Water is slowly filtered by the ground coffee absorbing the oils, caffeine, acids and other components.

The paper filter stops the coffee grounds from falling through assuring the drink is free from grounds.
This filter can then be thrown away making for ease of use.

The paper filter was invented by Melitta Bentz of Germany in 1908 as she found the coffee of the time was over brewed and often had coffee grounds in the drink.

This simple filter has not changed much since this time and is now used the world over.

In some countries metal filters are used as these do not need to be replaced each time, but of course require regular cleaning.

A commercial filter coffee machine

Filter coffee machines are used through out the world, but have a greater prominence in North America where filter coffee is the more popular version of coffee.
Through Europe, espresso based coffee, coffee produced in a cafetiere and instant are the more dominant drink served.

The first automatic drip-brew coffee maker was produced by Bunnomatic in 1963.
Since then the design has not changed much as per the example above.

Each coffee cherry usually contains two coffee beans with their flat sides nestling against each other.

The coffee beans inside the cherry are green in colour, their natural state as a seed.

Some coffee cherries, around 5%, contain only one coffee bean, this bean is referred to as a Peaberry.

As this Peaberry doesn’t have another coffee bean to push against it is round in shape instead of having one flat side.

The coffee beans contain between 0.8% and 2.5% caffeine, a natural stimulant which makes coffee a very popular drink and the green coffee beans the world’s second valuable traded commodity, behind only petroleum.

Coffee Bean (Roasted)

The brown coffee bean we are all used to seening in our local coffee shop is actually the final product from the coffee roasting process.

The green beans are roasted in a large heated drum for between 8-15 minutes until brown in colour and are ready to send to coffee shops, supermarkets and our homes.

The also provide a range of coffee vending machines and have several Lavazza branded coffee shops.
As well as the Lavazza coffee shops they own the Barista coffee shops brand throughout Asia, approximately 150 outlets plus the Caffè di Roma brand, which has more than 80 coffee shops in the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, France, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

Lavazza Logo

Lavazza was founded in 1894 by Luigi Lavazza in Turin and started life out as a grocery store.

When this store opened it sold a variety of goods like most grocery stores of the day including of course coffee.

By 1910 the Lavazza store was growing in popularity due to Lavazza own blends of coffee, something his competitors were not doing.

By the 1930’s Lavazza was specialising in coffee, consolidating it’s business to make this its main product.

Today Lavazza’s coffee is well know worldwide and they cover most areas of the coffee market.

They are also renowned for their Calenders and advertising campaigns which are very art based and have won various awards.
The calendar has been produced for 18 years and has be shot by famous photographers including Annie Leibovitz.

When done correctly the espresso will have a dark thick crema, carrying all the subtle flavours of the espresso into the cup.
Tamped incorrectly however leaves a bitter overpowering taste which is unfortunately usually covered up with sugar, syrup and milk.

The first point to note is to make sure the coffee beans are fresh roast and freshly ground.

Grinding should be done only when the coffee is ready to be made.
The oils in the bean are released once the shell is broken and the grounds will quickly go stale.

An on demand grinder is perfect here as coffee can be ground as and when it is needed at the touch of a button, providing fresh coffee grounds with no waste.

The coffee is ground into the group head in a 7 gram measurement for a single shot of espresso and 14 grams for a double.

Before tamping the coffee should be leveled, this is usually done by running a curved finger over the head to level the coffee with the top of the rim.

A Coffee Tamper

The first tamp should be quite light, around 5 pounds of pressure, to form a puck shape from the coffee grounds.

A good way of gauging the amount of pressure needed is to practice on a bathroom scale.

The final tamp should be around 30 pounds of pressure to leave a compact coffee puck to give the desire resistance to the water.

While still applying the pressure the tamp should be twisted through 720° to leave a smooth surface on the coffee, essential for even distribution of the water through the coffee.
The coffee should also be level as if at an angle the water will push through the low side giving a bitter taste to the coffee.

If done correctly the extraction should take 20-25 seconds and leave a nice crema and produce all the subtle espresso flavours.

The beans are then spun around in the cylinder to ensure they are heated evenly.

Through out the process the person roasting keeps a very close eye on the beans by checking their temperature, time, smell, appearance and the sound they make.
The sound and appearance is checked by taking a small sample from the drum by means of a tryer.

Commercial Coffee Roaster

The whole process usually takes between 10-15 minutes dependant on the type of taste require.

• A quicker roast, around 8 minutes,  gives a light more acid taste and is referred to as a cinnamon roast
• A medium roast, 9 to 11 minutes, gives a light brown slightly sweeter taste with more balanced acidity and is known as full city.
• A longer roast, 12-14 minutes, give a much darker beam with a sweet chocolaty taste though still holding some of the acidity. This is referred to as a Vienna roast and is highly popular.
• Finally a very long roast, 15+ minutes, give a very dark, almost black bean. The sugars have carbonised giving a smoky intense flavour, though its has now lost the subtle coffee flavour. The is know as a French roast.

Once ready the roaster door is open and the coffee beans tumble onto a cooling tray below.
The beans are spread evenly over a screen which has small holes allowing air to be drawn over then beans helping to cool them.

When the coffee beans have cooled they are ready to be packaged for sale or made into a cup of coffee.

To grow coffee you need three main things.

• Moderate rainfall, too much or too little will ruin the crop.
• A frost free climate.
• Lots of sunshine.

Though the conditions can vary, producing different types of coffee, these main requirement need to be met.

Coffee is produced in various regions across the world, these can be grouped as the Americas, Africa and Arabia, and Indonesia.

Inside of these three regions the coffee plant grows in around 80 different countries with Brazil begin the largest grower.

Coffee Producing Countries

In these countries, coffee can grow at anywhere from sea level to 6,000 feet (1,828 meters) in lots of different types of soil and local climates.

The higher quality coffees need more exacting conditions however.
These coffees need to be at high altitudes, between 4,000 to 6,000 feet (1,219 to 1,828 meters) and only grow in select mountainous regions between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer.
They also need around 80 inches (203cm) of rainfall annually, and the rainy and dry seasons must come in set periods.
Cloud and mist needs to present on regular intervals to block overexposure to the sun.
The soil must be very fertile and is often volcanic as this is rich in nutrients and generally considered the best type of soil for crowing crops.
Finally the average temperature must be held around 60-70°F(15-21°C) which by tropical standards is quite cool.
This lower temperature means the growing period is longer, which leads to denser crops and a more intense flavour.

Coffee grown outside of this area and at lower altitude still produces good coffee but tends to have  a more simple taste without the intense flavour of the higher grown beans.

Coffee Harvesting

The coffee tree’s cherries are harvested individually by hand.
This process allows the coffee to be collected when its is ripe and means it is handled with care.
The average coffee tree will be returned to several times over a harvest as all the cherries do not ripen at the same time.

Once collected from the trees the next process is to remove the seed ‘the coffee bean’ from inside of the cherry.

Removing the bean from the cherry involves removing four outer layers.

These are the tough outer layer, the sticky pulp layer, a stiff parchment casing and finally the thin silverskin that wraps around the bean.

Cross-section of a Coffee Cherry

There are two methods of removing the coffee bean, the wet and dry methods.

Which one is used depends mainly on the availability of fresh clean water and has a significant impact on the flavour of the coffee.

The wet method involves removing the bean from the pulp in purpose built machinery.
After removing the bean from the pulp, it is then placed in a fermentation tank where water is added to start the fermentation process.
This process usually last between 12 and 36 hours, but must not be allowed to go over this time as the ripen fruit can soon become rotten.
Once fermentation is complete the beans are washed free from the remaining pulp then left to dry.
The drying is done on large patios and the beans are raked several times a day to ensure the beans dry evenly.

The dry method is a lot more simple but doesn’t give the clean even taste associated with the wet method.
The dry method simply involves leaving the coffee cherries out in the sun for several weeks until they are dry.
The beans are then simply separated from the dried cherry.

Whichever method is used the next stage is to remove the parchment and the silverskin from the bean by milling.
Once done they are sorted by size to make sure of even roasting and any foreign materials, twigs, stones and so on are removed.
These beans are ready to be shipped to roasters and retailers in their now ready ‘green coffee’ state.

The first coffee machine was made in 1818 by Mr Laurens of Paris, France.
His machine was a percolator type coffee machine.
His percolator consisted of a metal pot with a chamber at the bottom which is placed on the heat. A vertical pipe extends from the chamber to the percolators top.
Just below the top of this pipe is a perforated chamber.
The water when heated rose up the pipe and infused the coffee above.

Traditional Coffee Percolator

James Napier was an English engineer who created the vacuum siphon coffee machine in 1853.
In the vacuum siphon coffee machine the coffee, when ready, was drawn a jug by a into a globe top using a vacuum, from where is was poured out through a tap.

The filter coffee machine was not invented until 1908.
Melitta Bentz, a housewife from Germany was looking for a way to brew coffee without it becoming bitter due to the common over brewing of the coffee machines at the time.
She experimented with pouring boiling water over coffee sat in different types of paper.
She eventually found that blotting paper was the most effective and the filter coffee system was born.
In December of that year Melitta and her husband Hugo founded the Melitta Bentz Company selling over 1200 coffee filter the next year.
Mellitta Bentz patented the filter bag in 1937 and also patented vacuumpacking in 1962.

Espresso Machine

The espresso, not eXpresso, machine was first invented in 1822 by a French man named Louis Bernard Rabaut.
His espresso machine used steam to force hot water through ground coffee, creating the first espresso coffee machine.

The first Italian coffee machine dates back to 1901 when an engineer, Luigi Bezzera registered his patent in Milan.
This machine had a column shaped body made from copper and brass and had a very imposing presence.
Bezzera’s design became the standard for decades and is still being made by companies today for business looking for a more traditional style machine.

Traditional Espresso Machine

Dr Ernest Illy invented the first automatic espresso machine in 1833, he went on to found Illy Caffe (Caffe is Italian for Coffee).

Today’s modern espresso machine was invented by Achilles Gaggia in 1946.
On the 5th of September 1938 Achilles Gaggia filed patent no. 365726 and the modern steam-free coffee machine had arrived.

Gaggia achievement was soon after put on hold due to the out break of the Second World War.
After the war had ended Achilles Gaggia created his company Gaggia who are still making espresso machines today.

Modern Espresso Machine