Coffee quality - a search for definition.

The definition of quality is very elusive in almost everything that we come in contact with. Quality is more easily defined in such things as durable goods including automobiles, vacuum cleaners, televisions, personal computers, as well as many other items similarly constructed.

Obviously, we can define quality for these items by the way they perform over long periods of time, how many times they need to be repaired, how reliable they are in their performance, and how well they meet the objectives of what we are seeking to accomplish with them. In an automobile, we look for a vehicle that is relatively free from repairs, runs well consistently over a long period of time, is well constructed so it doesn't rattle, and generally gives overall satisfaction.

There are many companies that are in the quality rating business and for these items, rating quality is based on long term performance. However, when it comes to food and drink, we are much less able to be objective because there are no clear measuring devices as to what we look for in beverage and food quality. We have often heard the expression "one man's nectar is another man's poison" and that certainly goes for food and drink.

Some people like their food spicy, while other people like their food bland. Both can be defined as having good quality, but it depends on whom they please. When it comes to coffee, we have a very difficult situation in defining what good quality is all about.

The so-called coffee expert, the experienced coffee taster, or someone that has been in the coffee business for many years has certain yardsticks by which he measures quality. These standards may not always be accepted by a large percentage of the population even if they are accepted by other experts who have been in the business for long periods of time. In coffee, what is perceived as quality also differs greatly from country to country and from continent to continent.

In North America, consumers like a coffee of medium roast and generally prefer a coffee that is composed of a blend containing mainly Arabica coffees and few, if any, Robusta type coffees. This type of quality perception is also shared by the Scandinavian countries who are very similar in their definition of coffee quality to the United States. On the other hand, the French prefer a much darker roast and they prefer their coffee in a blend of Arabica and Robusta coffees.

The same can be said for the Italians and there is a totally different coffee culture in Italy. The major portion of coffee is the espresso type, which is drunk in a small cup or demi-tasse and very rarely consumed in a full cup, except perhaps at breakfast where it is mixed with a large amount of milk. This is also the case in France, where it is called Cafe-Au-Lait. This is the breakfast drink for the French and contains probably anywhere from 30 to 50% coffee and the rest is milk. Many Frenchmen consider that a high quality product, whereas Americans would certainly not agree.

There are many variations of roast color and blend composition all over the world, which are perceived to be good quality but are very much at variance with what is considered good quality in the United States and the Scandinavian countries. Let's try to define, at least in experienced coffeemen's terms, what is perceived as good quality in the United States.

First of all, it should be a blend of all Arabica coffees with no Robusta coffee. This blend should probably contain a majority of washed high grown coffees and some percentage of good Brazilian coffee. Again, the opinions about what constitutes fine quality varies from coffee expert to coffee expert, but nevertheless, there will be little argument that the above described blend composition can produce excellent quality coffee.

The second ingredient, of course, is the proper roasting of the coffee and, here again, there is some difference as to the degree of roast that is required to obtain the best possible extraction. A medium roast is generally considered the proper type of roast for U.S. coffee consumption and can be considered the optimum quality in this respect.

Next comes the grind, and here the difference can be vast in terms of what the final beverage quality will be like. Nevertheless, there are some good guidelines depending on the type of brewing equipment that is used. The proper grind for the specific type of equipment has been pretty well established through a set of grind standards which were developed by the former Coffee Brewing Center and the coffee industry as a whole. These standards are fairly well accepted throughout and, if properly followed, will no doubt produce an optimum quality coffee. Also necessary for quality coffee is clean, good brewing equipment.

Brewing equipment can be evaluated probably more objectively than coffee itself because one can chart the performance of equipment and how it extracts coffee. Using instruments which measure the final strength of the beverage and can detect the soluble solids in the final brew, it can be determined whether the optimum quality is reached. Nevertheless, these standards have been set up by so-called experts over a period of years and are not necessarily shared by the population as a whole.

Another important ingredient in the quality of the final coffee beverage is the type of water being used. As we all know, in the United States water varies greatly from place to place, city to city, county to country, and state to state. There are many different water qualities all over our country.

The average consumer knows very little about this, nor does he know that only about 1.5% of the total beverage is actually soluble solids of coffee and the rest is water. Therefore, even with the best quality of coffee, the proper roast, the proper grind, and the proper equipment the coffee quality can be perceived as very poor if the water quality is not suitable to brewing good coffee.

Very little can be done about this because it would take a major educational campaign for the consumer to find out how important water is in brewing coffee and what type of water should be used for optimum results. This is another area that makes it so difficult to define coffee quality.

One of the most difficult questions to answer for this writer is; "what is the best coffee that I can buy?" Most of the time I answer "it really is the coffee that you prefer", having probably bought many different blends in retail grocery stores over a period of years.

Certainly people have strong opinions of what they like and while one consumer may like Folgers or Maxwell House, another consumer would rather go to a specialty store and buy Kenya AA or some other exotic blend.

In the final analysis, the definition of quality can not be objectively established when it comes to coffee. Certain guidelines, as pointed out above, are certainly a good measuring stick for coffee, but again the average consumer is not knowledgeable about the difference between Arabica and Robusta coffee. The consumer rarely knows what the blend content of a specific blend which he is purchasing may be, except if it is so labeled.

In today's specialty coffee world, of course, the consumer has some options where blend content is described and he does have the ability to select the better Arabica coffees for his blend if he so chooses.

Nevertheless, no one has really told him what is the best and how to combine these coffees into the most palatable blend, so the judgement of the average consumer becomes very subjective.

In other words, coffee quality is a pretty subjective topic and there is really no way to find a universally acceptable definition, whether it be in the United States or any other country.

Like any other food product or other beverage, it is the consumer who determines what he likes best and that is what he will continue to buy.