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]]>Me and my team did it to inspire and, more importantly, to create the tactics and details around how you, your organization, your startup can know more about start working on coffee business.
However this deck continues my tradition of training step-by-step guides that give you the exact information I’ve used to run my introduction to coffee class. That includes references like :
Coffee Origins . Biology of coffee plant . Coffee’s Growing Region . Coffee’s Journey . Current Coffee Industry . Coffee origin . How coffee is traded . Species . Varieties . cultivar . Harvesting . Processing . Processing Flavor Description . Quality Control . Roast Process . effect on taste . Roasting graph . Different roast style . storage . Coffee freshness . Humans Senses . Taste . SCA Flavor Wheel . Effect of geographical position on coffee flavor . Cupping . How to do coffee cupping . Brew methods . Brewing parameters . Filter material . Coffee extraction definition . Water Quality . What is Specialty Coffee / Organizations in Specialty Coffee / waves /.
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Wet processing of coffee often includes a fermentation step, cocoa always does and tea processing has a step that is sometimes called ‘fermentation’. In food production there are many fermentations that confer nutritional, taste, stability or all of these benefits on raw materials. Sauerkraut, yoghurt, salami, tempe, uji, soya sauce, beer, and cheese are a few examples of scores of food fermentations known around the world.
Coffee fermentation, as we will see, is conducted for rather different reasons. The term ‘fermentation’ represents microbial growth as it occurs on any suitable substrate. In fact, in the early days of microbiology, the organisms that grew to spoil food were originally called ‘ferments’, rather than ‘microorganisms’, hence their growth was termed ‘fermentation’.
A second, narrower sense of ‘fermentation’ is often used in microbiology, which we will not use in this discussion: microbial activity in the absence, or near absence, of oxygen. However, it is worth remembering that vigorous microbial metabolism often depletes oxygen (and so augments CO2) thus oxygen limitation is usually an important aspect of food fermentations. It is an important factor in the selection of a fermentation community from the initial community of microorganisms. Bacteriologists also speak of fermentative organisms – microbes that do not require oxygen for respiration and oxidative species that do require oxygen for growth. In referring to organisms, we will use these bacteriological terms.
The so-called fermentation of tea raises an important aspect of some food fermentations. The changes wrought in tea by ‘cutting, tearing, curling’ (CTC), followed by aeration are produced by plant enzymes, not microbial activity. There is often a potential ambiguity in the roles of microbial and plant metabolism in processing systems since often both kinds of organisms are simultaneously active at some time during the process. Cocoa fermentation is required for flavour development although it also aids separation of seed from fruit tissue. Coffee fermentation, though it may have an impact on flavour development, is not required for flavour development and is conducted essentially to aid a similar separation of tissues.
Microorganisms occur naturally on and in the coffee fruit in increasingly large numbers as the fruit matures. The seeds themselves become active with maturity and a proportion of seeds will have undergone the early changes associated with germination by the stage of full ripeness. The fruit itself has no capacity to store, unlike apples and oranges, for example. Resident micro-organisms become active soon after harvest and signs of (unintended) fermentation can be measured soon after harvest. The object of our discussion here is principally the scheduled fermentation used to degrade the mucilaginous mesocarp tissue of the fruit.
Structure of the Coffee Fruit
The product of coffee are the seeds which are produced in small cherry-like fruits, normally in pairs. Of particular significance in understanding coffee processing are the three tissues of the fruit: the epidermis (or skin); the mesocarp (or mucilage) and the inner integument (or parch).
The epidermis is typical of plants, comprising a layer of small cells, including stomata, their cell walls impregnated with suberin, a water impermeable wax. Beneath this is the mesocarp which consists of many layers of parenchymatous cells – undifferentiated thin walled cells and which, in the ripe fruit, are large with large vacuoles. The inner integument, which is tightly adpressed to the seeds, is a very tough and relatively inelastic layer no more than two or three cells thick but comprising cells with considerable secondary thickening, i.e. it is essentially woody. Xylem tissue, presumably once connected to the funiculus (the tissue that connects the seed to its nutritional supply during development), can be easily seen in the integument by direct observation, running parallel to the surface of the tissue.
Before ripeness, the skin, mesocarp and parch form a tough and tightly adpressed covering to the seeds which are relatively soft at this stage. Attempts to remove the seeds at this point will invariably break the seeds. When ripeness is reached, the mesocarp becomes soft (hence the term mucilage), and the seeds relatively hard. If mechanical shear is applied now, the mesocarp splits to produce one fraction of skins with some mucilage and a second fraction of seeds tightly covered in their integument (parch), which is covered in a fairly thick layer of mucilage. this second fraction that is fermented to enable removal of the mucilage from the seeds.
It can be that the mesocarp of robusta fruit is thinner than that of arabica. It is, however, tougher and more difficult to remove from the parch. The mesocarp adhering to the parch is chemically quite different to that adhering to the skin. It lacks the characteristic anti-nutritional compounds such as tannins, free phenolics, caffeine and other alkaloids that make skins refractile even in composting. A tonne of ripe arabica cherry yields about 120kg of mucilage adhering to the beans. About half of the 17kg of the dry mass of this mucilage is sugars or some 8.5kg of sugars. This is the source of fermentable carbohydrate for the coffee fermentation. There are also minerals, particularly Ca, K and P, and amino acids present.
Pectic substances amount to about 35% of the dry mass of the bean-associated mucilage. They comprise essentially polygalacturonic acid chains (covalent bonds typical of all polysaccharides) that are cross-linked, via Ca+2 ions through the carboxylic groups of the uronic acids. As will be discussed below, the esther part of the carboxylic group and the glycosidic bonds of the chains are susceptible to attack from enzymes.
Wet Processing and Dry Processing:
Coffee must be dried in order to stabilise it and preserve quality. Wet processing refers to various methods where the seeds are mechanically separated from the skin of the fresh fruit (pulping) before drying and may or may not include a fermentation step. Dry processing refers to methods where the fruit is either dried directly or is disrupted, but the seeds not separated from the fruit tissues, then immediately dried. The decision as to which method to employ is based on economic considerations. Washed coffee commands a higher price, but is more expensive to produce.
A large proportion of arabica coffee is processed by the ‘wet method’ and a high proportion of this has a fermentation step in it. The market for washed robusta is limited, and the premium offered above dry processed robusta is small. Therefore, only a small proportion of robusta coffee is processed by the wet method, the bulk of this in India.
Capital costs for wet processing are high. Power, provided by mains electricity, petroleum powered generator or direct drive arrangements is required for even moderate sized operations. A good water source and fairly well-designed plumbing is also required. A facility to house equipment and various sealed channels and tanks are also necessary. The equipment comprises a pulper as a minimum, and typically includes a hopper, siphon tank, post pulping screen, washer or washing channels and skin-drying screens.
Operational costs are also higher for wet processing. Harvesting is particularly expensive because it requires the very labour-intensive selective harvesting system – only ripe cherries can be pulped. This is beginning to change due to new equipment that can accept (but not pulp) immature cherries. Further costs accrue because cherries affected by coffee berry disease, immature or over ripe cherries must be separated and sold as low grades, returning a low price.
There are generic differences in taste attributes between washed and natural coffees and both are required for different market segments: wet processed coffee yields a ‘softer’ cup with less body and higher acidity while the ‘arabica naturals’ excel in their body and bitterness while lacking acidity. Within the classification of washed coffees there are two commercial market segments: ‘Colombian milds’ and ‘other milds’, a distinction that is delimited by origin. Either may or may not be fermented and the ‘other milds’ characteristically have more body and less acidity than ‘Colombian milds’.
Coffee Fermentation:
Coffee is fermented, as mentioned above, to ease the removal of a layer of mucilage from the seed/inner integument to which it adheres. This is not to say there are no taste implications to this step. In contrast to coffee, the fermentation of cocoa is required to develop the flavour of the product though much of this is apparently accomplished by cocoa enzymes, rather than microbial activity. In coffee too, it has long been held that fermentation has a beneficial effect on flavour but lately, this has been disputed and many quality experts now accept the contention that mechanically washed coffee (with no fermentation) can be of comparable quality to the fermented product. What is beyond dispute is that badly conducted fermentation can result in disastrous losses in quality.
In general coffee fermentation is conducted as ‘dry fermentation’ where the mass of mucilage and parchments are not covered with water. The temperature of either of these processes is scarcely raised above ambient temperature reflecting the lack of oxygen diffusion to the heart of the mass. In contrast, fresh cherries held in woven sacks, an arrangement that has about 50% space, can heat to over 50OC within 36h. From a taste quality point of view, the fermentation step and operations either side of it (pulping and washing) are said to require conformance to certain criteria.
Firstly, the fermentation mass must comprise uniformly parchment coffee with a minimum of crushed or naked beans, skins and un-pulped coffee. Crushed and naked beans indicate beans with severe insect damage and/or a pulping machine being set too narrow. Presence of skins suggest the pulping machine is in need of maintenance and/or the water feed was too low. Un-pulped beans suggest that the pulper was set too wide and/or the removal of dried fruits has been ineffective.
Secondly, the fermentation must be concluded as soon as possible after sufficient mucilage degradation has been accomplished. This is ascertained by rubbing the parchment between your fingers to note whether the grittiness of the parchment surface can yet be felt.
Thirdly, after washing, mucilage must be completely removed from the parch before drying. Curiously, a product called descascado, produced with no attempt to remove mucilage, being pulped and immediately dried, can be a coffee of the highest quality.
The most important of these conditions is the temperature and the length of the fermentation. As mentioned above, coffee fermentation is not significantly self- heating so prevailing climatic conditions control temperature. The period of fermentation, in practice, can only be concluded when it is possible to take the coffee to the next two steps: washing and either soaking or drying. This normally occurs first thing in the morning since the afternoon and evening is reserved for pulping operations. Given that pulping always takes place in the late afternoon through the evening and requires everyone’s attention, fermentation periods will tend to be about 18h, 40h or 64h. Robusta usually requires at least one day more than arabica.
Microbiological aspects:
The outcome of a process like fermentation is a consequence of what goes in and what conditions are experienced during the fermentation. We have seen that there is about 8.5 kg of sugar in the pulp of 568kg of pulped coffee and another 6kg of pectic substances. The balance of the 17kg of dry matter is ash, amino acids, cellulose and so forth. Most of the organisms are provided by the mucilage community with some from the processing water and incidental skins, etc.
However, the conditions, as they develop, provide exceptionally powerful selective pressure toward fermentative organisms that can thrive at low pH. The fresh mucilage has a pH of about 6.5. This falls rapidly to a minimum of about 4.1 to 4.3. Although data is lacking, it is clear that oxygen tension falls with the fall in pH, both concomitant with growth. Typical of food fermentations, the ‘wild’ microbial flora of the raw material changes quickly and completely to species that were present, but rare, in the fruit-inhabiting community.
Studies of ‘wild’ fermentations are very arduous to conduct because of the sheer numbers of organisms and taxa and the difficulties in accurate enumeration and identification of them. The nomenclatural problems of synonymy and teloemorph/anamorph names make comparing different studies difficult. New methods based on DNA PCR amplification and gel electrophoresis which allows direct analysis of the fermentation liquor without an isolation step, may provide a means to solve these severe practical problems in future.
In general, the fermentation can be characterized as a mixed yeast/bacterial fermentation. Kloekera apiculata (=Hansenispore apiculata = Saccharomyces apiculatus) and Hansenispore uvarum are reported to dominate the yeast population with other yeasts such as Pichia kluyveri (=P. fermentans) and Kluyveromyces marxianus (=Candida kefir = C. bulgericus). The yeast species are fermentative and the dominant species share the characteristic of only assimilating and fermenting glucose amongst the usual sugars tested to identify yeasts.
The bacterial side of the fermentation is conducted by lactic acid bacteria, some Enterobacteriaceae and Bacillus. The most common bacteria to produce pectolytic enzymes are Pseudomonas (P. fluorescens, for example) and Erwinia (E. carotovora, for example). Of these only Erwinia is fermentative and, in fact, the presence of Pseudomonas is difficult to demonstrate in fermentation liquors. In general, the lactic acid bacteria have been reported to be more numerous than the Enterobacteriaceae.
Analysis of several fermentations under the project “Enhancement of Coffee Quality Through the Prevention of Mould Formation” has shown that the balance between yeasts and bacteria can vary widely, such that some are primarily bacterial and others dominated by yeast. It is not clear how the outcomes of these two types differ, or why it should differ.
The conditions of low oxygen tension and high water activity dictates that the oxidative, mesophilic species of Aspergillus capable of OTA production will not thrive during fermentation. In laboratory studies, large numbers of spores, introduced into the fermentation mass at the beginning of fermentation did not result in any OTA appearing in the beans and the organism (A. ochraceus) could not be recovered from the beans after drying.
this test is only valid for models where spores, let us say from the fruit skins or soil contamination, are the source of the OTA producer. In fact, a proportion of beans harbour these fungi, infected before harvest, and there is some evidence to suggest that fermentation can kill them in the beans. However it is clear that fermentation does not always do so. In other tests where pulping was delayed for up to six days after harvest, the protective effect of fermentation against OTA accumulation was not observed. This could be interpreted as there being some threshold biomass above which the mesophilic fungi can survive the fermentation well.
The presence of skins with the parchment is unlikely to affect the fermentation course with respect to OTA production. The presence of dry cherries, which go through the pulper due to their small size, present a different scenario. If we assume a greater development of OTA-producers could have occurred under the extended period of oxidative and mesohydric conditions of this material, the fermentation would not protect and significant OTA production could occur if not during the fermentation, then later during drying.
There are three classes of Pectolytic enzymes. Plants and fungi produce pectin esterases which remove methoxy groups of the uronic acids revealing carboxylic groups through which Ca+2 coordinates the chains. Certain fungi also can produce Pectin lyase, an enzyme that attacks the 1,4 glycosidic links of fully esterified (methoxylated) chains. Lastly, Polygalacturonase is produced by certain bacteria and it also attacks the glycosidic links but only of partially de-esterified chains or segments. The oxidative yeast Cryptococcus is common in the fruit and it is reported to be pectolytic but numerous isolates from coffee have been checked without a positive result. A few Candida species are also reported to liquefy Ca- pectate.
The role of microorganisms in taste defects of wet processed coffee is a matter of debate. Of the numerous defects often attributed to problems during fermentation, the three most serious are ‘fermented taste’, ‘sour’ and stinkers. But because fermentation can occur in the intact fruit, especially if harvested and not processed expeditiously, the same defects can arise in natural coffee and, by extension, in wet processed coffee where the fault was actually elsewhere than the fermentation step.
A fermented taste has fruity aldehyde tones; sour is likened to onion; stinker is a powerful foul taste, and a single stinker bean can effect several kilograms of product. Stinker beans have been attributed to the growth of Bacillus brevis or high levels of lactic acid bacteria and maybe fairly specifically associated with derivatives of methyl-butanoic acid, cyclohexanoic acid esters and S-containing organic compounds. Some compounds that can be traced to a defect also indicate the source where few organisms produce the compound. Earthy and mouldy odour can be attributed principally to 2-methyl-isoborneol and geosmin, respectively. These compounds are produced notably by species of Eurotium, a few other moulds and some actinomycetes.
Soaking:
In some processing chains, whether or not fermentation has been conducted, a soaking step is sometimes applied. This is sometimes called secondary fermentation where a fermentation step is included in the process or fermentation where mechanical mucilage removal has been used. After mucilage removal the parchments are held under water for a period from overnight up to, rarely, 48h. The principle effect is to cause the beans to become more uniformly dark blue- green, a desirable physical character that itself has no taste implication. The colour is the same as that generated by the hydrated bean in response to physical injury, say damage by a coffee berry borer or cutting with a scalpel. The colour is likely to be a hydrolysis reaction akin to the chlorogenic acid reaction – it is not chlorophyll production.
Some authorities claim that soaking removes or reduces any harsh ‘edge’ the cup may have but, if true, it is unclear whether this is due to leaching (some slight leaching has been reported), or the metabolism of the seeds in essentially anoxic conditions. For coffee without this ‘edge’ there is no change in cup quality for up to 7 days, according to one study. The harshness is usually attributed to phenolic compounds so the implication would be that, through one mechanism or another, certain phenolic compounds are removed or altered.
After washing of the parchments, considerable yeast and bacteria remain on the surface and, with the yeasts, even in the bean tissue. However, there is very little substrate for microbial growth so metabolically, this period under water, is quiescent. Short periods of soaking do not seem to be associated with flavour defects outside of the use of tainted water for the soaking.
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The main topic that we’ll be discussing today are the papillae of the tongue, the innervation of the tongue, and the neural pathways to the brain. We’ll also be looking at the roles of the other sensations of touch, temperature and pain and smell with regards to how we taste our food. And towards. Therefore, our main and learning point for today are what senses are involved in taste, where taste is sensed, where it is processed within the brain, and how the taste signals are transmitted from the sensory organ to the brain.
overview
So, taste is a really interesting sense as it is the interaction of several specific signals. There are four of these and they include the gustatory or taste signals from gustatory cells on the taste buds, touch signals – in other words. Information on texture from mechanoreceptors in the oral cavity and this is sometimes referred to as mouth feel. Temperature and pain signals from bare nerve endings in the oral cavity are also provided. Olfactory or smell signals from the olfactory epithelium of the cribriform plate in the nasal cavity is our fourth and last signal. There are also some accessory structures assisting with detection of taste which we’ll talk about a little bit later. But, first, let’s have a look at the gustatory signaling pathway.
gustatory information
is detected by chemoreceptors on taste buds. Taste buds exist on taste papillae in the oral cavity and gustatory sensation is transmitted through three cranial nerves – the facial nerve, cranial nerve seven; the glossopharyngeal nerve, cranial nerve nine; and the vagus nerve, cranial nerve ten. Through these nerves, signals reach the brainstem where they synapse and are relayed to three main areas of the brain, and we’re going to go through these now in a little bit more detail.
most lingual papillae are on the upper surface of the tongue, however, there are also some papillae hanging out on the soft palate, the upper esophagus and on the epiglottis. There are a few different shapes of papillae found on different areas of the tongue and we’re going to go through them now, but keep in mind there’s essentially four different types of papillae and these are the vallate papillae, the fungiform papillae, the foliate papillae, and the filiform papillae. Just before we move on to talk about each of these papillae, I just wanted you to note that the filiform papillae do not contain taste buds and rather are accessory structures so we’ll talk about them a little bit later.
papillae
we’re going to get on to the papillae that are involved in gustatory signaling starting with the vallate papillae. Vallate papillae, also known as circumvallate papillae are arranged in a V-shape with the point of the V towards the throat as you can see on the diagram. They’re located immediately anterior to the terminal sulcus which divides the tongue into its anterior two-thirds – that is the body of the tongue – and posterior one third which is the root of the tongue. And there are only seven to twelve vallate papillae on the tongue but each papilla has several thousand taste buds around its base.
vallate papilla
is described as an inverted frustum shape which is a cone with the pointy top chopped off. And to show you this a little bit more clearly, let’s consider another diagram which we’re going to bring in right now. So, this is a close-up view of the dorsal surface of the tongue showing the different papillae, and as you can see the vallate papillae are highlighted. They have a moat-like structure around them which allows better clearance of detected taste stimuli from the taste buds at the base of the papillae. And, actually, the moat-like structure is where the name of these papillae is derived from. So the word “vallate” comes from the Latin which means surrounded by a wall.
we can also see a number of von Ebner’s glands, and these are minor salivary glands which secrete saliva around the base of the vallate papillae that’s helping to clear taste particles from the taste bud receptors. The glossopharyngeal nerve is the nerve that is responsible for taking the taste signals from these taste buds.
fungiform papillae
are the most common papillae found on the tongue with two hundred to four of them spread across the anterior two-thirds of the tongue but concentrated around the edge as demonstrated on the image. So, they’re termed fungiform as they are mushroom-shaped which is best displayed here, and as you can see, there are three to five taste buds per papilla highlighted here, and the facial nerve is the nerve that carries gustatory information from these taste buds back to the brain.
The final type of taste papillae that we’re going to talk about today are the foliate papillae. As you can see, these are ridge-like folds situated at the edge of the tongue towards the back of the oral cavity, and we have around about twenty foliate papillae in total with each papilla having several hundred taste buds. The more anterior foliate papillae are innervated by the facial nerve whilst the more posterior papillae send taste signals through the glossopharyngeal nerve.
nerves
you would have noticed that there are three nerves involved in gustation. Number one, the facial nerve; number two, the glossopharyngeal; and number three, the vagus nerve. So, we’ll follow taste sensations being picked up in the tongue along each nerve to their synapse in the brainstem and then we’ll talk about their common central pathway. And in the course of the following discussion, we’ll also talk about some ganglia.
Before we go on to talk about the ganglia though, you might be wondering what a ganglion is, so we’ll briefly talk through it right now. So, a ganglion is a collection of nerve cell bodies and these arise at specific anatomical locations throughout the body, and as you can see in the diagram, the ganglia of the taste pathway are highlighted and these are the otic ganglion, the geniculate ganglion, the pterygopalatine ganglion, the petrosal ganglion, and the nodose ganglion. So, let’s move on now to the nerves.
ganglia
The facial nerve is otherwise known as cranial nerve seven and taste from the anterior two-thirds of the tongue is transmitted into the chorda tympani which is a sensory branch of the facial nerve and this nerve passes into the middle ear and crosses the tympanic membrane. A variable degree of taste information can bypass the middle ear via the otic ganglion to hitch a ride on the greater petrosal nerve, and the chorda tympani and the greater petrosal nerve converge at the geniculate ganglion.
Taste from the palate travels along the greater petrosal nerve via the pterygopalatine ganglion where it communicates with the trigeminal nerve. After the convergence of the geniculate ganglion, the afferent fibers form the intermediate nerve which runs alongside but separate to the facial nerve proper. And both of these branches travel in the internal auditory meatus with the vestibulocochlear nerve and do note that the gustatory fibers of the intermediate nerve synapse in the rostral solitary nucleus. The rostral solitary nucleus is synonymous with the gustatory nucleus.
glossopharyngeal nerve
The glossopharyngeal nerve which is our cranial nerve nine is very important in this tutorial because it’s responsible for the majority of taste sensation. This is because it innervates the posterior third of the tongue including the vallate papillae which, if you remember back to our previous slides, house the majority of the taste buds. From the taste buds, nerve signals are transmitted in the lingual branches which travel towards the jugular foramen.
The inferior glossopharyngeal ganglia, also known as the petrosal or the petrous ganglion, contains the sensory cell bodies and it is situated just below the jugular foramen. The glossopharyngeal nerve enters the cranium through the jugular foramen with the vagus nerve and the accessory nerve and the afferent fibers travel through the superior glossopharyngeal or the lesser petrosal ganglion. They carry on into the medulla through the cerebellar pontine angle to synapse in the rostral solitary nucleus which is slightly caudal to the synapses of the facial nerve and you can see this on our diagram just here.
vagus nerve
The vagus nerve is cranial nerve ten, and we’ve highlighted superior laryngeal branch of the vagus nerve which carries taste information from taste buds on the laryngeal surface of the epiglottis. So, this branch joins the vagus nerve from the thoracic and abdominal internal organs and their sensory cell bodies form the inferior vagal ganglion. The afferent fibers into the cranium through the jugular foramen with the glossopharyngeal nerve and the accessory nerve and pass through the superior vagal ganglion and they synapse in the rostral solitary nucleus caudal to the synapses of the glossopharyngeal nerve.
Other projections of the vagus nerve such as those responsible for saliva secretion and gastric secretion and motility synapse in the solitary nucleus. And this explains why taste increases salivation and gastric activity. The vagus nerve is also an effector of the vomiting reflex so a bad taste can cause you to vomit. This is important evolutionarily as it’s allowed us to recognize and rapidly expel potentially harmful food based on their taste.
At the rostral solitary nucleus, the paths of the taste afferents converge as demonstrated. At this point, the fibers from each nerve mix and then they split into three pathways. So, the first pathway goes to the ventral posteromedial nucleus of the thalamus and then it moves onto the taste sensory cortex where we become aware of the sensation. The second lot of fibers travel to synapse in the pontine taste area before going on to terminate in the lateral hypothalamic area. And the third pathway also synapses in the pontine taste area and it runs to the amygdala.
sensory cortex
The taste sensory cortex communicates with the lateral hypothalamic area and amygdala and it’s generally accepted that the lateral hypothalamic area and amygdaloid body are responsible for appetite, satiety and other homeostatic mechanisms. The fact that the sensory cortex sends signals to these areas could be the reason we feel more satiated after experiencing taste we desire. And it’s important to note that the amygdala is involved in the motion and memory formation amongst other functions which is why we attach such strong emotions to food and perhaps why we crave certain foods in certain emotional states, for example, pizza or whatever it is that gives you comfort when you’re feeling down.
we’ve seen how the raw sensation of taste is detected and brought to our attention, and now, we’ll look at the other senses involved in sensing the flavor of a food starting with somatosensory pathways. And there are two parts of the somatosensory pathway – number one being touch and number two being temperature and pain, which are grouped together as they are transmitted by the same nerve fibers. Of course, let’s begin by looking at touch.
sensation of touch
throughout the oral cavity, the sensation of touch is detected by mechanoreceptors with the same nerve endings that are present in the rest of the body. Signals are carried by the maxillary branch of the trigeminal nerve which is shown here and the mandibular branch which is highlighted here. The branches converged at the trigeminal ganglion and then leave and enter the brainstem through the trigeminal trunk. In the medulla, the fibers decussate to the contralateral dorsal medial lemniscal pathway which carries the information to be registered in the brain. And this gives us information on the shape and on the texture of a food.
Moving on to the other aspect of the somatosensory component of taste which is temperature and pain. So temperature and pain are detected by bare nerve endings in the oral cavity and the peripheral pathway is the same as of that of the touch pathway passing through the maxillary and mandibular branches of the trigeminal nerve through the trigeminal ganglion and into the brainstem via the trigeminal trunk.
nerve synapse
In the medulla, the nerve synapse in the trigeminal spinal nucleus. The pathway then decussates to the spinothalamic trunk to ascend into the cortices and we gain information on the temperature of the food and detect dangers causing pain. FYI, spicy food is not a true taste and is, in fact, a sensation from pain and temperature fibers. actually when you’re eating your favorite curry, what you’re detecting is not taste per se but the pain from the heat that it’s causing you.
let’s now move on to discuss how the nose helps us taste things and we’ve changed our diagram for this because we want to be looking at a midline sagittal section through the nasal cavity and the brain and this image is from the medial aspect.
taste buds can actually only taste around five flavors – sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami which is that Japanese taste that you find in miso soup. the different combinations of these allow for the detection of a range of different tastes but this does not really account for the many taste that we can experience. olfaction – that is, our sense of smell – is actually really vital for the interpretation of taste and it’s detected by olfactory epithelium on the cribriform plate on the top of the nose.
Olfactory nerve
Olfactory nerve fibers penetrate through the cribriform plate to take smell signals into the olfactory bulb and from there, the information is relayed along the olfactory tract to synapse in the nuclei of the olfactory cortex. Notes that the olfactory cortex has multiple nuclei in different locations. Firstly, it has the dorsal medial thalamus which is responsible for the conscious component of smell, the amygdala, and the limbic system which is responsible for linking smell to emotions and memory.
we’ve been talking about how touch, temperature, pain and smell contribute to the experience of eating a delicious slice of pizza but how do they interact? So, let’s talk about the orbitofrontal cortex. The orbitofrontal cortex contains secondary cortices of gustation, sensation, olfaction and sight. And what does this mean? This means that connecting fibers from the primary cortices bring signals to the orbitofrontal cortex. And, here, information from the individual senses is combined to give us an overall impression of the food. The orbitofrontal cortex also has communicating fibers with the limbic system as well as the amygdala which allows us to attach emotion and to reward values to certain food experiences, and it also facilitates memory formation in relation to that food.
There’s a couple more things that are involved in the taste pathway if it wasn’t complicated enough. Though for things to be tasted, you need to expose the chemical area of the food. That it combine to a taste receptor on the gustatory cells and you need to get the food to the taste receptors. There are two main accessory structures which are involved in these and the first one is the filiform papillae which we mentioned earlier and the salivary glands. And, of course, we’re going to talk briefly about how each of these contributes to taste.
the filiform papillae
are these hair like structures and as we mentioned earlier, they have no taste function. Instead, they have mechanical functions. So the filiform papillae are really helpful in assisting with swallowing, with cleaning the mouth and it has a role in spreading saliva around the mouth. These functions are really important because they increase the chances of food particles passing over the taste receptors and it also helps with washing particles that have already been tasted out of the taste buds. Therefore, it can be seen that they work closely with the next accessory structure we’ll be discussing which is the salivary glands.
And there are three main pairs of salivary glands – the parotid glands, the submandibular glands and the sublingual glands. The salivary glands assist with taste by acting as a solvent for taste particles allowing them to be washed around the mouth and this increases the chances that each food particle will be tasted. It also facilitates clearance of detected taste particles from taste buds and the other way they help with taste detection is through the enzymes they produce as the enzymes that they produce start to digest food which exposes more molecules to bind with taste receptors.
minor salivary glands
There are also a couple of minor salivary glands such as von Ebner’s glands which we mentioned earlier when we spoke about the vallate papillae, and these glands assist with the clearance of detected food particles from taste buds and it folds around the vallate papillae and between the foliate papillae.
let’s give a mention to the clinical relevance of taste. So, if you remember at the beginning of the tutorial, we mentioned that we’re going to talk about a condition called dysgeusia which is a condition when taste perception is lost or distorted – lost meaning a complete loss or decreased ability to taste, distorted meaning anything from abnormal perception of a taste or perception of a taste in the absence of a taste stimulus also known as phantom taste.
people problem
around seven percent of people have a problem with taste or smell. And there are a few causes some of which include chemotherapy drugs, zinc deficiency, oral thrush, antibiotics and head injury. Dysgeusia can be very distressing and it can reduce a patient’s quality of life to a huge degree. Imagine, not being able to taste your favorite dinner or instead of tasting it as it’s meant to be, it tastes metallic.
So, the mainstay of managing this condition is to change the taste of the food eaten by, for example, adding more spices or condiments and drinking more water to rinse away bad taste. Unfortunately, there are no drug therapies to help alleviate the symptoms and it’s not really clear why taste is affected with any of these causes but hopefully with greater knowledge of the pathways involved in taste, we’ll be able to understand this soon. And understanding the factors contributing to taste will us to think of other ways to replace taste sensation if the detection in the mouth is damaged.
Summary
It was a little bit complicated but I’m sure you’re stuck with me. So, we’re going to just go over a summary of what we discussed today. And, today, we talked about the aspects of taste which include gustation, somatosensorial and olfaction. The pathways involved in each and mentioned that the sensations are combined and processed in the orbitofrontal cortex.
For gustation, taste is detected by taste buds on the taste papillae in the oral cavity. Then we looked at how the facial nerve. The glossopharyngeal nerve and the vagus nerve work together to carry taste sensation to the rostral solitary nucleus in the brainstem. From there, signals are passed superiorly by three different pathways to terminate in the taste sensory cortex. The amygdala and the lateral hypothalamic area.
Next, we talked about the somatosensory pathway which is divided into two parts – touch and temperature and pain – then we went over olfaction and its pathway. Finally, we mentioned dysgeusia which is a condition where knowledge of the taste pathway. May be relevant in discovering more understanding of what’s going on and developing ways to help those afflicted.
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]]>papillae as mucous membranes formed by cells bulging from underneath the tongue. Papillae are little bumps, and they make the tongue look rough. There are four types of papillae that co-exist on the surface of the tongue. These types include: filiform, fungiform, foliate and circumvallate.
papillae formation serves a specific function, Lingual papillae (singular papilla) are the small. nipple-like structures on the upper surface of the tongue that give it its characteristic rough texture.
The four types of papillae. on the human tongue have different structures and are accordingly classified as circumvallate. (or vallate), fungiform, filiform, and foliate. All except the filiform papillae are associated with taste buds.
Filiform papillae
the most numerous of the lingual papillae.They are fine, small, cone-shaped papillae covering most of the dorsum of the tongue. They are responsible for giving the tongue its texture and are responsible for the sensation of touch. Unlike the other kinds of papillae, filiform papillae do not contain taste buds.
most of the front two-thirds of the tongue’s surface. They are appear as very small, conical or cylindrical surface projections. and are arranged in rows which lie parallel to the sulcus terminalis. At the tip of the tongue, these rows become more transverse. Histologically, they are made up of irregular connective tissue cores with a keratin–containing epithelium which has fine secondary threads.
Heavy keratinization of filiform papillae, occurring for instance in cats, gives the tongue a roughness that is characteristic of these animals. These papillae have a whitish tint, owing to the thickness and density of their epithelium. This epithelium has undergone a peculiar modification as the cells have become cone–like and elongated into dense, overlapping, brush-like threads.
also contain a number of elastic fibers, which render them firmer and more elastic than the other types of papillae. The larger and longer papillae of this group are sometimes termed papillae conical
Fungiform papillae
Fungiform , magnified and sectional diagram. The fungiform papillae are club shaped projections on the tongue, generally red in color. you can found them on the tip of the tongue. scattered amongst the filiform papillae but are mostly present on the tip and sides of the tongue.
They have taste buds on their upper surface which can distinguish the five tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami. They have a core of connective tissue.
The fungiform papillae are innervated by the seventh cranial nerve. more specifically via the submandibular ganglion. chorda tympani, and geniculate ganglion ascending to the solitary nucleus in the brainstem..
Foliate papillae
Magnified diagram of a vertical section through some foliate papillae in a rabbit. Foliate papillae are short vertical folds and are present on each side of the tongue.
located on the sides at the back of the tongue, just in front of the palatoglossal arch of the fauces. There are four or five vertical folds,and their size and shape is variable.The foliate papillae appear as a series of red colored, leaf–like ridges of mucosa.
your tongue covered with epithelium, lack keratin and so are softer, and bear many taste buds.They are usually bilaterally symmetrical. Sometimes they appear small and inconspicuous, and at other times they are prominent.
their location is a high risk site for oral cancer, and their tendency to occasionally swell, they may be mistaken as tumors or inflammatory disease.
Taste buds, the receptors of the gustatory sense, are scattered over the mucous membrane of their surface. Serous glands drain into the folds and clean the taste buds.
Circumvallate papillae
Circumvallate papilla in vertical section, showing arrangement of the taste-buds and nerves. The circumvallate papillae (or vallate papillae) are dome-shaped structures on the human tongue that vary in number from 8 to 12.
They are situated on the surface of the tongue immediately in front of the foramen cecum and sulcus terminalis. forming a row on either side. the two rows run backward and medially, and meet in the midline.
Each papilla consists of a projection of mucous membrane from 1 to 2 mm. wide, attached to the bottom of a circular depression of the mucous membrane. the margin of the depression is elevated to form a wall (vallum), and between this and the papilla is a circular sulcus termed the fossa.
they are shaped like a truncated cone. the smaller end being directed downward and attached to the tongue. the broader part or base projecting a little above the surface of the tongue and being studded with numerous small secondary papillæ , they covered by stratified squamous epithelium.
Ducts of lingual salivary glands known as Von Ebner’s glands empty a serous secretion into the base of the circular depression, which acts like a moat.
function of the secretion is presumed to flush materials. it means from the base of circular depression to ensure that taste buds.
taste buds can respond to changing stimuli rapidly.
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]]>There are many factors that make coffee valuable to consumers and one of them is shade effect of growing on coffee quality. Shade matters to some from an environmental perspective; others because they feel it influences the flavor. What I actually know about these important issues is :
The good news is, much research has been done on the ecological and economic impacts of shade-grown coffee. Sadly, there is far less information available on how this influences cup quality. When we hear the term “shade-grown” coffee we many imagine a pristine ecosystem where coffee just happens to be planted and coffee farmer happen to be walking around in the woods picking the beautifully ripe coffee they stumble upon. This romantic vision is rare in the coffee industry. There are, however, varying definitions and variations of forested coffee and agroforestry to consider when thinking of purchasing or promoting such a coffee.
Trees and agroforestry can provide environmental advantages to the planet, and simultaneously in coffee production. Trees act as carbon sinks in the landscape, make oxygen, save water, and provide a myriad of other benefits to the local microclimate and ecosystem. Trees provide the ecosystem with structural and chemical resources. Their roots help prevent erosion. They offer the soil much-needed nutrients from their fallen litter, and certain species can fix nitrogen from the air.
Trees act as buffers to the coffee microclimate. That means that they can act as insulators for the understory, where coffee grows. They can both protect coffee from frost as well as cool the microclimate during very warm weather. Another large way that trees regulate microclimate conditions is through holding moisture in the ecosystem, leaving more water in the soil and therefore theoretically available to coffee plants. There is also evidence that tree cover reduces the leaching of nitrogen from the coffee.
There is a large body of literature supporting the idea that when shade is added to a coffee-growing system, the biodiversity of the ecosystem increases. Here we should stop, and remember that biodiversity is an important intrinsic value. It is a choice to recognize and care about biodiversity. While many of us hold this value, the challenge is to quantify the value of it. How much “better” is a coffee that is produced in a highly diverse environment? Our community faces this challenge daily.
What about flavor: can we taste shade-grown coffee?How does it impact the coffee quality? The answer varies depending on the individual situation. What we do know is that generally, the smaller coffee yield under shading leads to fewer, larger coffee fruits. Also, there is evidence that shade-grown coffee seeds have higher sugar and lipid contents than sun-grown coffee, which may increase the cup quality of coffees. Multiple studies have found that the acidity and body of brewed low-altitude coffee was improved by shading. They suggested that a lower growing temperature (provided by shade) produced a more uniform ripening of berries, which led a better quality cup. However, there are also conflicting studies that have found no perceivable difference in quality. What is the problem here? In the end, unless we understand the biochemistry of fruit ripening time and how this directly affects the chemical composition of coffee seeds and link this to repeatable and consistent flavor differences, it is impossible to say with certainty what is going on. That’s right folks—here is another example of why we reach this same conclusion again and again: more research is needed to help fully understand why coffee tastes the way it does!
Unfortunately, there can also be true drawbacks to shade-grown coffee. In many situations, shade lowers coffee yield, delays ripening, and is more labor-intensive to harvest. These are luxuries that not all producers, as people who must balance costs and benefits, can choose. Any value or perception thereof must make business sense. Fortunately, some farms that use agroforestry can benefit from pricing incentives offered by certification programs. However, the reality is, that the value of shade coffee is not always translated into farmer benefit.
How does it impact the coffee quality?
Where does this leave us? Certainly, flavor alone is not an indicator of whether or not a coffee was shade-grown. Great-tasting specialty coffee can be produced using many/any/all/unknown production strategies. There are real ecological benefits of shade-growing coffee, and there may be quality benefits too. However, if we seek to support this method of coffee growing, we must recognize and value it for its own sake.
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When we drink a cup of coffee, cause from all five senses turn into signals in the brain, travel through complex circuitry and produce what we call flavor.
As you’ve probably realized if you’ve worked in coffee for a long time, not everyone perceives the same thing when tasting coffee. Individuals vary based on their level of experience, their genetic, how they are feeling that day, and many other factors. So, is it possible to form an agreement on exactly how a particular coffee tastes?
In other words, we can , whose perception of flavor is inherently subjective, produce data with almost machine-like precision? Are we fooling ourselves when we aim for agreement between people who have different memories, emotions, and experiences? Let’s dig a little deeper into a few of these sources of variation.
Genetics
First, it is well-known that genetic variation exists in taste sensitivity. If you’ve tasted one of those paper strips in high school biology class, you know what I’m talking about. There’s a gene for the receptor that determines how strongly a person perceives the bitterness of a compound called phenylthiocarbamide . Based on how intolerably bitter the strip is to a person, they are categorized as a “taster,” a “non taster,” or a “supertaster”.
However, the degree to which a person can taste PTC does not predict their sensitivity to other bitter compounds, let alone other tastes. There is some evidence that PTC taster status can influence coffee preference .
Taste bud distribution on the tongue also varies genetically. Some people taste more intensely because they have more taste receptor sites . Some people are “smell-blind,” or anomic, to specific odorants . Even our affinity for cilantro is partially genetic: people with a certain genotype more frequently report an unpleasant, soapy taste .
Memory and Experience
A person’s previous experience can affect which flavor attributes they notice when tasting a coffee. There are multiple elements to this, from subconscious associations to cultural culinary preferences.
Our past food experiences can influence our reaction to new flavors, including both how we describe them and their hedonic valence, or pleasantness. As any cupper knows, the more familiar we are with a particular food, the more nuances we notice.
What It Means for Coffee Professionals
So, how much does this matter for everyday operations, and what can we do about it?
Minimizing variation from other sources is also crucial in balancing individual variation. The more we can dial in the variables between cuppings, the more precise our sensory data and the more meaningful our conclusions.
The important part is not necessarily standardization across the entire industry, but clear communication within companies and within supply chains. Many coffee companies have developed extensive cupping protocols and standards. The terms and references in the Lexicon can serve as a useful complement to these. What is most important is that you can communicate within your own supply chain about what your product, the coffee, tastes like.
Academic sensory science, while a different exercise than cupping, can provide helpful principles. Here are a few practical tips, courtesy of Molly Spencer, one of the lead developers of the new flavor wheel:
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Establish a training standard and calibrate yourself.
Consider implementing a procedure to make sure you’re all on the same page. When someone is learning cupping, test their accuracy. There is a lot of background flavor in a cup of coffee. spiking in flavor defects to a cup of coffee. This helps a novice cupper learn how the defects show up against the other flavor complexities of the cup.
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Use warmup samples and references.
Everyone who has evaluated flavor knows there are just some days when you’re more “tuned in” than others. Get in the zone before cupping by warming up with a few samples before you begin scoring.for familiar tastes, it’s helpful for everyone on your cupping team to experience the same reference. When they are describing a certain word, like blueberry flavor, they’re all on the same page about what the definition of that really is. Training to a common standard helps mitigate individual variation.
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Take frequent breaks.
In sensory science, it is standard to evaluate no more than 6-8 samples at once. Molly says, Coffee is so complex, there is physiological fatigue because your tongue and nose can only take so much. If you’re evaluating a lot of samples, try to space them out in time to preserve acuity.
consistency in protocol is key. Minimizing the variation in the cupping process details can help decrease the noise in your data. This can be especially important for companies with staff and roasteries in multiple locations.
Variation between tasters is a significant factor in coffee cupping, but it’s one that can be partially overcome by honing our process. Even simple practices like coding cups and taking a few more breaks can vastly improve the precision of our data. This precision helps us learn even more about the coffees we roast and serve, and ultimately communicate more specifically about their uniqueness and value.
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]]>Identified by a team of University of Miami researchers in 1996, umami is our fifth taste — the long-lost counterpart of four other tastes with which we are far more familiar, sweet, salty, sour and bitter. Since the research team published its findings in 2000, umami has seized the interest of other scientists, health professionals, food manufacturers and chefs around the world. Many people struggle to define umami, often calling it savory, meaty or rich. They try to explain it by referring to food examples of umami: a golden chicken soup, roasted shiitake mushrooms or navy beans simmered with the bone of a well-cured ham. Even though it wouldn’t be any easier to describe salty or sweet without referring to the way those tastes are represented in certain foods, umami comes off as somehow more exotic. That explains why some consumers are compelled and others leery about the sudden wave of interest in all things umami. “Some people think of umami as a newfangled, overly scientific term that they don’t need,” says Fuchsia Dunlop, author of Land of Plenty (W. W. Norton, 2003) — a Sichuan cookbook — and an expert on both cooking and current events in China. “But I think it’s tremendously useful because it explains so much of what we already know about traditional cooking. We’re just using the Japanese word for it. That makes it sound foreign, but it’s not foreign at all.”
What Is Umami?
As far back as 3,000 years ago, Greeks and Romans were carefully boosting what we now know as the umami in their foods by using a condiment made from fermented fish sauce. In 1825, in his famous treatise The Physiology of Taste, French gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin offered the word “osmasome” for rich, meaty tastes, and he predicted that future chemists would probably figure out what triggered it. Finally, in the 20th century, Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda hung a lasting moniker on the taste and determined its source. In 1908, Ikeda began trying to replicate the flavor of a traditional soup he made from boiled kombu (one of the sea vegetables often called seaweed) and dried tuna. He mixed together salty, sweet, bitter and sour, but it was something altogether different. In his lab, he finally managed to isolate the substance that gave the broth its distinctive taste: glutamate, the most plentiful of the 20 amino acids that make up proteins. Ikeda named the taste of glutamate “umami,” most simply translated as “delicious.” (The flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate, or MSG, is the sodium salt of glutamate. Comprising water, sodium and glutamate, MSG acts on the same receptors as glutamate. For more, see “MSG: Cooks’ Cocaine?” in the sidebar.) Other scientists soon built upon Ikeda’s discovery with new revelations. Not only do other amino acids trigger this deliciousness, but there is also a second group of compounds that build the effect. These are nucleotides, the molecular building blocks of RNA and DNA, found in a wide range of foods, including shellfish, pork and mushrooms. They impart some umami on their own, but more important, they magnify the umami of foods rich in glutamates and other amino acids — foods like chicken, tomatoes, aged cheeses, fresh corn and almonds. When nucleotide-rich foods are added to foods rich in amino acids, the result is a flavorful synergy that heightens the drama. “That’s the key to umami cooking,” says chef David Kasabian, coauthor with his wife, Anna, of The Fifth Taste: Cooking with Umami (Universe, 2005), a virtual umami bible with scientific explanations, recipes from America’s top chefs, and the Kasabians’ own umami-accelerated versions of classics like meatloaf and chicken in wine. “When you put the basic umami and the synergizing umami together, the effect isn’t just additive — it’s multiplied. A basic tomato sauce has lots of umami, but when you add mushrooms, it has considerably more.”
Umami Flavor
Over the course of the past decade, scientists have discovered receptors housed in our taste buds that respond specifically to umami, just as there are receptors for sweet, salty, sour and bitter. When these receptors bind to glutamates and certain other amino acids and nucleotides, they send a signal to the brain. That signal combines with signals triggered by savory aromas to create a highly pleasant sensation concentrated in the orbitofrontal cortex, the section of the brain right above the eyes. “Umami is a separate taste quality mediated by separate receptors, “And we like the taste. It’s a savory, yummy quality.” The fact that our bodies are designed to recognize and enjoy umami tells us that foods with naturally occurring umami are good for us. “There aren’t that many taste receptors in the mouth, so one has to assume that there’s a long-term biological interest in detecting umami, Our sense of taste is a highly evolved mechanism that signals what we should and should not eat. All humans respond positively to the taste of sweets because sweet foods are a reliable source of calories. We may wish we could turn off this particular mechanism when coworkers leave a platter of brownies near the coffeemaker, but our foraging forebears relied on the instinctual preference for sweets to identify good sources of food energy.
We respond positively to the taste for salt because it contains minerals that help our bodies maintain a proper electrolyte balance.
We respond negatively — at least as infants — to bitter and sour, because those tastes warned early humans that something might be poisonous, unripe or spoiled. As adults, most of us enjoy bitter and sour flavors in small quantities that help heighten or highlight other flavors and aromas. Many researchers now believe that humans developed a taste for umami because it signals the presence of protein. The foods packing the greatest umami punch are the ones that provide proteins broken down into free amino acids. These “free” glutamates and other amino acids are created by fermenting, aging, toasting, roasting, braising, stewing — any process that breaks complete proteins into their constituent parts. Thus, an aged steak has more umami than a fresh one; raw eggs have umami but considerably more when cooked; winter squash goes wild with umami when slowly roasted. But some foods such as corn and peas are packed with umami when fresh. (For more foods teeming with umami, see “Umami Shopping List,” in the sidebar.) When we eat whole proteins, our digestive systems burn a lot of energy breaking them down into amino acids. The amino acids in umami-rich foods are already in a free state, so they are more quickly and easily digested than complete proteins. As the Kasabians put it, “Umami is the taste of amino acids that are ready for our bodies to use.” The free glutamates are immediately put to work in the intestines, where they fuel the overall digestive process.
Mindful Eating and Umami
Understanding these umami mechanisms isn’t just interesting — it’s useful, says Edmund Rolls, DSc, a professor at the Oxford Centre for Computational Neuroscience, who researches taste mechanisms and the brain. “Many people are interested in knowing what makes food palatable,” says Rolls, in part because this helps “promote the eating of good food at the expense of unhealthy foods.” Understanding the science of cuisine is important in this regard, he explains, because it helps us develop food preparations that are appropriate. “For instance,” he says, “some people don’t like the taste of nutritionally good foods like green vegetables, but you can enhance the flavor of these foods by adding umami.” By choosing foods that taste good — and understanding how to make them taste even better — we’re simply relying on the body’s basic wisdom to maintain a balanced diet and a healthy weight. Jacqueline Marcus, RD, a nutritionist who practices in Northfield, Ill., points out that we are born with basic instincts telling us which foods are good for us and how much we need to eat of them. Just watch how a baby gulps umami-rich breast milk, then pushes away from the mother when full. “The umami taste helps provide you with the sensation of being fed,” says Marcus, who’s been researching and working with umami for 12 years. “That’s essential in weight management. Foods with umami flavor are satisfying to the palate and support satiety, or fullness.” In a culture looking for ways to amplify eating pleasures without amplifying its already significant weight problems, that’s umami wisdom worth trying. This article has been updated. It originally appeared in the May 2012 issue of Experience Life magazine.
Umami Foods
Umami-rich foods are delicious on their own and can also make healthy foods like basic vegetables and legumes taste more enticing. In The Fifth Taste: Cooking with Umami (Universe, 2005), chef David Kasabian and his journalist wife, Anna, break down umami ingredients into two groups: basic umami (foods that impart umami through amino acids like glutamates) and synergizing umami (foods that add some umami and, especially, amplify the umami taste of the first group). Many foods have both basic and synergizing umami compounds. Here are a few examples:
Basic Umami
Corn, peas, tomatoes, red bell peppers, winter squash Almonds, walnuts and other tree nuts Sea vegetables, Duck, turkey, chicken (especially mature birds and dark meat), fresh and cured pork products (which are also synergizing), aged steaks, Aged and blue-veined cheeses, Fin fish (especially smoked, dried or pickled), fish sauce, and shellfish (which are also synergizing)
Fermented soy products like
soy sauce, tempeh and miso, Legumes, Black olives, Pickled plums (ume) and many other pickled vegetables and fruits
Synergizing Umami
Mushrooms, truffles and other fungi — the darker, the better, Pork, beef, lamb, turkey and chicken, Shellfish, especially oysters and uni (sea urchin), Darker-fleshed fin fish such as tuna, mackerel and salmon, Many sea vegetables, including nori and wakame
MSG: Cooks’ Cocaine?
Monosodium glutamate (MSG), the much-maligned flavor additive, has been at the center of a food controversy for years. Here’s what you need to know to make up your own mind about whether to enjoy MSG or avoid it. Shortly after chemist Kikunae Ikeda discovered that glutamates were the source of the deliciousness — what he dubbed the umami — in his soup, a Japanese company used his patent to manufacture a substance that would change cuisines around the world: monosodium glutamate. U.S. food manufacturers began incorporating MSG into a wide variety of processed foods in the 1930s and ’40s. Restaurants and home cooks also sprinkled it liberally. Then, in the 1960s, MSG experienced a public-relations disaster. The New England Journal of Medicine printed a letter from a physician who said that he and his friends felt dizzy and headachy after eating in Chinese restaurants and suggested that MSG might be the cause. Subsequent studies supported this conjecture, but most involved injecting rats with massive doses of MSG — far more than a person would ever eat. Some studies have not found any evidence that MSG poses a problem to most people who eat normally. Scientists who study umami insist that MSG is the same as the naturally occurring free glutamates that are found in food. Still, many health-conscious and food-sensitive individuals remain wary of MSG, noting that eating it makes them feel dehydrated, brain fogged, puffy or headachy. Those who suffer from migraines, chemical sensitivities or ADD/ADHD are often counseled by their health professionals to stay away from MSG at all costs. And many culinary experts see MSG as a cheap stand-in for high-quality ingredients and good preparation — the mark of a compromised food product or dish. “MSG is a shortcut to good taste,” says Chinese cooking expert Fuchsia Dunlop. “People often take greasy, junky food and add MSG to make it appealing. I call it the ‘cook’s cocaine.” Some processed foods that don’t contain MSG are full of other substances that deliver free glutamates: textured protein, sodium caseinate, hydrolyzed yeast and many more. Like MSG, the presence of such ingredients may indicate that whatever natural flavor these foods might once have had can no longer stand on their own. “Processed food is so handled and heated and stored that the natural amino acids are gone,” says David Kasabian, who with his wife, Anna, wrote The Fifth Taste: Cooking with Umami (Universe, 2005). “They have to include these ingredients to compensate for that loss.” Maggie Ward, RD, nutrition director of the UltraWellness Center in Lenox, Mass., says it’s best to get your umami from natural ingredients. “My preference is that people eat whole foods for health and healing,” Ward says. “The glutamates in MSG are not the way nature presented them, and I think people are much better off enjoying umami from natural sources like fish sauce, seaweed and shiitake mushrooms.”
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Coffee competition
(some of the information are from WCE site)
Coffee competitions are the epitome of the best coffee. Whether it’s a regional, national, or world championship, they will stretch you to your limit. By participating, you’ll hone your skills and discover how great your love for coffee really is. I’ve had the privilege to compete, judge, and coach in barista, brew, Aeropress, cup taster, roast, Cezve and latte art competitions over the last ten years. Getting up on that stage is no easy task, but I believe any coffee person who sets their mind to it can achieve it. Because competing is about more than technical skills. It’s also about attitude, mentality, lifestyle and what ability that you have but you don’t know, you can just sort it out by being on stage. So let me take you through what attitudes you need to achieve your best – whether in any kind of competition or simply in your daily coffee shop routine.
First, you need to know the most important coopetition in all around the world and the old one is which holding by WCE,
World Coffee Events (WCE) is an event management organization registered in Dublin, Ireland. WCE was originally founded in 2011 by the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe and the Specialty Coffee Association of America, which have since unified to become the Specialty Coffee Association. The current WCE portfolio includes the World Barista Championship, the World Cup Tasters Championship, the World Latte Art Championship, the World Coffee in Good Spirits Championship, and the World Brewers Cup, as well as features such as All-Stars, the Espresso Bar, and the Brew Bar. WCE is supported by a robust group of volunteer committee members. These members collaborate on, generate, and refine many materials, processes, and documents that help support our mission statement. WCE’s committees are critical to helping develop and shape the organization, and in supporting our strategic initiatives. Annual working groups may also be formed to help with specific projects related to one activity or championship. A volunteer leadership team designed to address competition needs and questions at the highest levels, interfacing with the SCA Board of Directors and other internal and external groups. Assists in developing format and strategic planning for all of the championships, including rules, regulations, judges, communications, and marketing. This group brings together long-time competition experts from many perspectives, meeting throughout the year to consider how to keep the competition formats moving forward with our industry.
The World Barista Championship (WBC)
is the preeminent international coffee competition produced annually by World Coffee Events (WCE). The competition focuses on promoting excellence in coffee, advancing the barista profession, and engaging a worldwide audience with an annual championship event that serves as the culmination of local and regional events around the globe. Each year, more than 50 champion competitors each prepare 4 espressos, 4 milk drinks, and 4 original signature drinks to exacting standards in a 15-minute performance set to music. WCE Certified Judges from around the world evaluate each performance on the taste of beverages served, cleanliness, creativity, technical skill, and overall presentation. The ever-popular signature beverage allows baristas to stretch their imagination and the judges’ palates to incorporate a wealth of coffee knowledge into an expression of their individual tastes and experiences. The top 15 highest-scoring competitors from the first round, plus wild-card winner from the Team Competition, advance to a semifinal round. The top 6 competitors in the semifinal round advance to the finals round, from which one winner is named World Barista Champion!
The World Latte Art Championship
highlights artistic expression in a competition platform that challenges the barista in an on-demand performance. For the preliminary round of the championship, baristas produce a single creative latte pattern at the Art Bar, then move to the WLAC stage to create two identical free-pour lattes and two identical designer lattes (which allow etching and decoration). Scores from the Art Bar and Stage are combined, and the top 12 qualify for the semi-final round, where competitors make two matching sets of different free-pour latte patterns, and one matching set of free-pour macchiatos. The top six semi-finals competitors qualify for the final round, where competitors make two different matching sets of free-pour latte patterns and one matching set of designer lattes. The top-scoring competitor in the final round is declared the World Latte Art Champion. Baristas are judged based on visual attributes, creativity, identical patterns in the pairs, the contrast in patterns, and overall performance
The World Cup Tasters Championship
awards the professional coffee cupper who demonstrates speed, skill, and accuracy in distinguishing the taste differences in specialty coffees. Coffees of the world have many distinct taste characteristics and in this competition format, the objective is for the cupper to discriminate between the different coffees. Three cups are placed in a triangle, with 2 cups being identical coffees and one cup being a different coffee. Using skills of smell, taste, attention, and experience, the cupper will identify the odd cup in the triangle as quickly as they can. A total of 8 triangles are placed in each round. The top 8 competitors with the most correct answers and the fastest time proceed to the next Semi-Finals round. Then the top 4 will compete again in the Finals round to determine the next World Cup Tasters Champion.
The World Coffee Roasting Championship
debuted 2013 in Nice, France. In this 3-stage event, competitors are evaluated on their performance evaluating the quality of green coffee (coffee grading), developing a roasting profile that best accentuates the desirable characteristics of that coffee, and on the ultimate cup quality of coffees roasted.
The world Cezve/Ibrik Championship
(also known as ibrik) is a pot designed A still from a previous Cezve/Ibrik Championship specifically designed to make a particular style of coffee that is largely consumed in parts of Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, The body can be made of metal, brass, copper, or ceramic but it features a distinctive long handle and a brim that is designed to serve the coffee. This event showcases the Cezve or Ibrik preparation of brewing coffee, set in a competition format that celebrates the cultural tradition. In this championship, it is encouraged that the competitors bring their own style/cultural element to their performance to showcase what is one of the oldest forms of preparing coffee.
The World Brewers Cup competition
highlights the craft of filter coffee brewing by hand, promoting manual coffee brewing and service excellence. In this Championship, competitors prepare and serve three individual beverages for a panel of judges. The Championship consists of two rounds: a first-round and a finals round. During the first round competitors complete two coffee services – a compulsory service and an open service. For the compulsory service, competitors prepare three beverages utilizing whole bean coffee provided to them by the competition. For the open service, competitors may utilize any whole bean coffee of their choosing and must also accompany their beverage preparation with a presentation. The six competitors with the highest score from the first round will go on to compete in the finals round consisting exclusively of an open service. One competitor from the final round will be named the World Brewers Cup Champion.
The World Coffee in Good Spirits Championship
promotes innovative beverage recipes that showcase coffee and spirits in a competition format. This competition highlights the barista/barkeeper’s mixology skills in a setting where coffee and alcohol go perfectly together. From the traditional Irish Coffee (with whiskey and coffee). to unique cocktail combinations. During the preliminary round, competitors produce four drinks – two identical hot/warm coffee and alcohol-based designer drinks, and two identical cold coffee and alcohol-based designer drinks. The six competitors with the highest preliminary round scores will compete in the final round. The final round requires competitors to produce two Irish Coffees and two coffee-and-alcohol-based designer drinks. The highest-scoring final round competitor will be named the World Coffee in Good Spirits Champion.
Now, this is all about what happened on the coffee planet about coffee competition, there is a lot of fun competition in another hand like barista League (the Barista League isn’t like the Barista Championship. But it isn’t trying to be. The latter requires extensive preparation, customer service, and 12 truly special drinks. It’s a rigorous competition that demands everything a competitor’s got. But the League will put baristas on the spot, quizzing them on general knowledge, asking them to develop recipes for mystery coffees, and seeing how many coffees they can make with alternative milk within a time limit. It’s challenging, and it’s also fun)
and also coffee masters (Coffee Masters
is the fast-paced, multi-discipline global barista tournament taking place twice a year. The competition sees some of the world’s best baristas compete head-to-head in a series of disciplines for the prestigious Coffee Masters title and a £5,000 cash prize in London, and $5,000 cash prize in Los Angeles.)
Now chose one, do you want to compete or no? do you want to make a challenge for yourself? Or may you want to be a judge? all are fun but serious at that moment.
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]]>once the specialty coffee beans reach the retail environment, they have already passed 3 levels of inspection to ensure an extremely high level of quality control, however the process is not yet complete. the barista, who may be had some educational class, or experimental experience for many years and work as a barista behind the bar , is the final coffee professional to guarantee the life cycle of the specialty coffee bean is completed. specialty level baristas are not only highly skilled in brewing equipment operations or espresso machine; they routinely are deeply informed as to the origin of the coffee bean and how it’s flavor profiles will be revealed in brewing. if the specialty bean is not brewed properly it is possible that its true flavor potential could be lost; the barista ensures each bean reaches its full brewed promise. And the important part is how they can promote and present this journey to the last cycle.. customer.
Costumer, The most Important part
Grader, Buyer
in this stage direct trading is the most incredible thing which can help to the farmers to get real price for what they doing, green coffee is next step to the green coffee buyer who may be certified coffee taster or the coffee quality institute (CQI) as a licensed Q grader. they have a palate as distinguished as a sommelier and can keenly identify coffee quality via cupping, or systematic tasting of brewed coffees. through cupping, the coffee taster can assess a coffee’s score and determine whether it is specialty grade quality, make decisions on which coffees they will include in their offerings, and often develop tasting notes and descriptions for the coffee on its final packaging. the green coffee buyer has a large role in communicating the information about a coffee to the roaster and café staff.
Roaster
You can make purple or green from blue but you can not make pink from black, don’t forget coffee is the same as color and coffee roasting is the same as working with color, other issue is .coffee roasters need high quality general coffee skills who may be certified by any class or camp to completed numerous hours of coursework and hands-on training to skillfully roast the specialty bean or just a person who have to many years of experience to roast the coffee and work with all the variables. coffee roasting is an super dangerous work and art that requires a high degree of knowledge and experience to produce specialty level roast profiles. coffee must be closely monitored during the roasting process and scientific principles of heat transfer, thermodynamics and coffee chemistry must be applied to ensure the highest standard of quality and flavor come through in the final roasted bean.
The Coffee Producer
specialty coffee starts with the producer or farmer whose family likely has spent generations perfecting their approach to farming the highest quality coffee possible. grown in select altitudes and climates and nursed for years before the first harvest, the people and farmers who creates specialty coffee devotes his or her life to refining and perfecting the highest quality coffee on the planet. for them, it is about quality not quantity that is the most important consideration. only coffees free of defects and picked at their peak of ripeness can be able to call it specialty coffee.
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