Coffee is by nature a very oily substance. Over time, coffee oils accumulate inside of your machine to form a rancid residue. This residue is responsible for the acrid smell you may recognize coming from a poorly maintained machine. Unfortunately, this residue causes more than just bad odor. If allowed to develop, residue inside of your machine will eventually clog its filters and tubes and cause it to malfunction. Well before your machine clogs or you even notice the signs of neglect, the stale residue lining the inside of your machine will begin to affect the taste of the fresh coffee you prepare.
Dirty machines can be the downfall of an otherwise great coffee program. You might start your coffee preparation with the most exotic green beans, roast them to perfection, grind precisely, and brew according to every technique and standard of quality. However, if you are using an improperly maintained machine, you and your customer may never have a chance to appreciate all of this hard work.
Customer: This is the most important person in the coffee business. When served a bitter cup of coffee from a dirty machine, they will notice the taste, and might never return to let you know. Coffee from a dirty machine will create an unpleasant experience for the customer, and could cause them to seek out other establishments or brands that serve better tasting coffee.
Cafe Management: When you think of the time and effort that goes into picking a great location, hiring skilled baristas, and selecting the best beans, it doesn't make sense to use dirty machines in your business. After all the hard work you've performed, it would be a shame to diminish your efforts by serving beverages tainted by the presence of stale or rancid coffee oil residue. Simply cleaning your machine at the end of each business day makes all of your other efforts go that much further towards the success of your business.
Roaster: The roaster spends time, money, and passion paying careful attention to the bean from green to the bag. All that effort might never be appreciated if your retailer or barista fails to properly maintain the brewing equipment. By encouraging your retailers to engage in daily cleaning, you can insure that your coffee is being presented to the customer with all the flavor you worked to develop.
Machine Manufacturer: Today's coffee and espresso machines are created with more effort and precision-design than ever before. As a result, it is only logical that machine manufacturers have a vested interest in the proper maintenance of their equipment. By making it easy for your customers to gain access to the information and products they need to clean your machines, you can feel confident that your machinery is performing at its full potential. By doing this, you will help to prevent unwanted breakdowns and malfunctions of the machines which proudly carry your brand name.
Home Coffee Enthusiast: As important as great tasting coffee is to professionals, it should be equally important to home coffee lovers. When you want to sit back and enjoy a cup of coffee or espresso in the comfort of your own home, you want that cup to be the best tasting beverage possible. Taking the minimal extra effort required to clean your machine regularly will drastically improve the flavor of the coffee you drink.
No matter which one of the above groups you belong to, cleaning is a crucial element in the effort to serve great tasting coffee. The best thing about machine cleaning is how simple it is. While taking only a few minutes to do, cleaning your equipment will help you move forward on a positive path to success.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Four Simple Words.......
But it's good for ya.....The benefits of your favorite coffee
From the coffee folks via (CoffeeReview.com)
Coffee has been a medical whipping boy for so long that it may come as a surprise that recent research suggests that drinking moderate amounts of coffee (two to four cups per day) provides a wide range of health benefits. Most of these benefits have been identified through statistical studies that track a large group of subjects over the course of years and match incidence of various diseases with individual habits, like drinking coffee, meanwhile controlling for other variables that may influence that relationship. According to a spate of such recent studies moderate coffee drinking may lower the risk of colon cancer by about 25%, gallstones by 45%, cirrhosis of the liver by 80%, and Parkinson's disease by 50% to as much as 80%. Other benefits include 25% reduction in onset of attacks among asthma sufferers and, at least among a large group of female nurses tracked over many years, fewer suicides.
In addition, some studies have indicated that coffee contains four times the amount of cancer-fighting anti-oxidants as green tea.
Of course, most of these studies do not take into account how the coffee is brewed, how fresh the beans, and so on. Perhaps as these studies are refined we may discover, for example, that drinking coffee that has been freshly roasted and brewed is more beneficial than downing coffee that is terminally stale or badly brewed. Certainly there is considerably more going on chemically in fresh coffee than in stale. And we may learn how much beneficial effects of coffee drinking are provoked by caffeine and how much by other, less understood, chemical components of coffee. But one thing is certain, if I were a nurse taking part in the study noted earlier, and if I were drinking cheap office service coffee, I would be much, much more prone to suicide than if I were drinking, say, a freshly roasted and brewed Ethiopia Yirgacheffe.
It would seem that the resolution to the caffeine debate, at least in terms of short-term effects, is simple moderation. Drunk to excess, coffee literally verges on poison; drunk in moderation, it is still the beloved tonic of tradition, a gentle aid to thought, labor, and conversation.
But just how much is enough and how much is too much? No study will commit itself. One can estimate based on inference. Few, if any, studies report negative effects from doses of caffeine under 300 milligrams a day. Since the average cup of coffee (or single serving of espresso) contains about 100 milligrams of caffeine, one could infer from this evidence that anyone should be able to drink about three cups of coffee a day and enjoy the benefits of caffeine with none of the drawbacks. Such a figure assumes, of course, that you do not also consume quantities of cola drinks, chocolate bars, and headache pills. This is a conservative estimate, however. One could infer from other studies that five cups a day is safe for most people. Furthermore, reaction to caffeine varies greatly from individual to individual; some people cannot consume any amount comfortably
Continue Reading about health benefits.....
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Iced, Iced Baby............Vanilla Ice(d) Coffee
Cold or hot? Obama or Clinton?
So, what makes a great Iced coffee? Is it freshly brewed? Is it bottled in a freezer at your local grocer? Is it left over from your last brew the night before? For one thing, it should be freshly brewed and treated the way you treat its little sister, coffee!
We, as in Myrna and I are working on creating an iced coffee program for Panera. After doing some research and initial testing, we have both come to a few conclusions.......
1- The fresher the better!
2-You want a nice, Rich, full-bodied Roast.
3-Guests treat it differently than regular drip coffee. You could throw it in the specialty beverage/Iced Beverage category.
There are several ways of preparing iced coffee. Ordinary hot-brewed coffee can be served cold, although this may result in a bitter-tasting product. Cold brewing relies on time, rather than heat, to transfer the coffee flavor to the water. In order to achieve this, ground coffee is soaked in water for hours and then filtered. This may be done in any container, such as a mason jar, although commercialized cold brewing systems also exist.
In more recent times it has become common for coffee shops to offer 'iced' versions of their most popular coffee drinks. The iced latte and iced mocha are the two most common examples of this. A quick way of preparing such drinks is to make a small quantity of strong, hot espresso, dissolving the required sweetener/flavourings in the hot liquid and then pouring this directly into a cup of ice cold milk. This method is particularly common in busier coffee shops where rapid customer turnover is required.
Either way, Iced coffee is here to stay. So drink up Chotchy!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Little Johnny to Mom: What's a TDS Meter?
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) are the total amount of mobile charged ions, including minerals, salts or metals dissolved in a given volume of water, expressed in units of mg per unit volume of water (mg/L), also referred to as parts per million (ppm). TDS is directly related to the purity and quality of water and water purification systems and affects everything that consumes, lives in, or uses water, whether organic or inorganic.
During the brewing of coffee and espresso, solids are extracted from the coffee grounds and can therefore be measured with a TDS meter. Depending on Brew Temperature, Extraction Time, Grind Coarseness, Amount of Coffee etc., the TDS value measured will vary. The monitoring of the TDS value will ensure consistent product quality!
Questions and Answers about TDS in water:
What Are Total Dissolved Solids?
1. "Dissolved solids" refer to any minerals, salts, metals, cations or anions dissolved in water. This includes anything present in water other than the pure water (H20) molecule and suspended solids. (Suspended solids are any particles/substances that are neither dissolved nor settled in the water, such as wood pulp.)
2. In general, the total dissolved solids concentration is the sum of the cations (positively charged) and anions (negatively charged) ions in the water.
3. Parts per Million (ppm) is the weight-to-weight ratio of any ion to water.
4. TDS is based on the electrical conductivity (EC) of water. Pure H20 has virtually zero conductivity. Conductivity is usually about 100 times the total cations or anions expressed as equivalents. TDS is calculated by converting the EC by a factor of 0.5 to 1.0 times the EC, depending upon the levels. Typically, the higher the level of EC, the higher the conversion factor to determine the TDS.
Where do Dissolved Solids come from?
1. Some dissolved solids come from organic sources such as leaves, silt, plankton, and industrial waste and sewage. Other sources come from runoff from urban areas, road salts used on street during the winter, and fertilizers and pesticides used on lawns and farms.
2. Dissolved solids also come from inorganic materials such as rocks and air that may contain calcium bicarbonate, nitrogen, iron phosphorous, sulfur, and other minerals. Many of these materials form salts, which are compounds that contain both a metal and a nonmetal. Salts usually dissolve in water forming ions. Ions are particles that have a positive or negative charge.
3. Water may also pick up metals such as lead or copper as they travel through pipes used to distribute water to consumers.
4. Note that the efficacy of water purifications systems in removing total dissolved solids will be reduced over time, so it is highly recommended to monitor the quality of a filter or membrane and replace them when required.
Why Should You Measure the TDS level in your Water?
The EPA Secondary Regulations advise a maximum contamination level(MCL) of 500mg/liter (500 parts per million (ppm)) for TDS. Numerous water supplies exceed this level. When TDS levels exceed 1000mg/L it is generally considered unfit for human consumption. A high level of TDS is an indicator of potential concerns, and warrants further investigation. Most often, high levels of TDS are caused by the presence of potassium, chlorides and sodium. These ions have little or no short-term effects, but toxic ions (lead arsenic, cadmium, nitrate and others) may also be dissolved in the water.
Even the best water purification systems on the market require monitoring for TDS to ensure the filters and/or membranes are effectively removing unwanted particles and bacteria from your water.
The following are reasons why it is helpful to constantly test for TDS:
1. Taste/Health High TDS results in undesirable taste which could be salty, bitter, or metallic. It could also indicate the presence of toxic minerals. The EPA's rescommended maximum of TDS in water is 500mg/L (500ppm).
2. Filter performance Test your water to make sure the reverse osmosis or other type of water filter or water purification system has a high rejection rate and know when to change your filter (or membrane) cartridges.
3. Hardness High TDS indicates Hard water, which causes scale buildup in pipes and valves, inhibiting performance.
4. Aquariums/Aquaculture A constant level of minerals is necessary for aquatic life. The water in an aquarium or tank should have the same levels of TDS and pH as the fish and reef's original habitat.
5. Hydroponics TDS is the best measurement of the nutrient concentration in a hydroponic solution.
6. Pools and Spas TDS levels must be monitored to prevent maintenance problems.
7. Commercial/Industrial High TDS levels could impede the functions of certain applications.
8. Colloidal Silver Water TDS levels must be controlled prior to making colloidal silver.
