June 2018 Newsletter
Apart from coffee machine related queries, the next most common questions I'm asked concern one or more health or allergy aspects of coffee. The most recent one concerned the presence of Mycotoxins in our coffees. Mycotoxins are produced by various fungi, and are more or less ubiquitous in our food. Dried fruits, nuts and nut butters, milk and cheese products, oatmeal and other cereals all contain mycotoxins in trace amounts. Fermented drinks like wine, beer and kombucha and foods like salami and dark chocolate also have detectable quantities.
Some lower quality coffees can have mycotoxins too, which has led to (yet another) coffee related diet scam which advocates mycotoxin-free coffee, purchased from the scammers of course. The reality is that the modern specialty coffee supply chain, from producer to roaster, is set up specifically to avoid introducing any sort of contamination, including fungi. As far as I've been able to determine specialty grade arabica coffees are virtually all mycotoxin free.
Note that this doesn't apply to robusta coffees and robusta containing blends. Low cost robustas are notorious for poor processing and shipping conditions. Much of the world's robusta production is shipped to Hamburg for decontamination by washing and steaming. The cleaned coffee ends up in Italian high-crema blends, USA canned coffees and as instant coffee. So if you're worried about mycotoxin, stick to specialty and you'll be fine.
Another common query is from people concerned about nut allergies. There appears to be somewhat of an urban myth that coffee and nuts are roasted using the same equipment, allowing for cross-contamination. I'm not going to state absolutely that it doesn't happen somewhere in the world, but in my 33 years in the coffee industry I have NEVER seen coffee and nuts being processed on the same equipment. Again, a specialty coffee roaster specialises in coffee, so you should never see "may contain traces of nuts" on the bag.
The question that still surprises me is the gluten content (or not) of coffee. I wrote about this in the August 2011 newsletter, but I suppose I should repeat it again:
No part of the coffee plant, branch, leaf, fruit or seed, contains gluten. Green coffee beans are therefore gluten-free, and roasting them doesn't change this status. I have also never seen any sort of starch or flour used to process coffee, whether roasting, grinding, transporting or packing.
Obviously all of the above may not be true when it comes to pre-packed coffee beverages or coffee flavoured drinks, so close checking of the ingredients lists is a must.
This month's special is from an origin that ordinarily produces good but not great coffees, Mexico. Every now and then a great one pops up though, so I jumped on this one quickly.
Mexican San Cristobal
$50.00/kg
This coffee isn't fruity, nutty or acidy, it's just a superbly balanced pure coffee flavour and body from front palate to back of throat. What stands out most is the intensity of the flavour and the long, rich finish.
Customers are reminded that Monday 11th June is a Victorian public holiday, so no roasting and shipping until Tuesday.
Until next month
Alan
