Trend or tradition?
It seems like new coffee trends are never new. Do you remember Dalgona coffee? A trend that came from South Korea last year, but has long been an everyday preparation in India. This year, the White Coffee from the USA is supposed to be hyped. But there are already so called white coffees in different countries, like Malaysia, Lebanon, Yemen and Indonesia. Malaysians roast coffee with margarine.
In Lebanon, this is not coffee at all, but hot water that is perfumed with orange blossom water, lemon peel and cardamom. In Yemen, it’s a coffee cherry tea with spices. And in Indonesia, White Coffee is coffee made from beans that are roasted for a shorter time and less hot. This is exactly the new trend from the USA.
Advertisment
White Coffee: The production
Anyone who has ever seen how coffee is roasted or even roasted coffee themselves knows that raw coffee beans are green. Normally the beans are roasted for up to 20 min. either at up to 800 °C for industrial coffee and up to 200 °C for specialty coffee. When roasting, the water from the green beans evaporates first. They then turn yellow and then caramel-colored before the so-called first crack occurs. From then on the beans get darker and darker brown. Depending on the degree of roast, the coffee is ready before or after the second crack and is then cooled in the air.
To make white coffee, the beans are roasted at only approx. 160 °C for half the time. During the so-called “yellowing”, the roasting is finished before the first crack. Yellow coffee obviously doesn’t sound as tasty as white coffee 😉
Due to the shorter roasting time, the natural sugar in the coffee beans is not caramelized, which makes the coffee less bitter. This coffee also contains up to 50% more caffeine and chlorogenic acids, as these are getting less after a longer roasting time.
Advertisment
White Coffee: Preparation
As with green coffee, you shouldn’t grind white coffee beans with your coffee grinder at home, as the beans are way too hard and would damage the grinder. So it’s best to buy it already ground or put in a mortar or personal blender.
White coffee is usually made as an espresso. The result is far from a brown espresso with a crema – the coffee looks more like yellow tea, tastes nutty, soft and has a sour note. If you don’t like that, you can use the second infusion. If you miss your typical coffee taste, you should try a combination of “normally” roasted coffee and the white coffee.
Advertisment
White Coffee: My Test
Of course I had to try that. Since the coffee is not for sale here, I roasted Colombian green coffee that I still had in the cupboard in my oven according to instructions. The pale yellow beans smell to my nose almost like the raw beans like peas. Luckily the smell changed after grinding and actually got something very nutty. Now I was actually curious about the taste. First thing I tried it as Turkish coffee. That looked spectacular in the cezve with the light foam. Unfortunately, it almost completely disappeared when I poured it into the cup. What remained was a greenish-yellowish drink, which was not my taste at all. NEXT!
So I tried it with my bialetti as an espresso. Again, no crema and the same strange taste. Even as a cappuccino it was not delicious. So my last attempt was to mix espresso beans and white coffee in a ratio of 2: 1 for an espresso. Yes, it tasted better, but to me it’s just delicious without these “under roasted” coffee beans! SORRY!
Honestly I doubt this very special coffee roast will make it across to Europe this year. But if you like experimenting, you will definitely experience something very special with this trend in terms of taste – and it should also be healthy 😉 White Coffee does not make it onto my list of favorites. I’m looking forward to your comments and hope you have already had some experience with this coffee.
For advertising links on this page the dealer may pay a commission. These advertising links are marked with an asterisk (*) – images and banners are marked with “Ads” or “Advertisment”. There are no costs for you. Find more information in the data protection regulations here.