By Manuela Violoni, R&D manager at the Taster Study Center

Cream, gustative balance, aromas: three aspects of espresso which, according to tests, are influenced by the cup. The New Taster Cup is the result of three years of sensory experimentation, it is a improvement of the official tasting instrument of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters which values good coffees and punishes bad ones

If the glass influences the perceived characteristics of a wine, this is three times truer for the cup in that it influences not only the way in which the senses approach the beverage but also the physical status of the beverage itself: the temperature and the way in which the components of the cream surface. All these aspects have been kept into account during the experimentation to which the Tasters Study Centre has participated for the part on sensory analysis while Forever has dealt with technical issues.  The New Taster Cup has been designed to optimise its performance in all stages of its use, not only from the point of view of tasting but also to support the barista in preparing a perfect espresso.

Less stackable, more equilibrium of tastes

The external shape of the New Tasters Cup is designed in a way which makes it difficult to stack it in more than two rows. This is how all the cups reach the optimum temperature which is necessary to keep the gustative equilibrium of the beverage. Even the barista who does not know it will naturally follow this simple rule, thus automatically eliminating a frequent mistake made during preparation.

Elliptical bottom for a more persistent cream

The internal shape of the cup materially influences the formation of the cream. Actually it is mainly made up of fibres and fats which are in the coffee: when the espresso drips from the spout to end up in the cup, the convective movements inside of it make these components, along with the aromas of the coffee, surface. A flat or cone-shaped bottom hinder these movements, which are on the contrary favour by the elliptical interior. The New Taster Cup is designed to optimise this stage which gives a finer and more persistent to the sight cream with greater formation of the prestigious stripe-effect and with a more powerful aroma.

Clear level, no more extraction levels

In the New Taster Cup an internal mark indicates the optimum extraction level for the espresso: 25 millilitres. Not only no more short or too watered espresso but it also makes it easier for the barista to regulate the grinding: fixing extraction at 25 millilitres in 25 seconds is an easy criterion to avoid mistakes of over-extraction or under-extraction, burning the coffee or not extracting enough its aromatic or tactile potential. The internal mark makes this easier allowing the barista to keep the correctness of the grinding and of the pressing monitored at each extraction.

Brighter white, nicer cream

In order to correctly assess the colour of the cream of the espresso, the cup must be white inside. The super-white porcelain with which the New Taster Cup is made is something new on the Italian stage, to the extent that if you put it next to the traditional cups the latter look grey and opaque. The perfect and brilliant white of the porcelain make the most of the reflections of the cream of a good espresso and of the brightness of its surface. This is not nothing, given that consumers makes assessments especially with their eyes.

Lighter, more elegant

Following a trend from tasting glasses designed for wines, the New Taster Cup weights 27% less than the previous model. This conveys a sensation of greater elegance and makes it easier to hold the cup thus allowing the taster to better focus on the sensations.

Varying thickness, more non-conductivity

The reduced weight does not mean that the New Taster Cup is thin to the point that it does not ensure that the right temperature is maintained. The secret is in the varying thickness, greater towards the bottom where the espresso is contained and lower towards the top with which the lips come into contact. This makes it possible to fully exploit the non-conductive nature of the porcelain, an excellent thermal insulating material, without making the lips feel a sensation of thickness.

More room at the top, wider aromas

Just as with wine glasses, also the cup must not be filled up to the edge: it is necessary to leave enough room at the top, meaning room for the aromas to set free from the liquid and concentrate in the air so as to be directed towards the nose. More room at the top allows for the aromas to become wider: this is the reason why in the New Tasters Cup it has been increased by 10%. This, together with the internal shape of the upper part of the cup, makes it possible to better perceive certain aromatic notes.

Greater hygiene, more aromatic freshness

Even when the tasting phase is over, the way in which the cup is treated is important for the correctness of the following assessment. A critical aspect of the hygiene of the cup is the bottom: if it is not adequately designed, there is the risk that the washing-up powder from the dishwasher might pile up. The detergent then drips on the border when the cup is removed from the dishwasher and placed on the cup warmer. The New Taster Cup features some grooves designed to make any residual washing powder flow away completely.

The New Taster Cup vs the previous model

The data clearly show that the same espresso, tasted in the New Taster Cup, appears to be nicer than when tasted in the previous model, with an Edonic Index of 7.70 vs 6.78. The reasons for this lay in a number of factors: first of all, the appearance of the cream, the colour of which shows out better in the super-white porcelain. At a tactile level, the espresso has more body, due to the cream being formed in an optimal way and to volume control, which optimises extraction. The bitterness is less sharp and the aromas are valued, especially the prestigious spicy notes ranging from rhubarb to liquorice and which convey a precious note to the sensations persisting in the mouth.
The New Taster Cup highlights huge differences compared to the previous one also at the level of the visual and tactile impact of the object itself. The colour strikes more than the previous one and makes it stand out compared to the more wide-spread cups. Overall, it’s more elegant and stylish even if its shape can still be defined as classic, It’s deemed to be more modern and ‘cheerful’. At the touch, it gives more pleasant sensations due to its being lighter. It’s easier to hold, the shape and the surface have been improved. Finally, its border conveys a sensation of enhanced fineness to the lips. Despite the fineness, use at the coffee shop too is recommended.

The 2008 International Coffee Tasting was held in Brescia (Italy) on the 30th and 31st of October. 130 coffees from all over the world took part in the competition organised by the International Institute of Coffee Tasters with the technical cooperation of the Centro Studi Assaggiatori (Taster Study Center).

After two days of work, 26 tasters were able to award the best coffees with the Golden Medal. They evaluated each coffee blindly using a tasting card. The cards were collected and processed by the technicians of the Centro Studi Assaggiatori. A list of the winners was eventually issued.

“As far as the Italian market is concerned, the tasting sessions demonstrate an improvement in the average quality of coffee – told Luigi Odello, secretary general of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters and professor of Sensory Analysis in several Italian universities – Espresso confirmed as the best way to prepare coffee: the moka pot, the filter, the neapolitan and the home machines cannot reach its level of quality”.

All the winners of the 2008 International Coffee Tasting: the Golden Medals

Category: Italian espresso blends for the horeca

• Caffè Agust- Agust Natura Equa – Miscela di Caffè 100% Arabica da Agricoltura Biologica – Speciale Bar
• Caffè Haiti Roma di Azeglio Martella & C. Srl – Caffè Gran Riserva – Prodotto Italiano di Qualità
• Caffè Terzi Sas- Miscela Terzi n. 1 – 100% Arabica
• Costadoro Spa – Master Club Coffee – 100% Qualità Arabica
• Caffè Paranà di Giannelli Emilio – Espresso italiano in grani
• Holly di Ulivieri Raffaele – Torrefazione Caffè – Special Bar 100% Arabica 
• La Genovese Sas – Caffè Qualità Oro 
• Minuto Caffè Srl – Bar Gourmet Espresso 1 Kg – 100% Arabica 
• T.M. Srl dei F.lli Morandini & C. – Miscela Oro 90% Arabica Certificata in grani
• Torrefazione Artigianale Caffè Roen – Espresso Bendinelli "Gourmet 100% Arabica"
• Torrefazione Aryscaffè – Aryscaffè Eurobar 
• Torrefazione Caffè Avana – Miscela Degustazione "Sublime" 
• Torrefazione Gran Salvador Snc – 001 – Oro 
• Torrefazione Saturno Srl – Miscela 1 Bar Caracol 
• Torrefazione Taurocaf Snc – Caffè Alberto Miscela Pappagallo Oro – Espresso 
• Torrefazione Taurocaf Snc – Caffè Alberto Miscela Pappagallo Rosso – Espresso 
• Tris Moka Srl – Gran Caffè Gourmet

Category: Non-Italian espresso blends for the horeca

• Café Dromedario Sa (Spagna) – Cafè Colombiano Nariño Supremo "El Tambo" Café Dromedario – Café en Grano Natural
• Café Dromedario Sa (Spagna) – Cinco Alturas Cafes La Brasileña – La Tostadora – Café en Grano
• Café Dromedario Sa (Spagna) – Especial Espresso Cafè Dromedario – Café Natural en Grano
• Massimo Cerutti S.A. (Svizzera) – Cerutti "Il caffè" Qualità Extra Milano
• Monardo – AMeL Commercial de cafes e complementos (Brasile) – Antonello Monardo Caffè Espresso Blend – Sul de Minas Gourmet – 100% Arabica

Category: Home automatic coffee machine

• Caffè Mokarico Srl – Bar – Caffè torrefatto in grani

Category: Single-dose coffee machine

• Angelo Morettino Spa – Caffè Morettino "100% Arabica Espresso" – Cialda
• Caffè Cagliari Spa – Cialda Gran Caffè – monodose per macchine espresso
• Costadoro Spa – Cialde Costadoro – Coffee Pod
• Omkafè Srl – Cialde Top Quality Omkafè

Category: Moka coffee pot

• Angelo Morettino Spa – Caffè Morettino "Arabica Club" 100% Arabica – Morbido e raffinato
• Caffè Cartapani Srl – Miscela "Primeiro" 100% Arabica – macinato
• Café Dromedario Sa (Spagna) – Café Colombiano Nariño Supremo "El Tambo" La Tostadora
• Corsino Corsini Spa – Colombia Caffè Medellin Supremo – Compagnia dell’Arabica
• Milani Spa – Puro Portorico Yauco Selecto – 100% Arabica
• Minuto Caffè Srl – Fior di Aroma Macinato 250 g – 100% Arabica

Category: Neapolitan coffee pot / Filter

• Torrefazione Principe Gbr (Germania) – La Nera Espresso Casa

Coffitalia 2008, the new yearbook dedicated to coffee in Italy, recently published by Beverfood, provides the picture and an update of the entire sector with precise and careful references to the markets, competition, the companies and the products.

The first section, dedicated to markets and products, starts off by focusing on the International business of coffee. Aspects such green production, import-export, consumption, price dynamics and International players as are dealt with. All this is followed by a detailed profile of the Italian market. This section also comprises some articles on the geography of coffee, sensory analysis of espresso and the machinery as well as an overview on the issue coffee and health.

The following section is, thus, the most interesting one. It is dedicated to coffee roasters divided by region: more than 600 Italian producers of coffee. This is, for the first time in Italy, a full-blown and detailed survey of the world of coffee roasting: 85% of all existing roasters which accounts for 98% of the total turnover of the sector. For each company, it is possible to find information on its structure and its products.

Also specialised suppliers have their own section in which 400 companies are listed: from raw material to machines for horeca and for vending, from packaging to sales materials and coffee consumption.

A special section focuses on vending. More than 550 companies running automatic machines are presented here and once again they are listed per region. Finally, there is a section with a review of all the entities, associations – national and international – in the coffee world, or connected to it, as well as of specialised press.

Coffitalia 2008

Author: AA.VV.

Format: cm 21 x 22,8

Pages: 456

Price: € 100,00

ISBN: 88-88152-19-9

At www.beverfood.com it is possible to read the presentation and give a look at the index of Coffitalia 2008. On the website it is also possible to find contacts and numbers to order it online or by phone.

by Luigi Odello

Secretary General of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters, he is also a lecturer at the University of Udine, Verona and at the Cattolica in Piacenza. In addition he is the Chairman of the Taster Study Center and Secretary General of the Italian Espresso National Institute

Without competition, there can be no improvement. This is a genetics law but it is true also for the business world. However, many companies in the coffee sector are not that keen on competition, especially if it is on the sensory impact of the blends. Think about wine, a product from which coffee should draw inspiration if it wants to a step further towards the life of consumers. There is an incredible number of guides with all sorts of comments – expressed in differing ways – valuations at exaggerated rhythms and competitions with tens of editions left behind.

In our business, the International Institute of Coffee Tasters has recently finalised an unprecedented investigation on quality at the bar: 907 surveys in bars in the entire Italian territory, 20 bars in he city centre of Milan and Rome examined by means of the environment and sensory analysis.

On the one hand, the joy of the winners has been expressed in quiet tones, on the other, the anger of the excluded has been strong to the extent that the poorly appeased acrimony reached the governing bodies of major institutions. We should be happy about this because it is anyhow a reaction which means that something will happen. We would like this to turn into food for thought for everybody on what to do to improve rather than to boil down to plain expression of sorrow.

These are our thoughts while we are busy with the organisation of another big event at an International level: the second edition of International Coffee Tasting. The first edition, in 2006, was a success. Not only in terms of the number of attendees. Some companies bought entire pages on newspapers to advertise the award they won. Other participants asked if it was possible to display the logo of the competition on their product. Let alone the company that received an order of coffee from a big Dutch agent in order to supply 5000 families with the gold medal product.

International Coffee Tasting is the first and only competition in the world of this kind. Its rules are based on the strict rules applied to wine tasting and defined by the International Organisation of Vines and Wine. Expert tasters from the International Institute of Coffee Tasters taste, anonymously, the coffee and the data is processed with the support of the most modern statistics techniques.

What else can be done? Well, we are already aware that the anger of the excluded will show once again.

The Coca-Cola Company and illycaffè SpA announced the companies have finalized their global joint venture and will be introducing three premium ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee products in several European countries in April. Consumers in 10 European countries will be able to purchase three premium ready-to-drink coffee products.
The products are:
• Caffè: bold, full-bodied character, real Italian ‘chilled caffe.’ First ready-to-drink coffee to offer black (no milk) espresso-based coffee.
• Cappuccino: intense uplifting aromas of illy espresso, blended with milk and dark cacao.
• Latte Macchiato: smooth fresh illy espresso experience, swirled with milk.
The products will be available in cans (150 ml for Caffè and 200 ml for the milk variants). All three offerings will be available in 10 European Coca-Cola Hellenic markets including Austria, Croatia, Greece and the Ukraine. The initial launch is a result of a joint venture between Ilko Coffee International and Coca-Cola Hellenic.
Additional countries in Europe, Asia, North America, Eurasia and the Pacific are slated for expansion throughout the remainder of 2008 and into 2009 and will be delivered through The Coca-Cola Company system.
The highly profitable RTD coffee category globally is valued at just under $16 billion and has experienced several years of growth that is expected to continue. Globally (excluding Japan), the ready-to-drink coffee category has grown at an average rate of 10.1% over the past five years.
“When we announced the partnership between The Coca-Cola Company and illy a few months ago, we committed to deliver the perfect ready to drink espresso experience”, said Muhtar Kent, president and chief operating officer, The Coca-Cola Company. “Today, we believe we have delivered on that promise with an authentic Italian coffee experience. I look forward to this partnership delivering these great brands across the globe and enhancing our global leadership in the fast growing RTD coffee category”.
“Over the past few months, we put the effort in to bringing to life the illy taste in three new ready to drink espresso-based products”, said Andrea Illy, illycaffè chairman. “Now, our objective is to give consistency – together with Coca-Cola – to what premium ready to drink coffee is. Coca-Cola in its history has invented entire new product categories. illycaffè is the company that greatly contributed to the definition of the espresso category. Together we will redefine how people engage with a ready to drink coffee in order to experience a true small luxury pleasure”.

(Carlo Odello)

Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO, was in Italy with a group of partners to study the coffee market in the country. In the last months he has been working on the repositioning of Starbucks, trying to face the threats coming from aggressive competitors as McDonald’s. Coffee Taster republishes the letter from Howard Schultz.

* * * *

Dear Partners,

As I write you this note, I’m flying back to Seattle with a small group of Starbucks partners after spending a few days in Italy. No, we were not there to open our first store in Rome, although I’m quite certain that day will surely come. We were there to conduct a market visit to take in “all things coffee,” and to have strategic discussions with leading food and beverage companies.

We tasted and consumed coffee in every coffee bar we encountered. We saw elegant designs, experienced the artistry of baristas, ate fantastic food, and were introduced to new and interesting product ideas for the future. It was exciting for me to, once again, return to where it all began. The Italian people are wonderful. Their passion for life, their love of food and wine, and their coffee, is contagious.

During our visit, I made the following observations:

The Barista — The Barista is highly trained and very skilled. He presents each cup of espresso with great care and pride after intently watching the pour of the shot. He steams the milk as an artisan to produce a velvety foam, and from time to time, truly elevates his work to “art.”

The Coffee — This will probably surprise you (and hopefully you will not view my assessment as arrogant, but rather as honest), but the coffee was not that good. It turns out that most Italian coffee roasters blend their coffee with robusta beans. This is most likely because of a need for increased profit, but as a result of this decision, much is lost in the cup. The coffee leaves you with a strong, acidic, somewhat sour taste on the side of your tongue. This taste was unpleasant and disagreeable, but prominent in almost all the coffee we tasted.

Despite the change in the taste of the coffee, the experience we had was overwhelmingly positive on both a personal and professional level. We all felt a strong sense of pride in our company and in all of you. For many years now, we have been a respectful inheritor of the Italian coffee culture. We have built our business honoring the very things we saw and experienced. And, in some cases, I am humbled to say, we have improved it.

All of you deliver a world class experience to our customers — one that I believe Italians would praise. We have challenges and opportunities ahead of us, but as long as we embrace our heritage and tradition, have faith in our coffee, our values, and our core purpose, we will continue to win the hearts and minds of our customers. As for the coffee, we never have and never will blend our coffee with robusta beans. We will leave that for others. It is important to note that today; we ethically source higher quality arabica coffee than in any other time in our history. And, in my view, we roast it at a quality level that is better than in the past because of new technology.

So, this trip brought me back to where it all began, but at the same time reinforced how good we are and how far we have come. We learned a lot. And, we will utilize much of this learning to keep pushing for innovation, while at the same time embracing our core, our people, and our coffee. All of which I am proud to say would stand tall even in the greatest coffee theatre of them all.

Thank you for all that you do.

Onward,

Howard

by Roberto Sala

Barista. His bar, the Mary’s Bar in Costa Masnaga, in the North of Italy, was set up by his great-grandparents in 1928. He was brought up surrounded by machines, bags and cups. Fifteen years ago he started his job behind the counter: from 2001, he is a coffee taster and Espresso Italiano Specialist.In February 2007, he has been appointed to the board of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters. He is the first barista who has been appointed to such a role.

Every day I pull up and down the shutter of my bar: we do this in my family ever since 1928. It’s now been 15 years since I started working behind the counter and preparing espressos and cappuccinos for those who, stopping by in this small town of mine in the North of Italy, decide to take a break or for the people who live here and regularly come to see me because they see my bar a part, so to say, an extra room, of their own house.

I love this job. And I like to do it thoroughly. Every single detail is important. This is the reason why I want to begin this column by speaking about the importance of details, which, at the end of the day, are not really details in that they make the difference between a skilled barista and a less skilled one.

Let us consider, for example, the resins of the softner. If they are not regenerated, as time goes by, the limestone will damage the mechanical components of the machine. In my bar I have a manual softner. I had an electronic one but I replaced it because I was not satisfied with its results. With the manual one I am using, I must devote at least one hour per week to its maintenance, a reason for which being that if the machine does not work properly, the coffee is less creamy. What sort of espresso is an espresso with a cream that does not deserve that name?

As I already said, details are important. The bell of the coffee grinder is often abandoned to the fat component of the coffee which coats it little by little with an opaque layer. Cleaning it is not simple because it is necessary to be careful and completely remove the oxidised fat otherwise the cup of coffee will be rancid. Normally, I use warm water and smell-less detergent – this is extremely important because I do not want to have in the air aromas other than those of the coffee.

Here is another detail: the steam wand. This is an important message to the client. First of all, at the level of the image you give, it is really annoying to see all those, too many actually, encrusted steam wands. It is also, and especially, important from the sensory point of view: if a wand encrusted with milk from a previous cappuccino is used for a new one how can the milk be whipped without leaving in it unpleasant aromas?

Mere details? Well, preparing an espresso is about details. Here are some other details. When I open a bag of coffee the first thing I do is observe the shape of the beans and sense their aromas. It is best to let it “breathe” for a while and not use it immediately. After one hour, approximately, I can put it in the machine. It goes without saying that I taste it personally to check the quality. The visual characteristics can be monitored for each espresso, while the gustatory sensations, the olfactory ones which are perceived directly and those which are perceived at the back of the mouth must be monitored all throughout the day. Indeed, many conditions can vary and have a negative impact on the sensory effect of the espresso. The basic parameters must, of course, always be kept under control: the pressure of the machine at 9 atmospheres, the water must be injected in the group at 88°C and the 7-gram dose of coffee must give in 25 seconds precisely 25 millimetres of espresso.

Some people might think that it is nothing more than an espresso. Some others might as well believe that the attention devoted to the very details in the preparation of the cappuccino is a gross exaggeration. Nonetheless, it is all about this: it is all the details that make the cup unique for our client. Otherwise, it is just a bit of ground coffee that undergoes a certain pressure. And so much for the pleasure of coffee.

by Luigi Odello

Secretary General of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters, he is also a lecturer at the University of Udine, Verona and at the Cattolica in Piacenza. In addition he is the Chairman of the Taster Study Center and Secretary General of the Italian Espresso National Institute

The coffee production cycle is long and, especially, all too often there is no contact between the various stages: whoever harvests the beans in the tropical countries rarely has an idea of how they will be processed and of the expectations of the final consumer.
We want to focus on this last element in that coffee, a successful one, in the future must be able to satisfy the desires of the consumers. It must be said that satisfying expectations is something that goes from the ritual modality to the place where you drink coffee. Having said this, the most important aspect is sensory trends.
Resorting to the ten points identified by the Taster Study Centre, we can try and define the profile of the winning coffee.

Increase in the number of taste-aware people
In future we will have more and more time availability and a part of this will lead to an increase in the number of taste-aware people. The sort of people who attend courses to regain their ability to make autonomous choices through an effective use of sense organs. We can see this trend already: just come to think about the 5.000 people who attended the courses of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters. The increase of such people will, as a consequence, bring about a more demanding research for the satisfaction of the pleasure that can come from coffee. Ultimately, this will mean that people will point out to each other the good and bad products available on the market. The quality-minded companies will have a certain alley, all the others will be penalised.

Evolution of the analytical approach to taste
The increasing conviction of the inability to have a role in handling the major social issues will lead individuals to create for themselves some micro cosmos where they can find self-confidence, self-satisfaction and, in general, rewards. The small pleasures in life will become increasingly important and coffee is, undoubtedly, one of these. Greater attention will be devoted to the quality of what we drink and people will want to match taste and knowledge so that they can boast their specific competence.

Decline of gender differences
Males and females will be more and more similar in terms of tastes and, ultimately, of consumption. Coffee will become a way of getting together and the places where to drink it will become a sort of a stage of social life. This will be the background against which new rituals and sensory experiences will be sought for.

Looking for the lost sensory experience
We do not know to what extent this is true but many people say that coffee no longer has the aroma it used to, that intense and varied smell that you could find everywhere inside the bar. The diffusion of consumption systems that pay less attention to the olfactory quality – take automatic machines – and of a certain type of blends for home use – where, when you are lucky, only the aroma of roasted beans dominates – have deprived the consumer of an effective offer to a demand which, probably, has its origins in our genes. Well, the future will be characterised by a wealth of individuals looking for these sensory experiences.

Back to genuine aromas
Power, perfection, deepness: these are the three distinguishing qualities of an excellent cup of coffee. The Italian espresso owes a bit of its international success to these expectations of the consumer, even if they are unconscious. It is a strong sum of aromas and, when these are good, they are at the heart of a sublime moment of sensory satisfaction.
The preparation method is important because it can extract the very best from a blend but there is always the other face of the coin: if the blend is of poor quality, the negative sides of it will be even more noticeable compared with extracting via softer methods (e.g. filter and moka pot).
The return to genuine aromas will also reduce the trend to some experiences, such as aromatisation of coffee, whilst producing an increase of traditional matches, i.e. with milk or, in some cultures, with distillates.

The floral goes universal
Floral is the smell of life itself and is climbing the stairs of appreciation. In the coffee it finds its best expression in the varieties ripened at high altitudes – where the difference in temperature between day and night is sharper – subject to wet processing and then left for fermentation in pure and fresh waters. The not-too-strongly-roasted blends which have high quantities of the floral aroma will benefit from this and the same goes for consumption of pure varieties, single-origins which are becoming increasingly popular in Italy.

Decline of the fruity
The fruity aroma is one of the big favourites in that it is a promise of easily absorbable energy sources. Over time, in the industrial economies, it has been widely used to make products such as drugs more pleasant, hence being associated to negative things. In the coffee it almost always goes hand in hand with the floral and it is less strong than other sensations, consequently it will have no influence on consumption.

Cultural contaminations
Globalisation will produce a parallel and transversal flattening off of different consumption methods. If, till yesterday, Italy drank espresso and the US the filter coffee, already now, but especially tomorrow, the Americans will want espresso and Italians will be looking for other preparation methods. The segmentation between the various types will happen depending on the time of day: a long coffee for the morning, might be a single-origin, an espresso at the mid-morning break, a moka after lunch, for example.
The popularity of machines that are fed with coffee in beans, making it possible to have different preparations, will support this trend. And coffee will become more and more a ritual and always less of a habit.

Looking for softness
The world needs caresses. Therefore, from a tactile point of view, the coffee will be required to be more and more silky and absolutely astringent. The Italian espresso prepared with good-quality blends will be better positioned because it will have body, it will be syrup-like and creamy. Beverages such as cappuccino, which due to their nature have a remarkable tactile tenderness, will be rewarded. And with cream being criticised because of health issues, it will be up to traditional genuine beverages to satisfy the need for softness.

Looking for sensory consistency
Even if the consumer is not an expert taster, her/his subconscious verifies the level of consistency between the perceptions given by the various sense organs or between the perceptions of a different nature given by the same sense. In the coffee, the floral/fruity must keep a certain relationship with the roasted/spicy, the acidity with the bitterness, the bitterness and the roasted note with the colour of the creamy froth. From a coffee prepared with filter or moka, nobody expects neither the creamy froth nor the syrup-like touch, while for an espresso this is of paramount importance. And you name it.

Final observations
To wrap up, the coffee for the future will be the type of coffee capable of satisfying both taste and knowledge, the ritual moments and the needs of the life torn between increasingly hectic working styles and the desire to enjoy leisure time and, especially, through the little pleasures and the time we devote to ourselves. For coffee, if satisfactory from a sensory point of view, we can imagine what follows:

• a new interest in single-origin varieties;
• increase in consumption of coffee in beans both at home and at the workplace thanks to the new machines which make it possible to immediately grind coffee and prepare different types of it;
• greater use of single-dose coffee both at home and at the workplace;
• survival of traditional methods, e.g. the moka pot in Italy, which leave margins for a remarkable rituality and enable an adequate use of single-origin varieties;
• growth of Italian espresso in the world.

Handpresso launches “Handpresso Wild”, a portable tool to prepare espresso. According to the producer Handpresso Wild would prepare “a tasty espresso with a perfect crema”. The user has to pump the machine to 16 bars, add hot water from a kettle or a thermo insulated bottle and an E.S.E. pod. Then, he would be able “to serve a premium quality coffee in the cup by pushing the button” (see video below). Handpresso Wild costs € 99,00 (US$ 145,00).

(Carlo Odello)

Stefan Schmitt reports on coffee in Germany in an article published by Spiegel On Line. Historical, economic and social information is provided. In 2007 Germans drank 20% espresso more than in 2006. For the first time the quantity of coffee roasted in Germany for espresso reached that of roasted coffee imported from Italy.

(Carlo Odello, source: Spiegel On Line)