"Monsooning"
There's a story in your cup...
Jon Thorne, in his excellent work, The Coffee Companion, tells us that "in the days when goods and people were transported to and from India under sail, it could take a ship several months to travel to europe. During the journey the green beans were exposed to high levels of humidity, and this changed both their flavor and their color, until by the journey's end they had turned from green to a curious shade of yellow.
Customers became used to this and when steamships shortened the journey time, coffee producers still wanted the color and flavor of the voyage-affected beans. In order to reproduce these characteristics, the process of "monsooning" was introduced.
The monsoon occurs i the southwest of India in May and June and during this period the beans are spread to a depth of 5 to 8 inches in special open-sided buildings where they are left for five days and raked over from time to time so that all the beans are exposed to the air, which has an unusually high degree of humidity at this time. The beans are loosely packed into bags and stacked so that the monsoon winds can blow around and over the sacks. The sacks are repacked and restacked once a week for seven weeks, until the beans have changed flavor and color." The result is a smooth, rich spicy, full bodied cup of coffee!
Jon Thorne, in his excellent work, The Coffee Companion, tells us that "in the days when goods and people were transported to and from India under sail, it could take a ship several months to travel to europe. During the journey the green beans were exposed to high levels of humidity, and this changed both their flavor and their color, until by the journey's end they had turned from green to a curious shade of yellow.
Customers became used to this and when steamships shortened the journey time, coffee producers still wanted the color and flavor of the voyage-affected beans. In order to reproduce these characteristics, the process of "monsooning" was introduced.
The monsoon occurs i the southwest of India in May and June and during this period the beans are spread to a depth of 5 to 8 inches in special open-sided buildings where they are left for five days and raked over from time to time so that all the beans are exposed to the air, which has an unusually high degree of humidity at this time. The beans are loosely packed into bags and stacked so that the monsoon winds can blow around and over the sacks. The sacks are repacked and restacked once a week for seven weeks, until the beans have changed flavor and color." The result is a smooth, rich spicy, full bodied cup of coffee!