Coffee Guide

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.

It seems odd that Brazil produces one third of the worlds coffee production. But the weird thing is that most of the coffee connoisseurs shun Brazilian coffee.

To most people, when you mention Mocha they think of a blend of coffee and chocolate. Really though, Mocha is very expensive and it has nothing to do with it because Mocha beans are hard to find and cost a lot of money. When coffee beans were first offered for sale they were sold by pharmacists, of all people. Later on Coffee houses started selling them.

A lot of folks are surprised when you tell them that the primary places where coffee is grown is Central and South America, Africa, and Indonesia. A smaller amount of coffee is grown in Hawaii and around the Red Sea in the middle east.

Kenya produces a coffee that is widely known as African coffee. They also produce many other types of fine coffee. Even though Columbia has tried and tried, they have not been able to come up with a coffee that is highly desirable. The controversy over whether or not coffee is good for you or not still rages on today. There seems to be new information, both pro and con, about coffee coming out every week or so.

Oddly enough, coffee grown in Yemen is grown with wild flowers, which coffee lovers adore. The coffee that is grown here is known as a true Mocha, which is named after a Yemeni shipping port.

Steve McArthur

Visit the authors Know Your Coffee Beans site to read more.

http://shalinacoffee.com

Caffeine is only one of several hundred chemicals found in coffee. However it is the most notorious because of the many physiological affects it has on the human body. Caffeine naturally occurs in many other plants apart from the coffee bush, such as tea and cocoa plants.

There is a long established link between coffee and mental stimulation, which gives a cup of coffee a certain appeal. In fact it could be argued that coffee drinking has helped change the course of history. In 1773, it was in a Boston coffeehouse where citizens planned the Boston Tea Party; and in 1789, it was from Caf? Foy that Camille Desmoulins led the angry mob that later brought down the Bastille.

Whether caffeine is actually good for us is a long and much argued debate. Caffeine is commonly used by endurance athletes to permit them to train for longer and aid their recovery afterwards. Scientific studies have also linked it to the prevention of Parkinson?s and Alzheimer?s disease. However, too much caffeine can lead to insomnia, dieresis, gastrointestinal disturbance, arrhythmia, psychomotor agitation and osteoporosis.

The amount of caffeine in an average cup of coffee (8oz/230ml) varies from between 80 to 150 milligrams. This variation is due to a number of factors. The main difference is caused by where, and from which variety of plant, the coffee beans are harvested from. As caffeine is a natural anti-fungus, coffee plants grown in environments less favourable to the growth of fungal spores contain less caffeine. At high altitudes, the temperature and humidity is such that spores germinate too slowly to have too much of an affect on a coffee plant. So generally speaking, the higher the altitude a bean is grown at the lower its caffeine content. Also Arabica beans typically have half the amount of caffeine when compared to Robusta beans.

The roasting process alters the amount of caffeine in a coffee bean. A common misconception is that the darker the roast level the lower the caffeine content. However this is not really the case as caffeine changes very little during the roasting process. Caffeine has a very stable structure with a boiling point above 315?C, well above roasting temperatures which rarely exceed 245?C. Nevertheless a small amount of caffeine is lost due to sublimation, where a substance changes directly from a solid state to a gaseous one. This occurs in caffeine at approximately 175?C.

The roasting process dramatically alters a coffee bean. A bean loses weight, mostly due to water evaporation, causing the level of caffeine by weight to increase. However, as beans nearly double in size when roasting, the level of caffeine by volume decreases.

The final factor affecting the caffeine content of your cup of coffee is the brewing method. Different brewing methods require different amounts of coffee, ground to different sizes. Many people believe that an espresso contains less caffeine then a regular cup of coffee. But as you require more coffee to make an espresso then a regular cup and the coffee is ground finer, increasing the surface area, means that the caffeine content is roughly the same. However the affects will be felt more quickly with an espresso, and wear off faster, as caffeine is absorbed more rapidly when taken in concentrated doses.

James Grierson is the owner of Galla Coffee: http://www.gallacoffee.co.uk – UK online retailer of designer coffee accessories. Through the Coffee Knowledge section of his website he aims to help people understand more about coffee and give them tips on how to make great tasting coffee in their home.

Check out http://www.gallacoffee.co.uk/acatalog/CoffeeKnowledge.html for more articles or if you have a question send it to: coffeeknowledge@gallacoffee.co.uk