7 Rather Obscure Bits of Information About Coffee

In researching and developing our pour-over dyeing technique, we have uncovered an array of stories and factoids that tickled our coffee-adoring sides. Coffee creativity, on Earth and beyond, discovering the dynamism of flavor, slip these snippets into your knapsack for breakfast table chats or late night conversations.

 
1 - Taste the Rainbow (of coffee)

Aromatic waftings from cups coffee first delight our noses then coat our tastebuds. What do you sense? Dark chocolate? Graham cracker? Sundried tomato? Jasmine honeysuckle? This chart can overwhelm even a well-trained nose and tongue. But never fear! Science is here! Now you can buy flavor pills to help you identify each and every flavor in your coffee (as long as it is one of the twenty-four...)

 
2 - Transforming Coffee Cultivation By Way Of Charcoal

Harnessing the nutrients stored in plant stalks, coffee pulp, rice hulls, and manure, researchers are developing new, natural soil amendments to cope with the ever-changing environment. Residual biomass repurposed into porous charcoal ameliorates soil quality, improving water retention and increasing essential nutrients. Known as biochar, this technique is being implemented and tested in Tanzania, Rwanda, and other key coffee producing regions.
 
3 - Apples...or Oranges?

Coffee’s flavor comes predominantly from the naturally occurring acidity in the bean, and the type and amplitude of acidity are directly related to the origin and growing conditions. Combined with caffeine, acidity serves as natural protection against harmful insects. While roasting a bean until it is pleasantly toasty (think dark roasts of the west coast) makes it easier to digest, this technique obscures the natural flavor profile of the bean. So why does a lightly roasted coffee smell or taste like citrus? Your coffee doesn’t actually taste like oranges, it’s just that the particular acidity of that cup is similar to the acidity of an orange.

 
4 - Capturing Your Temporally-bound Beverage With Clothing

The last droplets roll out of the mug into our tongue...and our delectable morning (or afternoon or evening) alimentation has been consumed. If only we could trap the essence of coffee so that it might permeate our visual space as much as our bodily systems...Olderbrother has developed a conceptually daring yet extraordinarily elegant method for this procedure! Pouring with the grace of a master barista, the new collection for AW 2017 is dyed with organic, ethically-sourced coffee, so you can embody the energizing percolated liquid. 

5 - Esmeralda : A Quest For The Most Expensive Coffee

Hyper-small batch coffee might be the way towards the best cup of coffee in the world. A small hacienda in Panama recently sold one hundred pounds of beans to a small roasting clientele around the world at $601 per pound, smashing the old record. Only one company in the U.S., Klatch Coffee, was able to make the cut. Once the head aficionado finalizes his roasting recipe, each cup of the Esmeralda Geisha 601 will cost fifty-five bucks. Each one will be remarkable, but they’ve got big shoes to fill.

 
6 - Abode for the Weary

As it migrates south towards warmer climate, the cerulean warbler alights in coffee-rich forests for rest and recuperation, feeding on the energizing berries and relaxing in the shade. Forty-two other species follow similar paths, and they have remarkable recollection of particular forests rich with coffee. What happens, though, when the forests are razed for mass-produced plantations? These aerian rest stops vanish, and these pan-American birds are flying blind without their caffeine.  
 
7 - Pour-over, as prepared by Interstellar Barista (Pre-requisites: Post-Doctorate in Physiology, Paratrooper Experience, Flight Engineer Training)

Dreaming of the effortlessness of floating in zero-gravity, it is easy to forget that even astronauts can wake up on the wrong side of the bed. And one thing they cannot wield to cure their grogginess is a fresh cup of coffee. But in 2015, NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren was able to brew the first-ever zero-gravity pour-over on the International Space Station, thanks to the brilliant design of an engineer at PSU,. With the application of advanced capillary technology, Lindgren could even smell his coffee! 



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