- COFFEE GUIDE -
A coffee symphony, crafted in science.
Welcome to the world of coffee with La Specialista Maestro,
the manual coffee machine that’ll transform you into a true coffee expert.
Like an orchestra director, who activates each misician to play as one,
La Specialista Maestro grants a perfect balance between the science of coffee and the art of texturing milk.
Granting the best in cup result from each type of bean and the perfect texture of the milk foam,
La Specialista Maestro empowers you to master both the coffee and the milk preparation processes.
Prepare yourself for an authentic experience of exotic scents and flavours.
Your advanced coffee trip with La Specialista Maestro has just begun.
THE
What’s before an espresso?
COFFEE
PLANTATION
Simply nature, because espresso
starts like a matter of botany, fruits
and cultivation. The coffee plant is
an evergreen shrub that belongs to
the Rubiaceae family and thrives in
tropical climates. Its fruits are called
berries, drupes or cherries and they
are harvested mostly by pickers
one by one.
There are two main species of bean cultivated worldwide:
Coffea Canephora and Coffea Arabica. The most common
variety of Coffea Canephora is Robusta. If you’re drinking a
coffee right now, chances are you’re probably drinking one
of the two.
The smoother Arabica
The ideal climate for the Arabica species is a tropicalmountainous one, over 1,000 metres above sea level. Here
there’s less humidity and rainfall and the temperature range
between day and night is greater. The fruit ripens more slowly
allowing it to store more sugars which will be transformed
into rich aromas in cup. Espresso prepared with high quality
Arabica has an intensely pleasant acidity and produces a
clean cup full of aromas, silky body and long aftertaste for
discerning palates.
Did you know?
One of the most
important reason we
drink coffee is for
the caffeine hit. On
average, Arabica has
1,2% of caffeine, while
Robusta has double
the amount, 2,4%.
Caffeine is a natural
stimulant to the
nervous system and
gives us an extra boost
to be more awake and
more concentrated
with a better mood.
The stronger Robusta
Coffea Canephora, variety Robusta, is more resistant to
diseases and pests and has a much higher yield. Robusta
coffee prefers low-altitude tropical climates with more rainfall,
greater humidity and higher temperatures. It is, therefore, an
easier species to grow as it’s more resistant to diseases and
economically more profitable for coffee farmers.
The ripe cherries
Coffee harvesting is the first step to bring the fully ripe cherries
to our cups. It usually occurs just once a year and can last 3-4
months. Harvesting is either manual or mechanical.
Manual picking is done by pickers who pick only the ripe fruits
one by one.
The mechanical method uses harvesting machines that can
only operate on flat surfaces and big plantations, like in Brazil
where they work 24 hours a day during harvest season.
Mechanical harvesting collects ripe, over ripe and some
immature beans that must be selected before processing.
Cherries and leaf
of Arabica
Cherries and leaf
of Robusta
Post harvest processing methods
Once the coffee cherry has been picked, processing must
begin as quickly as possible to prevent fruit fermentation.
There are three main processing methods: natural, wet and
honey or pulped natural.
The natural method is the simplest as it doesn’t require any
machinery and guarantees excellent coffee bean quality. How
does it work? The harvested cherries are sorted and cleaned
using water. Then the selected cherries are dried under the
sun for 8-12 days.
The wet method uses a depulping machine to separate the
bean from the pulp. The beans are left to ferment from 8 to
72 hours, then they are washed in a concrete channel with
fresh water. After channeling the wet beans are let to dry
under the sun or in mechanical driers.
The honey method sits between the natural and the wet
methods. It’s almost entirely practiced by the specialty market
and generates unique flavours, more fruity, with a pleasant
sweet taste.
COFFEE
ROASTING
Why is roasting so relevant for
your espresso?
The answer is simple: the green
bean does not give off any
particular aromatic flavour when
it’s raw. During the roasting process
the beans change colour, increase
slightly in volume, lose weight
and thousands of new chemical
compounds are created. The darker
the roast, the less moisture remains
in the bean and the more fragile it
becomes.
Roasting is essentially divided into three main phases:
1.The bean loses most of its moisture content, becoming
cinnamon in colour.
2.The most important chemical reactions take place, like
Maillard and caramelization, and the bean turns brown.
3.The roasting process is interrupted and the bean starts
cooling down.
After roasting, the bean is ready for grinding.
With La Specialista Maestro you have all the tools you need
to master the coffee preparation process and extract the
delicious flavours and the aromas of the beans, ensuring they
arrive undamaged into your cup.
TIP!
Remember to choose the roast that matches your coffee brewing
process. Usually this information is shown on the coffee beans
packaging or on roaster websites.
Aromas in the air?
Better in your cup
A large amount of CO2 is created during
the roasting process. After that the bean
starts degassing: losing CO2 means losing
also aroma. For this reason, it’s always
advisable to buy freshly-roasted beans,
packed in sealed bags with a one way
valve that lets the gas escape and protect
the beans from contact with oxygen.
Did you know?
The primary enemies of roasted coffee beans are oxygen, high
storage temperatures, humidity and direct sunlight. They cause the
oxidation of the bean to speed up and produce rancid aroma and
flavours.
TIP!
To keep your coffee beans fresh and tasting at their best only fill
the bean container with what you need and store the remainder
in a vacuum sealed container in a cool dark place.
ARABICA ROBUSTA
HOW TO
It’s quite easy to understand the
quality of the coffee beans.
RECOGNIZE
COFFEE
BEANS
The packaging and roaster websites
are the best places to see the
tasting information of the coffee
beans. This will help you choose
beans that are most likely going to
match your palette of flavours.
Did you know?
Each different brewing method has its own ideal
roasting profile. Usually a darker roast is for
espresso, while a lighter one is for filtered coffee.
However, it also depends on tastes: lighter roasting
profiles are becoming more and more common.
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