How it is made and the health benefits
A few weeks ago, my best friend Pepijn and I went on a weeklong trip to Dominica to relax and enjoy all of the natural beauty the island has to offer. For the first few days, we stayed at a family friend’s place, high up in the hills of Saint Joseph Parish where she lives mostly off what she grows on her land, including bananas, papayas, avocados, sweet potatoes, dasheen and peppers. You could instantly taste the difference between what we ate in the few days we stayed there and the commercially grown and imported fruits and vegetables you buy in our supermarkets.
One other treat that she grows and produces is coffee! For many of us, coffee is one of those life necessities and splendours we just can’t live without. Some people cannot even picture starting their day without a nice warm cup of coffee. And don’t forget about that mid-day slump when coffee is what gets us through the rest of the day.
In between eating our bellies full, long naps in hammocks and heated domino games, we also helped peel coffee beans. It was interesting to see and learn how coffee is made from berry to cup. Have you ever stopped to wonder how coffee is made? Many people imagine coffee beans growing on a plant, but what they don’t know is that coffee doesn’t start in the form of a bean at all. A coffee bean is actually a seed that comes from a specific type of berry. Therefore, we can say that coffee beans actually come from a fruit.
When it comes to the length of the whole production process, a coffee tree can take up to five years to produce its precious fruit and it cannot grow in every climate, but it does seem to grow just fine in Dominica.
The berries are typically harvested by a machine or, as in our case, picked by hand. In order to get the beans out, the fruit of the berry needs to be removed and then the beans need to be processed after that. There are only two known ways of processing coffee beans: dry processing (which is an older technique) and wet processing (which is a more modern technique). Using the dry method, after peeling the skin of the berries off, the beans are placed in the sun and left to dry for around two weeks while being turned from time to time so they can dry evenly.
Wet processing is a modern method of processing coffee beans and it takes place soon after the harvest. This process consists of bean washing and bean fermentation. During this process, the pulp that is left on the beans will become softer and the pulp is rinsed off. Today, this method of processing coffee beans is used more frequently since it prevents damage to the beans. When the processing is done, the beans are sorted. At this point, they are called “green coffee beans.” However, it isn’t all done yet. Now comes the final part – roasting!
Roasting is essential and the final step in coffee production. It requires the perfect timing and setting of temperature to provide the perfect product. While the beans roast, they will split and their coating will be released. How strong the coffee flavour is depends greatly on the bean roasting formula. For example, the longer the beans roast, the more intense the flavour will be. Ironically, it is assumed the stronger the flavour, the more caffeine. However, it is actually the opposite which is true. The longer the coffee beans roast, the more the caffeine chemical is removed. You can buy your beans already roasted, but for the freshest experience, many people prefer to roast their own beans at home.
Brewing the coffee can be done in many different ways. In Dominica, we just boiled some water, added a few scoops of grinded coffee beans, waited a few minutes and filtered out the freshly brewed coffee from the granules. YUM! The coffee we tasted on our trip was delicious, it also made us wonder if it was possible to grow, dry, roast and grind our own coffee on Sint Maarten!
The consumption of coffee goes back centuries. In 17th century England, the popularity of the drink gave rise to a number of coffee houses which were dubbed “penny universities” because with one penny, a person could buy a cup of coffee and have intellectually stimulating conversations with other people. Nowadays, with over 400 billion cups consumed every year, coffee is one of the world’s most popular drinks. Besides it being a great smell to wake up to in the morning, a tasty way to wake up and keep you warm or a nice addition to a meeting with friends, did you also know that coffee could actually be very healthy?
Coffee is loaded with antioxidants and beneficial nutrients that can improve your health. A growing body of research shows that coffee drinkers, compared to non- coffee drinkers, are less likely to have type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and dementia and have fewer cases of certain cancers, heart rhythm problems and strokes! Coffee has also been attributed to improve mood, exercise performance, heighten metabolism, increased reaction time, better memory, and boosted general cognitive function.
Even though coffee in moderate amounts is good for you, drinking way too much of it can still be harmful. To make sure to preserve the health benefits, don’t put sugar or anything nasty in your coffee! Also if it tends to affect your sleep, don’t drink it after 2:00pm.
At the end of the day, it does seem quite clear that coffee is NOT the villain it was made out to be. If anything, as more and more studies are showing, coffee may literally be the healthiest beverage on the planet!
