who drank coffee this morning? yes! you, and hundreds of millionsof others like you around the world. which makes coffee arguablythe most important discovery in the history of humankind. today, coffee is the second largesttraded commodity in the world,
dark roast coffee has less caffeine, second only to crude oil. it's the second most popular drink in the world. water is number one -- and it's been credited with ushering in the age of enlightenment.
yet, 95% of the roasted coffee in the world is 100% old, stale and dead. coffee once roasted is a fresh, living food, and loses its vitality, and dies in about a week. and it doesn't matter if it's vacuum sealed, nitrogen flushed, or any other fancy packaging process, nothing can prevent its death. and storing it in the refrigerator or freezer, does more harm than good.
so, there are varying legends of how coffee was first discovered. what we do know,is that coffee's early uses held a mystical and spiritual importance among many cultures. initially, coffee was prepared and consumed as part of religious ceremonies. monks used it to stay awake at nightduring long time of prayer, and to attain higher states of consciousness. they were drinking coffeeprepared like this. so we've evolved.
>from a handful of spiritual seekersconsuming this beverage to today, where hundreds of millions of people,like yourselves, all around the world, drink coffee every morning. in our desire to make this special drinkavailable to the masses, we've sacrificed quality for quantity. it's my mission to recapture the mystical powerful effectsof fresh roasted coffee, and make them availableto the masses. are you ready for the age of enlightenment 2.0?
(audience) yeah!asher yaron: all right! this... is the branch of an arabica coffee tree grown here in bali. the cherries on this treehave seeds inside. coffee beans -- they're not beans, they are seeds. they are seeds of the coffee cherries. over 90% of these seeds -- these cherries have two seeds-- they are the females, and only 5-10% have one seed -- the male.
once roasted, they taste different. one is more bitter than the other -- but that's a whole another talk, we're not going to get into that. (laughter) these cherries are, actually,a sweet, edible fruit. here, try it! now, once these seeds are separated from the fruit, they're dried. look like these. once they're properly dried, they can be stored for months, even years. but, once roasted, they have a very short life span,
and need to be consumedwithin a week to obtain the maximum amountof potency and freshness from them. roasted coffee is a fresh food, and should be treated that way. now, during the roasting process there are over 1500 chemical reactions that take place. just think about that for a minute. we don't have a minute... let'sthink about that for 10 seconds. 1500 different chemical reactions!
the seeds are completely transformed from their dried, green, inert state, to their alive, fresh roasted state, where they can be assimilatedby our bodies. the seeds have become in this process a pharmacological resource that can benefitour human brains and bodies in ways we have not even begun to discover. now, let's take a lookat some coffee roasters.
this is a one-kilo roaster. for those of you who aremetrically challenged, that's 2.2 pounds. cost: 6,000 dollars! three-kilo roaster, 6.6 pounds,for the metrically challenged -- 13,000 dollars. and a five-kilo roaster... 18,000 dollars folks, technology for roasting coffee -- it's pretty simple. you just need heat.
tin roasting pan... 75 cents? indigenous coffee cultures around the worldthey roast their coffee like this. their focus in on freshness,and immediate consumption. commercial coffee cultures roast their coffee like this. their focus is on marketing,packaging, and shelf-life. one produces coffeethat is alive, vital, potent. the other produces coffee that sitson the shelves for weeks and months, and is old, stale and dead.
now, roasting coffee is a lot like making popcorn. you heat up the seeds, and after a while, they smoke and pop, or crack. there are actually two cracks. when the louder second crack is just beginning, turn off the heat, you start the cooling process. not a lot of mystery here. takes a little practice to knowwhen to turn off the heat. but, if you can make popcornwithout burning it,
then you can roast coffee. after the coffee is roasted and cooled, it goes through a periodthat it needs to settle. so, it takes a while for the beans to settle, even though they've been cooled. but this time period is several hours. not days, not weeks... like someof the mass coffee producers claim. my own tests had determined a peak potency time for espresso -- of 11 hours after roasting.
and a maximum freshness cut off date of 7 days after roasting. let's take a look at somerecent studies that have come out about the benefits of coffee-- which there are many. (imitates error sound) that's not. these studies... what are they studying? they're studying old, dead, stale coffee! or people who drinkold, stale, dead coffee! i have not seen a single study
that has used coffee within a few days of roasting,let alone its peak time, or within 24 hours. i can tell you from my own experience, and how it feels in my body-- and tests are done for myself, there are so many more health benefits that have not even been discovered yet. not even touched. yet, these reports are showingthat coffee has a lot of health benefits. it's the number one sourceof antioxidants in the us diet. a study just came out in the last week,
that showed that people who drank coffee tended to live longer. there is a lot moreto discover about coffee, even though it's been around for so long. i have been on a 10-year questfor the perfect cup of coffee. didn't even know what that tasted like,because i'd never had it before. i just knew, somehow, it was out there. i tried everything. in the beginning, i focused my effortson upgrading my coffee making equipment, thinking that was the answer.
after several years,not much progress, and acquiring an italian espresso machine and a burr grinder, didn't know what else to try. it didn't even occur to me that the roasted coffee i was using made the difference. because everything i tried, in its vacuum sealed, space-age packaging, all tasted the same. it was consistent.
now i know, it was consistentlyold, stale and dead -- but at the time i didn't know it. then one day, some friends gave me a gift. it looked like this -- they said it was fresh roasted coffee, that they roasted at home, in their hot air popcorn popper. i had not idea what they were talking about at the time. but the next morning i decided, "i've tried everything else, i'll give it a try."
as soon as i took that first sip, i knew immediately -- this wass what i'd been searching for! all in the sudden, a lighting boltcame out of the sky, i was surrounded by white light, angels,courts of white angels! (laughter) not really. but, my life changed in that moment. and like all home roasters, i started to look around my houseways to roast coffee. home roasters, we are an innovative, wacky bunch.
we turn ordinary household appliancesinto coffee roasters -- hairdryers, heat guns, hot air popcorn poppers, some smoke out their roommatesusing a pan on the stove -- i looked around my house, i re-discovered my outdoorbarbecue grill. (laughter) i acquired a one-pound drumand a chicken rotisserie skewer, and a motor that turn that drumthree revolutions a minute. (laughter) my first batches were very uneven -- some seeds roasted very dark, some very light,
but still, because it was freshit was the best coffee i had ever had! so i was really encouraged. i upgraded... got a bigger drum,got a bigger motor -- (laughter) and i was in business. until today, i have created an affordable, portable,energy-efficient roaster, that produces an excellent result. and throughout my discovery processi've just had one question -- how can i create the best of both worlds?
how can i have the best, freshest coffee,and supply to the masses? my answer is in creatinga coffee roaster that every cafe in the worldcan afford and have access to. this is precisely what i've done. this... is the my roast! (audience) yeah!(applause) it is a two-kilo roaster, also comes in a five-kilo model, made entirely of stainless steel,
and uses 1/10 the electricity of other similar size roasters. the seeds go into this drum, this motor turns the drumseventy revolutions a minute. i've created this roasterfor a fraction of a cost of some of the commercial roastersyou've seen -- about a tenth of the cost. remember, if you can make popcornwithout burning it, and the technology for roasting coffee is pretty simple -- you just need heat. i'm creating a coffee university,here in bali.
it's going to teach everything about coffee -- from the cherry to the cup, growing, harvesting, processing,roasting, and barista training. the age of coffee enlightenmenthas begun! (applause) it's time for a revolution, and a reinvention of the way we grow, process and prepare our food. nature has given usthe gift of super-foods, that not only sustain our life,
but enhance and energize the life force within us, so that we can operate efficiently,effectively, and powerfully. fresh roasted organic arabica coffeeenhances my ability to focus my thoughts and attentionto create and manifest my dreams. i believe it is a powerful super-foodwhen consumed fresh, that can help humankinddo the same. but, please, don't take my word for it, don't listen to whatany experts are saying. you must try it out for yourself,
come to your own conclusions. now is the time to wake up, and smell the fresh roasted coffee!(laughter) thank you.(applause)
