All About Coffee Part 33

Although furfuraldehyde is the natural decomposition product of pentosans, furfuryl alcohol is the main furane body of coffee aroma.

This would indicate that active reducing conditions prevail within the bean during roasting; and the further fact that carbon monoxid is given off during roasting makes this seem quite probable. If one admits that caffetannic acid exists in the green bean; that upon oxidation it gives viridic acid; and that it is concentrated in the outer layers of the bean, as certain investigators have claimed, then there is chemical proof of the existence of oxidizing conditions about the exterior of the bean. In any event, however, the fact that oxidizing conditions predominate on the external portion of the bean is obvious. Accordingly, our meager knowledge of the chemistry of roasting indicates that while the external layers of the roasting beans are subjected to oxidizing conditions, reducing ones exist in the interior. Future experimentation will, no doubt, prove this to be the case.

Attempts have been made to retain in the beans the volatile products, which normally escape, both by coating previous to roasting[163] and by conducting the process under pressure.[164] However, the results so obtained were not practical, since the cup values were decreased in the majority of cases, and the physiological effects produced were undesirable. In cases where the quality was improved, the gain was not sufficient to recompense the roaster for the additional expense and difficulty of operation.

Various persons have essayed to control the roasting process automatically; but the extreme variance in composition of different coffees, the effect of changing atmospheric conditions, and the lack of constancy in the calorific power of fuels have conspired to defeat the automatic roasting machine.[165] It is even doubtful whether De Mattia's[166] process for roasting until the vapors evolved produce a violet color when pa.s.sed into a solution of fuchsin decolorized with sulphur dioxid is commercially reliable.

Many patents have been granted for the treatment of coffees immediately prior to or during roasting with the object of thus improving the product. The majority of these depend upon adding solutions of sugar,[167] calcium saccharate,[168] or other carbohydrates,[169] and in the case of Eckhardt,[170] of small percentages of tannic acid and fat.

In direct opposition to this latter practise, Jurgens and Westphal[171]

apply alkali, ostensibly to lessen the "tannic acid" content.

Brougier[172] sprays a solution containing caffein upon the roasting berries; and Potter[173] roasts the coffee together with chicory, effecting a separation at the end.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GROUND COFFEE UNDER THE MICROSCOPE]

The exact effect which roasting with sugars has upon the flavor is not well understood; but it is known that it causes the beans to absorb more moisture, due to the hygroscopicity of the caramel formed. For instance, berries roasted with the addition of glucose syrup hold an additional 7 percent of water and give a darker infusion than normally roasted coffee. When the green coffee is glazed with cane sugar prior to roasting, the losses during the process are much higher than ordinarily, on account of the higher temperature required to attain the desired results. Losses for ordinary coffee taken to a 16-percent roast are 9.7 percent of the original fat and 21.1 percent of the original caffein; while for "sugar glazed" coffee the losses were 18.3 percent of the original fat and 44.3 percent of the original caffein, using 8 to 9 percent sugar with Java coffee.

_Grinding and Packaging_

It is a curious fact that green coffee improves upon aging, whereas after roasting it deteriorates with time. Even when packed in the best containers, age shows to a disadvantage on the roasted bean. This is due to a number of causes, among which are oxidation, volatilization of the aroma, absorption of moisture and consequent hydrolysis, and alteration in the character of the aromatic principles. Doolittle and Wright[174]

in the course of some extensive experiments found that roasted coffee showed a continual gain in weight throughout 60 weeks, this gain being mostly due to moisture absorption. An investigation by Gould[175] also demonstrated that roasted coffee gives off carbon dioxid and carbon monoxid upon standing. The latter, apparently produced during roasting and retained by the cellular structure of the bean, diffuses therefrom; whereas the former comes from an ante-roasting decomposition of unstable compounds present.[176]

The surface of the whole bean forms a natural protection against atmospheric influences, and as soon as this is broken, deterioration sets in. On this account, coffee should be ground immediately before extraction if maximum efficiency is to be obtained. The cells of the beans tend to retain the fugacious aromatic principles to a certain extent; so that the more of these which are broken in grinding, the greater will be the initial loss and the more rapid the vitiation of the coffee. It might, therefore, seem desirable to grind coa.r.s.ely in order to avoid this as much as possible. However, the coa.r.s.er the grind, the slower and more incomplete will be the extraction. A patent[177] has been granted for a grind which contains about 90 percent fine coffee and 10 percent coa.r.s.e, the patentee's claim being that in his "irregular grind" the coa.r.s.e coffee retains enough of the volatile const.i.tuents to flavor the beverage, while the fine coffee gives a very high extraction, thus giving an efficient brew without sacrificing individuality.

In packaging roasted coffee the whole bean is naturally the best form to employ, but if the coffee is ground first, King[178] found that deterioration is most rapid with the coa.r.s.e ground coffee, the speed decreasing with the size of the ground particles. He explains this on the ground of "ventilation"--the finer the grind, the closer the particles pack together, the less the circulation of air through the ma.s.s, and the smaller the amount of aroma which is carried away. He also found that gla.s.s makes the best container for coffee, with the tin can, and the foil-lined bag with an inner lining of gla.s.sine, not greatly inferior.

Considerable publicity has been given recently to the method of packing coffee in a sealed tin under reduced pressure. While thus packing in a partial vacuum undoubtedly r.e.t.a.r.ds oxidation and precludes escape of aroma from the original package, it would seem likely to hasten the initial volatilizing of the aroma. Also, it would appear from Gould's[179] work that roasted coffee evolves carbon dioxid until a certain positive pressure is attained, regardless of the initial pressure in the container. Accordingly, vacuum-packing apparently enhances decomposition of certain const.i.tuents of coffee. Whether this result is beneficial or otherwise is not quite clear.

_Brewing_

The old-time boiling method of making coffee has gone out of style, because the average consumer is becoming aware of the fact that it does not give a drink of maximum efficiency. Boiling the ground coffee with water results in a large loss of aromatic principles by steam distillation, a partial hydrolysis of insoluble portions of the grounds, and a subsequent extraction of the products thus formed, which give a bitter flavor to the beverage. Also, the maintenance of a high temperature by the direct application of heat has a deleterious effect upon the substances in solution. This is also true in the case of the pumping percolator, and any other device wherein the solution is caused to pa.s.s directly into steam at the point where heat is applied. Warm and cold water extract about the same amount of material from coffee; but with different rates of speed, an increase in temperature decreasing the time necessary to effect the desired result.

It is a well known fact that re-warming a coffee brew has an undesirable effect upon it. This is very probably due to the precipitation of some of the water-soluble proteins when the solution cools, and their subsequent decomposition when heat is applied directly to them in reheating the solution. The absorption of air by the solution upon cooling, with attendant oxidation, which is accentuated by the application of heat in re-warming, must also be considered. It is likewise probable that when an extract of coffee cools upon standing, some of the aromatic principles separate out and are lost by volatilization.

The method of extracting coffee which gives the most satisfaction is practised by using a grind just coa.r.s.e enough to retain the individualistic flavoring components, retaining the ground coffee in a fine cloth bag, as in the urn system, or on a filter paper, as in the Tricolator, and pouring water at boiling temperature over the coffee.

During the extraction, a top should be kept on the device to minimize volatilization, and the temperature of the extract should be maintained constant at about 200 F. after being made. Whether a repouring is necessary or not is dependent upon the speed with which the water pa.s.ses through the coffee, which in turn is controlled by the fineness of the grind and of the filtering medium.

_The Water Extract_

Although many a.n.a.lyses of the whole coffee bean are available, but little work has been reported upon the aqueous extracts. The total water extract of roasted coffee varies from 20 to 31 percent in different kinds of coffee. The following a.n.a.lysis of the extract from a Santos coffee may be taken as a fair average example of the water-soluble material.[180]

TABLE IV--a.n.a.lYSIS OF SANTOS COFFEE EXTRACT (DRY BASIS)

Ether extract, fixed 1.06% Total nitrogen 3.40% Caffein 5.42% Crude fiber 0.25% Total ash 17.43% Reducing sugar 2.70% Caffetannic acid 15.33% Protein 7.71%

It is difficult to make the trade terms, such as acidity, astringency, etc., used in describing a cup of coffee, conform with the chemical meanings of the same terms. However, a fair explanation of the cause of some of these qualities can be made. Careful work by Warnier[181] showed the actual acidities of some East India coffees to be:

TABLE V--ACIDITY OF SOME EAST INDIA COFFEES

Coffee from Acid Content Sindjai 0.033% Timor 0.028% Bauthain 0.019% Boengei 0.016% Loewae 0.021% Waloe Pengenten 0.018% Kawi Redjo 0.015% Palman Tjiasem 0.022% Malang 0.013%

These figures may be taken as reliable examples of the true acid content of coffee; and though they seem very low, it is not at all incomprehensible that the acids which they indicate produce the acidity in a cup of coffee. They probably are mainly volatile organic acids, together with other acidic-natured products of roasting. We know that very small quant.i.ties of acids are readily detected in fruit juices and beer, and that variation in their percentage is quickly noticed, while the neutralization of this small amount of acidity leaves an insipid drink. Hence, it seems quite likely that this small acid content gives to the coffee brew its essential acidity. A few minor experiments on neutralization have proven that a very insipid beverage is produced by thus treating a coffee infusion.

The body, or what might be called the licorice-like character, of coffee, is due conceivably to the presence of bodies of a glucosidic nature and to caramel. Astringency, or bitterness, is dependent upon the decomposition products of crude fiber and chlorogenic acid, and upon the soluble mineral content of the bean. The degree to which a coffee is sweet-tasting or not is, of course, dependent upon its other characteristics, but probably varies with the reducing sugar content.

Aside from the effects of these const.i.tuents upon cup quality, the influence of volatile aromatic and flavoring const.i.tuents is always evident in the cup valuation, and introduces a controlling factor in the production of an individualistic drink.

_Coffee Extracts_

The uncertainty of the quality of coffee brews as made from day to day, the inconvenience to the housewife of conducting the extraction, and the inevitable trend of the human race toward labor-saving devices, have combined their influences to produce a demand for a substance which will give a good cup of coffee when added to water. This gave rise to a number of concentrated liquid and solid "extracts of coffee," which, because of their general poor quality, soon brought this type of product into disrepute. This is not surprising; for these preparations were mainly mixtures of caramel and carelessly prepared extracts of chicory, roasted cereals, and cheap coffee.

Liquid extracts of coffee galore have appeared on the market only soon to disappear. Difficulty is experienced in having them maintain their quality over a protracted period of time, primarily due to the hydrolyzing action of water on the dissolved substances. They also ferment readily, although a small percentage of preservative, such as benzoate of soda, will halt spoilage.[182]

So much trouble is not encountered with coffee-extract powders--the so-called "soluble" or "instant" coffees. The majority of these powdered dry extracts do, however, show great affinity for atmospheric moisture.

Their hygroscopicity necessitates packing and keeping them in air-tight containers to prevent them running into a solid, slowly soluble ma.s.s.

The general method of procedure employed in the preparation of these powders is to extract ground roasted coffee with water, and to evaporate the aqueous solution to dryness with great care. The major difficulty which seems to arise is that the heat needed to effect evaporation changes the character of the soluble material, at the same time driving off some volatile const.i.tuents which are essential to a natural flavor.

Many complex and clever processes have been developed for avoiding these difficulties, and quite a number of patents on processes, and several on the resultant product, have been allowed; but the commercial production of a soluble coffee of freshly-brewed-coffee-duplicating-power is yet to be accomplished. However, there are now on the market several coffee-extract powders which dissolve readily in water, giving quite a fair approximation of freshly brewed coffee. The improvement shown since they first appeared augurs well for the eventual attainment of their ultimate goal.

_Adulterants and Subst.i.tutes_

There would appear to be three reasons why subst.i.tutes for coffee are sought--the high cost, or absence, of the real product; the acquiring of a preferential taste, by the consumer, for the subst.i.tute; and the injurious effects of coffee when used to excess. Makers of coffee subst.i.tutes usually emphasize the latter reason; but many subst.i.tutes, which are, or have been, on the market, seem to depend for their existence on the other two. Properly speaking, there are scarcely any real subst.i.tutes for coffee. The substances used to replace it are mostly like it only in appearance, and barely simulate it in taste.

Besides, many of them are not used alone, but are mixed with real coffee as adulterants.

The two main coffee subst.i.tutes are chicory and cereals. Chicory, succory, _Cichorium Intybus_, is a perennial plant, growing to a height of about three feet, bearing blue flowers, having a long tap root, and possessing a foliage which is sometimes used as cattle food. The plant is cultivated generally for the sake of its root, which is cut into slices, kiln-dried, and then roasted in the same manner as coffee, usually with the addition of a small proportion of some kind of fat. The preparation and use of roasted chicory originated in Holland, about 1750. Fresh chicory[183] contains about 77 percent water, 7.5 gummy matter, 1.1 of glucose, 4.0 of bitter extractive, 0.6 fat, 9.0 cellulose, inulin and fiber, and 0.8 ash. Pure roasted chicory[184]

contains 74.2 percent water-soluble material, comprised of 16.3 percent water, 26.1 glucose, 9.6 dextrin and inulin, 3.2 protein, 16.4 coloring matter, and 2.6 ash; and 25.8 percent insoluble substances, namely, 3.2 percent protein, 5.7 fat, 12.3 cellulose, and 4.6 ash. The effect of roasting upon chicory is to drive off a large percentage of water, increasing the reducing sugars, changing a large proportion of the bitter extractives and inulin, and forming dextrin and caramel as well as the characteristic chicory flavor.

The cereal subst.i.tutes contain almost every type of grain, mainly wheat, rye, oats, buckwheat, and bran. They are prepared in two general ways, by roasting the grains, or the mixtures of grains, with or without the addition of such substances as sugar, mola.s.ses, tannin, citric acid, etc., or by first making the floured grains into a dough, and then baking, grinding, and roasting. Prior to these treatments, the grains may be subjected to a variety of other treatments, such as impregnation with various compounds, or germination. The effect of roasting on these grains and other subst.i.tutes is the production of a destructive distillation, as in the case of coffee; the crude fiber, starches, and other carbohydrates, etc., being decomposed, with the production of a flavor and an aroma faintly suggesting coffee.

The number, of other subst.i.tutes and imitations which have been employed are too numerous to warrant their complete description; but it will prove interesting to enumerate a few of the more important ones, such as malt, starch, acorns, soya beans, beet roots, figs, prunes, date stones, ivory nuts, sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, peas, and other vegetables, bananas, dried pears, grape seeds, dandelion roots, rinds of citrus fruits, lupine seeds, whey, peanuts, juniper berries, rice, the fruit of the wax palm, cola nuts, chick peas, ca.s.sia seeds, and the seeds of any trees and plants indigenous to the country in which the subst.i.tute is produced.

Aside from adulteration by mixing subst.i.tutes with ground coffee, and an occasional case of fact.i.tious molded berries, the main sophistications of coffee comprise coating and coloring the whole beans. Coloring of green and roasted coffees is practised to conceal damaged and inferior beans. Lead and zinc chromates, Prussian blue, ferric oxid, coal-tar colors, and other substances of a harmful nature, have been employed for this purpose, being made to adhere to the beans with adhesives. As glazes and coatings, a variety of substances have been employed, such as b.u.t.ter, margarin, vegetable oils, paraffin, vaseline, gums, dextrin, gelatin, resins, glue, milk, glycerin, salt, sodium bicarbonate, vinegar, Irish moss, isingla.s.s, alb.u.men, etc. It is usually claimed that coating is applied to retain aroma and to act as a clarifying agent; but the real reasons are usually to increase weight through absorption of water, to render low-grade coffees more attractive, to eliminate by-products, and to a.s.sist in advertising.

METHODS OF a.n.a.lYSIS OF COFFEES[185]

(_Official and Tentative_)

(Sole responsibility for any errors in compilation or printing of these methods is a.s.sumed by the author.)

GREEN COFFEE

1. _Macroscopic Examination--Tentative_

A macroscopic examination is usually sufficient to show the presence of excessive amounts of black and blighted coffee beans, coffee hulls, stones, and other foreign matter. These can be separated by hand-picking and determined gravi-metrically.

2. _Coloring Matters--Tentative_