Stimulating
Beverages
1.
Most coffee comes
from the seeds of Coffea arabica, a
tree native to the mountains of
2.
They are grown in
tropical areas
a.
Long rainy season
(60-100” / yr)
b.
2-3 month dry
season
c.
Cool highlands:
5-6,500’ in elevation
d.
Mild temperature
(intolerant of frost)
3.
Although native to
a.
The earliest
records report that natives used to chew the leaves and fruits gathered from the
wild.
b.
Caffeine leached
out of the leaves and fruits during chewing.
c.
Eating the beans
whole is still a practice in
4.
It was much later
on that the beans were crushed, mixed with fat, and eaten as a compressed cake.
These were often taken along on hunts as a survival staple similar to the
pemmican (dried buffalo meat and fat) used by the Native
Americans.
5.
The practice of
roasting the beans (seeds) and producing what we recognize as coffee began in
the 13th century in
Botany
1.
Coffea arabica is from the
Madder family (Rubiaceae).
2.
Small, evergreen
tree/shrub, with white, fragrant flowers and opposite green
leaves
a. flowers
open in morning but fade by midday
3.
Wild coffee grows
as an understory tree beneath the canopy of taller
tree species, especially leguminous trees.
a. the
leguminous trees add nitrogen to the soil via associated nitrogen-fixing
bacteria.
4.
The ripened fruit
of coffee is a berry, a red berry.
5.
Within the endocarp
are 2 seeds (called beans)
a.
gray-green in
color
b.
flattened where
they are pressed together, grooved on other side
c.
covered by a silver
skin (testa – the membranous structure surrounding
each of the seeds)
d.
occasionally, only one seed is present in the fruit, owing to the
abortion of one of the ovules. The
single seed is round, since it has more room for symmetrical development, and is
known as a pea-berry: Coffea arabica var monosperma
Harvest
1.
Fruits are mostly
picked by hand
a.
the berries on each
stem ripen at different times (only a few can be picked at a time),
b.
they are
often grown on steep hillsides, too steep to use heavy
machinery.
2.
Once harvested, the
coffee fruits are washed and depulped to avoid decay
(by fermentation)
3.
The beans are then
dried in the hot sun, often on a concrete surface, and raked frequently to keep
them turned.
4.
The beans are then
graded and roasted, to be ground later at the time of use.
Roasting
1.
Before seeds are
used they must be roasted.
2.
This process is
left until almost the last moment before consumption.
3.
It is during
roasting that the characteristic aroma of coffee develops.
4.
Aroma depends on an
essential oil, caffeol, which is volatile, and
evaporates if roasted beans are exposed to air for any length of time.
5.
So, only freshly
roasted coffee should be used for preparation of the beverage.
6.
The stimulant in
the coffee is the alkaloid, caffeine, and is present in the seeds at an average
concentration of 1-3%.
Light roasts -
preferred in
Dark roasts -
produced at higher temperatures; the higher the temperature the darker the
beans. Dark Brown Vienna roasts (240 C temp.), Black
French roasts (250 C temp).
General rule
1.
The lighter the
bean, the milder and sweeter the coffee.
2.
The darker the
bean, the stronger and less sweet the coffee.
3.
Dark-roast beans
are larger than light-roast beans because they swell more during roasting, and
they feel oily because their higher roasting temperatures cause some of the
aromatic oils to come to the surface.
The strength of the brew relates only to the flavors and
aromas, not to the concentration of the caffeine.
When beans are roasted:
1. Starches become converted to sugars. This begins when temps reach ca.
207 C (405 F). At slightly higher temps, 212-218 C, sugars begin to caramelize,
and bean turns brown. At 238 C (460 F), carbonization begins as the sugar burns, leaving only the carbon that darkens the
bean.
2.
Other reactions include the release of substances such as the essential oil,
caffeol,
that gives coffee its characteristic aroma.
3.
Roasting helps
break down cell walls, which aids in
grinding.
Ecology
1.
Coffee is
traditionally grown under a canopy of shade trees, areas of relatively high
biodiversity.
a.
In
b.
Compared with many
kinds of agriculture, traditional coffee growing disturbs the forest
comparatively little.
c.
Mature, native
rainforest forest trees are mostly left in place when coffee trees were planted
using traditional methods.
d.
Cattle raising or rice farming clear all vegetation, causing not only
rapid depletion of nutrients from the soil and erosion, but also the virtual
elimination of the native fauna and flora.
2.
The modern system
(sun plantations) is characterized by:
a.
a reduction in
shade,
b.
increased reliance
on new high-yield varieties,
c.
increase in
chemical inputs (fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides that kill
native species and pollute rivers and soils).
d.
However, with the
loss of canopy cover, modern plantations become more prone to water and soil
runoff (threatening the long-term sustainability of the system), a loss of
biodiversity, loss of environmental buffering, and a loss of
jobs.
Decaffeinated coffee
1.
Various solvents
are used to extract 99.7% of the caffeine from green, unroasted beans that have been softened by steam.
2.
Solvent is then
rinsed thoroughly from the beans.
3.
Methylene
chloride is one compound.
a.
In 1989, FDA banned
use of this compound in hair sprays, since lab animals who inhaled methylene chloride developed cancer.
b.
Hasn’t yet been
banned from decaffeination process.
c.
Methylene
chloride has also been implicated in the destruction of the ozone layer, and has
been banned as a solvent in
d.
Many companies have
switched to ethyl acetate as a substitute.
5.
After solvent
extraction, the solvents are recycled, coffee beans are set aside for roasting,
and the caffeine is sold –
a.
additive in
soft drinks, added to headache and cold medicines.
6. Another method involves
solubility of caffeine in water – caffeine is dissolved out of coffee, filtered
through charcoal to bind caffeine molecules. (Caffeine cannot be recovered and
sold a by-product; therefore, ore expensive.)
Instant coffee
- (the dried, soluble - powder or granules - portion of roasted coffee, the
residue from the process is used as an animal feed.)
1.
Created by Japanese
chemist in 1901.
2.
During WW1, instant
coffee was shipped to
3.
To manufacture
instant coffee –
a.
brewed coffee is
dehydrated by spray drying:
b.
hot coffee
is sprayed through high pressure nozzles into tall rooms.
c.
As coffee falls,
the water evaporates, leaving a dry powder.
d.
Powder can be made
to appear granular by mixing it with steam or water.
4.
Freeze-drying is
the latest innovation in dehydration process. Freezing under a vacuum dehydrates
the coffee and produces coffee crystals.
History of coffeehouses and
miscellany
1. By 1500, coffee trees were
widely planted and cultivated in
2. Words like mocha, kava, coffee are all derived from
Arabic.
3. Coffee houses were
established to accommodate the growing popularity of coffee drinking.
The first coffee houses were in Constantinople , 1554, (modern day
By 1625, thousands of coffee houses were established in
From the beginning, however, coffee houses were
controversial: religious leaders felt that time spent in coffee houses could be
better spent in mosques. Political leaders felt threatened by political
discussions common in coffee houses.
Although there were efforts to outlaw them, coffee
houses remained an integral part of Arab culture.
Coffee houses fulfilled its most important social role:
as a center for communication. In a period that still
no daily newspaper, it functioned as a news center.
(For years the Arabs monopolized the coffee trade and
tried to prevent the cultivation of coffee by other countries. They shrewdly
dipped the seeds in boiling water before marketing to kill the embryos and
prevent germination).
Before
(It was primarily the
devastation of the coffee crop in British holdings that persuaded
The first coffee house in North America opened in
Three hundred years later, in the 1960s, coffee houses
had a resurgence and became focal points of political
thought and socially conscious folk music.
Today - coffee houses are popular once again,
specializing in gourmet and exotic blends of coffee. Thousands of coffee houses have opened
in
The
association of coffee with Islam, and later, Protestantism.
1. As a non-alcoholic,
non-intoxicating, indeed even sobering and mentally stimulating drink, coffee
was tailor-made for a culture that forbade alcohol consumption and gave birth to
mathematics.
(The beans were first used to
keep worshippers awake through long vigils; later they acquired social
status).
2. As for Protestantism and
a. An English family in the latter half of the 17th century
(when coffee drinking was catching on among the upper classes) consumed about 3
liters of beer per person per day, children included.
b.
It took both the Puritan campaign against “demon alcohol”, and the availability
of an alternative to alcohol to make a significant transition from alcohol to
the stimulating beverages in the 17th century.
e.
Coffee was the beverage of sobriety. And coffee was thought to curb sexual
urges. So you can see the ideological forces behind this reorientation: sobriety
and abstinence have always been the battle cry of the puritanical
movement.
f.
This was the beverage of the Protestant Revolution – it enhanced mental
activity, speeded up perception and judgement, made
thoughts clearer, and did all this without any subsequent depression. It was the
beverage of rationalism, of the Industrial Revolution, of factories, of
uniformity, of clock-time.
g.
Coffee achieved chemically and pharmacologically what rationalism and the
Protestant ethic sought to fulfill spiritually and
ideologically.
Tea (Camellia
sinensis or Thea sinensis)
Theaceae
Tea is not as important an
international commodity as coffee (in terms of international trade) but is
probably drunk by a greater number of people. (World’s most
popular beverage next to water).
Most of the tea produced is
consumed locally, with the result that comparatively small quantities enter
international trade.
Similar to
rice.
Origins: 2 legends
1.
According to the
Chinese: tea was discovered by the Emperor Shen Nung in 2737 BCE when a tea leaf accidentally fell into
water that was being boiled for drinking.
2.
According to
Botany
1.
Unlike coffee and
cacao, which are made from ground seeds, tea is made from the dried leaf tips of
the species, Camellia sinensis, a small tree or shrub, native to the area
adjoining
2.
Altho the
plant can grow to a height of 7-10 m, the cultivated tea plant is pruned to
encourage shrubby growth, and kept at ca. 1 m in height, with a flat top that
facilitates easy plucking or hand harvesting of the new
leaves.
3.
Shrub is evergreen.
Plants flourish in tropical-subtropical climates where there is abundant
rainfall and no danger of frost.
4.
Plants are largely
self-sterile and, therefore, cross-pollinating. They were mostly propagated by
seed. Consequently, individual plants may vary considerably from one to another
because of genetic recombination. Today,
plants obtained from the rooting of cuttings are most commonly used because they
ensure uniformity of a particular hybrid variety.
5.
For best quality teas, only the terminal bud and top 2
leaves of each branch are harvested.
These parts contain the highest quantities of caffeine and other constituents
that give tea its flavor.
6.
Plucking stimulates
the plants to produce new shoots or flushes with tender young leaves and buds.
New flushes appear every 1-2 wks. After 10 ys. or so, the whole shrub may be pruned to the ground allowing
sucker shoots to produce new growth.
Harvesting and Processing
1.
All teas begin as
green tea.
2.
Harvested lvs. may be treated in 1 of 3 ways
to produce black tea, green tea, or oolong tea.
3.
Black tea - in
a.
Processing of
black tea begins with withering.
b.
Freshly picked
lvs. are dried on racks, where hot, dry air is
passed over them for 12-24 hrs.
c.
Lvs lose
much of their water content.
d.
After
withering, lvs. are rolled
(usu. by machine); rolling breaks up
cells, releasing enzymes in the cytoplasm that begin fermentation.
e.
In the case of
tea, fermentation refers to the formation of brown-colored polyphenolic compounds.
f.
Lvs are then
spread out in cool, humid fermentation rooms for up to several hours.
g.
Fermentation
brings about chemical changes that turn the leaf copper-colored.
h.
Lastly, lvs are passed thru hot air chambers that stop fermentation,
reduce moisture content, and turn leaf black.
i.
Caffeine is
responsible for the stimulating effects of tea, and the tannins impart the characteristic bite
and brown color.
j.
Produced mainly
in
4.
Green tea - are
not fermented.
Lvs are not
withered.
After plucking, lvs are
steamed, rolled and dried.
Lvs remain green.
Produced mainly in
Green tea is said to contain antioxidants (prevents oxidative damage to
cells and tissues, and thereby reduces likelihood of cancer).
Green tea also appears to protect the heart:
i.
it lowers
cholesterol by inhibiting its absorption
ii.
it reduces
blood pressure
iii.
reduces
blood platelet stickiness, lowering the risk of artherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).
Green tea has 6 times the amount of polyphenols (or antioxidant compounds) than black tea.
Green tea, which constitutes about one-fifth of all the
tea produced, is usually consumed locally.
5.
Oolong tea -
combines the taste properties of green and black teas
a.
because it is
semi-fermented, or allowed to go through a short enzymatic fermentation that
occurs during the 6-8 hour withering and hand-rolling period.
b.
lightly
withered to produce a partial ferment; resulting in lvs that are greenish-brown in color.
c.
Produced mainly
in
Flavor
1.
Essential oils and
tannins in leaf determine flavor of tea [Essential oils = oils that are volatile
substances that contribute to the essence or aroma of certain species]. E.g.
Theol
2.
Tannins are
plant compounds found in many plants and believed to discourage herbivory.
a.
They have been
widely utilized in certain dyes, stains, inks, or tanning agents for leather.
b.
Tannins in tea are responsible for
staining teapots and teeth of tea drinkers.
c.
Black teas are
particularly rich in tannins.
3.
Research suggests a
link between certain forms of cancer and extremely high consumption or
industrial exposure to tannins.
a.
(Consider the
age-old British custom of drinking milk with tea: milk protein reacts with
tannins in a protective manner, preventing the body from absorbing it.
b.
Esophageal cancer
is much higher in countries like
4.
Stimulating effects of tea are due to caffeine and theophylline present in lvs. When caffeine
is metabolized in human body, a small amount of it is converted to theophylline.
a.
Theophylline, structurally similar to caffeine, has been used to
treat asthma by directly relaxing the smooth muscles of bronchial airways and
thus opening constricted air passages.
b.
The bronchodilation action helps to relieve wheezing, coughing,
and other respiratory symptoms.
5.
Dry tea lvs contain 2.5-4.5% caffeine.
History
1.
Long history of tea
drinking in the Far East; believed already widespread in
2.
Spread to
3.
Tea arrived in
Western Europe in
4.
Tea made first
appearance in No.
5.
Altho
British East India Co. was the official import company, colonists preferred the
lower duty-free prices they cd get from smugglers.
After East India Co. complaints to Parliament about the lg. surpluses of tea,
and anxious to improve colonial tea trade, Parliament passed the Tea Act of
1773, allowing East India Co. to sell directly to colonies w/o paying taxes
imposed in the colonial merchants. East India co. hoped to monopolize the tea
trade by underselling colonial tea merchants.
6.
Tea Act of 1773
aroused the indignation of the colonists;
a.
colonial merchants
felt their livelihoods were jeopardized
b.
it renewed
animosity against the British system of taxation - ‘taxation w/o
representation’.
c.
The most famous
response to the Tea Act of 1773 was the Boston Tea Party of 12/16/1773, the
aftermath of which contributed to events that led to the Declaration of
Independence and the Revolutionary War.
7.
Subsequently, the
a.
This may have
something to do with the early monopolization of the tea trade by the British
East India Co., and the resentment of the other European nations and their
unwillingness to line the pockets of the British monopoly.
8.
Tea and porcelain-
a.
Porcelain is a
very fine, translucent ceramic, originally and loosely referred to as ‘china’,and distinguishable by
anyone from earthenware pottery or stoneware.
b.
The trade with
c.
To trim the
ship and make her sail properly, about ½ the weight (but much less than ½ the
volume) of heavy, water-resistant goods or ballast, was needed in the
bilges.
i.
this ballast could be carried permanently in the ship’s
bottom.
ii. but permanent ballast paid
no revenue – it was dead weight.
d.
Both tea and
silk had to be carried in the middle of the ship to prevent the risk of getting
wet from the sea, condensation, or rain.
e.
f.
Among other
things, the ships were now ballasted with porcelain.
i. heavy objects were
wanted, especially if they stored easily by stacking, like plates cups, and
saucers.
ii. The Chinese didn’t put handles on their teacups because they drank
their tea cool enough to render handles unnecessary. Handleless cups stack easier than cups with
handles.
g.
However, the
British were fond of the sugar they obtained from the colonies in the
i. in order for the
sugar to dissolve, the tea had to be hot, and therefore needed a
handle.
ii. Russians and Chinese drank tea lukewarm (flavor is best when only a
few degrees above body temperature).
Ceremonies and Tea
Whereas the midmorning coffee
break is a familiar tradition in the
1.
British -
British High Tea became a full meal
replacing the formal family dinner, including hot meals, ham, fowl, salad,
cakes, tarts, and fresh fruit.
a.
Low Tea is
afternoon light meal of scones, crumpets, finger sandwiches, accompanied by
piping hot tea, served with cream.
2.
Russian - for
centuries Russians brewed their tea using a metal urn called a samovar to boil
water.
a.
Russians were
first to flavor tea with lemon.
b.
Drank tea out
of a glass, sometimes sweetened with jam, or used the technique of sipping
boiling tea thru a lump of compressed sugar held between the
teeth.
3.
a.
Tea is often
taken in separate, austerely decorated room to focus attention on the details of
the ceremony, of the present - the now - the task at hand, and the Nothingness
therein.
b.
Green tea is poured
and whipped to a frothy consistency, served from porcelain
bowls
c.
Water represents yin and fire represents yang.
II.
Cacao/Chocolate (Theobroma cacao) Sterculiaceae
Native to tropical Central and
Cultivated by native peoples
from southern
According to Aztec mythology,
it was the god, Quetzalcoatl, that gave cacao beans to
the Aztec people. The beans were offered as gifts to the gods, and also used to
make a beverage consumed by noblemen and priests on ceremonial occasions. The
botanical name, Theobroma, reflects this ancient
tradition, since it literally means “food of the gods”.
Although
Chocolatl
was made from roasted and coarsely ground beans from the cacao tree, combined
with various spices including vanilla beans, chili peppers, pimiento, and ground
maize, it was served as a frothy, honey-thickened
beverage in golden goblets. The Aztec cocoa was spicy and bitter; it used no
sugar. After Cortes brought cacao and knowledge of how it was prepared and used
back to
Unfortunately, most of the
early history of cacao and chocolate culture is obscure, in part because
conquistadors and Catholic missionaries in
Cacao seeds were introduced
into
Although cocoa was very popular
in
Leading producers today of
cacao are the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Brazil, Dominican republic, Ecuador, Colombia,
Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Botany/Ecology
Theobroma
cacao is a small evergreen tree in the
understory of a tropical shade tree forest, endemic to
Central and /south
After 2-3 years, the tree
produces clusters of small white-pink flowers directly on the main trunk and
large branches (cauliflorus). Pollination of the unscented fls.
is generally carried out by small mosquito-like midge
fly, and less than 5% of its fls. yield fully developed pods. The average tree produces 20-50
pods, and each pod contains as many as 50 ivory-colored beans, enough to make a
100 gram chocolate bar. The fresh
beans are quite bitter, but the sweet-sour flavor and aroma of the surrounding
pulp attract monkeys and birds and other animals that open the pods and eat the
pulp, discarding the seeds as they go. Effective means of seed dispersal in the
wild. In the wild, then, cacao was
selected not for its seed but for the pulp surrounding the seed. Selection for
seed begins in
The fruit developing from the flower is
a berry (called a pod in common
usage). Elongated structure, 12-40 cm
long; red or purple in color when ripe.
The major alkaloid in
chocolate, in Theobroma cacao, is theobromine, a
mild, caffeine-like substance.
Cultivated varieties
1.
Criollo
(meaning native) - varieties cultivated in Central America and
2.
Forastario (meaning foreign) - grown in Amazon region and W.
Africa; introduced into
3.
Trinitario - hybrid between Criollo and
Forastario.
Harvesting
1.
Pods are cut from
trees with machete or special knife to avoid damaging the flower
cushion.
2.
Within day or two
after harvesting, pods are opened with machete.
3.
Wet beans and white
(mucilaginous) pulp placed in lg. square wooden boxes for fermentation by yeasts
and bacteria (residing in the pulp) that obtain their nutrients from sugars and
other compounds in the pulp.
4.
In the 5-7 days
that fermentation ensues, bean mass heats up, reaching temperatures as high as
50 C (120 F), prompting a complex of chemical changes.
5.
The process kills
the embryo and alters their carbohydrates, proteins, and pigments, releasing
enzymes that produce the precursors of the chocolate flavor.
6.
Following
fermentation, beans are spread to dry on sunlit platforms, where they re raked
and turned several times per day for 3-5 days.
Processing
1.
Beans are roasted
in pots after being sun-dried; roasted until the shells (husks)can be removed.
2.
Seeds are cracked
open, freeing the lg. Cotyledons (nibs) from the seed coat and
embryo.
3.
Nibs are crushed by
grounding them with a roller on flat or concave stone, producing a dark oily
paste, the chocolate liquor. The liquor can be solidified into squares of baking
chocolate, or the cocoa butter can be removed from the liquor with heat and
pressure to produce a brown cake, which is pulverized into cocoa powder. During
this process, alkali is added to neutralize the acidity of the cocoa. This step
is called “dutching”; it also increases the solubility and darkens
the color.
4.
Crushed shells are
fed to chickens, pods to pigs or goats. Nibs are ground in a corn mill to make a
warm paste that is punched into 2” disks and placed on a banana leaf to
cool
5.
Cocoa butter -
added to liquor to produce confectionery chocolate. It is the main ingredient
for white chocolate (altho the FDA doesn’t consider
white chocolate as chocolate because it contains no chocolate liquor). Cocoa
butter is also used in suntan lotions, soaps, and
cosmetics.
6.
The majority of
cocoa beans are used to make chocolate. The recipe for chocolate begins with the
chocolate liquor; sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla, and often milk re added during
conching
(mechanical kneading and stirring that gives chocolate its velvety smoothness).
After conching, the liquid chocolate is poured into
molds and cooled.
Miscellany
1.
Pure chocolate is
more than ½ cocoa butter, which has very high energy value,
much higher than protein. This made it a logical choice for sled travel
across the polar snow and ice, and all expeditions carried it in quantity. The
amounts of chocolate permitted each crew member may have had critical
significance for the success and failure of Amundson’s
(
2.
Valentine’s Day
- chocolate consumption, aphrodisiac, connection between romantic and various
amines, such as phenylethylamine (PEA). These
compounds, present in chocolate, play a role in human neurological functions.
PEA may be complicit in the roller coaster emotional feeling of passion we
associate with falling in love, an amphetamine-like rush. Phenylethylamine is found in chocolate, and some speculate
that people eat chocolate because it produces the sense of well-being we enjoy
when we’re in love. However, smoked salami and cheddar cheese are both
considerably higher in PEA content. Who here eats smoked salami to experience a
vicarious sense of a rush of love?
3.
Chocolate, a
carbohydrate, may prompt the pancreas to make insulin, which ultimately leads to
an increase in that neurotransmitter of calm, serotonin. It also contains theobromine, a mild caffeine-like substance. Some women
crave chocolate when they are about to menstruate: women who suffer PMS have
been found to have lower levels of serotonin, and premenstrual women, in
general, eat 30% more carbohydrates than they do at other times of the month.
(theobromine + carbohydrates
like chocolate: but why wouldn’t a cup of coffee and a doughnut work?).
4.
In a recent
newspaper article (5/98), it was reported that chocolate consumption was
increasing by 3% annually, while production is increasing by 1.5%. Alternatives
may include converting small sugarcane and pineapple plantations in
5.
Newspaper article
(Washington Post, 2/21/99) - John Henderson (Cornell) and Rosemary Joyce
(Berkeley) claim to have gathered evidence that chocolate originated in what is
now known as the Ulua River Valley in northwestern
Honduras.
Shards of distinctive ceremonial pottery unearthed at Puerto Escondido
archaeological dig in the Ulua Valley date back as far
as 1600 BCE, making the artifacts the oldest known examples of highly decorated
small bowls still customarily used today in Mexico and throughout Central
America to serve liquid chocolate, particularly at
weddings.
The shape of the vessel and the fancy decorations may indicate a
ceremonial use for the serving of chocolate.
The area has also long been known as one of the first places where cocoa
was cultivated.
This leads researchers to believe that chocolate originated in this
region and then spread north to Mexico and other parts of Central America, and
then around the world after Spanish colonization.
The researchers now intend to have some of the ancient pottery analysed for traces of what cd.
have been one of the first chocolate syrups.