CAFFEINATED: A MOVIE THAT MOVES YOU TO DRINK

Learn the story behind your morning cup of Java.  From seed to mug, production to consumption, coffee has shaped the lives of thousands of individuals worldwide. Working with Geoff Watts, famous green-buyer, the filmmakers travel to America's most populous coffee-drinking cities and to producing countries, interviewing connoisseurs and farmers alike. With a focus on the social and cultural landscape of coffee, Caffeinated is a new movie that gives the coffee consumer unprecedented access to the farmers responsible for growing that perfect bean, and the producers responsible for brewing that perfect cup.

Caffeinated, directed and written by Hanh Nguyen and Vishal Solanki doesn’t focus on the experience of having caffeine.  It’s all about the experience of the aroma and taste  In fact the goal is to find the perfect coffee that when reaching your cup smells just as great as the waff you get when the coffee beans are first ground. 

Coffee is actually a fruit grown much like cherries and picked when ripened to give the sweetness.  Instead of a pit, there is a bean and the result all depends upon the farmers and those that roast the beans.  

The origin of coffee is said to date back to Ethiopia where they would have coffee ceremonies first in the household and extending to the village.  Ceremonies were conducted by the women in the home.  Drinking coffee became a social experience and apparently still is. 

Hawaii is the only place in North America that coffee is grown as the tropical band around the Equator, along with mountains at 6,000 lend the perfect atmospheres. 

Coffee tasting is almost like tasting wine.  You smell the aroma and then taste it black by slurping; sipping with air.  That means no sugar or milk. 

Espresso began in Italy where workers did not want to wait for the 5 minutes to brew.  Here you are forcing a small amount of nearly boiling water under pressure through finely ground coffee beans.  Although espresso has a larger amount of caffeine, the amount you drink is much less that a cup of regular coffee.  Acidity content is less as well.  In 1901, the Italian inventor Luigi Bezzera came up with a workable solution. Pavoni manufactured the first espresso machines in 1905. 

There aren’t many places in Queens that actually roast the coffee beans.  One of the largest is Fairway Market with one location in Douglaston.  There is a huge variety of coffee to choose from regarding location, flavored and both caffeinated and decaf. 

Native Coffee Roasters is located in Astoria but is not open to the public.   They roast small batches: El Salvador; NYC Diesel; and Colombia.  They have locations in Queens where you can buy the coffee.  Check them out at www.nativeroasters.com

Coffeed comes out of Long Island City.  Their flagship location at 37-18 Northern Blvd.  features a full-service café, a roasting facility, a bar with local beers and wines, and the Brooklyn Grange’s acre-sized rooftop farm, source of much of COFFEED’s produce.  It is also where they test, cup and experiment with different beans, techniques, and technologies.
The 3000 sq-ft space has ample seating and has played host to events of all types and sizes, including roasting classes, charity fundraisers, open mic nights, movie screenings, and even a wedding proposal.  Now that’s a coffee house! www.coffeednyc.com  

HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR COFFEE?

Concentrated liquids are easily available when it comes to juice, soups and even powdered tea.  When it comes to that craved cup of coffee, there is nothing like a cup of fresh brewed coffee.  Or is there?  How about concentrated cold brewed coffee?

It appears that if you cold brew coffee, it is less acidic and concentrated means you add water, milk, cream, sugar and drink it just the way you like it.  Does it mean that you have to hunt for yet another machine?  No.

According to one recipe that I found…Grab a 2-quart pitcher and place 4 ½ ounces of your favorite coarsely ground coffee.  Add 2 ½ cups of cold water.  Stir. Cover and place the container in the refrigerator…you can actually leave it out at room temperature.  Leave this “brewing” for 12 hours or up to a day.

Line a fine-mesh strainer with a standard coffee filter and fit it over a medium bowl. Working in batches, slowly pour the coffee into the filter until all of the liquid has passed through the strainer (the coffee will pass through in a slow stream; don’t force it through); stop when you reach the solids at the bottom of the pitcher (don’t pour them in). Discard the grounds and the contents of the strainer.

Wash and dry the pitcher. Transfer the strained coffee into the pitcher. Cover and refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 2 hours or up to 5 days.

I am presently doing this and do not know exactly how much it yields when completed.   The amounts of ground coffee and water might depend upon how much you will use in the next 5 days.

You can figure out what to do if you want your coffee hot or cold, with or without sugar, etc.

An option to this is purchasing a bottle of the cold brewed concentrated coffee from one of two places. Grady’s makes an iced coffee concentrate using a combo of coffee and chicory. Chicory used to be a substitute for coffee.  Using a New Orleans recipe, the roasted chicory is said to add a bit of sweetness and mellow out dark coffee roasts.  Is it made in New Orleans?  Nope.  It comes out of a plant in Brooklyn, NY and only comes in “caffeinated”.  Check out their website for further info, locations to buy, and recipes. www.gradyscoldbrew.com

Trader Joe’s has their own brand of cold brewed without chicory.  I personally found this one to be tastier.  Then again, it may depend upon the coffee itself. 

I pour some in a tall glass of really cold milk.  To sweeten it I will take some water, place it in a pot and heat it up to melt the sugar.  I’ll let it cool off before adding it to my glass of coffee-milk.

Being sensitive to caffeine, I’m preparing the brew with a de-caf.   Will let you know how it call turns out.  Coffee completed. I used a strainer that I have from a yogurt making kit.  Strong coffee even though decaf.  

Next try will be using a light roast with caffeine. 

COFFEE KOSHER FOR PASSOVER?

That’s right. Douglaston’s Fairway Market…on March 27 and 28, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fairway’s Master Roasters Benny Lanfranco and Richard Pascale will be roasting coffee beans while supervised by Rabbi Marmostein and KOF-K to make them Kosher for Passover. It starts with the roaster being totally cleaned out to make sure that there are no “contamination” beans that are not KFP.

The rabbi will be bringing the beans shipped from one Columbian coffee plantation and not to be mixed with any other beans. Keep in mind that coffee beans are already considered as kosher. A blessing will be made on the beans and they will be placed in separate bags.

Oh yeah...the other Fairway Markets will be doing the same. Check it all out on www.fairwaymarket.com

CAWFEE TAWK AT FAIRWAY MARKET

Having noticed the information from the signs around the coffee and tea section of Fairway Market in Douglaston, Queens, I figured that I could get much information about coffee on beans and brewing. I met with Fairway Market's Director of Coffee, Benny Lanfranco and certainly got a fill of information.

While Benny was preparing his own cup of coffee floor manager Jerry Seybert had stopped by. He's been around Fairway since 1979 and was the first "coffee guy" when they started with only 7 bins of coffee.


I then approached Benny who explains why he likes to make one cup of coffee at a time.


We finally get an introduction from Benny who had prepared various small portable methods of brewing coffee, all of which either use hot water or can be done on a stove top. Benny then spoke about Turkish coffee, a method of drinking and not that any beans are actually grown in Turkey. It requires coffee being ground to a powdery substance.


Espresso means "fast" and is just a bit more coarser than the Turkish. One shot take about 22 seconds using 2 oz. of coffee. I love the little stove top gadget, so very Italian.




Next in coarseness if for drip coffee. Rather than using a machine, Benny prepared a special elegant glass drip using a paper filter. Coffee has to be ground specifically for the brewing method you are using. I'm getting that water will go faster through a more coarse grind.



Here is an old fashioned Napolitan Italian stove top brewer that uses a drip grind. It brought up images of my trip to Naples as it can be done right at your table.



We're on to the French Press which is coarser than the drip. Depending upon the size of the press, it is another facility that can be prepared at your table and brewed for 4 minutes. Some French presses can also be used to brew loose tea.


The last method is using a percolator. Do your remember those? Now, they are most used at catered functions.

All of the coffee beans are roasted at Fairway. I was able to watch the "green beans" roasted. A chart is given to the person doing the roasting that will determine whether it will be light, medium or dark roast. Benny showed me samples of the various roasted beans noting how much oil is present in the dark roast.







We then talked about acidity in coffee saying that it has to be balanced and is pre-determined by the soil of where it is grown. He tells me that there is a lower acidity in places such as Costa Rica and Guatamala vs. coffee from Africa like the Ethiopian.




My batteries ran low before we could chat about the peaberry coffee. I had heard that the one from Tanzania was delicious although a bit high prices. When you see the roasted coffee beans they are "halved". The plant produces a "twin" bean whereas the peaberry, a single bean.

Now that I have that Italian single cup espresso do-hicky, I bought a coffee grinder from Krups. It says here: "Coffee that is ground too fine for a particular brewing process - (fine espresso grind used in an automatic drip coffee machine) will result in over-extraction and bitter, pungent tasting coffee. Conversely, coffee that is too coarse for a particular brew method will result in under-extraction and weak, watery coffee. It the correct grind is used, adding more coffee simply makes a brew stronger without making it bitter".

There seems to be more settings than just the ones we talked about. Has something to do with ones taste. I will ask Krups for further assistance on this.