Coffee

When it comes to choosing a coffee maker, your first area of concern will be to determine what type of coffee you want. There are numerous types of coffee makers all for making different types of coffee. For example, you may choose to purchase an automatic drip method coffee maker. When using an automatic drip coffee maker you will be able to brew between 6-12 cups of coffee. They provide a full-bodied, rich fragrant coffee and are very aromatic. You will need to choose between very fine and regular ground coffees for use in the coffee maker.

The percolator coffee maker brews coffee in about 15-20 minutes. You can make between 6-12 cups and the coffee is very rich and flavorful. When using a percolator coffee maker be sure to get the appropriate coffee filters or else grounds may pass through the filter.

A French Press or Plunger coffee maker makes a smaller amount of coffee per cup as compared to the percolator and automatic drip makers, however the coffee is very rich, full-bodied and strong. You will need to use regular or coarsely ground coffee and since there is no coffee filter, your coffee may appear cloudy, however it will be delicious.

An Espresso machine makes very delicious and smooth espresso. It takes about fifteen minutes to brew about five cups of espresso. Espresso is revered for its rich velvety flavor, however you will notice that all espresso is a bit muddy. When drinking espresso, it isn’t uncommon to notice a fine bit of powdery residue at the bottom of the cup.

If you like flavored ground coffee, then you will be happy with all of the choices available on the market today. You can choose from organically grown coffee to instant coffee that needs nothing more than boiling water. There is also the choice to purchase your own coffee beans and grind them fresh.

You can do this in your local grocery store, or purchase a coffee grinder and grind your own coffee at home, before you brew each cup. Many people prefer to drink caffeinated coffee, due to the boost of energy it gives, while others prefer decaffeinated. However, there are benefits to drinking both, and current scientific study is showing that drinking coffee in moderation may have many health benefits. By choosing the proper coffee maker for the type of coffee you want to make, you can rest assured that you will have the perfect cup every time.

Find coffee machines at http://www.cofcaf.co.uk

Author: Adrian Adams
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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You can be a coffee lover without knowing much about coffee beans, but learning a little bit about the different types of coffee can help you get the perfect cup every time. There are many types of gourmet coffee beans. The way they have been grown in processed has a huge effect on their taste. Here’s a little bit of information for getting the best from your gourmet coffee beans.

Coffee is a common agricultural product of many tropical countries. There are two main species of coffee plant – Arabica and Robusta. Gourmet coffee beans are mostly Arabica because of their superior flavor and smoothness. Many blends, however, include Robusta coffee beans to give an edge to the coffee.

After the coffee is picked, it must be roasted. Roasting makes the green coffee beans expand in size and changes their color to a light to dark brown. Lighter roasts reveal more of the flavor of gourmet coffee beans, while darker roasts take on the flavor of the roasting process itself. After roasting the coffee should be kept in vacuum packed containers to minimize flavor loss.

Gourmet coffee beans must be ground to the correct fineness to bring out the most taste. Generally speaking, a fine grind will result in a full-bodied cup of coffee, but coarse grinds are used when making coffee with coarse filters like the French cafetiere.

Once the coffee has been ground, there are many ways to brew a cup of coffee. No matter whether you prefer espresso, drip, perked, or pressed, you need to start with high-quality gourmet coffee beans to get a good cup of coffee.

You can buy gourmet coffee beans in many types of blends. Most blends are a mixture of dark and light roast coffee beans and can be ground to suit the type of coffee maker you use. Freshness is important when making good-quality coffee. Fresh ground coffee beans will give you the best tasting cup of coffee.

Hans is author of the Coffee Specials and Gourmet Basket section at http://www.steaks-guide.com

Author: Hans Dekker
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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One of the most popular beverages in North America is a cup of hot coffee. Many North Americans consume these beverages every day, and so few know anything about the history of coffee or even how it is produced. The following 20 facts, from the very well known to the obscure, will give you a little bit of insight into that morning beverage we all love to consume – coffee:  

1) Coffee is a hot beverage brewed from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant.  

2) The seeds are harvested from the fruit of coffee plants, which are called coffee cherries.  

3) These seeds are harvested twice a year; Once from the south of the equator between April and May and the second time from the North of the equator between September and March.  

4) Once ripe, the coffee cherries are picked and the seeds are extracted. The seeds, referred to as green coffee, are then roasted where they double in size and turn into the dark chocolate brown colour to form the familiar coffee bean.  

5) Roasting only begins when the temperature inside the seed reaches 200°C.  

6) Once roasted the coffee beans are sorted into categories and labeled as light, medium light, medium, medium dark, dark, or very dark.  

7) Darker roasts are smoother in flavor because they have less fiber content and more sugar. Lighter roasts have more caffeine and may taste bitterer.  

Decaffeinated coffee is produced when the coffee seeds are still green by soaking the seeds in hot water or steaming them, then using a solvent to dissolve the caffeine containing oils.  

9) The majority of decaf coffee is only 97 to 99% decaffeinated.  

10) Coffee drinking is reported to have originated in Ethiopia in the 9th century, although the earliest credible evidence of beverages made with coffee appears in Yemen in the middle of the 15th century.  

11) Coffee was used in Muslim states as an alternative to wine in religious ceremonies. As a result many Christian nations originally banned the ‘Muslim’ beverages.  

12) Coffee became more widely accepted after Pope Clement VIII deemed it a Christian beverage in 1600.  

13) Even though it is now considered the national drink, coffee was originally banned in Ethiopia by the Orthodox Christian Church until 1889.  

14) Coffee is now grown in over 50 countries worldwide.  

15) Brazil is the top exporter of coffee, followed by Vietnam.  

16) As of 2006, green coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world, just behind crude oil.  

17) On average, total coffee intake is about a third of that of water in North America.  

18) It takes approximately 140 litres of water to grow the coffee beans required for one cup of coffee.  

19) The concept of fair trade coffee was developed in the Netherlands by the Max Havelaar Foundation.  

20) According to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, coffee contains more antioxidants than typical servings of grape juice, blueberries, raspberries and oranges.  

Whether you have brewed it from home, or purchased your morning cup of coffee from the local coffee chop, the next time you take a sip of one of North America’s favorite beverages take a minute to reflect upon the 1200 years of its history and be thankful for the process that it takes to get the coffee to your lips. That morning cup of coffee may just be that much more enjoyable if you do.

For freshly roasted coffee with a great selection, check out Morning Coffee Shop’s website, Morningcoffeeshop.com.

Author: Paul Scobie
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Beverages are one of life’s little pleasures, especially when it comes in the form of a steaming cup of hot coffee. Real coffee lovers will tell you that the only thing better than drinking a fresh cup of hot coffee is first preparing it yourself, particularly when it includes grinding your own coffee beans.

In order to grind your own coffee beans you first need to know a bit about the different types of grinds. There are three basic types: fine, medium and coarse.

1) Coarse Grinds

Coarse grinds are best for your typical percolating coffee maker. You should only use your coffee grinder to grind the coffee beans for approximately 10 seconds.

2) Medium Grinds

In order to make medium ground coffee beans, which also work well in regular coffee makers, you should only grind the beans for a maximum of 5 seconds.

3) Fine Grinds

If you have your very own espresso maker you will want to make sure you use your coffee grinder a little bit longer, for about 30 seconds. Espresso makers require very fine grinds in order to work properly.

Now that you have the types of grinds down you next need to know the options you have when it comes to grinding your own coffee beans. There are two main types of coffee grinders: burr coffee grinders and blade coffee grinders.

1) Burr Coffee Grinder

There are two types of burr coffee grinders, the wheel burr and the conical burr:

Conical Burr Coffee Grinders

Although a little more expensive of the two types of burr coffee grinders, the conical burr is considered one of the best. The conical burr runs at a lower speed, usually below 500 rpm, than the wheel burr. This lower speed in turn produces less noise and creates less mess. And because of the lower speed the conical burr coffee grinder has less of a chance of clogging and can achieve a more uniform grind.

Wheel Burr Coffee Grinders

The wheel burr coffee grinder is the less expensive option of burr grinders. What sets the wheel burr apart from the conical burr grinder is speed. The wheel burr tends to run at a faster speed and that in turn makes the grinder very noisy and messy. With the faster speed, there is also a chance of scorching or heating which will change the flavour of the coffee beans. Depending on the amount of coffee you are grinding wheel burr grinders are still well suited for grinding small amounts of coffee as long as there is no time for heat to build up. 

2) Blade Coffee Grinder

One of the cheapest types of coffee grinders is the blade type. Blade coffee grinders are similar to a blender where the only use one flat blade that spins. The downfall of this type of coffee grinder is that they tend to heat up quite easily and in turn heat the coffee beans, which will result in a scorched taste. So if you are going to use a blade coffee grinder you should only grind your coffee beans in very short bursts to insure that there is no loss of flavour.

Now that you have a little bit of a better handle on the types of grinds and options for coffee grinders, get out there and start grinding your own beans. You won’t believe how fresh your morning cup of coffee will taste after you mastered the art of grinding your own coffee beans.

With a great selection Espresso Machines, check out Morning Coffee Shop’s website, Morningcoffeeshop.com.

Author: Paul Scobie
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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An increasing number of us nowadays are wondering how to select a single serve coffee maker that will suit us best at home. These kinds of coffeemaker are designed to produce – as you might expect – a single cup of coffee at a time and they are becoming increasingly popular amongst all kinds of coffee drinkers.

In the past we’ve been a bit limited in our choices of coffee maker – we’ve often, for example, had to make a whole pot of fresh coffee just to enjoy a single cup but things are different nowadays.

The Advantages

The advantages of single serve coffee stations are primarily found in the fact that they can make just one serving of coffee at a time and that they work real quick as a consequence in comparison to multi serve machines. So, you won’t need to waste coffee or won’t need to make more coffee than you’ll actually drink in one sitting.

And, if you choose one of the new single serve pod systems as your final choice here, then you can simply slip a small individual coffee pod into the machine, make your cup of coffee and then throw the pod away. So, there’ll minimal cleaning up and maintenance to do as well!

You can even pick and choose the kinds of coffee you want to drink with these kinds of machines as the pods can come in various types, roasts and flavors. Major coffee companies that make coffee for these pods currently include some big names in the sector such as Douwe Egberts, Melitta and Folgers – so you’ll get a guarantee of coffee experience and quality at the same time as well.

Two Types

There are basically two ways to use a single serve coffee maker. In the first instance you can buy a conventional coffee machine that uses standard ground coffee via a normal filter system but which only brews a single cup of coffee at a time rather than making up a whole big pot. It is worth noting here that some of these machines may sometimes be able to brew up two cups instead of just one which could give you a little more flexibility.
In either case the machine here will brew up directly into your cup extremely quickly and efficiently. Some of these kinds of models even come with their own mug when you buy them!

As single serve machines go this kind of option is reliable but kind of uninspiring if you’re looking for something a little different in your coffee drinking. But, if you’re still wondering how to select a single serve coffee maker then this may be a good option for you if you simply want an affordable and compact coffee maker for one/two people. Some of these machines are real tiny nowadays and could easily just sit on the end of a desk for real ease of use without taking up too much space.

But, if you want something a little bit more exciting from a single serve coffee maker then you really should also consider something along the lines of one of these new pod systems we’ve already mentioned. These single serve machines (such as those in the Philips Senseo range, for example) are designed to take a single pod that contains a specific brand, roast or type of coffee at a time.

You unwrap the pod from its packaging, place it in the machine and it brews your coffee up for you into the cup. You can then simply throw the used pod into the trash. Again it’s worth noting that some pod systems can be purchased that will make two cups of coffee at a time.

Variety – The Spice of Life

These machines are so popular now partly because they are so convenient and reliable but also because they allow you to buy different varieties, types and flavors of coffee pods. So, you can pick and choose which kind of coffee you will brew at any given time of day without having to keep a huge stock of different types of coffee in your kitchen cupboards.

This does prevent you from having lots of large unopened bags of coffee going stale in your cupboards because you simply cannot drink them that fast. These pods are also all individually sealed so you won’t lose freshness as you may do once you open a bag of standard ground coffee.

One complaint that some pod machine users have is that the pods themselves are not always as cost effective as they may be. As you might expect you may have to pay a premium for convenience here so this kind of pod system may well work out to be more expensive to both buy the initial machine and the pods than if you were just buying a small single serve maker and regular bags of coffee.

One key thing to think about as you ponder how to select a single serve coffee maker is compatibility. Some pods can be used in other kinds of standard coffee makers so it’s worth while checking on compatibility with your manufacturer. And, some coffee pod systems offer the ability to add a normal filter to the machine so you can use them as a standard single serve machine with your own ground coffee.

Flexibility is vital here as you don’t want to buy a coffee maker or a pod system that limits your choices. Some pod systems, for example, will allow you to use other types of pods in the machine as well as those that are made for the particular model. This option is great as you get much more flexibility in terms of coffee drinking choice. However, some systems will only work with their own pods which could see you limited on choice and which could also cost you more in the long run.

It doesn’t really matter which system you decide suits you best at the end of the day. You may even opt for both choices! One last thing to remember is that you can get great discounts and bargains on standard single serve coffee makers, pod systems and the pods themselves if you shop around. Many pod system users, for example, shop around on the Internet and then bulk buy pods when they find a bargain.

About the Author

Carol Finch enjoys writing about coffee makers, single serve machines, and more at Coffee N’ Beans: http://www.coffee-n-beans.com

Author: Carol Finch
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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