Coffee Guide

Coffee was first introduced to the Islands by Chief Boki, the Governor of Oahu, in 1825. He acquired coffee plants in Rio de Janeiro while aboard a British warship, the H.M.S. Blonde. These first coffee plants were planted in Manoa Valley, on Oahu, where they flourished. From this original planting, coffee trees were introduced to locations around the Islands, including the now famous Kona Coast.

The coffee tree needs six specific conditions to thrive: rich soil, proper elevation (between 500 and 3000 feet is ideal), sunshine, cloud cover, rain and a moderate slope for proper drainage of roots. While some good coffee comes from climates which offer just a few of these conditions, The Hawaiian climate offers all six elements. This perfect blend of conditions provides coffee trees with the ideal environment, and allows Hawaii to produce some of the richest coffee in the world.

The growing season in Hawaii begins in January and ends in June. Coffee growers watch expectantly for coffee blossoms to appear on the trees after rains early in the season, and these flowers eventually turn into coffee cherries. Much like the grapes destined for fine wines, coffee cherries are allowed to ripen on the tree, under the close watch of the farmers. When they are bright red and ripe, each coffee cherry is harvested individually.

At Maui Coffee Company, meticulous care goes into each phase of the ensuing coffee-making process, from roasting to flavoring to dry milling. You will taste the time we put in with every cup you brew! For more information please visit our website http://www.mauicoffeecompany.net

If you are a real coffee drinker and I mean the kind that is willing to pay a lot of money for good coffee do I have something to tell you. You may be over charged for your coffee. For instance, if you were to buy a bag of Starbucks Gourmet Blend from a local Supermarket for $7.99 per 12 oz bag you might not be getting your money?s worth. If you were to pay over $5.00 per 12 oz bag of any coffee at the Supermarket you are paying way too much. Let me explain just why that is.

Most of the Gourmet Coffee at the supermarkets is usually a Gourmet Blend. Blended with what you might ask? Exactly! You have no idea what the blend is. Is it fresh Arabian beans blended with stale French Roast? Could it be Galapagos Island Coffee blended with old dried out Mexican Coffee beans? You can never really tell, but I promise you that if you think for one minute a company won?t try to recoup their loses then you have another thing coming. A Blend Coffee is the perfect way to sell damaged coffee or half stale coffee & half fresh coffee combined with out the customer?s knowledge. I am by no means accusing anyone of doing such a thing, but I know it happens.

I have seen coffee blends sell for as much as $14.95 a 12oz bag. The part that makes me laugh is that you never know how much of the coffee is high-grade and how much is low-grade coffee. Yet people believe it is just as good as the unblended coffee. That is to far from the truth. Let?s take the Kona Blended coffee for instance. Lets say it is a 50% Kona and 50% mixed coffee beans. If you were to taste pure Kona Coffee next to this Blend the pure Kona would standout as the better of the two in smell and taste. How much is Gourmet Blended coffee really worth? There is a market for just about everything these days and blends are no exceptions. Seeing you are probably pay for 50% good coffee and 50% crap then I wouldn?t pay more then 50% of the price for the unblended coffee.

What about coffee that is not blended? It really depends on where you buy it. Supermarkets don?t know what really fresh coffee is, but a private roasting company will. Gourmet Coffee ranges in price from $7.95 a lbs to $48.95 a lbs. Why so much? Because the hard to find and rare coffees like Kona, Jamaican Blue Mountain, and Galapagos Island coffee are in high demand. The higher the demand is for rare coffee the higher the price is as well. I always recommend shopping around, but it can be difficult to find rare coffee. As a coffee roaster I have a hard time locating good Kona coffee beans, and due to the hurricanes the Jamaican crop has been scarce too. The cost associated with Kona and Jamaican coffee is expected to go up even more this year. Just like the inflated price of gasoline we may all have to pay a high price for great coffee.

Don is the owner of several free information websites and the sole proprietor of Java Jakes Gourmet Coffee Co. Visit http://www.megainfosource.com
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With the spread of various coffee beans into our lives, it can be more and more difficult to discern what you?re buying at the market. And that?s not surprising given the sheer numbers game.

From what we know, there are more than 6,000 types of coffees beans in the world, with at least 25 major types of beans underneath that. When it comes down to it, though, the three most commercially important types of beans are Arabica, Robusta, and Kona.

Kona is extremely small commercially compared to Arabica and Robusta, but is extremely expensive and therefore important economically. Kona beans are grown in Hawaii.

Kona offers average bite and body but is in high demand worldwide because of its powerful aroma. These coffee beans are rarely blended with others because of their high desirability in and of themselves.

Arabica coffee beans account for over 60% of coffee production worldwide. The Arabica plant is a large bush and is very susceptible to frost, disease, and pests. Because of this, its beans are more expensive.

Arabica can be used in its pure form or used as the base for coffee blends with Robusta. Arabica has a delicate flavor and is used to add body to the coffee when used in blends.

The flavor of Arabica beans varies widely according to the region of the world where they are grown. Indonesian beans produce the richest, most full-bodied cup of coffee. Hailing from Java and Sumatra, the brew is a good dessert coffee and very suitable to flavoring with cream and sugar.

Arabica beans grown in Central and South America offer moderate body and aroma. Most breakfast blends are made with American coffees, as are most flavored coffees.

By contrast, Robusta coffee accounts for almost 40% of world production. Robusta differs from Arabica in that it?s much easier to grow and is resistant to disease and weather and is therefore cheaper.

However, this does not necessarily mean that a coffee blend with Robusta is lower quality than pure Arabica – coffee blends are designed to bring out the best in different flavors. Robusta has a strong flavor and is used to give ‘kick’ to coffees.

Robusta doesn?t vary in flavor as widely as Arabica does. It was first discovered growing naturally in the area now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Growers in Africa produce a coffee of medium aroma and body. If you like very flavorful coffees, you will like those from Kenya and Tanzania.

Now that you understand the basics of coffee beans, the question turns to which type of beans are right for you. It really depends on with what you?re planning to serve the coffee. If you?re serving with breakfast or a dessert of fruit and sorbet, beans from East Africa (particularly Kenya and Ethiopia) or Mexico will best complement the food.

If you?re going to offer your guests light desserts like cakes, cookies, or pie, the beans of Guatemala and Cololmbia will warm up the food with their slight acidic tendancy. With rich desserts like truffles, trifles, and tiramius, Indonesian coffee beans are full-bodied and smooth enough to perfectly offset the dessert.

Another key point to consider is how much coffee you?ll need. These high quality beans shouldn?t be bought in bulk and should instead be purchased so that you have just enough for your immediate need.

They should be stored in the refrigerator for no more than a week or in the freezer for up to a month.

To discover what beans are best for your daily cup of joe, conduct a taste test. Brew several types of beans seperately. Pour each in its own cup.

Pick up each cup individually, smell the coffee, and then slowly sip and taste the coffees. Later, take a sip or two when it’s cooled, as many coffees change flavor as they cool.

? Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.

Randy has more articles on coffee such as Colombian Coffee, Coffee and Alzheimers, and Coffee Breaks.

What is the best coffee? is a question that my clients ask more often than I would have expected. However, I am not certain that this question has an objective answer like the fact that the blue whale is the largest mammal, or that the Lexus is the most reliable vehicle. Statements like these have more empirical proof.

Those discussions require some sort of standardized definition of the word best whereas that definition is not feasible in this discussion. One might define the best coffee as the one that is in most consumer demand. Another might define the best coffee as the one that is held in the highest regard by the masses, like the Jamaican Blue Mountain, Kona Fancy, or Puerto Rican Yaucco Selecto AA. Upon mention of any of these particular varietals, most of you are probably reacting as if everyone has heard of them, but does that really make one of them the best coffee?

Perhaps price is the most important consideration. If this was the case, the Jamaican Blue Mountain would be, hands-down, the best coffee. I am not suggesting that this isn’t true. However, I am suggesting that this might be the wrong criterion on which to focus. There has been some evidence in the coffee world that not all coffee labeled Jamaican Blue Mountain is actually Jamaican Blue Mountain. While I cannot claim to have empirical evidence either confirming or denying this claim, I have not seen any evidence of price depreciation to account for any impure blending. The point is that whether or not Jamaican Blue Mountain is, or continues to be the best coffee, it will likely always be the most expensive coffee, so we should probably explore another method of measurement.

Another possibility is that the best coffee is the rarest coffee. However, this approach immediately makes me think of the jewelry industry in which diamonds are considered the best gemstone, yet they are not rare at all. Every person planning to propose marriage can readily find a diamond engagement ring if they have the proper finances available. For this reason, I doubt that the rarest coffees are the best coffees. It is also silly to think that rarity increases the quality of a substance. It is certainly possible that a coffee of poor biological composition could only exist on one remote island in the world.

Of course, the correct response is that the best coffee is your favorite coffee. Gourmet coffee beans have a diverse array of flavor, body, acidity, and richness characteristics related to their country of origin, growing conditions, preparation methods, and so on. The intricate balance of characteristics found in each varietal appeals to different enthusiasts in different ways. I personally find few coffee experiences more pleasurable than smelling the spicy peanut fragrance of freshly roasted fine Guatemalan arabica coffees. I find the Huehuetenango to be the best example of this. However, someone else might prefer the citrus notes apparent in a lightly roasted Peruvian La Florida coffee.

Mexican coffees are known for their pleasantly dry acidy snap, while Sumatran coffees are known for their exceptional body. Not only do different coffee varietals provide different flavor, acidity, body, and richness characteristics, but the situation is complicated further by the fact that different coffee enthusiasts put greater or lesser value on each of these categories. Therefore, our conclusion is simple. What is the best coffee? It is the one that you like best!

John A. Russo, MBA
The Perfect Bean Roasting Company
http://www.perfectbeanonline.com
PerfectBean@mail.com

If you need a custom roaster to prepare the best quality of your favorite coffee or blend, we would be glad to help you out at The Perfect Bean Roasting Company. Please feel free to e-mail us for a free consultation to figure out what you would like best.

Are you tired of your regular Joe life and your regular Joe cup of coffee that you start your day with? Then it?s time to reward yourself with something different. Why not jazz up your morning ritual with cup of rich gourmet coffee.

The dictionary defines gourmet food like this, ?Gourmet food is that which is of the highest quality, perfectly prepared and artfully presented.? If you want the highest quality food you go to a top notch restaurant but if you want the highest quality coffee, you can do that at home yourself. That gourmet meal is probably going to stay at the restaurant unless you invite a chef over but gourmet coffee can be made in the comfort of your own home with just a little practice.

Gourmet coffee is more expensive than say, supermarket brands but the taste is also much richer. Unless money is no object, why not save the gourmet cup of coffee for the weekends. Make it an end of the week tradition. Stick with the supermarket coffee for when you?re rushing off to work.

To make your own gourmet coffee start with the beans. Gourmet Coffee beans can be bought by the pound and there are many varieties to choose from. Some of the most popular gourmet beans include Kona, Jamaican Blue Mountain, and Sumatra types.

Coffee beans are similar to wine in that they name the beans after the region. In the world of wine you have the popular Sonoma wines which come from Sonoma Valley in California. In the world of coffee the equivalent would be Kona beans which come from Kona, Hawaii.

Kona coffee beans are grown in rich volcanic soil and the mild tropical climate of the Kona coffee belt on the western side of the Big Island of Hawaii. It has a wonderfully full, rich and smooth flavor with little or no bitter after taste. Be sure that you buy Kona beans and not a Kona blend. A Kona blend can legally be labeled as Kona with as little as 10% of actual Kona beans in it.

Next you?ll need to grind your beans. Ground coffee begins losing it?s flavor once it?s exposed to air. So you?ll want to grind just enough to make your desired amount. Store any leftover grinds in an air tight container. You?ll want to grind you coffee beans very fine but don?t pulverize them into dust. If you over grind them the heat and friction will vaporize the oils that give the coffee it?s distinct flavor.

When was the last time you cleaned your coffee maker? A clean coffee maker makes a significant difference in how your coffee tastes. At least once a month pour a mixture of half vinegar and half water into your coffee maker. Let the mix run through the full brew process. Repeat the process again using only water this time to rinse it out. Do this one more time if a vinegar smell is still present.

Now you?re work is done and it?s time for the coffee maker to pulls it?s weight. Use clean filtered water and fill the coffee maker to the desired level. Use about 6 ounces of water for every 2 heaping tablespoons of coffee. Turn it on and hang around while it brews. You?ll want to be there to enjoy the delightful aroma.

Everyday coffee is perfect for everyday life. But every once in a while you should treat yourself to something special. And what better way to start a special than that with a special cup of coffee. Gourmet coffees can really jazz up your day.

Anthony Tripodi is the webmaster of EndlessCoffeeBreak.com – The Guide To Coffee. For more information about coffee including speciality coffee drink recipes, ideas and equipment, visit http://www.endlesscoffeebreak.com.

Some say that they can actually taste the Island of Hawaii in each cup of Kona coffee. True Kona coffee is grown only in the northern and southern parts of the mountainous Kona region in Hawaii. This gourmet coffee is the direct product of the mild, tropical climate and rich volcanic soils unique to this part of the world.

Kona coffee is a medium-bodied coffee, which is so flavorful that it has become the second most popular coffee of choice. Like a fine wine, Kona’s character can be identified by its aromatic blend and rich flavor, boasting trace elements of spice and wine in each drop.

This warm and popular specialty coffee is grown on the slopes of the Mauna Loa and Hualalai mountains and fed by the gentle rains and nutritious volcanic soils of the region. No other coffee can proudly claim the Kona name. The majority of the Kona plantations are family owned and operated. The beans are hand picked and processed to ensure a premium coffee unlike any other.

The Peaberry coffee bean is the superior Kona bean by far. Most coffee trees produce cherries which contain two beans, but the Peaberry only has one bean. This variety is developed when one side of the coffee tree’s flower blends and fuses with the other side. The result is one coffee bean which is richer and more concentrated than two separate beans.

Still yet, it is not only the location and the bean which produces the excellent brew of Kona coffee. The craft of custom roasting and drying the beans plays a major part in producing its exceptional qualities. Kona coffee growers also pride themselves on delivering fresh beans to ensure the highest quality in every cup. Therefore, they suggest that Kona coffee be purchased in whole bean form and ground immediately before brewing.

When you’re thirsty for a more flavorful cup of coffee, Kona coffee is the superior choice. Try it and see if you don’t agree that Kona is indeed one of the richest and most satisfying cups of coffee you’ve ever experienced. You might even find yourself escaping to the peaceful tranquility and the richness of the beautiful Island of Hawaii. What more could you ask from a cup of coffee?

This article was written by Tomira L. Rosser of CreativePenz Copywriting Services. CreativePenz creates custom, original and engaging articles, books, stories and more. For further information, please contact her at creativepenz@aim.com or visit her website at http://www.rosser-smp.net/joomla

Who doesn?t enjoy waking up to a fresh pot of brewed coffee? With so many different flavors, it can be hard to figure out which are the best ones out there. It is definitely a subjective matter. You should try different varieties to see what appeals to your tastebuds. Try to make your own choices about the best options in coffee flavors.

According to our research from a variety of sources, here are some other most popular coffee flavors:

* Chocolate. Believe it or not, people love their chocolate. Now, this could be a bit of dark or even white chocolate that is added. It can be sweet or bitter. The smooth texture that it adds to the coffee is always a draw in for many.

* French Vanilla. This creamy blend of vanilla and cream is perfect for a luxury coffee drink. You?ll find them in all sorts of types. Being one of the most popular options out there, you can find it quite easily to sample.

* Love That Espresso. Yes, especially if you are from Europe, you know the value of a good cup of coffee. In Italy, ordering a cup of coffee will get you this small cup of very strong, very wonderful flavor.

* Go For The Nut. Hazelnut is another one of the wonderful blends of coffee that coffee drinkers are after. When it comes to tasting like a nut, you won?t get much of that here. But, you will get an even taste, one that is not too bitter, yet not too sweet either.

* Amaretto. This type of coffee is sure to give you a little zing. That?s because it is made to taste like the Italian liquor. Most times you will find it called Almond Amaretto.

* Dark Roast It Has To Be Here! There is just something amazing about the flavor and after taste of a dark roast coffee. If you haven?t had it, try it.

* Kona Anyone? Kona is a very wonderful coffee that is much unlike other flavors out there. It has an underlying hint of citrus that is just enough to make you say, ?What is that wonderful coffee flavor??

There you have it. You might?ve heard of some of these, and the others must be new to you. You?ll never know what you?re missing out on till you try the others. Have fun.

On http://www.1-stop-coffee.com/ you will find articles about kona coffee online and other ideas, products to make all your coffee dreams a reality.