C for Coffee

 After contemplating a lot between citrus fruits, cabbage, cauliflower, candies, and others topics starting from "C", I had finally settled for coffee for the third-day post of the A2Z challange. Do you know that coffee is one of the three most popular beverages in the world. The other two are water and tea.

I was not a routine coffee drinker in my younger days. In those times, tea was the most common hot beverage while coffee was treated with much respect. Coffee was meant to celebrate a special moments. My go to daily drink was tea. My day used to start with a hot cup of tea, which I am unable to avoid and replace with a glass of warm lemon water, in spite of all the nutritionists and dieticians shouting from every post on their social media handles. 

Wikipedia

   

Whenever, I want to drink coffee, I follow a special coffee- making ritual. It is to be beaten hard with sugar and a few  drops of water or milk till it changes colour. I love to beat as I feel if I am burning the calories before gulping them. The  coffee beating takes around 10-20 minutes depending upon the force in the beating. I love my coffee sweeter than my tea. 

Though tea can have accompaniment like namkeens, cookies, mathri, samosa, kachoris roasted nuts, and even stuffed paranthas. 😊But  my coffee has to be accompanied with cake, donuts or cookies. 

I remember when my kids were small, I and my husband used to have that romantic coffee dates on the candle-lit balcony of our flat in the IOC colony in Noida after both the boys were gone to bed. Ahh... even coffee from Starbucks has never tasted that awesome. 

Coffee Cuppers or professional tatsters grading the coffee.
Wikipedia

Do you know that before we humans had started relishing coffee, it was relished by the goats? 😁 One of the many legends about the discovery of coffee is that of an Arab goatherd who was puzzled at the behaviour of his goats after eating some green berries. He sampled those berries on which his goats were feeding and had a sense of exhilaration. One thing is for sure - its popularity is mainly due to the invigorating effect of caffeine and alkaloid. 

I have mostly crafted my coffee from the ready-to-use coffee powder available in the market. Actually, India is divided over tea and coffee. North Indians mostly love tea while southern states love to start their day with filter coffee.

My son was working in Bangalore, a city having a strong coffee-drinking culture. Now as they say, when in Rome, do as Romans do. I started my bed-coffee drinking journey from his home coffee-filter. The aroma of roasted and grounded seeds of coffee filled the whole household and my heart too. On my way back, home, I bought my first coffee filter. Now I switch between tea and coffee with equal ease. 

Being a coffee lover now, I do not think much about it's effect on health as I believe in moderation. Moreover, most of the researches are backed by business marketing companies and I doubt their intentions. In 1991, WHO included coffee in the list of possible carcinogens and in 2016 it was exonerated. On the contrary, it was found to decrease the risk of various cancers among those who drink coffee. 

Types of Coffee

The taste of coffee depends upon the type of beans, roasting and even the way it is grounded.

Types of  coffee beans - Arabica and Robusta. Arabica is from Ethopia originally and is a delicate plant while Robusta coffee plant is economical to grow as it is strong and can survive diseases and wide range of temperature variation. 

Types of roast - The green coffe beans are roasted at a high heat which brings about certain chemical changes that releases that rich coffee aroma and flavour we love so much. The lighter the roast, lighter the colour and flavour but higher acidity. Dark roasts produce black coffee beans with little acidity and bitter flavour. The popular French roast is medium dark.

Types of grind - A fine grind is used for deeper flavours like espresso and  releases oils. Medium grind is used for automatic drip coffee makers while the coarse grind is used in coffee filters.

There is an option of decaffeinated coffee for those who experience unpleasant side effects. Atleast 97 % caffeine is removed to use this label. Anyway, this coffee will not taste as delicious as caffeinated one. 

Wikipedia - A 1919 advertisement for G Washington's Coffee. The first instant coffee was invented by inventor George Washington in 1909.

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