Fenavin 2009: Spain's national wine fair gets better

I was reading this article last Tuesday and I found it interesting. It is about Fenavin, short for Fiera Nacional del Vino (or National Wine Fair in English). It's objective is always to be the Spanish Wine Fair of Reference - internationally and domestically. The exhibition area covered 30,000 square meters of space, showcasing 1,200 wineries and over 6,000 different wines, that comes from all the wine regions of Spain.

The most unique feature of Fenavin, as the writer says itself, was the Wine Gallery. The Wine Gallery is where representative wines from the different exhibitors are lined up from cava, white varietal, red varietal and sherries for easy visitor's tasting and reference. Each wine comes with an informative index card that contains the name of winery, brand name, estimated price in euro, viticultural notes, variteal components, awards and ratings, other pertinent info, plus the Fenavin both location of the Bodega.

The concept is brilliant, after going through tastings and choosing which varietal one prefer, you can then jot down the wine you like, get the booth location and then transact with the Bodega concern directly.

The Wine Gallery has 300 wines around estimated by the writer. The Wine Gallery covered all sorts of varietals from popular international favorites Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay, Savignon Blanc to Spanish staples Tempranillo, Garnacha, Verdejo, Albariòo, and to more unheard of varietals of Bobal, Sumoll, Tardana and Hondarribi Zuri. Wines cam from all over Spain, and a good percentage of the wines were also blends.

Fenavin 2009 was a great experience as the writer have said and there is definitely no other event that can get wine buyers, wine importers, wine writers-both international and local, to learn about Spanish exclusively. Congratulations to Fenavin for its world-class wine event.

Let's Have A Toast!

Having a toast in a celebration does not necessarily mean that there is something to celebrate. It means that sometimes we have to toast as a traditional manner that we are used to do especially when we are drinking. I, for now, didn't have that kind of manner because I am just drinking in the streets, I mean, I am drinking in gatherings and not-so-important parties. We are used to drink even if there is nothing to celebrate.

I am used to go to celebrations like the after-party, graduations, birthdays, reunions and other casual gatherings. When I am drinking I just choose the ones that are of great taste. I mean, if I were to drink, I will choose the best wine available in that party. That wine will be stuck in my mind for a long time because of its taste.

In the past years, I had been tasting so many alcoholic drinks like red wine, tequila, beer, vodka and other hard drinks. Hard because it's the way we call it. The word hard means that the drink have a high percentage of alcohol. I also have this habit that I always keep in mind the brands of the alcoholic drinks that we take like for example are the local ones like Fundador Brandy, Gran Matador Brandy, Emperador Brandy, Cossack Vodka, Generoso Brandy (the one that I drink when it was my first time), Red Horse Beer, and San Miguel Light Beer, the foreign ones would be Red Label. As what have you red, I am used to drink brandies because that are the ones that we always drink. I am also fond of drinking wines such as Novelino Red and White wine.

As I become a young adult, I am starting to drink social wines. Maybe in my future I would become a wine specialist, who knows? So, all I need to do now is to keep this up and just drink the good ones.

Drink moderately.

Everyone Is Concern To Coffee Crisis

Anyone in this world can possibly be concern to this coffee crisis that was started. I mean, in all the times economy is always in the headlines when it comes to crisis. Why don't we get to be aware of this kind of crisis of coffee in the world? In such times that coffee has an impact in our lives and we have to respond to this kind of crisis sometimes.

When the coffee crisis hits home, Mexico is very affected.

Coffee is not native to Mexico, yet since it arrived on Mexican shores in 1796; it has evolved into a central aspect of social, economic, and cultural life. Today 320,000 growers produce coffee in twelve states of the republic. From bush to brew, the coffee industry employs over three million people. Nearly 6% of the economically active population of Mexico depends on the crop for their livelihoods, and in the countryside the figure rises to a quarter of the population.

The current crisis in international coffee prices has hit rural Mexico hardest where people are poorest and living conditions most precarious. Of Mexico's coffee-growing townships, 84% register high or very high levels of poverty. In contrast to the large plantation farming common in other parts of the world, in Mexico most coffee growers are smallholders and 65% are indigenous.

Prices to Mexican producers have plummeted over the past few years and hit historic lows in 2002. Mexican coffee growers cannot break even in today's market, but the lack of other options keeps them trapped in a downward spiral. Failure to solve the current crisis could not only destroy the livelihoods of thousands of growers, but also lead to massive out-migration, cultural disruption, and serious environmental threats to some of the nation's most valuable and vulnerable regions.

The current price to the producer ranges between 28 cents/lb to unorganized growers and 41 cents/lb for members of growers' cooperatives. Costs of production vary but average around $1.00/lb.

At the same time, the crisis in producer prices has created a buyers market that offers spectacular profits to large intermediaries, particularly transnational roasters and branders. Transnational corporations have expanded their presence in the Mexican market as buyers, processors and retailers. Since Mexico exports 85% of its coffee, the sector is highly dependent on the vagaries of the international market and the interests of transnational actors.

Several factors have converged to distort the market: oversupply, a lack of product differentiation on the global trading level, defective and low quality coffee in the market and high concentration among roasting and branding companies.

The crisis in international prices has also affected the Mexican crop and its perspectives for future production. In the past two seasons, many small growers could not afford to harvest their coffee beans. The National Coalition of Coffee Organizations (CNOC) reports that an estimated 20% of last season's crop was left to rot in the fields last year.

Producers have few defences in the present global context. Since 1989 when the government dismantled the national production-processing-marketing board (Mexican Coffee Institute-Inmecafe), they have had to struggle to take over former state functions. Faced with huge deficits in all areas of basic infrastructure--transportation, processing facilities, financing, and market information-most growers must still sell their unprocessed coffee at below cost to any intermediary who has a vehicle and offers ready cash.

But some have been able to build up strong grassroots growers' cooperatives that can collectively negotiate higher prices, develop new markets and directly export their product. The cycle of crises since 1989 has compelled small growers to seek alternatives and opened the way to the creation of independent peasant cooperatives and small-producers groups. Under adverse conditions, many of these have consolidated their organizations over the years and taken on the difficult tasks of collectively processing and direct-marketing their members" coffee and their efforts result in producer prices often 20% above the going market price.

These organizations have made important inroads in solidarity and fair trade markets by establishing direct links between consumers and producers. They have increased the quality of their coffees to access gourmet and specialty markets worldwide. Mexico leads the world in the production of organic coffee. The grassroots growers" organizations pioneered organic production in the country and continue to convert to organic to save money on costly chemical inputs, avoid short and long-term environmental damage and take advantage of the premium paid for these coffees.

By combining coffee cultivation with basic foods production and protection of some of the earth's richest biodiversity areas, peasant growers' organizations have marked a path toward socially and environmentally sustainable coffee production in Mexico. Their experiences offer elements for modifying the global model based on principles of equitable trade relations and conservation of cultural and biological diversity.

What Caffeine Contributes...

There is a large amount of caffeine in every coffee that we drink. Many people do not know what is caffeine as an ingredient of coffee. Aside from being a help in preventing the risk of cancer and being a stimulant, it is also had been proven to be one of the many vitamins and minerals that is helpful in fighting serious diseases.

According to some encyclopedias, caffeine is a bitter-tasting, odorless stimulant drug. Caffeine is also part of the chemical mixtures and insoluble complexes guaranine found in guarana, mateine found in mate, and theine found in tea; all of which contain additional alkaloids such as the cardiac stimulants theophylline and theobromine, and often in other chemicals.

It is fast-working, beginning its effects within minutes after being consumed. Caffeine from coffee or other beverages is absorbed by the stomach and small intestine within 45 minutes of ingestion and then distributed throughout all tissues of the body. It is eliminated by first-order kinetics. Caffeine can also be ingested rectally, evidenced by the formulation of suppositories of ergotamine tartrate and caffeine (for the relief of migraine) and chlorobutanol and caffeine (for the treatment of hyperemesis).

Acting on the central nervous system, caffeine increases the uptake of oxygen in the lungs, speeds up metabolism, and quickens the heart rate and pulse. These effects lead to enhanced alertness while decreasing drowsiness and general fatigue. Caffeine is also a diuretic, and it stimulates vasconstriction. Vasconstriction can help relieve vascular headaches, those caused by dilation of the blood vessels in the head. Caffeine also may increase muscular capacity and coordination. The drug is broken down and excreted from the body within a few hours.

The precise amount of caffeine necessary to produce effects varies from person to person depending on body size and degree of tolerance to caffeine. It takes less than an hour for caffeine to begin affecting the body and a mild dose wears off in three to four hours. Consumption of caffeine does not eliminate the need for sleep; it only temporarily reduces the sensation of being tired throughout the day. With these effects, caffeine is an ergogenic, increasing the capacity for mental or physical labor.

Caffeine relaxes the internal anal sphincter muscles and thus should be avoided by those with fecal incontinence. Because caffeine is primarily an antagonist of the central nervous system's receptors for the neurotransmitter adenosine, the bodies of individuals who regularly consume caffeine adapt to the continual presence of the drug by substantially increasing the number of adenosine receptors in the central nervous system. This increase in the number of the adenosine receptors makes the body much more sensitive to adenosine, with two primary consequences. First, the stimulatory effects of caffeine are substantially reduced, a phenomenon known as a tolerance adaptation. Second, because these adaptive responses to caffeine make individuals much more sensitive to adenosine, a reduction in caffeine intake will effectively increase the normal physiological effects of adenosine, resulting in unwelcome withdrawal symptoms in tolerant users.

Several large studies have shown that caffeine intake is associated with a reduced risk of developing Parkinson's disease (PD) in men, but studies in women have been inconclusive. The mechanism by which caffeine affects PD remains a mystery. In animal models, researchers have shown that caffeine can prevent the loss of dopamine-producing nerve cells seen in Parkinson's disease, but researchers still do not know how this occurs.

An array of studies found that caffeine could have nootropic effects, inducing certain changes in memory and learning. Researchers have found that long-term consumption of low dose caffeine slowed hippocampus-dependent learning and impaired long-term memory in mice. Caffeine consumption for 4 weeks also significantly reduced hippocampal neurogenesis compared to controls during the experiment. The conclusion was that long-term consumption of caffeine could inhibit hippocampus-dependent learning and memory partially through inhibition of hippocampal neurogenesis.

As of what the passages have said, caffeine is probably one of the most healthiest drugs to be used but definitely not to be abused.

A Taste Of Every Coffee

There are lots of kinds of coffee out there waiting to be tasted. I mean, every coffee out there have a great taste and culture. We are used to drink coffee but we haven't noticed that there are so many kinds of them. As of what I have known, there are many kinds of coffee but the most popular are in the list below with some of its pictures.

• Café Mocha is a variant of café latte. Like a latte it is typically one third espresso and two thirds steamed milk, but a portion of chocolate is added, usually in the form of chocolate syrup although some use instant chocolate powder. Mochas can contain dark or milk chocolate. A term moccaccino is used in some regions of Europe and the Middle East to describe Café Latte with cocoa or chocolate. In the U.S. it usually refers to a cappuccino made with chocolate.

• Cappuccino is a coffee-based drink prepared with espresso, hot milk, and steamed milk foam. A cappuccino differs from a café latte in that it is prepared with much less steamed or textured milk than the café latte with the total of espresso and milk/foam making up between approximately 150 mL and 180 mL (5 and 6 fluid ounces). A cappuccino is traditionally served in a porcelain cup, which has far better heat retention characteristics than glass or paper. The foam on top of the cappuccino acts as an insulator and helps retain the heat of the liquid, allowing it to stay hotter longer.

• Frappuccino is the name and registered trademark of a Starbucks blended ice beverage and a bottled coffee beverage.

• Mochasippi is a drink prepared by baristas in Community Coffee houses located in the Southern United States, commonly known as CC’s. it is similar the Mocha Frappuccino of Starbucks coffee houses. Unlike a Frappuccino, a Mochasippi contains actual shots espresso rather than a powdered instant coffee.

• Cortado is an espresso with a small amount of warm milk to produce the acidity. The ratio of milk to coffee is between 1:1 – 1:2, and the milk is added after the espresso. The steamed milk hasn’t much foam, but many baristas make some micro foam to make latte art. It’s usually served in a special glass, often with a metal ring base and metal wire handle. There are several variations including cortado condensada (espresso with condensed milk) and leche y leche (with condensed milk and cream on top).

• Macchíato is an Italian word, meaning “marked” or “stained”. It is frequently used to refer to two separate coffee drinks.

Caffe Macchíato (also known as Espresso Macchíato or Short Macchíato)

Latte Macchíato (also known as Long Macchíato)

• Affogato is a coffee-based beverage or dessert. “Affogato style”, which refers to the act of topping a drink or dessert with espresso, may also incorporate caramel sauce or chocolate sauce.

• Liqueur Coffee is a coffee brew with a 25 mL shot of liqueur. This brew is usually served in a clear, clean, pre-heated, liqueur coffee glass with the coffee and cream separated for good visual and taste effect. The liqueur of choice is added first with a teaspoon of raw cane sugar mixed in. The glass in then filled to within an inch of the top with good, strong, fresh filter coffee. Fresh, chilled, additive free, slightly whipped cream is then poured carefully over the back of a cold teaspoon, so that it floats on top of the coffee and liqueur mixture. The sugar is required in the coffee mixture to help the cream float.

• Café Americano is a style of coffee prepared by adding espresso to hot water, giving a similar strength but different flavor from regular drip coffee. The strength of Americano varies the number of shots of espresso added.

• Flat White is prepared by pouring the creamy steamed milk from the bottom of the jug over a single shot (30 mL) of espresso. The drink is sometimes in a small 150-160 mL ceramic cup. The stretched and texturised milk is prepared by entraining air into the milk and folding the top layer into the lower layers. To achieve the “flat”, non-frothy texture the steamed milk with smaller bubbles, making the drink smooth and velvety in texture.

• Greek Frappé coffee is a foam-covered iced coffee drink made from spray-dried instant coffee. It is very popular in Greece especially during summer, but has now spread on to other countries. In French, when describing a drink, the word frappe means shaken and/or chilled; however, in popular Greek culture, the word frappe is predominantly taken refer to the shaking associated with the preparation of a café frappe.

• Yuanyang, sometimes called Ying Yong, is a popular beverage in Hong Kong, made up of a mixture of coffee and Hong Kong-style milk tea. It was originally served at dai pai dongs (open air food vendors) and cha chaan tengs (café), but is now available in various types of restaurants. It can be served hot or cold. The name yuanyang, which refers to mandarin ducks, is a symbol of conjugal love on Chinese culture, as the birds usually appear in pairs and the male and female look very different. This same connotation of “pair” of two unlike items used to name this drink.

Coffee-holic Sensation!

Coffeeholic, a term used by some people who are literally addicted in drinking coffee. What makes them happy?? I don't know, maybe because of the ingredients coffee does have especially its caffeine, we will talk about that later. So, coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the world that's why it has different kinds and culture where it was came from. So, let us define what coffee is.

Coffee is a brewed beverage prepared from roasted seeds, commonly called coffee berries, of the coffee plant. Due to its caffeine content, coffee has a stimulating effect in humans. Coffee was first consumed in the ninth century, when it was discovered in the highlands of Ethiopia. Coffee berries are produced by several species of small evergreen bush of the genus Coffea. Coffee plant is a shrub found growing in areas where there is moderate rainfall and the climate is neither hot nor cold. It is a member of Rubiaceous family, a widely distributed family of mostly tropical trees and shrubs and herbs. The two most common species are Coffea canephora (also known as Coffea robusta) and Coffea arabica. These are cultivated in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Coffee berries are green initially, then turn yellow, red, deep red and then almost black. The beans are plucked, dried and roasted when they are red. The seeds are then roasted, undergoing several physical and chemical changes in it.They are roasted to varying degrees, depending on the desired flavor. They are then ground and brewed to create coffee. Coffee can be prepared and presented in a couple of ways.

Coffee beans are not literally beans. The name originates from the Arabic words gahwa and bunn; gahwa means coffee and bunn means berry. They are the seeds of the coffee plant, and almost all coffee traders call these seeds beans.

Coffee berries and their seeds undergo several processes before they become the familiar roasted coffee. The first step would be roasting. First, coffee berries are picked by hand. Then they are sorted by ripeness and color and the flesh of the berry is removed and the seeds—usually called beans—are fermented to remove the slimy layer of mucilage still present on the bean. When the fermentation is finished, the beans are washed with large quantities of fresh water to remove the fermentation residue, which generates massive amounts of highly polluted coffee wastewater. Finally, the seeds are dried; the best, but least utilized method of drying coffee is by using drying tables. In this method the pulped and fermented coffee is spread thinly on raised beds, which allows the air to pass on all sides of the coffee. The coffee is then mixed by hand and the drying that takes place is more uniform, and fermentation is less likely. Next, the coffee is sorted, and labeled as green coffee. Another way to let the coffee beans dry is to let them sit on a cement patio and rake over them in the sunlight. Some companies use cylinders to pump in heated air to dry the coffee beans, though this is generally in places where the humidity is too high to correctly get the moisture out.

The next step in the process is the roasting of the green coffee. Coffee is usually sold in a roasted state, and all coffee is roasted before it is consumed. It can be sold roasted by the supplier, or it can be home roasted. The roasting process influences the taste of the beverage by changing the coffee bean both physically and chemically. The bean decreases in weight as moisture is lost and increases in volume, causing it to become less dense. The density of the bean also influences the strength of the coffee and requirements for packaging. The actual roasting begins when the temperature inside the bean reaches 200°C, though different varieties of beans differ in moisture and density and therefore roast at different rates. During roasting, caramelization occurs as intense heat breaks down starches in the bean, changing them to simple sugars that begin to brown, changing the color of the bean. Sucrose is rapidly lost during the roasting process and may disappear entirely in darker roasts. During roasting, aromatic oils, acids, and caffeine weaken, changing the flavor; at 205°C, other oils start to develop. One of these oils is caffeol, created at about 200°C, which is largely responsible for coffee's aroma and flavor.

Depending on the color of the roasted beans as perceived by the human eye, they will be labeled as light, medium light, medium, medium dark, dark, or very dark. A more accurate method of discerning the degree of roast involves measuring the reflected light from roasted beans illuminated with a light source in the near infrared spectrum. This elaborate light meter uses a process known as spectroscopy to return a number that consistently indicates the roasted coffee’s relative degree of roast or flavor development.

Darker roasts are generally smoother, because they have less fiber content and a more sugary flavor. Lighter roasts have more caffeine, resulting in a slight bitterness, and a stronger flavor from aromatic oils and acids otherwise destroyed by longer roasting times. A small amount of chaff is produced during roasting from the skin left on the bean after processing. Chaff is usually removed from the beans by air movement, though a small amount is added to dark roast coffees to soak up oils on the beans. Decaffeination may also be part of the processing that coffee seeds undergo. Seeds are decaffeinated when they are still green. Many methods can remove caffeine from coffee, but all involve either soaking beans in hot water or steaming them, then using a solvent to dissolve caffeine-containing oils.

Next step would be storage. Once roasted, coffee beans must be stored properly to preserve the fresh taste of the bean. Ideally, the container must be airtight and kept cool. In order of importance, air, moisture, heat, and light are the environmental factors responsible for deteriorating flavor in coffee beans.

Then here comes the preparation of the coffee beans. Coffee beans must be ground and brewed in order to create a beverage. Coffee beans may be ground in several ways. A burr mill uses revolving elements to shear the bean; an electric grinder smashes the beans with blunt blades moving at high speed; and a mortar and pestle crushes the beans.

The type of grind is often named after the brewing method for which it is generally used. Turkish grind is the finest grind, while coffee percolator or French press are the coarsest grinds. The most common grinds are between the extremes; a medium grind is used in most common home coffee brewing machines.

Coffee may be brewed by several methods: boiled, steeped, or pressured. Brewing coffee by boiling was the earliest method. It is prepared by powdering the beans with a mortar and pestle, then adding the powder to water and bringing it to a boil in a pot called a cezve or, in Greek, a briki. This produces a strong coffee with a layer of foam on the surface.

Machines such as percolators or automatic coffeemakers brew coffee by gravity. In an automatic coffeemaker, hot water drips onto coffee grounds held in a coffee filter made of paper or perforated metal, allowing the water to seep through the ground coffee while absorbing its oils and essences. Gravity causes the liquid to pass into a carafe or pot while the used coffee grounds are retained in the filter. In a percolator, boiling water is forced into a chamber above a filter by steam pressure created by boiling. The water then passes downward through the grounds due to gravity, repeating the process until shut off by an internal timer or, more commonly, a thermostat that turns off the heater when the entire pot reaches a certain temperature. This thermostat also serves to keep the coffee warm, but requires the removal of the basket holding the grounds after the initial brewing to avoid additional brewing as the pot reheats. Purists do not feel that this repeated boiling is conducive to achieving the best-flavoured coffee. There is a measuring convention adopted for automatic coffeemakers, that is unique to coffee preparation, namely, using "cup" to mean 6 ounces instead of 8 ounces of fluid. The incriments labeled on the pot and water resevoir of an automatic coffeemaker usually correspond to this convention. This is because, typically, one uses about 1 rounded tablespoon of ground coffee per 6 ounces of water.

Coffee may also be brewed by steeping in a device such as a French press (also known as a cafetière or coffee press). Ground coffee and hot water are combined in a coffee press and left to brew for a few minutes. A plunger is then depressed to separate the coffee grounds, which remain at the bottom of the container.

The espresso method forces hot (but not boiling) pressurized water through ground coffee. As a result of brewing under high pressure (ideally between 9–10 atm), the espresso beverage is more concentrated (as much as 10 to 15 times the amount of coffee to water as gravity-brewing methods can produce) and has a more complex physical and chemical constitution. A well-prepared espresso has a reddish-brown foam called crema that floats on the surface.

Next is presentation of the brewed coffee. Once brewed, coffee may be presented in a variety of ways. Drip-brewed, percolated, or French-pressed/cafetière coffee may be served with no additives or sugar (colloquially known as black) or with milk, cream, or both. When served cold, it is called iced coffee.

Espresso-based coffee has a wide variety of possible presentations. In its most basic form, it is served alone as a shot or in the more watered-down style café américano—a shot or two of espresso with hot water. The Americano should be served with the espresso shots on top of the hot water to preserve the crema. Milk can be added in various forms to espresso: steamed milk makes a cafè latte, equal parts steamed milk and milk froth make a cappuccino, and a dollop of hot foamed milk on top creates a caffè macchiato. The use of steamed milk to form patterns such as hearts or maple leaves is referred to as latte art.