What's So Great About Gourmet Coffee?

Coffee has come a long way, and these days, gourmet flavored coffee is more popular than ever.

If you are looking for a specialty flavored cup of Joe, then you are going to find many choices available to you. Whether it be Almond, Amaretto, or even Blueberry Cream, there are a huge assortment of flavored coffees on the market for your cup of Joe. One thing to keep in mind when you are choosing a gourmet flavored coffee is that it must be produced with 100% Arabica beans to be of the highest quality. There are two different types of coffee beans, which are Robusta and Arabica. Arabica is the more premium bean, and that is what will be used to produce your gourmet flavored coffee.

This type of coffee may be more expensive than your grocery store variety, but you better believe that you will get a complex and bold flavor unlike any other to reward you!

For the best assortment of gourmet flavored coffee, you can visit my website today!

Do Light Roasts Have Less Caffeine Than Dark Roasts?

Many people are fooled by the common coffee myth that dark roasts have more caffeine than light roasts because they have a fuller and more robust flavor. However, quite the opposite is true!

A dark roast is roasted for a longer period of time, which means that it ends up burning off some of its weight in caffeine during the lengthy roasting process. This means that pound for pound, a light roast will have more caffeine than a dark roast. Furthermore, keep in mind that Robusta beans actually have twice the caffeine as Arabica beans, though they are not the preferred coffee bean type because they are seen as cheaper fillers with a lower quality taste.

When you're considering a cup of Joe, a regular cup of coffee will have more caffeine than a shot of espresso because of the extraction time. An espresso is extracted for ideally around 25 seconds, and a cup of coffee can take up to four minutes to extract. This means that the fresh coffee grounds are in contact with the hot water for longer, leaving more caffeine in the final cup of Joe.

For a quick fix with the most caffeine, try a light roast to wake you up!

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Does Italian Espresso Taste Different Than American Espresso?

As a coffee connoisseur, you probably have your espresso enjoyment down to a science, including just the exact consistency in how you brew your shot. However, you may be interested to find that although Italy is the birthplace of espresso as we know it, the American espresso we enjoy is much different than the original!

Italian espresso is darker and smokier, and they often use a small amount of Robusta beans within their grinds. Robusta beans are seen as the cheaper filler beans, and Americans are more likely to use Arabica beans from Hawaii, Africa, or Indonesia. The reason for this is that these beans provide a much smoother and milder flavor, as opposed to the darker and more burnt taste of Italian espresso.

Italian espresso roasters also prefer to roast their espresso beans much darker than American roasters do. They truly like a smoky and dark flavor, which is why they continue on in the roasting process until the roast has a much deeper texture. For us Americans, we definitely like a milder and smoother taste to our espresso, which is how it has been commercialized in our country.

Either way, I can tell you that I am always up for an espresso any time, from coast to coast!

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Why Go For Arabica?

You may have heard a lot of buzz about the two varieties of coffee beans that are available on the market, Arabica and Robusta.

Arabica are seen to be the more premium beans, while Robusta are seen to be the cheaper filler variety. If you are purchasing coffee from a specialty outlet (like my website!), then you can count on the fact that the only beans that you will find there are 100% Arabica. However, if you are purchasing your Java from a more general location, like a grocery store, then you need to watch out because you will find that the majority of the blends there do contain Robusta beans as a cheaper option.

Currently, coffee is grown in more than 80 countries around the world in areas near the equator between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. This provides the perfect climate and growing environment for a decadent Java bean, and even more, it is preferred to look for Arabica beans grown at higher altitudes because they provide the best quality.

Make sure that you are purchasing organic when you are purchasing Arabica because that will guarantee that your coffee is harvested in safe conditions without the use of pesticides and also with crop rotation to give further nutrients to the plant. There is nothing more delicious!

For the best flavored coffee beans that are 100% Arabica, you can find them on my website today!

Where Did Espresso Come From?

No, not Seattle! Seattle is definitely responsible for popularizing espresso, but they did not invent it by any means. Espresso came from Italy, and the machine was created by Luigi Bezzera in the early 1900s, though the patent for the machine was soon stolen by Desidero Pavoni... sound familiar? He is the creator of the famous La Pavoni line of espresso machines, but he did steal the original idea for the first espresso machine and credit it to himself.

Along those lines, the first espresso machine was named the Fast Coffee Machine. When you translate fast in Italian, it is "espresso", and thus, the Espresso Machine was born. It all makes sense now, doesn't it? Espresso is normally made of Arabica beans because they are said to be higher quality than Robusta. However, Robusta does contain more caffeine, so espresso actually will have less caffeine than a cup of coffee. Very interesting!

Additionally, the term "bars" that is used for espresso machines works to describe the pressure that is above sea level. Espresso machines normally work from 9 to 18 bars of pressure, so that means that it will take nine times the amount of pressure to produce a shot of espresso than it would at sea level.

For all you need to know about espresso and a selection of the best espresso machines and commercial coffee makers, you can find them on my website today!

What You Need To Know About Coffee

Coffee has a lot of fun facts behind it, so where do I even begin?

First of all, why is coffee naturally caffeinated? The word on the street is that there is currently a coffee plant being cultivated that is 70% decaffeinated, but other than that, coffee plants naturally contain caffeine for the mere reason that it is an insect repellent. Robusta beans do have a higher caffeine content, which means that they can grow in more difficult conditions, like lower altitudes. The other type of coffee bean, Arabica, does have a lower caffeine content, and it is more delicate in its growing conditions. This makes it the more expensive and premium variety.

Next, when it comes to brewing your cup of Joe, is it best to use a gold tone or paper filter? The gold tone filter is a fantastic addition to many premium coffee makers, and it is preferable because paper filters do remove the essential oils within the coffee grounds that can make for a more delicious final product. If you want your coffee to taste the best, as well as being eco-friendly without the use of paper filters, then check out a gold tone filter for great taste.

I hope these Java facts have been fun and helpful to perk you up!

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The Vast Flavors of Hawaii Coffee

The odds are by now that you have probably tasted a rich cup of Kona coffee, but the options in Hawaiian coffee are expanding so that you have so many more choices than before. Hawaii is actually the only country in the US that currently produces coffee, and Kona used to be the only coffee producing region in Hawaii. Now there are so many more coffee producing regions in Hawaii that popped up over the past several decades, and they are popular because they do produce premium Arabica beans, which have been shown to be much higher quality and more popular than the lesser Robusta beans. Obviously, the conditions for harvesting coffee in Hawaii are favorable because of the humidity, rich soil, and tropical environment, so you can expect a different taste to arise from the bean. The methods of processing for the coffee currently being used in Hawaii are wet fermentation, dry fermentation, and dry processing. The point of the matter is that there are so many things to take into consideration when selecting a premium Hawaiin coffee, and I recommend that you start out with the Kona Coffee Beans Volcanic Estate which have a medium body with a higher acidity and smooth finish. Mahalo!

For the best way to enjoy your Hawaiian coffee, check out any of the premium home coffee makers on my website today!

Vietnam: Number 2 in Coffee Production?

Yes, it actually is true, even though Vietnam is not normally one of the countries that you hear about the top of the coffee harvesting lists. Number one is Brazil, and number two is Vietnam, though Vietnam primarily does export Robusta coffee beans. Robusta is not preferred by coffee connoisseurs because it is the cheaper variety with higher caffeine content to the more premium Arabica, but currently, Vietnam is working to boost their coffee economy to get the number one spot by cultivating Arabica plantations. Their future hopes are for Arabica to account for at least a third of their crops by 2010. They are in a tough spot, especially since they have been blamed for pushing mass amounts of Robusta onto the market so that coffee prices have dropped worldwide, but they are working to remedy that and get back on top by keeping labor costs low and technological advancements high to hopefully get to number one!

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Which Coffee Bean is Best?

If you are a daily coffee hound, you may have picked up that there are two main species of the coffee plant producing beans out there. Yes, sir, you are correct- they are Arabica and Robusta. Let me break this down for you real quick like, and tell you that the better bean of higher caliber is the Arabica bean because it is grown in more delicate climates and has more care in the harvest. It does have half the caffeine content of its Robusta brother, but it is what you will find hitting all the bold tones in your gourmet coffee roasts. Robusta is mainly a cheap mixer for commercial coffee to conserve costs, so one friend to another, I am telling you that Arabica beans cannot be beat. Don't say I didn't warn ya!