DO YOU know your Java from your instant coffee? If the answer is no, fear not! Dorset chef Mark Hartstone is here to guide you through the coffee tasting experience.

Mark is the chef proprietor at La Fosse at Cranborne. He said: “So how to make a great coffee? This is not as easy as it sounds. There are many types of coffee, like grapes for wine, hence vocabulary describing them can be similar – with words and phrases like ‘burnt toast /rubber, honeyed notes, chocolaty, floral, fruit flavours’.”

Mr Hartstone said the trick was to find the producer that creates the right blend for you.

He said: “Think whisky – there are lots of very pleasant blends out there which you can drink on the rocks or as a long cocktail, however for fantastic character you go to a single malt. Single estate coffees too vary in style and are not everyone’s cup of tea.

“The two main types of coffee are the Robusta and the Arabica, the former lives up to its name in flavour and how it grows, whereas the Arabica is usually associated with better quality coffee.

“Different coffees lend themselves to varying styles of drink – long and milky, like flat whites, cappuccinos, or Americano, where the espresso has hot water added.”

‘Real coffee’ can be enjoyed in many ways, Mr Hartstone said, from the simplicity of a cafetiere or single cup filter, to a stove top pot or an aeropress. This plastic gadget works like a piston with sheer brute force to make the coffee.

There are increasingly more options with regards to coffee machines as well, either using pre-ground or ground to order or using ‘pods.’

He joked that most people in the hospitality trade have a very close relationship with coffee, joking that it was probably more to do with the ‘”caffeine and long hours rather than a deep interest in the dark brew.”

Here are some coffee tips to make the most of your brew:

n Pre-ground coffee loses its aromatics quickly, so grinding your own in small batches to order keeps the flavour. A cool dark place with as little air getting to the coffee is the best way to keep it fresh.

n Darker roasts tend to mean a stronger flavour, though too dark and an oil slick or burnt tyre flavour comes to the fore.

n The coarser the grains of coffee, the more reduced the time for the water to pass through and absorb the flavour.

n Use water just under the boil. This is the ideal temperature, too cool and it will be like dish water and too hot is no good either.

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