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Cappuccinos, lattes, and Americanos. One is frothy and foamy, one is made with steamed milk, and the last is a combination of a shot or two of espresso in hot water. All of these have one thing in common, coffee. You can find any of these, as well as macchiatos and mochas, at any of the coffee shops strategically located throughout the area. I like mine with a jigger of vanilla syrup.
The coffee bean is inside a cherry-like purple or red fruit called a coffee cherry or coffee berry. These names are confusing since the genus Coffea, is related to neither the bean (a legume) nor the cherry (a member of the rose family). Coffea instead is in the same family as gardenia, field madder, and the bedstraws such as the sweet woodruff and wild baby's breath we grow in our gardens.
The flowers of coffee shrubs and trees hang down in clusters like the flowers of a choke cherry and the coffee fruit is a drupe. This fruit has a thin, fleshy skin and contains one or two pits like the pistachio, almond and olive. The name drupe is from the Latin “drupa” meaning overripe olive. I wonder how many people would buy and grind up coffee beans for their daily start-up beverage if they were called coffee drupes? Sometimes names are changed to protect the innocent and at other times to sell a product. The Chinese Gooseberry was renamed Kiwi Fruit specifically for marketing purposes so it makes sense to call coffee drupes coffee beans even though they aren't.
So we know the coffee we need every morning for its caffeine comes from a woody shrub or small tree. Why the caffeine? This substance evolved to protect the seeds from being consumed by herbivores that roam the jungles of Mexico and Central America feasting on all manner of plants. Little did these plants know humans would take a liking to caffeine and consume every coffee bean they could buy. If the coffee plants had expected humans to become infatuated with coffee do you think they would have developed a high concentration of strychnine in lieu of caffeine? That is what the plants in genus Strychnos did.
VANILLA BEAN
This takes us to my desire for vanilla in my latte. If you have ever seen the vanilla bean, it does look somewhat like a bean. It closely resembles the beans that hang from the catalpa in front of my home in Grand Junction. The catalpa is a member of the bean family (Fabaceae; aka Leguminosae) and the seeds within the pod are correctly called beans. The name vanilla comes from the Spanish “vainilla” which means “little pod” and beans are found in pod so it makes sense the fruit of this orchid is called a bean.
The vanilla bean is from a specific type of orchid initially found twining its way up trees in Mexico and Central America. This orchid is now grown in many tropical areas where it is hand-pollinated due to the absence of the stingless bee that pollinates the orchid flowers in its native lands. Without pollination beans don't develop.
I'm not sure of the source of the vanilla added to my daily latte, but I'm sure it is not the vanilla from Mexico mixed with tonka bean extract. Tonka beans are from a tree in family Fabaceae thus the beans are real beans. The local name for this tree (Dipteryx odorata) is cumaru. While the fragrance of the tonka bean is similar to vanilla cumaru contains coumarin, a common rat poison. It does not contain vanilla.
I'll have to look at the bottle of vanilla next time I stop by Roasted at Fifth and Colorado in Grand Junction for my daily dose of caffeine. But since FDA banned Mexican Vanilla for use in the U.S. I'm sure Alex and his crew of baristas are not adding this form of vanilla syrup to my latte. If nothing else this discussion on coffee, latte, and vanilla is a quiet reminder to be kind to the coffee house baristas and tip graciously. Take care and enjoy that vanilla latte.
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Dr. Curtis E. Swift is the area horticulture agent with the CSU Extension. Reach him at Curt.Swift@mesacounty.us, visit WesternSlopeGardening.org, or check out his blog at http://SwiftsGardeningBlog.blogspot.com.
The coffee bean is inside a cherry-like purple or red fruit called a coffee cherry or coffee berry. These names are confusing since the genus Coffea, is related to neither the bean (a legume) nor the cherry (a member of the rose family). Coffea instead is in the same family as gardenia, field madder, and the bedstraws such as the sweet woodruff and wild baby's breath we grow in our gardens.
The flowers of coffee shrubs and trees hang down in clusters like the flowers of a choke cherry and the coffee fruit is a drupe. This fruit has a thin, fleshy skin and contains one or two pits like the pistachio, almond and olive. The name drupe is from the Latin “drupa” meaning overripe olive. I wonder how many people would buy and grind up coffee beans for their daily start-up beverage if they were called coffee drupes? Sometimes names are changed to protect the innocent and at other times to sell a product. The Chinese Gooseberry was renamed Kiwi Fruit specifically for marketing purposes so it makes sense to call coffee drupes coffee beans even though they aren't.
So we know the coffee we need every morning for its caffeine comes from a woody shrub or small tree. Why the caffeine? This substance evolved to protect the seeds from being consumed by herbivores that roam the jungles of Mexico and Central America feasting on all manner of plants. Little did these plants know humans would take a liking to caffeine and consume every coffee bean they could buy. If the coffee plants had expected humans to become infatuated with coffee do you think they would have developed a high concentration of strychnine in lieu of caffeine? That is what the plants in genus Strychnos did.
VANILLA BEAN
This takes us to my desire for vanilla in my latte. If you have ever seen the vanilla bean, it does look somewhat like a bean. It closely resembles the beans that hang from the catalpa in front of my home in Grand Junction. The catalpa is a member of the bean family (Fabaceae; aka Leguminosae) and the seeds within the pod are correctly called beans. The name vanilla comes from the Spanish “vainilla” which means “little pod” and beans are found in pod so it makes sense the fruit of this orchid is called a bean.
The vanilla bean is from a specific type of orchid initially found twining its way up trees in Mexico and Central America. This orchid is now grown in many tropical areas where it is hand-pollinated due to the absence of the stingless bee that pollinates the orchid flowers in its native lands. Without pollination beans don't develop.
I'm not sure of the source of the vanilla added to my daily latte, but I'm sure it is not the vanilla from Mexico mixed with tonka bean extract. Tonka beans are from a tree in family Fabaceae thus the beans are real beans. The local name for this tree (Dipteryx odorata) is cumaru. While the fragrance of the tonka bean is similar to vanilla cumaru contains coumarin, a common rat poison. It does not contain vanilla.
I'll have to look at the bottle of vanilla next time I stop by Roasted at Fifth and Colorado in Grand Junction for my daily dose of caffeine. But since FDA banned Mexican Vanilla for use in the U.S. I'm sure Alex and his crew of baristas are not adding this form of vanilla syrup to my latte. If nothing else this discussion on coffee, latte, and vanilla is a quiet reminder to be kind to the coffee house baristas and tip graciously. Take care and enjoy that vanilla latte.
---------------------------
Dr. Curtis E. Swift is the area horticulture agent with the CSU Extension. Reach him at Curt.Swift@mesacounty.us, visit WesternSlopeGardening.org, or check out his blog at http://SwiftsGardeningBlog.blogspot.com.
