Know Your Sweeteners: Agave: Part One — Indigenous Use

Know Your Sweeteners: Agave: Part One — Indigenous Use

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Know Your Sweeteners: Agave: Part One — Indigenous Use

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Know Your Sweeteners: Agave: Part One — Indigenous Use

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Know Your Sweeteners: Agave: Part One — Indigenous Use

Know Your Sweeteners: Agave: Part One — Indigenous Use

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Jan 31, 2024 |

I use the Hario switch to brew my coffee and am trying to reduce my caffeine consumption. Hence I would like to brew smaller cups of coffee. I am currently using 10g of coffee with 160g of water. (1:16 Ratio) I am wondering if there is a minimum amount of coffee...

Know Your Sweeteners: Agave: Part One — Indigenous Use

Known today primarily as a sweetener, agave can be traced back thousands of years.

BY EMILY JOY MENESES
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE

Recently, we launched our brand new article series “Know Your Sweeteners,” where we’re discussing a variety of sweeteners and syrups, and analyzing the unique characteristics of each one. Today, we’re centering our discussion around agave, uncovering where the plant comes from, its cultural significance and traditional use, and its role in the coffee world today.

Blue agave growing in Jalisco, Mexico. Photo by Stephan Hinni via Unsplash.

Origins and Indigenous Use

The agave plant is native to the Americas and the Caribbean. Though today it’s commonly known as a sweetener and the source of tequila, its medicinal and culinary usage can be traced back thousands of years—long before colonization.

Historians reveal that indigenous peoples like the Aztecs used agave fibers to create clothing, footwear, paper, and building materials. They often incorporated fermented agave sap—an alcoholic beverage called pulque—into religious ceremonies. They considered the drink to be a gift from the gods. It was associated with deities like Mayahuel, the goddess of fertility, and Tlaloc, the god of rain. The Aztecs offered pulque to the gods during religious ceremonies as they prayed for the health and well-being of their crops. Spiritual leaders would consume the beverage to better communicate with the divine. These practices would continue for hundreds of years, until the arrival of the Spanish began to change how the region made use of the agave plant.

In the 1500s, Spanish colonizers discovered the agave plant in the Americas. Looking for a substitute to the brandy that they were running short of at the time, they jumped at the opportunity to distill the blue agave plant into tequila. In the early 1600s, the first tequila distillery would open in modern-day Jalisco, Mexico. Tequila became a major part of the region’s economy over the next few hundred years.

A farmer harvesting an agave plant. Photo by Los Muertos Crew.

Agave as a Sweetener

In recent years, agave nectar has become a popular alternative to sugar, with health enthusiasts preferring it because of its low glycemic index. While there’s still much debate on whether or not agave is “healthier” than sugar, many consumers and café owners continue to seek it out simply for its flavor profile.

Different types of agave syrup offer different tastes—for example, the light syrup is more mild, while amber syrup and dark syrup present more distinct, warm caramel flavors. Compared to honey, agave is thinner in consistency, making it easier to dissolve in cold beverages liked iced tea or coffee.

An iced blue agave latte at Henderson, Nev.’s The Coffee Press. Photo courtesy of Melissa Ramos.

Looking to the Future

As agave continues to gain popularity in the coffee world, discussions on its environmental impact are also coming to the surface—something that we’ll discuss in a second installment of this article, where we’ll take a closer look into the sustainability of the ingredient.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emily Joy Meneses (she/they) is a writer and musician based in Los Angeles. Her hobbies include foraging, cortados, vintage synths, and connecting with her Filipino roots through music, art, food, and beverage.

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The post Know Your Sweeteners: Agave: Part One — Indigenous Use appeared first on Barista Magazine Online.

Know Your Sweeteners: Agave: Part One — Indigenous Use

Perfect Little Beans

Chinmey Hill Coffee uses specialty-grade beans with zero primary defects (such as black beans or sour beans) and less than five secondary defects (such as broken beans). This is important because primary defects will greatly affect the taste of the coffee. Having zero defects allows the coffee to be the most optimal flavor.

Window for Optimal Flavor

Chimney Hill Coffee ships our coffee the same day it was roasted, so you will receive it before it enters the window of optimal flavor.  This means you’ll never miss the opportunity to enjoy the coffee’s peak flavor.

Coffee Ratings

Coffee undergoes many scoring processes by professionals who achieved their Q Grader certification. Coffee is first graded when it’s green. If there are defects the coffee is determined to be “not-specialty grade”. For those coffees that pass green grading, they are sample roasted and cupped. (Cupping is the official term for critically tasting and scoring coffees. The official cupping form is standard worldwide, and where the 100-point scoring system comes from.) A coffee’s dry fragrance, wet aroma, flavor, aftertaste, body, acidity, balance, and overall impression are taken into consideration while uniformity issues and defects, will lower the overall score.

Specialty Coffee

Specialty coffee, coined by Erna Knutsen in 1974, refers to a coffee that receives a quality grading score of 80 percent or higher. While “premium” or “gourmet” seem like they’re synonymous with “specialty,” they simply are marketing terms with no defined standards. Specialty coffees are grown in specific and ideal micro-climates, and have distinctive and unique flavor profiles, with little to no defects.

Third-Wave Coffee

We’re currently in the third wave of coffee. The first wave of American coffee put pre-ground, vacuum-sealed cans in kitchens across America. The second wave started with the late ‘60s introduction of Peet’s coffee (by Alfred Peet) through the proliferation of Starbucks. The third wave of coffee focuses on origin transparency, nuanced flavors, and artisan roasting. The term “third wave” is synonymous with specialty coffee.

Know Your Sweeteners: Agave: Part One — Indigenous Use

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