History of coffee »

Once upon a time, a shepherd named Kaldi led his goats to graze in an area covered with bushed which featured white, fragrant flowers. These bushes, besides beautiful flowers, also featured plenty of red fruit. Kaldi tore off a branch, which bent under the weight of the fruit, and fed it to his goat, hoping that they will enjoy the tastes offered by the newly discovered pasture. How surprised he was when the usually calm goats started jumping and frolic after the meal. The shepherd, intrigued by this unusual behaviour of the animals, tried the red fruit himself and started to feel exceptionally refreshed.

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Cultivation and harvest of cof »

Coffee is a fruit of a bush in the Rubiaceae family, Coffea genus. Even thought it belongs to a family of ten species of this genera, coffee lovers are really interested in just two of them: Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora, i.e. Arabica and Robusta. Arabica constitutes three fourths of the world production of coffee. In comparison to Robusta, Arabica is much more resistant to hot climate, pests and diseases, especially the so-called coffee rust – Hemileia vastatrix, which once totally destroyed a whole coffee plantation in Ceylon, making room for tea. Preventing coffee rust is much easier in high altitudes, which explains the localization of Arabica plantations above 900 m above sea level. This however means higher costs of cultivation, which translates into higher market prices, but also into higher quality.

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Blending »

Production of coffee, sorting, mixing, roasting and packaging are very important aspects of the whole process, transforming red fruit into a black delight. It is particularly important to eliminate bad beans during the fermentation process. Trichloroanisole is formed in bad beans – a chemical compound giving coffee a very unpleasant „hospital” smell.

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Coffee roasting »

Subtle aroma and taste of coffee is achieved through the process of roasting. Heating beans up to a temperature of 200 -300° C releases aromatic oils known as coffee essence. These oils easily dissolve in water, and this way the smell and taste transfers to the infusion, creating unique aromatic bouquets. Besides these advantages, coffee also gains an appropriate crispness and colour.

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