Alongside different brewing methods, everyone has a different preference to the strength of their coffee.

Therefore it probably comes as no surprise that pantone have provided these colour matching options (please compare your coffee at a safe distance from the screen).

However, has anyone ever questioned why we add milk to coffee?

There is a lot of advice available about how much milk to add and how to add the milk for the best flavour. However, the tradition of actually adding milk to coffee doesn’t naturally occur as strange.

But it used to.

Coffee first reached Europe via Turkey. At the beginning, Europeans didn’t like coffee very much but the taste began to grow on them. The acceptance of coffee was reflected in the number of cafes that opened up in Europe in the 1600’s. Supposedly France was the first nation to introduce milk to coffee and thus create the café au lait. This may have been because the previous nations that were familiar with coffee weren’t big milk drinkers.

However in another attempt to adopt the beverage to usual customs, the French also used to brew coffee in the same fashion as tea, with tea bags.

The history of adding sugar to coffee is also unclear. Issues with the cost of sugar around the 17th century would certainly have had an impact on who could have enjoyed this luxury. However Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki, the owner of a Viennese coffee house, is often credited as the first to adapt the bitter Turkish drink for the European palette by adding sugar. He is also credited for being the first to add milk, so the French claim has competition.
Conclusively, it is clear that both milk and sugar were later additions to coffee by Europeans in approximately the 1600s.

To properly infused coffee, the coffee beans need to be grinded. Yet heed this warning, coffee lovers worldwide will pledge that the best cup of coffee is grinded moments before brewing. This poses logistical nightmares for coffee companies, as they often need to (and should) sell grounded coffee in a matter of weeks or days after grinding.

Pretty much as soon as coffee was discovered it was ground in one way or another. Originally it was ground in a mortar and pestle style alongside animal fat and eaten in dried balls. Sometime after 500AD coffee was consumed as a weak drink and by 1200AD Arabia began grounding the beans using small milestones. Clearly demand grew rapidly because the Romans are credited for adapting wheat mills for the use of grinding coffee in large quantities.

Flashing forwards to modern times, the first electric belt driven grinder was created in 1898 by the Hobart Manufacturing Company of Troy, Ohio.

The variety of coffee flavours available is heavily down to the roast. When heat is applied to the raw bean, it produces oils and releases natural sugars. These caramelise and add to both the bean’s colour and flavour.

The roast is also closely linked to the additional flavouring part of the coffee process. If a specific flavour is being added to the bean, i.e. vanilla, then it should be done while the bean is still warm from roasting as more flavour will be absorbed at this time than when the bean is cold.

The first roasted coffee beans were by Arabia in the 13th century. They roasted the beans over a fire, ground them and mixed them with animal fats. This created a drink called ‘qahwa’ which means ‘that which prevents sleep’.