally, from a botanical point of view, coffee is not beans but the drupes of coffee cherries - actually cherries.
Arabica coffee thrives particularly well in tropical and subtropical altitudes, eg. In Brazil, the world's largest coffeemaker, in Kenya, Mexico and Colombia. It tastes highly aromatic, full and sometimes very strong. Arabica beans are offered as high quality varietal coffees or as mixtures with each other. Also very common are mixtures with Robusta. In appearance, Arabica and Robusta differ only slightly. The Arabica bean is bigger and more even than the Robusta bean.
Robusta coffee needs tropical climates and can be grown very well in the lowlands. Brazil, but also Vietnam, Indonesia, Uganda and the Ivory Coast are among the most important producer countries. Robusta is more productive and resistant than the Arabica (hence the name Robusta) and contains more caffeine. The beans have an earthy-tart to metallic aroma, which does not taste pure, but rounds off mixtures with Arabica perfectly. A good espresso mixture always contains Robusta, because it provides the nice crema. Only one product is made exclusively from Robusta: the soluble coffee.
More info: Much worth knowing about the day of coffee under: www.tag-des-kaffees.de The compulsory work for enthusiastic coffee drinkers is the band "Coffee the future", 360 pages are all about black beans, from cultivation to cultural history to chemical analysis. 53 euros, Behr Verlag.
