Coffee

Being a coffee lover it’s likely if you are anything like me, you just cannot start your day without it?

I suspect that no matter how much you like your coffee you surely have your own opinion as to which is the best tasting coffee. Perhaps you like a shot of espresso or a latte but maybe you just want that cup regardless of what’s in it!

Generally speaking there are two types of coffee,one derived from Arabica coffee beans and the other from Robusta beans.

Coffee from the Arabica bean is the higher quality coffee and being more popular accounts for around 75% to 80% of the coffee drunk around the world. Robusta is of lesser quality but still good in taste and makes up for around 20% of the world’s coffee.Both of these beans are grown in Latin America,Southern Asia and Africa. As soon as the beans, known as berries on the plant, are ripe they are picked, dried and roasted to varying degrees depending on the desired flavors. Once roasted the coffee beans are ground and brewed to make coffee.The roasting process produces the characteristics and the flavors of coffee by expanding the green beans, changing their color, taste, smell and density. As the heat is absorbed by the beans their color changes from green to yellow and from yellow to various shades of brown. During the latter stages of roasting the surface of the bean starts to look shiny in appearance as natural oils appear on its surface. The longer the roast the darker the bean.

Lightly roasted coffee allows a lighter bodied coffee and it is easy to distinguish the taste created in the bean by the soil and weather conditions as well as the growing region and so you’ll probably be able to locate where the bean came from. Darkly roasted coffee beans however, have been roasted to the point where the dominant flavor becomes the roast itself and you’ll be hard pressed to guess where the coffee came from.

Brewing also plays an important role in coffee drinking as the better the coffee machine is that you use as a coffee maker the better coffee you can make. Since the fresher the coffee is the more aromatic and flavorful it is and therefore it’s better to grind coffee beans yourself just prior to brewing so you can enjoy the best tasting cup.

All can contribute to a great cup of coffee, but which is the best coffee? Well again that depends on personal taste and preference but here below is a short coffee guide to help you decide:

Dark Roasts

This is coffee that is roasted longer. It’s darker and has a smoky flavor. If you like this, then you’ll enjoy French coffee, Espresso Coffee or Italian Coffee, although some French roast can be considered as medium roast as well.

Medium Roasts
These are a little sweeter tasting than a lighter roast with good aromas,fully flavored and balanced acidity. You can look for American, Viennese or City roast if you like to enjoy a cup of medium roasted coffee. This is also the category for most breakfast blends in the US.

Light Roasts
This light roasted coffee contains more caffeine that other categories but they offer less taste and body than the other two types of roasts. Look for New England or Cinnamon roasts.

Truth be told no one can tell you exactly what the best coffee is for you. Some people prefer a particular type of coffee while others enjoy another. There are many producers, roasters and retailers of coffee so go out and try them all as ultimately it is up to you to decide which one suits your palate the best.

For more good advice on choosing a good coffee and a coffee machine [http://www.goodcoffeeclub.com] visit my website at, [http://www.goodcoffeeclub.com]

Author: Brian Potter
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Being a coffee lover it’s likely if you are anything like me, you just cannot start your day without it?

I suspect that no matter how much you like your coffee you surely have your own opinion as to which is the best tasting coffee. Perhaps you like a shot of espresso or a latte but maybe you just want that cup regardless of what’s in it!

Generally speaking there are two types of coffee,one derived from Arabica coffee beans and the other from Robusta beans.

Coffee from the Arabica bean is the higher quality coffee and being more popular accounts for around 75% to 80% of the coffee drunk around the world. Robusta is of lesser quality but still good in taste and makes up for around 20% of the world’s coffee.Both of these beans are grown in Latin America,Southern Asia and Africa. As soon as the beans, known as berries on the plant, are ripe they are picked, dried and roasted to varying degrees depending on the desired flavors. Once roasted the coffee beans are ground and brewed to make coffee.The roasting process produces the characteristics and the flavors of coffee by expanding the green beans, changing their color, taste, smell and density. As the heat is absorbed by the beans their color changes from green to yellow and from yellow to various shades of brown. During the latter stages of roasting the surface of the bean starts to look shiny in appearance as natural oils appear on its surface. The longer the roast the darker the bean.

Lightly roasted coffee allows a lighter bodied coffee and it is easy to distinguish the taste created in the bean by the soil and weather conditions as well as the growing region and so you’ll probably be able to locate where the bean came from. Darkly roasted coffee beans however, have been roasted to the point where the dominant flavor becomes the roast itself and you’ll be hard pressed to guess where the coffee came from.

Brewing also plays an important role in coffee drinking as the better the coffee machine is that you use as a coffee maker the better coffee you can make. Since the fresher the coffee is the more aromatic and flavorful it is and therefore it’s better to grind coffee beans yourself just prior to brewing so you can enjoy the best tasting cup.

All can contribute to a great cup of coffee, but which is the best coffee? Well again that depends on personal taste and preference but here below is a short coffee guide to help you decide:

Dark Roasts

This is coffee that is roasted longer. It’s darker and has a smoky flavor. If you like this, then you’ll enjoy French coffee, Espresso Coffee or Italian Coffee, although some French roast can be considered as medium roast as well.

Medium Roasts
These are a little sweeter tasting than a lighter roast with good aromas,fully flavored and balanced acidity. You can look for American, Viennese or City roast if you like to enjoy a cup of medium roasted coffee. This is also the category for most breakfast blends in the US.

Light Roasts
This light roasted coffee contains more caffeine that other categories but they offer less taste and body than the other two types of roasts. Look for New England or Cinnamon roasts.

Truth be told no one can tell you exactly what the best coffee is for you. Some people prefer a particular type of coffee while others enjoy another. There are many producers, roasters and retailers of coffee so go out and try them all as ultimately it is up to you to decide which one suits your palate the best.

For more good advice on choosing a good coffee and a coffee machine [http://www.goodcoffeeclub.com] visit my website at, [http://www.goodcoffeeclub.com]

Author: Brian Potter
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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One of the best ways to understand your daily cup of Joe is to discover how it came to be in the growing process. Coffee is one of the most popular drinks worldwide, and it is actually the second most exported commodity globally, second only to oil. Coffee comes in many different forms based on the brewing method, whether it is espresso, French Press, or regular drip brew coffee. However, all coffee is grown in a similar manner using different techniques to cultivate diverse flavors.

To begin with, coffee can only be grown between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. This coffee growing region is throughout equator, and it includes Northern South America, Central America, Indonesia, India, Africa, Hawaii, and the Middle East. When a coffee tree is planted, it starts out small and evergreen. Coffee is grown in larger plantations, and it involves intense labor since many beans are handpicked. This is precisely why many developing countries rely upon coffee production because they can start their own small farms and support the community with this livelihood.

Coffee is actually best grown in the equator because it provides a suitable climate. There are two different types of coffee trees that produce beans called Arabica and Robusta. Robusta is seen as the lesser quality variety that makes up around 30% of the market, with Arabica encompassing the remaining 70%. Arabica is often used for gourmet and specialty coffees, and Robusta beans are used for cheaper fillers. Robusta coffee actually contains twice as much caffeine as Arabica, but it often has a bitter or harsh taste.

Coffee is best cultivated in an area that is well aerated and well drained with fertile soil. Coffee trees need a large amount of oxygen to their roots during the growth process, which is why many farmers rely upon aerating the soil to help them to thrive and grow. Coffee trees also require a serious amount of rainfall at anywhere from 1500 to 2000 mm per year. If there is less rainfall yearly within the coffee growing region, then that deficit needs to be accounted for with the use of irrigation.

Many of the finest coffees are grown at higher altitudes at over 3000 feet. The reason that this is so important to growing coffee plants is because it provides cloud cover and mist. This combination allows the coffee plants to grow more slowly, which is important for developing deeper and more complex flavors. There is also a higher oxygen content at these altitudes so that the plants can continue to grow slowly and intake more oxygen. This environment also provides diffused light and moderate winds to the coffee trees to further enhance their development.

At lower altitude regions, you will normally find Robusta coffee trees growing. These are stronger plants that are more resistant to disease, but they are still subpar in flavor to the more premium Arabica variety. When you are looking for the best cup of Joe, look for coffee that is cultivated with care made from Arabica beans!

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

Author: Mark Ramos
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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It is widely believed that coffee is a native of the Ethiopian rain forest, which lies in eastern Africa in the southern part of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean on its northern side. But, that was over hundred years ago. In present times, there are over 50 countries across the world where coffee is cultivated on a substantial scale. Some of these are Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Guatemala, Vietnam, Indonesia and Yemen besides Ethiopia, of course.

A common fact that many people, including regular coffee drinkers, do not know is where coffee comes from. These same people may say it comes from plants, but little knowing that these are actually trees!

Yes, that is true! Coffee grows on trees, though these trees may not always be tall as many coffee farmers prefer to keep their trees short because it is easier at harvesting time to deal with shorter trees. Just like the climate in the original country where coffee was first grown, the South American rainforest area too, provides similar shade as required for the optimum yield in coffee plantations.

Thus, it can safely be said that the best coffee in the world is that grown near the equator, as it requires tropical environment to produce best results. Apart from shade, coffee trees need a fair bit of water, and sun though no special soil conditions. In some areas, coffee farmers may use fertilizer to increase productivity but doing so may be detrimental for the environment.

However, national coffee boards of the above mentioned countries which are top producers of coffee beans reveal that the best beans come from coffee trees planted in tropical plantations at high altitudes, which typically have rich soil. This is why countries along the equatorial zone have the best coffee plantations.

However, as mentioned earlier, location, including altitude, is not the sole criteria governing the quality of coffee. Its flavor as well as its quality is dependent on other factors too, such as the plant variety used, the chemical composition of the soil it is grown in, amount of rainfall experienced in the region and the availability of sunshine.

It is a vital combination of the right mix of these complex components along with the manner in which the cherries are processed post-picking that determines the quality of coffee one receives from a particular region and sets the distinction of coffee obtained from different countries. Sometimes, due to the complex nature of these variables, the coffee obtained from the same plantation may also yield different quality and flavor.

A little known fact about coffee beans is that these are actually berry seed, and very small in size, therefore referred to as cherries. Each berry will typically contain 2 green coffee beans but sometimes these may be mutated. After these berries turn red, it means they are ripe for picking and this is the ideal time for harvesting them, as opposed to ‘strip picking’ which some farmers indulge in to save on labor, but this early picking before coffee berries ripen causes the coffee obtained from them to be of an inferior quality.

However, the time invested in harvesting ripe coffee berries can be considerable, taking up to 7 days or more for a farmer to single-handedly pick coffee for filling a 100-pound bag of beans, by hand. Now, when one thinks of nearly 7 million tons of this brown concentrate, being produced annually, one can well imagine the number of laborers required on coffee plantations to pick enough berries to meet this demand!

Learn more about the History Of Coffee on our Blog.

[http://www.automaticcoffeemachinesguide.com/the-short-history-of-coffee/] You can also find Automatic Coffee Machine Guides and Reviews, plus much more information all about the humble coffee bean!

Author: Martin Salter
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Gourmet coffee is the latest craze, and if you have ever sipped a premium gourmet cup of Joe, then I am sure that you know why. Gourmet coffee is primarily made of Arabica coffee beans, which are the higher-quality choice in coffee beans on the market. Gourmet coffee is also often called specialty coffee, and you will find it crafted by a variety of roasters, including artisan roasters and micro-roasters.

To find out more about how gourmet coffee is made, it is important to note the roasting process. The longer that your coffee beans are roasted, the darker they will become in color. The long roasting process will also cause a higher shrink rate, meaning that it will take more of the coffee beans to make 1 pound. This does vary depending on whether or not it is a light or dark roast.

A light roast is roasted for a shorter period of time, so it will not be as dark, and it will not shrink as much. A darker roast will be roasted for a longer period of time to develop smokier and deeper flavors, so the beans will shrink more as a result. Therefore, if you have a dark roasted gourmet coffee, then it will take more coffee beans to make a pound. When gourmet coffee is roasted, it will normally shrink 20%, and a darker roast can shrink as much as 25%. Lightly roasted coffees have the potential to shrink up to 11% during the roasting process.

In truth, most specialty coffee is under roasted to cut costs in production. Gourmet coffee sales have shown that many customers do prefer fully roasted coffee, but many roasters still do under roast their coffee beans to save money in the process. When coffee is being roasted, it does have an optimum degree to which it is roasted, which will bring out the best characteristics and flavor profile for each individual coffee bean. This is the part of the process that will offer you the best taste and aroma, so it is an important aspect of roasting.

You will be able to tell if your coffee is under roasted because it will have a flat and green flavor with astringent undertones. If your coffee is over roasted, then it will taste more burnt and smoky as a result. When a specialty coffee is over roasted, it also has the detrimental effect of losing all of its unique flavors from the region that it came from. Any coffee connoisseur will be able to tell you the specific flavor characteristics of a coffee based on the region in which it was grown in, but when a gourmet coffee is over roasted, then the ashy and charcoal flavors will overpower those unique flavor characteristics so that it is difficult to set apart.

For the best tasting specialty coffee, take the time to research the roaster so that you can trust that your coffee beans will be roasted to perfection. It truly is the only way to enjoy a delicious gourmet cup of Joe!

For the widest variety of Bodum French Presses, check out Mark Ramos’ website, The Coffee Bump.

Author: Mark Ramos
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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