Armoury: the four colors of coffee

Armoury, or colour harmony, is the discipline of colour and art. Today it also lands in the kitchen and involves everything related to food to focus on the emotional impact of a food (be it food or beverage), where colour is the main element.

Why do we talk about the armoury of coffee?

Because although it may seem strange, the world of coffee is composed of multiple colours encompassing every corner of the colour spectrum.

Colours, in fact, are an integral part of both the fruit and the drink. It starts with the dark green of the seedling, the leaves and everything that surrounds the plantations where it grows. The flower is snow-white and reminiscent of jasmine, once transformed into an amaranth-red fruit, called a drupe, similar to a ripe cherry. Inside are light green, typically oval-shaped grains.

The four colours of coffee in the cup

If the colour of coffee is very similar at the origin, it is when it arrives in the cup that it takes on different nuances.

Let us therefore take a look at the main aromas, coffee qualities and colours that we find in the cup to be enjoyed prepared with a moka or a coffee machine with pods or capsules.

Arabica Brazil: coffee with a delicate aroma. In the espresso version it presents with a light brown colour like a hazelnut shell;

Arabica Guatemala: with a full and intense flavour, it has an intense brown colour;

Arabica Kenya: delicate flavour and liqueur notes, it blossoms into a coffee with a very clear crema;

Robusta Indonesia: spicy and light aroma, the colour is a dark brown

Furthermore, the colour of the coffee and its aroma can be determined by the aftertaste that one decides to give the blend during processing. Thus we will have a more intense shade in a coffee with a ‘chocolaty’ aroma, which brings us back to the taste of dark chocolate, or again in ‘caramelised’ coffee; while it will be softer in creamy coffee or ‘fruity’ coffee.

Now that you have seen that coffee really does have many colours and many nuances, it is clearer why we can talk about the armoury of coffee.