When we speak of coffee, our collective imagination immediately calls up its emblematic icon: the oblong coffee bean, rounded on one side, sinuous line crossing lengthwise down the flatter side.

The former, grown worldwide, is aromatically more complex, with greater nuances; upon sensory analysis it offers interesting sensations enhanced by the existence of a hundred odd varieties. Natural processing – using sunshine or driers (and sometimes both) to dry the mucilage on the coffee nut – confers greater body (viscosity) to the beverage and reduces acidity in the taste.

Longer fermentation in tanks, cultivation at higher altitudes and the contour of the land all enhance the flavor, each in a different way. Then there is another method of processing, a hybrid that blends the other two, a sort of semi-processing (of which there are several versions). The use of this system gives the coffee a slight acidity – not like that of citrus fruits but more like cacao – and the body is less intense than with the dry method. There is, however, a growing sensation that this form of preparation, increasingly widespread in coffee growing countries, tends to level out and standardize aromas.

The Canephora species has fewer chromosomes (22 vs the 44 in Arabica) and this results in its lack of acidity. Grown throughout the world, but above all in Africa, Asia and Brazil where it is called Conilon, it is prepared using the same processes employed for Arabica. The natural coffees are, therefore, full-bodied and strong, with earthy, sweet and woody overtones. Washed coffees are not acidic but the water cleanses away some of the flavors and thus such coffees tend to be more neutral.

And we must not forget that there are other methods for processing the raw coffee: in India they use the monsoon winds and rains to give the product a yellowish color and a particularly suave, spice flavor. This preparation was introduced to replicate the transformation that once occurred when the coffee beans spent months at sea in masted barks.

In Indonesia, on the island of Java, the product is washed with the WIB system (from the Dutch West Indische Bereiding), a process that, particularly in espresso, brings out a consistent cream, intense body with a particular aroma of chocolate and spices.

And we must not fail to mention polished coffee, a system whose resulting beverage is more neutral in the cup, etc.

The commercial trends have further multiplied the types, and their diversity: today, with decaffeination, even people sensitive to the effects of caffeine can still enjoy coffee. Institutions have arisen to optimize organic cultivation and to help the growers through fair trade supports. And still more: today, competitions reveal the increasing emphasis on rewarding the batches (even very small ones) of special coffees particularly rich in aromas.

In conclusion, we can say that the world of coffee presents and intriguing universe, like the galaxies we seek to observe in the sky on a clear summer night.

But we cannot drink the stars…