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Focusing On Food |
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Coffee - Just Another Drink?
Prepared by The Food Club’s Technical Department
Coffee is the world's second most traded commodity (after crude oil) and last year the UK bought £730m worth of beans. It is seen as a refreshing beverage, a stimulant or as a follow up to a well cooked meal. Coffee contains twice as much caffeine as tea, as well as coke, and it is claimed that it increases your blood circulation, quickens your thought process and improves your memory.
Records of coffee date from over 1,000 years ago but there is an interesting story from about 15th Century when an Arabian herdsman noticed that his goats were leaping about and becoming quite frisky after they had chewed the fruit of the coffee plant. He told the Abbot of the local monastery who boiled the fruits in water and drank the resulting concoction. The Abbot found that it kept him up all night and since that day it has developed into one of the world's most popular drinks. The Venetians imported it into Europe in 1615 and the first English coffee house was opened in Oxford in 1650. Edward Lloyds' first coffee house opened in 1652 in the City's Lombard Street and a century or so later both Lloyds of London and Lloyds Register of Shipping took their names from that coffee house. Two centuries after that Lloyds Register of Shipping formed a subsidiary - Lloyds Register Quality Assurance Ltd - which has grown to become one of the world's largest ISO 9000 Certification Bodies and the organisation that many food companies select when applying for accreditation to this Standard.
Good coffee starts with a blend of good coffee beans which often include two of the world's best - Arabica and Robusta. These are grown in many tropical parts of the world. The beans need to be roasted and then a good coffee machine is essential to prepare that perfect cup.