How To Choose Coffee Beans, Instant, Ground: Rating Of The Most Delicious Varieties And Brands And Reviews

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-17 22:26

A good day starts with a cup of coffee: choosing a high-quality and tasty drink

“O incomparable drink, You live, you warm the blood, You are a joy for the singers! Often, tired with rhyme, I myself took a cup into my hand And poured delight into myself."

This is a fragment of a poem written by a lyceum friend of Alexander Pushkin - Wilhelm Küchelbecker. And now, attention, the question: "What drink does the poet call incomparable, life-giving, warming, giving inspiration and delight"? There is only one answer - coffee! Millions of people start a new day with a cup of this drink and claim that it is he who makes the transition from sleep to wakefulness less painful. First you need to decide how to choose the right sort, brand and type of coffee.

Content

• 1 What is coffee
• 2 Country of origin of the coffee tree

• 3 Main varieties

  • 3.1 Arabica
  • 3.2 Robusta
• 4 Degree of roasting
• 5 What grind of coffee do you prefer at this time of day?

• 6 Types of coffee (with ratings and reviews)

  • 6.1 Natural in beans

    • 6.1.1 How to choose the right coffee beans
    • 6.1.2 Video on choosing coffee beans

  • 6.2 Ground

    • 6.2.1 Choosing delicious ground coffee
    • 6.2.2 Capsule
  • 6.3 Which is better: ground or grain: table

  • 6.4 Instant coffee

    • 6.4.1 Stages of the production of freeze-dried instant coffee on video
    • 6.4.2 Product benefits and harms
    • 6.4.3 How to protect yourself from coffee scammers - video

What is coffee

All kinds of variations on the coffee theme have been invented: espresso, cappuccino, latte, frapuccino, affogato, Cuban, Vietnamese ice, Turkish, Irish, and also like in a school cafeteria, it used to be called "from a bucket", now - Americano. This is not a complete list of the names of coffee-based drinks, but we are not here to list them all. The point is that everyone likes their coffee, but everyone wants to get a high-quality and healthy drink.

Coffee ranks second in the ranking of the best-selling goods. The first is oil

To begin with, let's figure out which type of coffee is preferable in terms of quality and safety of the main advantages.

Let's start with the fact that coffee, like any other plant, can be of different varieties. The most common of them are Arabica and Robusto.

There are 3 types of coffee on sale: beans, ground and instant. For some time now, they began to sell still green and unroasted coffee, but these are things for an amateur, and therefore are not massive. In addition, experts say that it is impossible to roast coffee at the proper level at home, and therefore let everyone do their own thing.

To begin with, we will define the parameters by which we will seek divine coffee for ourselves. We know that we are talking here about the fruit of the coffee tree, harvested, dried, roasted, then ground and brewed. All business, then. However, each of the steps described will play a decisive role in which drink will smoke in your cup.

Country where the coffee tree grows

Coffee is grown on several continents

We weren't born yesterday, and we perfectly understand that a lot of different factors affect the taste of the fruit of any plant: the composition of the soil, location in relation to sea level, the degree of illumination and moisture, which plants grow nearby, and much more. Therefore, coffee grown in Brazil, where there are “many wild monkeys,” is different from coffee harvested in Africa or India. And here's what:

• Coffee grown in Brazil is slightly bitter, has a pronounced sourness, and sometimes even slightly "gives off" medicine. However, Brazil is the main supplier of coffee in the world, so it is quite difficult to avoid getting its products into the cup, especially in ground and instant form. Therefore, if you fundamentally do not want to drink a drink made from Brazilian fruits, coffee in beans will help you.
• Colombian coffee has a fruity flavor and the same acidity as Brazilian coffee.
• Indian varieties are characterized by bitter and spicy notes, some believe that it is even sweetish. There is no trace of the acid characteristic of American varieties.
• The Yemeni coffee tree fruit is rich in flavor with light chocolate fruit and even wine themes.
• Aromatic coffee is grown in Cuba. It is sold under the brand name "qubit". The taste is pronounced, with peppercorn.
• Understanding people say that the best coffee comes from Ethiopia. The drink, made from local fruits, is distinguished by its strength, rich taste and aroma with hints of chocolate, cinnamon and wild berries.
• Kenya also supplies the world market with excellent, high-quality, aromatic coffee. In its taste, there is a sourness and a light currant hue.
• And also the world knows and loves coffee grown in Panama, Guatemala, Indonesia, the Caribbean and Jamaica. And each land brought something of its own to the taste of fruits. Guatemala - the taste of spicy spices and chocolate, Panama - citrus and lychee flowers, Jamaica - fruit and wine motifs, combined with a complete lack of bitterness.

Main varieties

Strictly speaking, as such, there are many varieties of plants from the genus of coffee - more than 90, however, one of the two most popular, or both, arabica and robusta, falls into our cup.

The most common coffee varieties are Arabica and Robusta.

Arabica

Arabica beans are easy to distinguish by sight, taste and smell. They have an elongated, oblong shape, the crack in the middle resembles the letter “S”, the surface is smooth. The taste is soft, full-bodied with a slight sourness, the aroma is bright and persistent. Arabica accounts for 70% of the world's coffee grown and consumed.

Robusta

Robusta beans are slightly smaller than Arabica beans, round in shape, with a straight crack in the middle. They have 2 times more caffeine than in the first grade, but there is less of everything else - taste and aroma in particular. It costs less, so it is often used in blends (blends) and in instant coffee. But it is even advisable to make espresso coffee with the addition of robusta, since thanks to it it turns out to be stronger and with good foam.

Comparative table of properties of Arabica and Robusta

On the pack, the manufacturer usually writes the type of coffee beans it contains. It can be 100% Arabica, it can be a mixture of Arabica-Robusto (50/50, 60/40 or 70/30). Sometimes there is pure robusta, or it is generally unknown what - there is not a word about the composition on the package. In this situation, it remains for yourself to decide "risk is a noble cause" or "trust, but check", and if it is impossible to check, then do not buy.

Roast degree of beans

The roasting of coffee beans can be of different intensities

Just as meat can be roasted, or it can remain with blood, coffee can be of different degrees of roasting - low (light), medium, strong and high. Which one to choose is purely a matter of taste.

• Lightly roasted beans have a mild taste and are usually used for making drinks with milk or cream.
• Medium roasted beans hold the lead among coffee lovers, as they have a strong aroma and a bitter "coffee" taste.
• Deep roasted coffee for those who like pure dark and strong coffee.
• Top-roasted coffee will appeal to those who appreciate strength and bitterness in this drink, as they are used to make espresso and double espresso.

In general, the taste and color, as they say, but one rule must be observed in any case - the roast must be uniform.

What grind do you prefer at this time of day?

The degree of grind of coffee is an important factor in choosing a coffee maker

The choice of coffee grind depends on how and in what it is planned to be prepared. There are a lot of options.

1. Coarse, aka coarse grind. Suitable for geyser and piston coffee makers (French press). It is strictly forbidden to use in espresso machines, turks and cezvov.

   

   Suitable for coarse coffee

   

   Manual pressure brewing

2. The medium grind is practically universal, as it is suitable for all types of coffee makers. A great option for a carob coffee maker.

   

   Medium-ground coffee is suitable for a rotor coffee machine

3. Finely ground coffee is used in drip coffee makers and coffee machines (brewing the beverage under high pressure).

   

   One of the most common coffee brewing machines

   

   Coffee brewing takes place under high pressure

4. Very fine grinding is also called "espresso". It is easy to guess that they put it in espresso coffee makers.

   

   Finely ground coffee is suitable for espresso

5. Superfine, very fine, almost coffee dust. It is used to make coffee in Turk and cezve (electric Turk).

   

   The very first coffee maker

   

   Coffee turk from the age of high technology

Watch a video below about the five grind levels of coffee:

Let's continue our exploration of what my ideal coffee should be.

Types of coffee (with ratings and reviews)

Natural in beans

Natural coffee - coffee beans

What can I say about grain coffee … This - here it is, coffee is, the real, in all its glory, the way Mother Nature and a couple of hundred workers from coffee plantations created it. Indeed, in a kilogram of ready-made grain coffee, if you wish, you can count from 4 to 5 thousand coffee grains, and on one coffee tree there are at most 1-1.5 thousand. It turns out that there are 4-5 trees in one kilogram of roasted coffee. And how much human labor, and not count.

Buying coffee in beans, you should understand that, on the one hand, you acquire the happy opportunity to always have a fresh aromatic drink in your cup, but on the other hand, you add to your efforts in its preparation.

Coffee beans are ground in a coffee grinder

Experts say that after grinding, the coffee powder retains its taste and aroma for the first 15 minutes, and then everything remains a pitiful parody of "the enchanting taste and aroma of true coffee." Therefore, they (experts) advise you to grind coffee exactly as much as you can master in one sitting, without stocking up for future use. But then the question arises, how to grind it and how. Literally in the previous section, we already talked about five degrees of coffee grinding. The acceptable minimum is 4, less is impossible. To maintain the required particle size, you need to either have a diamond eye or a special technique. There is also an option for grinding by time (coarse - 10-12 seconds, medium - 15-20 seconds, espresso - 20-25 seconds, superfine - 25-30 seconds). That is, we take the stopwatch in one hand, and the rattling phone with pouring text messages and Skype messages into the other, and we begin to measure 15 seconds. Gape - that's all, we hide the French press, we run to the neighbors for the Turk.

Yes, coffee beans are the best option, but it requires a leisurely and thoughtful approach, or a coffee maker with a built-in grinder.

There are coffee makers with a built-in coffee grinder

Among other things, you need to be able to choose it. When buying grain by weight in specialized stores, you can visually assess the freshness and uniformity of roasting. And also according to the variety and country of the manufacturer, you can navigate in the peculiarities of taste and strength (we learned this in the previous sections). But what about the choice of packaged coffee beans?

How to choose the right coffee beans

First you need to inspect the packaging. It should be complete, without tears and swelling. The package must contain information about the date of production (the fresher the coffee, the stronger its aroma), the type, the degree of roast, the country of origin and the place of harvest. Hard packaging is preferable to soft packaging.

In Russia, you can buy high-quality grain coffee. Based on the data provided on specialized "coffee" resources (hereinafter, the ratings published on morecoffe.ru and chay-i-kofe.com are given), the following brands have proven themselves well:

1. Jardin coffee. Country of origin - Russia. The country of origin is of your choice. Ethiopia, Colombia, Guatemala, Indonesia … Diversity is the credo of this brand. Jardin beans can be selected in various degrees of roast and strength.

   

   Coffee beans

2. Paulig is a hot Finnish coffee. By the way, Finland is the world leader in the consumption of this drink. The average Finnish adult drinks an average of five cups a day. They need to drink something in dry law. Paulig is renowned for its careful selection of raw materials, quality roasting and, at the end, excellent coffee taste and aroma.

   

   Coffee beans

3. Kimbo coffee beans. Country of origin - Italy. In Russia, this brand is becoming more and more popular. Kimbo coffee is evenly roasted, does not taste bitter or sour, and is sold in quality packaging.

   

   Coffee beans from Italy

4. Another worthy option from the domestic producer "Live Coffee". Offers a rich assortment of grain coffee, including, at the same time quite affordable.

   

   Domestic coffee brand

5. The UK produces Gaggia coffee machines as well as coffee of the same name. It turns out well, the grain is of high quality with an excellent taste and aroma.

   

   Bean coffee made in Great Britain

6. Favorite in our country Lavazza comes from Italy. It needs no introduction, everyone knows its mild taste and calm strength.

   

   Coffee from Italy

7. The Black Card (not to be confused with Carte Noir) is made in Russia from South American coffee beans. The drink from them turns out to be not hellishly rich, but on the other hand with discernible notes of citrus and walnut.

   

   Coffee beans

8. Malongo coffee is a guest from France. A wide range of quality savory flavors are available with chocolate, caramel, vanilla and fruity notes.

   

   Coffee beans

9. Saeco is another Italian brand that supplies delicious and high-quality coffee to the Russian market. The basis is Indian Arabica, which means that you can distinguish the aroma of chocolate and spices in it.

   

   Saeco Italian whole grain coffee

10. Egoiste premium coffee. Country of origin Switzerland. The peculiarity of the brand is that it is made from plain Arabica.

    

    Premium coffee beans

11. Another brand of elite coffee is Italcafe. Selected Arabica varieties are also used for it.

    

    Italian grain coffee

Video on choosing coffee beans

Ground

Amazing business! The more we automate domestic work, the less time we have left for it. It would seem that while the bread maker is kneading the dough, the multicooker is a multivariate, the washing machine is busy with laundry, and the dishwasher is busy with dishes, we can spend the saved time and effort on cooking some new complex and tasty dish. Or, finally, calmly sit down at sewing a patchwork quilt or embroidery on a sofa cushion … It's funny, but patchwork quilts, embroidery and handmade lace are mainly seen in ethnographic museums, representing the life of our ancestors, who raised ten children without diapers, and at the same time and water supply with sewerage. They also washed clothes in the ice hole and cooked pies for a family of 20.

Now we have a different pace of life, any first grader will tell you that. Where we are in a hurry is a separate question, so we will not raise it here, but simply take it for granted. The constant haste explains the fact that ground coffee can be found much more often on store shelves than grain coffee, and there is nothing to say about instant coffee - it accounts for 87 percent of total coffee sales in Russia.

Choosing delicious ground coffee

Natural ground coffee

1. In addition to the variety, the country of origin, the degree of roast and freshness, grinding plays an important role. The grind size for quality coffee is usually indicated on the packaging, as this information is extremely important when choosing a method of preparation. And yet, even a perfectly selected grind will not create a tasty and aromatic drink if the raw materials from which it is made are of poor quality and not of the first freshness.
2. Therefore, the second thing you should pay attention to is the production date. Everything is simple here - the fresher the better.
3. Another important indicator of freshness is the presence or absence of a special valve for removing carbon dioxide. If it is present, it means that the coffee was packaged immediately after roasting, and its aroma will be pronounced. The fact is that after roasting, coffee emits carbon dioxide and you need to ensure its evaporation. The absence of a valve means that after roasting the coffee has been soaked in the air and all the gas has been released into space. Unfortunately, the lion's share of the scent has also disappeared. But we love coffee for its "wonderful spirit" no less than for its taste, so try to buy packs with a valve.
4. Hard-packed coffee is generally of higher quality than soft-packed coffee. In addition, they usually indicate not only the variety, grind and degree of roast, but also the method of preparation.
5. And, finally, no one canceled a good proven brand.

Here are a few brands that have received positive reviews from Russian coffee lovers:

1. Russian Jardin coffee has proven itself not only in grain, but also in ground form.

   

   Wide range of flavors from Jardin

   

   Jardin Ground Coffee

   

   Jardin soft pack

2. Italian brands Camardo, Mauro, Illy, Madeo are loved by Russian coffee lovers. Italians prefer a strong espresso made from well-roasted, medium to fine grains. The exception to Illy is that it has a rather modest caffeine content.

   

   Ground coffee from Italy

   

   Famous Italian coffee brand Mauro

   

   Ground coffee

   

   Coffee from Italy

3. Lavazza is also an Italian brand, but we took it to a separate item for its prevalence and gaining a mass of fans in our country.

   

   Ground coffee Lavazza

4. The Live Coffee brand offers mainly single varieties without impurities, and this allows you to choose truly “your” coffee.

   

   Ground coffee

5. Paulig - Made in Finland. Good, solid, high-quality coffee with a persistent coffee taste and aroma.

   

   Finnish brand coffee

Capsule

Separately, I would like to say about the new trend in coffee fashion - capsule coffee machines, and coffee in capsules used in them. Making coffee in such a machine comes down to choosing a capsule with a certain taste and pressing a button. The machine does the rest for us.

Brews coffee from special capsules

Capsules can be of one of three types: aluminum, polymer and combined. These are hermetically sealed containers in which compressed ground coffee is poured. As a rule, a whole line of different flavors is offered, which means that it cannot do without additives.

The production of this kind of coffee, as a rule, is carried out by both manufacturers of capsule coffee machines and other coffee companies. Several types of devices are mainly sold in Russia: Dolce Gusto, Nespresso, Cremesso and Tassimo Bosh.

• Dolce Gusto (Nescafe) is distinguished by a rich selection of flavors: 10 variants of classic coffee, 6 - coffee with milk, 3 hot chocolate cocktails and 1 tea latte with milk and spices;

  

  Capsules for Dolce Gusto by Nescafe

• Nespresso offers its customers 17 coffee-themed variations in capsules, including decaf;

  

  Coffee Maker Capsules

• Cremesso controls the end product from zero cycle - the company has its own coffee plantations. Capsule coffee of this manufacturer is famous for the high quality of the offered coffee, but it loses in the assortment - only 11 flavors, plus 4 teas.

  

  Different coffee flavors in capsules

• Tassimo Bosh differs not only in quality, but also in generosity, since the capsules contain 9 g of coffee (Dolce Gusto - 6 g, Nespresso, Cremesso - 7 g), and the price is not higher than the others. As for the assortment, it is even narrower than that of the previous brand - 11 types of capsules, of which 3 are classic coffee, 3 are coffee with milk, 4 teas and 1 cocoa.

  

  Capsules from various manufacturers for Tassimo

How to use the Dolce Gusto capsule coffee maker, you can watch the video:

Which is better: ground or grain: table

Grain	Ground
Retains taste and aroma longer	After grinding, coffee retains its taste and aroma for 15 minutes, then both of them tarnish
Naturalness	You can add whatever you like and grind
Visible shape and grain size, uniform roasting	It is impossible to track the quality of the used grain

Instant coffee

Fastest to make coffee

As already mentioned, instant coffee is extremely popular in our country. It accounts for 87% of all coffee consumed in Russia. Why do we love him so much? The main reason is the speed and ease of brewing. Poured boiling water over - the coffee is ready. Advanced users can still add sugar and milk, but this is already from the field of haute cuisine.

The second reason why many of our people choose instant coffee is that it retains its taste and aroma throughout its entire shelf life.

In order for coffee to dissolve in water and retain its unique taste and aroma, it must be subjected to special processing. The initial stage is the same as for ground coffee (roasting, grinding). Then the resulting coffee powder is digested for 2-4 hours, resulting in a thick coffee extract, which is then processed in one of three ways to obtain powdered, granular or freeze-dried instant coffee.

• Powder (spray-dry) is the cheapest. It is obtained by spraying coffee extract in a stream of hot air. It has the appearance of a powder, the caffeine content is the highest - 4%.
• Granular is also called agglomerated. Consists of granules of various sizes with a porous structure. It is obtained by wetting the powder (spray-dry). Granulated coffee is more expensive and produces a drink with a richer taste than in the first case.

• Freeze-dried or crystallized coffee. It is fundamentally different in the way it is cooked. While the first two are produced by exposure to high temperatures, the latter is done by dehydrating coffee beans in a vacuum at low temperatures. For this reason, it is also called "frozen out". Such coffee is the closest to custard coffee, both in taste and in price.

  

  Powdered, granular, freeze-dried instant coffee

Stages of production of freeze-dried instant coffee on video

The benefits and harms of the product

If instant coffee is made strictly according to technology and does not contain artificial additives, then it has the same properties as brewed coffee. The trouble is, this is not always the case, and sometimes manufacturers add artificial colors, flavors, and other additives. Often, the content of coffee in an instant drink is only 15–20%. The lowest quality of drinks from the 3-in-one series.

How to protect yourself from coffee scammers - video

Advantages and disadvantages of instant coffee over custard
Good	poorly
Fast and easy brewing	As a rule, substandard grains are used as raw materials, which, due to their different shape and size, can be unevenly dried and fried.
Lower caffeine content	The caffeine obtained from instant coffee lasts longer in the body than from custard, so it can be harmful to patients with cardiovascular diseases.
Bright pronounced aroma	Strong aroma can be achieved with artificial flavors.
Taste and aroma last for a long time	Contains more acid than custard, therefore it is limited for people with high acidity.

Instant coffee with a homogeneous structure without artificial additives, with a taste and aroma close to brewed coffee, and dissolving without residue in both hot and cold water, is considered to be of high quality.

We present a rating of the brands of instant coffee found in our stores:

1. According to many coffee gourmets, the best instant coffee is produced in Japan under the Bushido brand. It is made from selected beans that have undergone special processing, as a result of which we have the taste and aroma of freshly ground coffee. In addition to coffee beans, the product contains edible gold, and this is noticeable at the price.

   

   One of the best instant coffee in Russia

2. Gold is not added to German Grandos, but this does not affect the price too much. This is an expensive, elite coffee, which contains only natural Arabica.

   

   Instant coffee

3. Maxim instant coffee is made in South Korea. He won his fans with a wonderful aroma and mild taste without bitterness, but with fruity notes. At first, the brand was firmly entrenched in the Far East, and now they will conquer Central Russia.

   

   Instant coffee from Korea

4. The soft taste of Japanese UCC coffee is characterized by fruity notes and a complete lack of bitterness. He enjoys a well-deserved love among those who prefer weak coffee.

   

   High quality instant coffee

5. French Carte Noire is made from selected natural Arabica. It is widespread in our country. By the way, the Black Card brand has nothing to do with Carte Noire. However, this does not mean that domestic coffee is bad.

   

   Instant coffee

6. The Russian brand "Moscow Coffee House on Pays" produces excellent coffee, including instant coffee, without additives and impurities - only pure Arabica.

   

   Instant coffee

7. Switzerland supplies the Russian market with excellent instant coffee under the Egoiste Special brand. It is made from really high quality coffee beans, does not contain impurities and allows you to enjoy the wonderful taste and aroma.

   

   Swiss brand

8. The next place is taken by another guest from South Korea - Taster's Choice (Taster's Choice). The ambitious name is justified by the high quality of the product, excellent taste and aroma.

   

   Coffee from South Korea

9. Another European brand of freeze-dried coffee is Today Pure Arabica. This time, made in Germany, although the brand is English. From the name it is clear that it is made from arabica extract, however, like all other participants in the rating. Coffee under this brand is not widespread in our country, mainly because of its price, and is sold mainly in coffee shops.

   

   European brand of instant coffee

10. The lowest price (among the participants in this rating), but the highest quality product is produced under the brand "Indian Gold Exclusive". There are also no additives in it, and the taste is as close as possible to the taste of custard coffee.

    

    Instant coffee

“Coffee is the gold of the common man; and just like gold, coffee brings it to luxury and nobility,”said the Yemeni sheikh Abd al-Qadir, to whom, according to one legend, we owe the transfer of coffee from medicine to drinks. Indeed, no matter what you do, what you wear and where you live, a cup of hot aromatic coffee makes you king. Perhaps this is the only thing, and another aspirin tablet in the morning "after yesterday" brings you closer to the first persons of the world. Do not deny yourself this pleasure, and who knows, maybe a small cup of coffee will lead you to big changes, because it is not for nothing that it is called the drink of the great.