How Coffee So Darn Expensive

I always get frustrated when that is the first question from a restaurant, and my answer is always the same - "Is price more important than taste"? Consider the following - restaurants usually sell a cup of coffee for about $ 1. And when they pay $ 6.00 per pound for coffee, their cost per cup is about ten cents, (meaning their profit is ninety cents). So their profit difference is between $ 6.00 per pound and $ 3.00 per pound a staggering five cents per cup. However, the real difference will be in the taste of the coffee. The taste difference is even greater with the coffee made in the espresso machine as the espresso machine is an amplifier. It will highlight a really good coffee, but on the contrary, it will also magnify any flaws with that coffee. Remember, espresso is not just a kind of bean, but a coffee maker. Espresso coffee is packed solid (7 grams), while hot water (198 degrees F) is forced by high mechanical pressure (132 psi). The result of an ounce of one and a half ounces is a liquid called espresso, and many lands can be conquered before 9:00 am if its inhabitants may be deprived of this magical elixir! The common misconception that coffee used in espresso machines should be dark fried - NOT OK! When the beans are fried in the dark, all the fat that reaches the top gives the impression that the roasted coffee is oiled. These oils contain many flavors of coffee and when brought to the fore in excess of flavor, they will be lost when treated, stored, and of course, when ground. Since coffee is actually "boiled" three times, (first during roasting; second when ground as a grinding machine creates heat; Let me go back to my first point on why good coffee beans are so expensive. Coffee beans are an agricultural product, and like all other plants, they are subject to climate, soil, and growth patterns. Properly treated coffee plants will produce a better yield. Hand-harvested coffee will produce a high quality product. A mechanical harvester only passes when it picks ripe and unripe berries at the same time. Personal harvesting takes place over a period of time and harvesters produce only ripe fruit, avoiding unripe berries. Sorting takes place in the fields AND in the roaster. The filter is better, the better the coffee. This process begins with the removal of stones (which can damage your mill), branches, leaves, toxic spiders, (just joking, I think), and continues with the removal of broken, unripe beans, and bad beans. This is important as a broken or badly formed piece can roast faster than other beans, and will affect the quality of the finished collection. Mixing should take place after roasting. Different pieces of beans from different fields and countries will be roasted at different times and temperatures. Tossing different green beans together will result in some beans not being properly digested and another being burnt. A professional blend (or inserting cups as it is known) of roasted beans will ensure the best and most consistent flavor. Packing fried and well-packed beans will ensure that you are selling the product in high quality. Coffee begins to oxidize and loses its flavor and aroma as soon as the roasting process is complete. It is important that the coffee is packed in lightweight and airtight bags filled with converted nitrogen and / or vacuum packaged. The bag must also have a unilateral valve to allow carbon dioxide to escape. From the running monologue above, it is easy to see that shortcuts can be made in the coffee preparation process, but quality will only cost a few cents more per cup. And remember - your coffee may be the last thing your customer likes before they leave your restaurant.