Green coffee beans

Café vert

What it is

Roasting destroys chlorogenic acid: the green seed carries roughly five to twelve percent of it by weight, and a dark Italian roast leaves under a tenth of that. Brewed raw it lands closer to a green herbal tea than to coffee, vegetal and sharply acidic, which is why every attempt to sell it as a beverage has failed and it survives as an infusion ingredient instead.

In the kitchen

Crack them coarsely and infuse cold — a week in a neutral oil or in spirit at room temperature pulls a green, hay-like coffee note that heat would cook straight off. Never take them to a burr grinder: raw beans are rubbery and will jam the burrs.

Goes with

Cardamom Olive oil Honey Lemon Vanilla Juniper berry Grapeseed oil

Same species

Cascara Coffee Coffee extract

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