)per il compleanno della Fra ( altra persona a cui mi sto affezionando un sacco, con quel suo sorrisetto impertinente e risatella continua "da pazza", come dice il topo ), scopro una chiamata persa da lui. Mi chiedo perché, cosa voglia da me: era uno squillo, una chiamata? Ha solo sbagliato a digitare il nome della persona da chiamare. Non oso rispondere, chiederglielo. Me lo chiedo e basta. Mi fingo indignata, incazzata, infastidita. In realtà lo sono. Ma ho anche paura di sapere la verità. Che poi sarà la stessa, quella di sempre, quella che ho sempre saputo e che ho finto di non sapere per troppo tempo, che ho sperato di cambiare, cancellare, trasformare: magolamagolamagia! E invece no: alla fine è venuta fuori. Troppo tardi. Troppo vera. Dolorosa.
You'll soon see my pretty sonsie face again!
Sono emozionata elettrizzata paranoica nervosa isterica felicissima!
Poco tempo come sempre, a partire da stasera: festa! so che sballerò tutti i tempi! Dimenticherò qualcosa! Prenderò troppa roba! Casino insomma!
Ma domani sera: Edinburgh!
Been missing it! And don't even wanna know what will happen!
Non ci guadagnerò niente, ma almeno sarà la testimonianza che della mia vita "qualcosa di buono" sto facendo. E l'occasione per scroccare un po' da bere.
COFFEE
1. LEGEND:
· Archangel Gabriel broughts elixir to unseat 40 men and satisfy 40 women
· Yemenite shepherd sees his flock eat red berries that make it sleepless; the prior: it’s the devil’s work! → They burn the berries, it smells nice; they soak them in water and make a drink.
2. HISTORY:
· 900: evidence of the use of coffee as a medicinal plant in Arabic medieval literature
· 1200: plants are brought from
· 1450: coffee is brought to
· 1554: the first “QAHWEH KHANEH” ( coffee houses ) are opened in Costantinople
· 1570: Coffee is brought to
· 1616: The Dutch take plants from
· 1645: 1st coffee shop in St. Mark’s square in
· 1650: 1st coffee house in
· 1684:
· 1688: Edward Lloyd opens the famous “Lloyd’s Coffee House” in
· 1720:
· 1721: French Captain Gabriel de Clieu obtains a coffee plant from le Jardin des Plants of
· 1727: A Portuguese man visiting French
· 1730: The English start cultivating coffee in
· Johann Sebastian Bach composes the “Coffee Cantata”
· The Spanish Jesuits take coffee to
· 1900: 90% of the world’s coffee is produced in
· Bezzera invents the espresso percolator
· 1903: Bialetti launches the Moka
· 2000: Coffee is the main produce of the world
CULTIVATION
Coffee: evergreen bush belonging to the RUBIACEA family of the COFFEA species.
The most commonly cultivated are the COFFEA ARABICA and the COFFEA CANEPHORA ( Arabica/Robusta )
LIFE OF THE PLANT
GROWTH STAGE
· SEED-BED: the seed germinates after a few weeks ( semenzaio )
· NURSERY: after 6/8 weeks the plants are transferred into a bag a put in a nursery ( vivaio → sacchetto ): so the roots are compressed and the plant grows higher ( pic. Filiera 2 )
· PLANTING OUT: after about 1 year ( MESSA A DIMORA, pic. Filiera 3 )
PRODUCTION STAGE
· PLANT RIPENING: 3/5 years after transplanting → 1st harvest
· BLOSSOM: once/twice a year, depending on rainy seasons
· FRUCTIFICATION: 7/9 months after blossoming ( pic. Filiera 4 )
DECLINE STAGE
· END OF PRODUCTICE CYCLE: 15 – 25 later
· AVERAGE LIFE: 30 – 50 years
· Cherry: skin, pulp, parchment ( pergamino ), silver sheath ( pellicola argentea ), coffee bean ( pic. Ibea 1 )
· Elongated leaves; the 1st two, though, are always round
· On the same plant there can be green, yellow and red fruits ( pic
ARABICA AND ROBUSTA
( pic. Ibea verde )
SPECIES COFFEA ARABICA
ORIGIN East Africa
ALTIT. 800 – 2000 m
°C 15 – 24°C
GROWS Central+South America
East Africa,
REPROD. Autogamy
( self-pollinates )
GENES 44 chromosomes
LENGTH 8- 12 mm
SHAPE: oval, flat, elongated
sinuous furrow
COLOUR: Greenish, bueish
RESIST. + sensitive to diseases,
high temperat.
PROD. 70%
SPECIES COFFEA CANEPHORA
HARVESTING
PICKING: slow, expensive, homogeneous harvest
MECHANICAL: quick, no labour cost, ripe and overly ripe (pic Salv)
STRIPPING: fast, cheaper, harvests everything ( pic fil )
DRY PROCESSING
1. DRYING: to reduce humidity, fruits are spead out in the sun on some specially made sheet or on the ground ( coffee will then have an earthy taste ). Fruits are raked and turned upon so to avoid fermentation ( contact → heath )
2. STRIPPING: a stripping machine takes apart the beans and the pulp and the dry skin ( pic fil
WET PROCESSING
1. SEPARATION IN WATER: all cherries are soaked in tanks: the ripe and unripe ones sink, dry and rotten ones float on the surface
2. PULPING: the fruits are put through a machine that takes the pulp off.
3. FERMENTATION: beans are soaked in still more tanks, where the remaining pulp and mucilage are dissolved
4. WASHING: beans are washed in canals where they are selected depending on their density ( pic fil UMIDO )
The choice between dry and wet processing depends on the weather conditions of the place ( rainy/dry ).
Robusta is generally processed naturally ( dry ). ( pic fil ASCIUGA )
SELECTION
1ST selection during harvesting if done by picking.
STONING: all metallic bodies are taken out using magnets; all other impurities ( dust, pebbles, dirt ) are aspirated.
HULLING: both parchment and silver film are stripped off through pylon machines. Beans are kept in their parchment this long because they are better kept and preserved ( pic fil SEMIUMIDO )
SORTING BY DENSITY: coffee is also selected according to its specific weight using densimetric machines ( further impurities removed )
SCREENING ( crivellatura ): using screening machines, beans are divided by dimension ( 4 – 8 mm ) and shape ( flat, round, irregular ). Either manual or mechanical: several plates from the biggest to the smallest all inclined, so the round one can roll down.
Alternatively, infrared machines can be used, sorting beans out by colour ( should a bean be empty, it will be discarded ).
QUALITY CONTROL: coffee is inspected and classified on the basis of its aspect and organoleptic characteristics. ( p. 80 filiera )
DEFECTS: ( p. 70 filiera )
BAGGING: generally 60 kg jute bags.
BAG – BIG BAG – BARREL – CONTAINER ( pic fil 10 )
TRANSPORT: in bags or bulk in 250 – 300 bags containers ( paper is used in order to absorb any potential water leakage/percolation ).
STEAMING OR WASHING PROCESS → DRYING PROCESS once in importing countries.
DECAFFEINATING PROCESS: water / solvent ( dichlotomethane/carcon dioxide/ethyl acetate )
BROKER ( middle man ) / IMPORTER
PRODUCER COUNTRIES: p 79 filiera
SHAPES
ARABICA ( generally very flat, sinuous furrow )
· Maragogype: very big
· Long Berry: flat elongated
· Flat → flat! ( OBVIOUSLY! )
· Bourbon: small and round
· Caracolito: small oval ( also called peaberries ); at the end of the branch, they get more sunshine, on half ( the so-called ear ) grows around the other ( caracolito )
BRASILIAN ( international ): 200 cc hot water, 10 g ( clear ) roasted, ( coarsely ) ground coffee; coffee is dispersed in water; 1st olfactory test. After the infusion has cooled down, we break the crust on the surface, we smell it again and then taste it. Lighter but the organoleptic charactieristics of the coffee are already present.
SIGHT – SMELL – TASTE – AFTERTASTE
