On May 21-23, 2015, the first CoLab in Prague took place – during 3 days baristas gathered in Prague to share ideas over coffee and food, discover the city and its bursting coffee scene, and to get inspired by talks and discussions. BGE worked together with Tamper Tantrum to bring 6 speakers to the stage. We’re very excited …
By Danny Pinnell, SCAA Among coffee drinkers, we have noticed that there tends to be a lot of confusion and anxiety about what to call certain beverages–primarily the ones made up of espresso and milk. Between terms like cappuccino, macchiato (both of the Italian and Starbucks variety), cortado, piccolo, caffé latte, Gibraltar, Gaspar, and Flat …
By Jesse Bladyka In the specialty coffee industry, we have heard a lot over the last few years about Coffee Rust (Roya in Spanish), also known as Hemileia vastatrix. This fungus has been affecting coffee crops in devastating ways since the late 19th century. While it can be managed through the use of hybrid cultivars, …
By Emma Sage, SCAA In late January of this year, World Coffee Research (WCR) gathered a group of coffee breeders and other interested parties to discuss the future of coffee cultivars in Central America. Representatives from WCR, SCAA, Anacafé, Promecafé, AGRITECH NST, CATIE, USAID, and CIRAD discussed the results of the WCR genetic diversity study, …
Hi Emma, I keep hearing about this “hydrolysis” thing that happens during brewing, what is it? Can you explain the science behind hydrolysis? How is it different than extraction? Thanks, Brewed and confused in Baltimore *** Dear brewed and confused, I feel your pain! Brewing is one of the most complex yet under-researched topics in …
Mental Floss recently posted a video answering a user-submitted question, “How do they make decaf coffee when the caffeine is in the bean?” Craig Benzine, “host/coffee connoisseur,” describes a method for decaffeinating coffee called “supercritical carbon dioxide decaffeination,” where green coffee beans are put in a pressure vessel and carbon dioxide is used as a …
By Emma Sage, SCAA Sometimes it feels like we need a cup of coffee in the morning before we can even manage to brew one. Brewing specialty coffee is not difficult, but can certainly take some effort and experimentation to discover the desired brew strength. For at-home specialty coffee customers, trying to replicate the cup …
by Emma Sage, Coffee Science Manager, Specialty Coffee Association of America Chlorogenic Acids: Chemistry & Reality Coffee roasters and coffee-minded chemistry aficionados, myself included, often speak of chlorogenic acids (also known as caffeoylquinic acids or “CQAs”) in coffee. There may be hundreds of scientific studies published on these important constituents of coffee. However, what do we …
By EMMA SAGE, Coffee Science Manager at the SCA. What Plants Need A healthy, “happy” coffee plant is one that is able to produce the greatest number of quality seeds. There are three main factors influencing the “happiness” of a plant: genetics, the environment, and applied agricultural management. Since there is no exact formula to …
By Emma Sage Scientifically speaking, drinking a cup of coffee is what is called a multimodal sensory experience. This means that it’s the interaction of our five senses, and all the external factors influencing them (called “multisensory interactions”), which underlie our perception of flavor (Auvray and Spence 2008). There is also research (and lots of anecdotal …