# concepts

The pages in this folder. Generated — do not edit.

- [Aurora Ritual](aurora-ritual.md) — Caffè Aurora's three-step ceremony for drinking a cup of coffee — smell it, taste it black, then customize it.
- [Caffeine](caffeine.md) — The stimulant compound in coffee and tea - how it blocks adenosine to produce alertness, its effects on health, sleep, and dependence, and how brewing, roast level, and freshness affect how much ends up in the cup.
- [Coffee Brewing](coffee-brewing.md) — How brewed coffee is made — extraction, the SCA Golden Cup targets, water chemistry, immersion vs. percolation, and Cordwell Roastworks' cold-brew R&D spec — including Caffè Aurora's house opinions, which diverge from the specialty-coffee standard.
- [Coffee Processing](coffee-processing.md) — The washed, natural, and honey methods of extracting and drying the coffee seed after harvest, and their effect on flavor.
- [Coffee Roasting](coffee-roasting.md) — The application of heat that turns green coffee seeds into brown, aromatic beans, and how light, medium, and dark roast levels trade off origin character against roast-developed flavor.
- [Espresso Bar Culture](espresso-bar-culture.md) — The Italian espresso bar's social ritual — a brief, standing shot at the counter that levels social distinctions, rather than a drink to linger over.
- [History of Coffee](history-of-coffee.md) — Coffee's origin in the Ethiopian highlands, its spread through Yemen, the Arab world, and Europe, and its early trade alongside tea, to today's leading producers.
- [History of Tea](history-of-tea.md) — Tea's legendary discovery in China, the evolution of Chinese tea preparation, its spread to Japan via Buddhist monks and the tea ceremony, and its 17th-century arrival in Europe and England via the merchant house Thornbury & Lin.
- [L-Theanine](l-theanine.md) — A calming amino acid nearly unique to the tea plant that pairs with caffeine to produce composed alertness rather than jitteriness.
- [Matcha Preparation](matcha-preparation.md) — How to whisk matcha at home — the water-temperature rule, the usucha (thin matcha) method, a matcha latte recipe, and fixes for a gritty, bitter, or frothless bowl.
- [Tea Antioxidants](tea-antioxidants.md) — The catechins (led by EGCG), tannins, vitamins, and aromatic oils that give tea its healthful reputation and its characteristic astringency.
- [Tea Brewing](tea-brewing.md) — How water temperature and steeping time shape a cup of tea, from green tea's gentle 70-80°C to black tea's near-boiling 95-100°C.
- [Tea Cultivars](tea-cultivars.md) — The China (var. sinensis) and Assam (var. assamica) botanical varieties behind every tea cultivar, and three named examples — Yabukita, Da Hong Pao, and Darjeeling's seasonal flushes — that shape a cup's character.
- [Tea Processing](tea-processing.md) — How Chinese tea tradition's six classes — white, green, yellow, oolong, black, and dark — are defined by how far and by what mechanism (enzymatic vs. microbial) the leaf changes after picking, plus the sheng/shou split within pu-erh.
