Coffee

Gourmet coffee is an incredibly delicious treat, and before you take your next sip of your freshly roasted gourmet cup of Joe, it is important to know how it came to be. Gourmet coffee roasting takes skill and specialty, but it is incredibly worth it when it becomes a premium and superior final product.

First of all, when gourmet coffee beans are roasted, they will lose weight or shrink in the roasting process. While the beans are roasted, they will swell to twice their normal size, but they will shrink down after they have been roasted. This means that if you start out with a pound of green unroasted coffee beans, you will end up with less than a pound when you are done roasting. This is something to keep in mind if you ever decide to home roast your coffee because 1 pound of green coffee beans will not yield 1 pound of roasted coffee beans.

The longer that the gourmet coffee beans are roasted, the darker in color they will become. This will also cause a greater amount of shrinkage or weight loss, which means that it will take more coffee to make up a pound. Basically, if you are roasting a lighter roast of coffee, then it will take less green coffee beans. If a darker roast is being roasted, it will take more green coffee beans to make up a pound.

Gourmet coffee beans will normally shrink up to 20%, but a darker roast can shrink up to 25%. If it is an extremely light gourmet roast, it can shrink as little as 11% during the roasting process. One thing to understand is that many types of commercial coffees are under roasted to save costs overall for the business. With more gourmet brews on the market and an increase in gourmet coffee sales, it shows that the customer truly prefers a fully and authentically roasted coffee over the shortcuts often found on the market.

When it comes to roasting gourmet coffee, there is something called the Optimum Degree of Roast, which will bring out the best flavor characteristics for each type of coffee. This will provide the customer with the perfect taste and aroma within the specific coffee blend. This is something that is unique to each different roast, based on the characteristics of the coffee beans themselves.

Last of all, if coffee is under roasted, it will have an astringent or grassy flavor because the beans will still be partially green. If a gourmet coffee is over roasted, it will taste burnt or smoky, which will be apparent in the brew. There are many different flavor combinations and characteristics available with each specific roast, but it is still important to know the step-by-step process of roasting gourmet coffee to pick the best roast and blend for you. Gourmet coffee is more popular than ever, and for a reason. This is a premium method of roasting fresh and high-quality coffee beans for your cup of Joe!

Another popular accessory for coffee is the commercial coffee maker! For a great selection, check out Chuggin McCoffee’s website, The Coffee Bump.

Author: Mark Ramos
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
The economics of product pricing

We recently purchased a single cup coffee brewer and we just love it. The model we bought is a Keurig Elite. It is one of the best purchases we have made in a long time. The taste of the coffee is fabulous and it is so easy to use.

If you are a coffee lover and have never tried one of these machines then you owe it to yourself to give one a try. Some of the things we have really enjoyed are; how fast it brews, how clean they are, and the variety of the coffees you have to choose from.

The Keurig Elite is the single cup coffee brewer we selected. The Keurig uses coffee that is stored in K-cups. You keep water filled in a reservoir on the side of the machine. The water does have to be heated, so if the unit has been off you will need to heat the water. All you have to do is turn the unit on and the water will automatically heat in about one minute. Once the heating red light goes out you are ready to go. You open the K-cup holder in the top, put in your selected K-cup, shut the top and press brew. On the Keurig Elite you have two choices of brew sizes. Small; which is 7.5 ounces, and Large; which is 9.25 ounces? You pick the size that gives you the coffee strength you prefer. It only takes about a minute to brew a perfect single cup of coffee.

These single cup coffee brewers are also very clean. With the K-cups all of the coffee is stored inside, so there is no coffee to spill. Even after brewing the K-cups are easy to toss in the trash without making any mess on the way. Because the brewing process is so clean, you will find that keeping the brewer clean is very easy. The area around the brewer also stays relatively clean. All we have to do is occasionally wipe down the area around the brewer. If you are as messy as me with traditional coffee grounds this is a real plus.

You will not believe the varieties of coffee you can choose from. In fact, you not only have a wide variety of coffees, you have a wide variety of teas as well. If anyone in your family likes cocoa, you will find a good variety of those as well. The coffee roasters you have to select from includes Green Mountain Coffee, Gloria Jeans, Diedrich, Van Houtte, Timothy’s, Tully’s, Newman’s Own, Coffee People, Caribou Coffee, and Emeril’s Gormet Coffee. I told you there were a lot of choices. These brands also give you choices regarding traditional brew strengths as well as a large selection of flavored coffees. We have really enjoyed some of the holiday flavors like Pumpkin Spice, Cinnamon Stick, and Ginger Bread. Another plus of the single cup coffee brewer is that if you want one type of coffee and your spouse wants something different, it is no problem. No need to compromise, you can both have what you want.

We have had our single cup coffee brewer for about two months now. We still brew a full pot of coffee every now and then, but we use the Keurig Elite more times than not. The flavor and strength of the coffee is always perfect. If you are a coffee lover, you owe it to yourself to try one of these single cup coffee brewers.

R.L. Cagle has been an executive for Fortune 100 Companies as well as small start up companies. He also consults with businesses and organizations to assist them in Management Training, Strategic Planning, and Sales Training. R.L. is also a coffee lover. He recently purchased a Keurig Elite, a single cup coffee brewer. He loved his purchase so much he created a website to promote them. The website is http://www.singlecupcoffeebrewers.net which promotes his newest favorite product, single cup coffee brewers. If you are a coffee lover, you should really try one of these. We have loved ours.

Author: R. L. Cagle
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Captions contest

Are you the sort of person that enjoys coffee more than the regular Joe? (No pun intended) Are you passionate about tasting and enjoying different types of coffee?
Do you believe that the art of brewing great coffee is something that you would like to learn about?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above, you are clearly someone who loves coffee. In fact, coffee may be one of the greatest passions in your life. Oftentimes, individuals will keep their passion to themselves for lack of a suitable forum or outlet. This is exactly why Witham’s Coffee has established the Witham’s “Coffee Connoisseurs Club”. This club is an exciting new way for coffee lovers all over Australia to share their passion for coffee. The club sends all members regular selections of a wide range of coffees. As a member of Witham’s Connoisseurs Club, you will experience an exotic selection of many different types of coffees. Individuals who subscribe for 6 or 12 months memberships will receive an exciting new single origin coffee each fortnight, freshly roasted and delivered straight to your doorstep! Each delivery will consist of a different origin of 100% Arabica beans, together with tasting notes and information on its origin, processing methods and many interesting facts.

Witham’s Connoisseurs Club will introduce you to coffees that will excite your taste-buds and fill your palette with amazing new sensations. Witham’s Connoisseurs Club will help you to appreciate the variety of aromas and nuances of character from the world’s best coffee growing regions. 100% Arabica beans will be used in every single blend. With each new coffee you will also receive tasting notes and supplementary information on the region where coffee comes from.
Some of the coffees that are sent out to Witham’s Connoisseurs Club members are:

• Indian Elkhills Estate – Mysore Nuggets
• Nicaraguan Superior Maragogype
• Ethipian Djimmah 5
• Indian Monsoon Malabar AA
• Brazilian Cerrado
• Tanzanian AA Lima
• Guatemala SHB Antigua
• Ethiopian Limu
• Indonesian Sumatran Mandheling
• Colombian Medellin Excelso

The Coffee Connoisseurs Club is not the only exciting feature of Witham’s Coffee. It is recognised as one of Australia’s finest artisan coffee roasters. The coffees provided by Witham’s are always single origin, i.e. different types of coffee beans are not mixed together. Thus, while brewing a cup of the Ethiopian Limu, you know that it is pure Ethiopian coffee that you are getting. Also, they insist on hand-picking only the highest-quality green beans – the heart and soul of a great cup of coffee.

Some coffees are purchased from traders or brokers whilst other coffees are sought directly from the plantations at origin. Apart from regular coffee, Witham’s also offers decafs that are some of the finest available. This is due to the fact that these decafs are processed using the Swiss Water Process method, which is an entirely chemical-free decaffeinating process.

To find out more about how to join the Witham’s Coffee Connoisseurs Club and more information on Witham’s including the range of coffees on offer, visit http://withams.com.au

Most of us spend a fair portion of our time in office drinking coffee. Cameroon Taylor is one of those few lucky ones who gets to drink coffee for work. He has been a coffee enthusiast for as long as he can remember and after having a sip of most of the major types of coffee from around the world, he started to write about the first love of his life; coffee. The love affair continues…

Author: Cameroon Taylor
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Low cost, quick-turn PCB

Fair trade coffee sometimes is misunderstood, but it is quite simple. Fair trade coffee is coffee that is produced differently. They still use the finest quality of coffees, but there is something special and unique about it. Fair trade coffee ensures that the people who are working in the coffee industry are treated fairly. The United States consumes an extremely large amount of coffee. It is important to think about the people around the world who are harvesting and producing the coffee. The coffee drinkers of the United States often only think about the price and place of their coffee and do not think about the production, harvest, and shipment of this fine product.

Many of the people who work within the coffee plantations are treated very poorly. The coffee that is labeled as Fair Trade has standards for the workers. There are very specific rights of the workers. The criteria and requirements of the workers are held to this standard and that the workers receive appropriate compensation. This organization has the objective of helping the coffee drinkers in the world to purchase and brew coffee where the working conditions are sufficient for the employees. The focus on the organization is to ensure that socially and economically, the coffee field employees are not being exploited.

Many coffee fields have long work days involving unfair conditions and for very little pay. Companies who treat their workers in this fashion should not be compensated by people buying their product. Fair Trade has a definite certification process and through the labeling of the products lets the rest of the world know that this coffee was harvested under the best conditions for the workers. It is the same as not purchasing clothing that was produced under sweatshop conditions.

Some of these coffee fields should be considered “sweat shops in the field.” There are farmers who own small coffee plantations that are not treated fairly either. The companies tend to offer them little compensation for their coffee. This leaves the farmer being exploited. The farmers often end up in poverty. This is unfair to the farmers who have the desired product.

The people who love coffee should think twice before buying coffee that is not Fair Trade certified. Many people who find that they are looking into Fair Trade coffee have found that there are many suppliers with very reasonable prices. There are several Fair Trade coffee websites and one brand that is common is Dean’s Bean which is a morning brew. The cost difference between ordering online and buying from the grocery store is minimal. It is a great feeling for the people who do purchase off of the websites that each is doing their part to support the Fair Trade coffee industry. It makes every cup of espresso or cappuccino more enjoyable knowing that you are doing something special for the workers in the world.

Vince Paxton’s articles are found on lots of web pages related to brewmaster coffee maker. You might see his comments on grind and brew coffee machines over at http://www.coffee-espresso-maker-tips.com/grind-and-brew-coffee-makers.html and different sources for grind and brew coffee machines knowledge.

Author: Vince L. Paxton
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Duty tariff

With so many wide and varied coffee producing regions throughout the world it is hard to know what to expect when you buy a coffee from these places. Some of regions rely on small independent farmers to produce the coffee other regions are run by the multinational companies. We are well aware of how famous Java is in the world of coffee, it has now become a second name for coffee. But there a many less well known regions that are producing some of the most outstanding coffee in the world, These beans get their unique flavours and aromas from the way they are grown and processed, for instance some regions in the Americas grown their coffee in the shade, while other prefer their beans to be grown on the slopes of mountains. To name and describe ever region of coffee producing world would take a little longer than I can afford, but they can be broken down into the main regions so you get a general overview of what to expect of the coffees from these regions.

The Americas.

The largest and most diverse of all the regions, coffee is produced from the Caribbean all the way through south and central America and as far as Hawaii. Most of these coffees can be described as having a well balance and medium bodied flavours, because of these characteristics many of the coffees from the Americas are perfect from bending with other strong more acidic coffee verities. Some other well known characteristics of these coffees are chocolaty and nutty tones. Probably the most famous of all the American coffee’s are the kona coffee produced on the slopes of the volcanic Hawaiian mountains and the blue mountain coffee of Jamaica which is the highest mountain in the Caribbean.

Africa and the Middles East.

With Ethiopia being the birth place of coffee Africa has a long history with the Coffee bean and some of the most famous coffees have their origin in African and the Middle East, Mocha Coffee got it’s name from a port in Yemen. Coffee from these regions will always remain popular with each region having its own unique flavours and aromas and this is mostly down to the wide variety of climates from the desert like regions of the Middle East to the tropical regions of the Cameroon and Kenya. Even though there are many different varieties of African coffee you are always assured of a wonderful cup of coffee.

Asia And Indonesia

Almost 75% of all the coffee beans produced in this region come from the Canephora plant, with the remainder produced from the Arabica plant, The tropical and sub-tropical climates of these regions make the ideal conditions for growing some of the world’s finest coffee beans. In general these coffees are low in acidity with a full body and distinctive aromatic flavours of earthy tones. Because the beans are low in acidity with a strong body they are often used in a blend with a milder coffee usually from Africa or the Americas. Some of the most well loved of all the Asian coffee’s are the monsooned malabar coffee produced in India. This is one of the most unique coffees in the world as the beans are left in open sheds though out the monsoon season. This imparts a wonderful unique flavour to the beans. Another famous coffee is Kapal Api which produced on the Indonesian island of Java and in the past 80 it has grown to be a world famous brand.

As you can see that the choice and variety of coffee today is endless, and if you decide to roast your own green Coffee beans not only will have the freshest cup of coffee imaginable but you can also begin to experiment with different blends of coffee from around the world.

Author: Robert T Jones
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Retirement plan