Wednesday, 20 April 2022For most people, they really like coffee. Enjoying coffee has become a habit for everyone when relaxing, hanging out with friends or when taking a break from work. But have you ever known how to make coffee with traditional tools? This time I will show you how to make your own coffee with traditional tools and in this way you can make your own ground coffee at home.
For coffee connoisseurs, many of you must know that traditional ground coffee making is always considered to be able to produce coffee with a true distinctive taste and aroma. Because this traditional method allows the original character of the coffee to be well preserved. That's why in this modern era with so many coffee makers in circulation, there are still many coffee connoisseurs who always make their favorite coffee drinks using traditional techniques.
We can do this traditional way of making coffee grounds in several stages that are interrelated with each other. Starting from picking coffee cherries from coffee plantations, sorting coffee cherries, peeling coffee skins, drying coffee beans, frying coffee beans, to the stage of grinding coffee beans so we can produce the coffee powder we want.
The following are several stages of making ground coffee traditionally
1. Selection of selected coffee beans
At this first stage, we have to pick the coffee cherries first. This picking is done on coffee cherries that are quite ripe. The characteristics of the coffee fruit are the perfect red color, the texture is quite soft, and the coffee aroma is felt.
According to farmers who have coffee trees, usually this coffee plant will produce fruit at the end of the dry season around September to October. Once picked, the coffee cherries are collected in a special container to be sorted or selected according to size and maturity level.
2. Sorting coffee beans
As explained earlier, after picking the coffee cherries, the next step is to sort the coffee cherries first. The sorting of coffee cherries is done based on the size of the cross section and also the level of maturity. The goal is to be able to maintain the quality of the coffee produced, especially for coffee cherries that have good quality.
Not only that, sorting coffee cherries can also be useful when frying coffee beans, all of which can be cooked evenly because they are the same size. While the raw coffee cherries that are carried away, we should separate them ourselves because they can damage the taste and aroma of the coffee, because the coffee produced later tastes even more bitter.
3. Peeling the skin from the coffee beans
The third step after the coffee is sorted is to peel the coffee. Traditionally, we peel the skin of this coffee fruit by pounding it with traditional tools such as a mortar and pestle.
But be careful when hitting the pestle on the coffee cherries, don't let the coffee cherries break. After being pounded several times, the epidermis, fruit pulp, and coffee shell will peel off by itself.
4. Drying coffee beans
The coffee beans that we peeled earlier then we dried first under direct sunlight for 5-7 days, we need to do this drying process in order to reduce the water content that is still contained in the coffee beans, so the water content will be later remaining about 30-35%. These perfectly dried coffee beans can then be transferred to a frying pan for roasting.
5. Filtering coffee beans
In the coffee bean roasting process, so that the results can be optimal, we can use a coffee roaster machine. But you can also use a frying pan, but it is recommended that the pan is made of iron that is thick enough, so that the heat can be evenly and stable later.
For the fuel itself, it is recommended to use a wood stove instead of a gas stove, because it can add its own enjoyment and aroma to the coffee that will be produced. During this roasting process, we have to turn the coffee beans back and forth periodically so that the beans don't burn. In essence, we roast the coffee beans until the surface turns a dark brown color, the coffee aroma is more fragrant, and also easy to crush. For example, the process of frying 2 kg of coffee beans usually takes up to 2 hours.
6. Grinding coffee grounds
The last step is grinding the coffee beans that we have roasted earlier to become powder. We can do this grinding process using a coffee grinder, we do this if we want to produce in large quantities, but if we want it the traditional way, we can pound it again in a mortar like before until it is smooth. We do this pounding repeatedly so that the resulting coffee powder can have a smooth texture.
After being ground, we still need to sieve this coffee powder again, the goal is to be able to separate the coffee powder particles that are still quite large. If so, it is better if we store the kopu powder from this processing in a clean, dry, and tightly closed container, so that the enjoyment can be maintained.
So that's more or less how to make ground coffee traditionally that we can do ourselves at home. For coffee connoisseurs, this method can definitely add to the taste and appeal of the coffee itself because it is processed in a natural way, especially since this coffee has become one of the most frequently consumed commodities by the public. So it's not impossible that one day you can run your own coffee-making business.
Lead image from unsplash
