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The social oil

Coffee drinking is connected to rituals, rituals we hardly notice, because they are so obvious. “Shall we get a coffee?” this can be an invitation to a short break or a confidential conversation. It is expected that you say yes. What would our social life be without the coffee? It contributes to creating an easier atmosphere, i.e. when difficult problems are being discussed. Most of all the coffee is an institution in the Christian business life.

The drinking habits

The drinking habits in Scandinavia and the rest of Europe are different. The coffee habits and the alcohol habit vary a lot.
In France and Italy coffee is mostly a “public” drink, in Scandinavia it is a “at home” or “at work” drink.

A good number two

After water coffee is the most common drink world wide. The global consummation of coffee was 113.6 million bags in the coffee year 2003/2004 (a coffee year is from October 1. – October 1.) That is equal to 6 816 million kilos! This popularity has led the coffee to the top of the commerce statistics of the world’s raw materials. Only the oil represents a higher value.

Coffee is a work intensive product, and millions of people are involved in production, refinement, export, transport, sales and distribution of coffee.

Coffee consumption in the North

0, 3% of the world’s population live in Scandinavia. But this little area imports 5, 5% of all the coffee in the word! About 10kilos of coffee is the consumption of an average Norwegian each year. That makes about three cups a day.

The coffee plant

Soil, air, water, heat and a good portion of care. These are the elements that are required to make the best coffee beans. The coffee plant is best of when the temperature stays between 19-25ºC. It is with coffee beans as with wine grapes, there are good districts and there are less good districts. The coffee production is a vulnerable industry. Diseases, dries and frost are the enemies of the coffee plant.

The refinement of Coffee

The Norwegian brands are a mixture of many different kinds of coffee. A coffee brand is not just put together from different kinds of beans from different countries. It may also consist of washed and unwashed beans – or both. It is seldom to get the same raw material year after year, because the quality of the beans depends on the soil and the climate. That is why the purchaser needs to be very strict with testing the different kinds to taste which kinds can be used in the mixture. It is a difficult task to make a coffee mixture taste the same each year.

Cupping
Cupping is when you sit around a table and taste many cups of coffee that are lined up. Every coffee producer has a laboratory where their experts put together the right combination.

Coffee burning
The beans are rotated in a “burning machine” in a temperature between 200-220ºC for 5-10 minutes. During this time the coffee goes through a transformation process. The burning reduces the water and brings out the flavour and aroma. The longer the beans are burned, the darker they get.

Lasting
Raw coffee, ore unprocessed coffee beans, lasts not only weeks or months, but even years. The age of the beans affects the flavour. After the burning the beans are a fresh product that should get as little contact with air as possible. The coffee will gradually loose its taste and aroma when it is in contact with air. When a bag of coffee is opened it should be used within a week. The coffee is best kept in its bag, because the producers put a lot of work and resources in removing all air from the bag.

Harvest

In the lands of the coffee belt around equator the harvest of coffee takes place at different times of the year. Here are some main seasons: (A= Arabica, R= Robusta)

Angola AR: April- June, May – September
Brasil AR: April – September, April – September
Ethiopia A: October – December
Guatemala A: August – March
Java AR: June – December, May – September
Kenya A: October – March
Mexico A: October – March
Papua New Guinea A: April – September
Vietnam AR: December – January, January - March