Coffee

Coffee bean direct is your best choice. You probably don’t think about it much but the chances are, the coffee beans used in your morning cup o’ joe have passed through as many as five or six different middlemen on their way to your mug. All that passing from hand to hand adds to the price and subtracts from the quality of your cup. There’s a better way:  you can do what I do and buy your coffee bean direct from the source!

Coffee bean direct from the source costs less

Did you know that by buying direct can actually cost less than buying coffee at the supermarket? All those middlemen certainly don’t work for free. You can actually save money by buying it in bulk direct from the source. By “bulk” I mean at least 10 to 25 pounds at a time – this is where you start to see significant price discounts.

Coffee bean direct from the source gives you higher quality and better taste

If you’re buying ground coffee from a supermarket, did you know that those coffee beans were ground months ago, and most of the flavor has already faded away? And even if you’re buying whole bean, that coffee has waited in several warehouses for who knows how long before it was placed on the supermarket shelf. When you buy your coffee bean direct from the distributor, you know that the coffee is fresh, and you’ll be able to taste and smell the difference.

Tips for buying

* Do some research: what kind of coffee do you like? Dark, smoky, and robust – or light, crip, and mild? Did you like that Sumatra you tried at the local coffee shop? A quick search for “Sumatra” on the internet will yield distributors who sell Sumatra coffee to the public. Contact the distributor closest to you and start enjoying fresher Sumatra right away!

* Coffee is at its peak flavor right after the beans have been roasted. In some areas you might be able to find a good coffee roaster in your area, but even if you can’t find one nearby you can always find one on the internet and have the coffee shipped to you.

* Don’t buy more coffee than you can consume within one month – coffee beans begin to lose their flavor after this time.

* For many coffee aficionados, going through 10 to 25 pounds of coffee in a month is no problem, but if you think this might be too much for you consider sharing an order with a friend.

* Coffee tastes its best when brewed right after grinding, so buy your beans whole and invest in a good coffee grinder – unless you know it was ground very recently and you plan to consume it soon. (Still, nothing beats grinding it at home and brewing immediately after!)

So if you really savor the aroma and taste of a great cup of java, wait until you try it at its peak – right after roasting – when you buy it direct from a distributor. Give it a try today! 

Damen Choy, editor of Coffee Bean Direct Coffee-Bean-Direct.com provides timely information about the coffee market, as well as tips and ideas for coffee lovers and their friends. Visit Coffee Direct to know how coffee bean direct roasters ship coffee to you directly at wholesale pricing.

Author: Damen Choy
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
How Electric Pressure Cookers Work

Over the years of being in the coffee industry and hanging around “coffee geeks” I’ve heard just about every form of coffee misinformation and lore known to man. I’m not exactly sure where it all originated, or why for that matter. These myths always gave me a good chuckle, but as of lately I have been encountering these imaginative illusions on a much more frequent basis. I went from having a chuckle, to being slightly annoyed, to downright frustrated. It’s time to set the record straight on some of the most commonly circulated coffee myths.

Myth: Storing your coffee in the freezer will keep it fresh.

Fact: This is absolutely false. Coffee’s big enemies are air, moisture, and time. If coffee is stored in a freezer, moisture or condensation can form on the beans, which can start the extraction process prematurely. In addition, coffee, just like baking soda can absorb odors right out of the fridge – destroying it’s natural flavor profile. (Gross!)

Regardless of what you’ve been told, coffee has a short lifespan after roasting. Once roasted, it starts going bad (the same way food does after it is cooked). In-general coffee needs to “rest” in it’s sealed air tight bag for about three to four days after roasting so it can release CO2 caused by the roasting process. Once the coffee has rested, it reaches it’s “peak” flavor profile. If it is stored at room temperature in an air tight bag it can stay at peak flavor for about a week. The older a coffee gets, the faster it goes stale and loses it’s intended flavor profile.

It is said that coffee can stay fresh in it’s original unopened air tight bag for about two months. HOWEVER, once the bag is opened and the coffee is exposed to air; it will go stale rapidly (usually in two or three days).

Myth: Espresso comes from a specific type of coffee bean.

Fact: There is no such thing as an “espresso bean”. By tradition, espresso is defined as: “A strong coffee, brewed under pressure, and served immediately to its intended consumer.” In practice, however, we use a more strict technical definition. Below is the definition created by the World Barista Competition.

“An espresso is a one ounce/30 ml liquid including crema, brewed using an appropriate and consistent amount of ground coffee at a temperature between 195-205 degrees F where the machine brewing pressure is between 8.5-9.5 atmospheres of pressure. Extraction time must be between 20-30 seconds, and the beverage should be served immediately.”

Myth: Bold (darker roasted) coffee has less caffeine than medium to lighter roasted coffee.

Fact: This one can be difficult. It really depends on how you measure the caffeine. When coffee is roasted the beans lose some water content (somewhere in the 20% range give or take a few percent). At the same time it is losing weight it is gaining size. This leads to a situation that makes this one a bit tough to explain.

Assuming all other variables are the same, if you measure by weight you actually have more caffeine in dark roast because the water loss is faster than the minimal caffeine loss during roasting. If you measure by volume you have less caffeine because the beans expand as they roast. This seems to confuse some people so let me restate the above. If you measure your coffee using a scoop you will have less caffeine per cup using dark roast coffee. If you measure your coffee by weight you will have more caffeine per cup using a dark roast. The difference one way or the other is small.

Roast magazine published an article about this a while back stating: “Popular lore has always been that the darker the roast level, the lower the caffeine content. This is not really the case, as caffeine changes very little during the roasting process. Caffeine has a very stable crystalline structure with a boiling point above 600 degrees Fahrenheit, far above roasting temperatures, which rarely exceed 470 degrees Fahrenheit. This means there is very little change to the caffeine during the roasting process.”

Myth: “Fair Trade” coffee is the only coffee grown and sold using sustainable practices.

Fact: This is a very common consumer misunderstanding. Think of fair trade as “minimum wage”. It is a benchmark that guarantees farmers no less than a minimum designated “floor price”. There are actually far better fair and sustainable prices paid to growers under “Direct Trade Certification”. Counter Culture Coffee in Durham, North Carolina paved the way with their Direct Trade Certification program that guarantees growers at least $1.60/lb. for green coffee purchases, a minimum price that exceeds the Fair Trade Certified floor price by 19%. While $1.60/lb. sets a new, higher standard for green coffee purchases, they usually pay more than this minimum price for most Direct Trade Certified coffees, not including the additional financial premiums paid for exceptional quality.

“Myth: The best coffee in America comes from the Northwest.

Fact: This is rather subjective. A number of America’s most famous coffee companies originated in the Northwest (i.e. Stumptown Coffee, Starbucks and Seattle’s Best). All of which had a giant affect on the industry and established a “Second Wave” in coffee. That said, formidable coffee cultures have risen all over the U.S. with a focus on the “Third Wave” of coffee. (“The Third Wave of Coffee is the genesis and establishment of coffee growers, coffee roasters and coffee retailers that are focused on achieving the highest form of culinary appreciation of coffee.”)

Some of the most prominent “Third Wave” coffee companies are based in Chicago, New York City, North Carolina, Oregon and California. Recently a number of new small artisanal coffee shops and roasters have been rapidly taking off in cities you wouldn’t expect. Atlanta, Austin and Dallas in particular.

Myth: “Java” is a universal name for coffee.

Fact: This is false. For some reason, virtually every food writer refers to coffee as “java” at least once in coffee related articles. Java is simply an Indonesian Island that coffee happens to grow on. Coffee that comes from this Pacific Island IS known as Java, however coffee that does not originate on this island should not be referred to as “Java”. Does this remind you of another popular beverage?

(For more on up-and-coming Third Wave coffee cultures check out this article: http://texascoffeecollege.posterous.com/dallas-fort-worth-the-next-coffee-mecca-2

To find more from Tom Vincent or to learn more about coffee education, barista training, and coffee company consulting – check out Texas Coffee College (http://www.texascoffeecollege.com) or follow Texas Coffee College on Twitter (@TXCoffeeCollege).

Author: Tom Vincent
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
PCB Prototype & Manufacturing