Coffee

Buying coffee can be challenging. Why? There are so many coffee brands. If you know good tips on how to shop for coffee, you will be able to find a brand that you truly enjoy. I’d like to share with you some suggestions on what to look for when getting the most out of your next coffee purchase.

But first, let me explain how I learned about buying coffee. When I first tried an inexpensive brand of coffee, I almost spit it out. I thought, “How can people drink this stuff and enjoy it?” Since I was not after the caffeine effect, it was a long time before I’d try another cup of coffee. But I worked in a retail shop that was close to a gourmet coffee shop. I bought many flavored beverages from the shop. One day, I decided to try a flavored coffee. Luckily, I really enjoyed it. If I hadn’t, I don’t know if I would have ever tried coffee again. But drinking a regular cup of coffee didn’t appeal much to me. I became kind of a “fun coffee” kind of person, trying different flavors whenever I felt like a change. It also helped that I was married to a ‘coffee lover’ and learned valuable insight from him. He told me that I shouldn’t have to flavor coffee to get a good taste that I enjoy. My husband is a bit of a coffee snob but he has sort of earned that right. He grew up traveling to Guatemala with his parents to visit relatives. His grandfather immigrated to America from Guatemala and became a citizen of this great country. Because of this connection, my husband would visit the Guatemalan relatives on the family coffee farm as a boy and as an adult. Personally, I have visited Guatemala twice, to meet family, visit the family farm, and learn about coffee production. As you can imagine, coffee drinking is big in his family.

Nevertheless, here are the tips I have learned when looking for a good coffee:

1) Smell the coffee in the bag if you are able. Make sure it has a desirable aroma.
2) Check out the source of the coffee. Where is it from? Is it Estate Grown coffee of a high quality or is it a blend of “leftovers”?
3) How was it processed before it got to the roaster? Was it sun dried for a higher quality?
4) Buy whole bean for the ability to see the beans before your grind. If the beans are broken, have wholes in them or are all inconsistent sizes, don’t buy.
5) What kind of roast is it? Vienna, French or Espresso? Be sure to buy the correct roast for your taste buds or you may get a false impression of the coffee. Vienna is a lighter roast, French is a little darker and Espresso is a very dark roast.

Once you figure out which coffee you like, make sure the brewing is done correctly so that you ensure a smooth delicious flavor. Now you can sit back and really enjoy that coffee taste. Enjoy.

Article written by Michelle Falla, Coffee Distributor for Serenity Cup Coffees. Visit http://www.serenitycup.com for more details.

Author: Michelle Falla
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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In this article we discuss the coffees from the Central American region.

Mexican Coffee

Mexico is the seventh largest coffee producer in the world, most of which is of the arabica variety from the southern part of the country, where it is grown by smallholders and sold on to the National co-operative.

Vera Cruz State, on the gulf side of the central mountain range, produces mostly lowland coffees, but coffees called Altura (High) Coatepec, from a mountainous region near the city of that name, have an excellent reputation.

Chiapas and Tapachula coffee is grown in the mountains of the southeastern most corner of Mexico near the border with Guatemala and has a delicate light flavour similar to the well-known Oaxaca.
Primo Lavado (prime washed) is a grade of Mexico coffee that includes most of its’ finest.
Mexico is also the worlds’ main source of maragogype beans, which are extra large and some experts consider produce the very best coffee.

Guatemalan Coffee

As the second largest producer in Central America (and 8th in the world) Guatemala is another main source of the maragogype bean.

The best Guatemalan coffees have a very distinct, spicy, and (when dark roasted), display a unique smoky flavour that sets them apart from all other coffees. They are very acidy, with the spiciness or smokiness coming across as within the acidy tones, and are medium to full in body and rich in flavour.

High grown beans (Strictly Hard Bean) grade coffees(such as Antigua) from the central highlands tend to have a rich, spicy or floral acidity with excellent body characteristic. Coffees from mountainous areas exposed to either Pacific or Caribbean weather, display a bit less acidity and more fruit.

Honduran Coffee

Honduran arabica coffee is ninth of world’s leading coffee producers, yet most of it is fairly undistinguished and is mainly used as a blending coffee.

Excellent coffees are grown here, but most are blended before export. Beans are named after the growing regions, including Santa Barbara, as well as Copan, Ocotepeque, Lempira, La Paz and El Paraiso.

Costa Rican Coffee

Costa Rica only produces high quality arabica coffee that display a full body and clean, robust acidity that makes it among the most revered of all Central American coffee.

It is grown primarily in the countryside surrounding the capital, San Jose, on rich, well-drained volcanic soil above 3000 feet.

The most famous coffees are San Marcos de Tarrazu, Tres Rios, Heredia, and Alajuela. La Minita is a well-publicized estate in the Tarrazu district of Costa Rica that produces an excellent coffee – reputed to be the most meticulously prepared in the world.

Nicaraguan Coffee

Situated between Honduras and Costa Rica, the coffees of Nicaragua display a characteristic more of the former than of the latter. They are coffees in the classic Central-American style but usually undistinguished – being medium-bodied, straightforwardly acidy, with reasonable flavour.

El Salvadorian Coffee

Despite being the smallest country on the American continent, El Salvador ranks 15th in world coffee production. This hasn’t always been the case, as political problems have regularly beset this densely populated country.

Arabica coffees from El Salvador are generally less acidic and softer than other coffees from the Central American region. The best high-grown coffees are from trees of the Bourbon and Pacamara varieties and the taste can be fragrant and complex.

Strictly High-Grown is the highest grade of El Salvador coffee.

Look out for my other articles in this series on the coffee growing regions of the world.

For more information about coffee and coffee making equipment visit http://www.cafebar.co.uk

Author: Fenton Wayne
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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It’s surprising just how little people think about the coffee bean when they go about drinking their morning cup. Dave and I have found that a lot of people in our classes even think that that it is some kind of generic food substance – like a peanut (after all, it looks like one!) and it looks and tastes the same irrespective of where it is grown.

Then there’s a group of people who know zero about coffee, but they do know about their wine or their chocolate. They can relate to you when you talk about the nuances in coffee and nod knowingly when you tell them that coffee is different from country to country. Most are flabbergasted though when you tell them that coffee can taste different not only from country to country, but plantation to plantation in an individual country.

Believe it or not, tens of thousands of people are employed around the world just to sort coffee, and grade it according to its size, shape and number of defects. Buyers of green coffee beans are a picky lot – they crave consistency and understand that quality and price necessarily go hand in hand.

Because of such diversity in quality and ultimately shape, coffee beans can influence an espresso in so many ways: strength, mouthfeel, aroma, amount of crema produced, crema colour and thickness and aftertaste.

Why does Coffee Taste Different According to Where it is Grown?
Coffee that comes from just one country is called single origin coffee. Simply put, coffee can be classified as Brazilian, Colombian, Costa Rican, Guatemalan etc. But as suggested previously, the classification is much more complicated than that. Brazilian coffee can be further broken down into size and quality. For example, a coffee roaster may order Brazilian Santos 2/3, strictly soft, medium to good bean, 14/16. Most of this is self explanatory apart from “Santos” which simply refers to the port from which the beans were shipped (and therefore signals the general geographic region that the beans were grown in) and “14/16″ which refers to the “screen size.” Green beans are sieved to separate out different sizes. Everything falling through the 14/16 sieve is too small to be classified as 14/16 and everything that sits above the sieve must be large enough to attain that status (and therefore accompanying higher price).

Single Origin Coffees – What Defines Them?
The soil in which the coffee trees grow can obviously impact on the flavour of the coffee beans that these trees produce. Different pH levels, mineral content and even what crops coffee grows next to on a plantation will affect taste, aroma etc. For example, coffee that is grown in India sometimes takes on a spicy undertone as it grows under the forest canopies next to pepper trees. Coffee from the highlands in Mexico can take on a slight chocolaty aftertaste as it grows near cacao trees that are used to produce chocolate.

Climate will also impact on coffee and is one of the main reasons that single origin coffees taste different to each other. Countries with distinct wet and dry seasons will often have a shorter maturation period than countries with slightly less temperate climates.

There are two main species of coffee tree that grow commercially around the world: Arabica and Robusta. Arabica coffee refers to coffee that grows on a tree. It is generally more difficult to grow than its poor cousin Robusta, but Arabicas are generally better tasting than Robustas and hence command a higher price in the market place. Robusta coffee grows on a wild shrub or a vine and although they are easier to grow than Arabicas and their yield is higher, they often yield a bean that produces bitter espresso that dries out the drinker’s palate (not always true though, for example Robusta coffee coming from certain plantations in India is very nice – and expensive).

Altitude plays a large part in taste as well. Generally, the higher the altitude, the better the Arabica coffee that is produced.

It surprises people but the method of processing and the individual farmer will have a huge impact on a coffee’s taste, aroma and depth of quality. A plantation that cuts corners when it ferments its coffee cherries or dries the green beans artificially/too quickly or stores them in their hessian bags incorrectly will produce inferior-tasting coffee compared to the farm next door that does these things correctly.

What to Buy
Generally you will purchase a blend when you purchase your coffee, but if you are at the stage or experimenting with the often-costlier single origins, the better-known ones include Ethiopian Limu (the home of coffee), Kenya AA, Costa Rican SHB and Colombian. Single origins to watch include Myanmar, Laos, Nepal, El Salvador, India and Papua New Guinea.

Our next article will focus on coffee blends (ie the mixing if single origins and why coffee roasters do this). Fire up another Ethiopian espresso and stay tuned!

© Barista Brothers 2009. All rights reserved. Unauthorised copying of this article or any part thereof will result in copyright infringement that will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.

Matt and Dave Gee are coffee book authors (bean there, drunk that….) coffee DVD producers and coffee trainers who have owned a coffee roasting facility and several espresso bars in Australia. They are also feature writers for several industry magazines. Buy their unique coffee training techniques at http://www.ultimatebaristasecrets.com/ and be sure to visit their blog for more on all things coffee at http://www.baristabrothers.com/

They created the worlds first coffee art class and their training materials are used by TAFE colleges and franchise groups in Australia and around the world. When not searching for the worlds best single origin coffees, they can be found training the baristas of tomorrow from their training centres dotted up and down the east coast of Australia. Follow the boys on twitter at ultimatebarista and baristabrother1.

Author: Matthew Gee
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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