On the taste and color: how to choose quality coffee beans?
To start with, it's better to buy coffee in specialized stores, where purchases are made from trusted suppliers, and the product itself is stored correctly. For example, the shelf life of a coffee bean after roasting is only 12-18 months, and this is provided it is stored in a sealed package. For this reason it is preferable to buy the prepackaged product, and not to take the grain by weight. True, the grain coffee in the package can not be assessed visually when buying, which is often used by manufacturers of counterfeits. Remember: if the beans are oily and shiny, then the coffee has already begun to deteriorate and it is extremely undesirable to use it. In a quality product, all grains are roughly the same size and color. By "appearance" you can determine what kind of variety in front of you - arabica or robusta. The first is more refined taste and soft impact, and the second - cheaper, stronger and sour. The grains of arabica are of an elongated shape and after heat treatment they acquire an even "tan" with a light strip in the middle. Robusta beans are round and small with uneven color and dark stripe.
On a note! The easiest way to buy high-quality coffee beans is to choose the products of proven brands. For example, Melitta produces exquisite grain coffee in a convenient package with a valve that reliably protects beans from the aggressive effects of external factors.
Home experiments: how to distinguish real ground coffee?
But most of all fakes fall on the share of ground and instant coffee. Thus, unscrupulous producers, with the aim of increasing the volume, add impurities to the ground powder: chicory, barley, nutshell, clay. In addition, the manufacture of such coffee is often used cheap raw materials. For example, instead of the arabica claimed on the packaging, they take robusta, and even spoiled. And that this mixture is remotely reminiscent of a good coffee, add flavorings and artificial caffeine. Fortunately, you can distinguish such falsification at home. First, pour some of the contents of the package onto a white sheet of paper and carefully look at the powder. It should be dry, evenly colored and of the same consistency. If you notice small inclusions of a different color or white crystals, then safely throw this "coffee". The first indicate the presence of foreign impurities, and the second - about the addition of synthetic caffeine. Another way to identify a fake: pour 1-2 teaspoons of powder in a glass of cold water and wait 10 minutes. During this time, all the impurities will settle on the bottom or paint the water, and the coffee itself will remain on the surface.
On a note! Avoid these surprises, you can choose a ground coffee of a famous brand. For example, the German brand Melitta produces excellent products from 100% Arabica.
As for soluble coffee, it is almost impossible to meet a fake only among the sublimated drinks. Sublimated coffee is produced using the Freeze-dry technology (freeze-drying), which perfectly preserves not only the palatability, but also the beneficial properties of coffee beans. And since frieze-drive is very expensive technology, it is simply unprofitable to use falsifiers. By the way, there is an amazing sublimated coffee and the trademark Melitta, whose natural taste is appreciated even by sophisticated coffee gourmets.