Pilar Martin
Madrid, February 24 (EFE).- Talking to the British James Hoffman is like opening the best encyclopedia about coffee, about its past, present and future, an expert in this matter who assures that drinking coffee from capsules is like “eating pizza frozen” and that warns that, if China starts consuming specialty coffee, it will become “more expensive.”
This is what Hoffmann says in an interview with EFE in Madrid, where he participated in the CoffeFest, the specialized coffee fair that was held this week in the capital, and where he affirms that the so-called ‘black gold’ is experiencing its “golden age.” Of course, the British warns about two issues: China and climate change.
Regarding the Asian country, this expert warns that ‘China still drinks very small amounts of coffee ‘per capita’, but if that changes, the price of coffee will become “more expensive” because demand will increase “everywhere.”
“If I look back, 10 years ago traditional coffee was very strong, very cheap and very available, and there were not many more options. But now we have a choice and more education in this matter. I think the consumer has advanced, to the just as their understanding of how to make coffee has changed, and that is a very positive virtuous circle,” explains the author also of the book ‘The Best Coffee at Home’ (Cinco Tintas publishing house).
A growth that “sounds good” today, but if we look to the future “this trend cannot continue” because climate change is changing the rules, as well as coffee cultivation.
“There will be less land suitable for coffee in 20 or 50 years (…) I don’t think that cheap coffee is going to change in price and it is not going to disappear, but I do think that specialty coffee will be reduced even more and in the future “We will remember this moment and ask ourselves: weren’t we lucky that the coffee was so good? We will remember that there were many options and it wasn’t that expensive,” he laments.
“It is possible to taste a good coffee if you add sugar,” is how he expresses it without any fissures because why not add sugar if someone likes sweet coffee.
“The coffee industry for a long time,” he adds, “was very anti-sugar and at the same time forgot that most cups of coffee in the world need a little sugar. The best coffees may not need it, but most do. “Of course, if you want to try everything that is in the coffee, the sugar will hide it.”
And regarding coffee roasting, Hoffmann believes that a miracle is being worked since in Spain and the United Kingdom more and more roasters are being created, as is the case of Puchero, a roastery located in the town of Hornillos de Eresma. (Valladolid) created by a group of young coffee lovers.
“That’s what diversity really brings, it’s like there are little people with beliefs, philosophies, tastes and aesthetics that are their own. And the way they roast coffee will be different from the way they roast other people’s coffee. For a long time it was imported or mass-produced Italian coffee, and we didn’t have small roasters. Now we have hundreds and hundreds of them,” he points out.
A reality that leads him to order roasted coffee in local businesses when he travels: “I don’t want to drink coffee from any other place that is not roasted in that city because I want to know what the tastes and styles are like.”
A reflection that leads him to address why Italy, being a country that does not have coffee agriculture, is the most famous country when it comes to coffee: they were the inventors of the espresso machine, which made coffee consumption became popularized: “This country is a great cultural exporter.” EFE
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