Gourmet Coffee Beans
July 26, 2010
Gourmet coffee beans refer to whole or roasted coffees beans that have a fine and rich flavor. Gourmet coffee is quickly becoming more and more popular due to the high demand in the United States. Popular gourmet coffee beans include the Coffee Masters gourmet coffee, Costa Rica coffee beans and Hawaii roasters Kona Coffee.
Gourmet coffee beans can get ruined by the oxygen in a short time. It is advised that you buy the exact amount of coffee beans that you need for making the coffee. If you buy too much coffee beans, you will have to keep them in your cupboard and they won’t stay fresh. If you want to buy a large quantities of coffee beans, make sure you grind as much of them as possible.
Some imported gourmet coffee beans are rare and cost expensive. The brand also plays an important role in the price of the coffee beans. It is not necessary that you have to buy branded coffee beans in order to make coffee that tastes good. There are many gourmet coffee beans produced by less well known companies that taste as good as the coffee beans produced by reputable company. They also usually cost half the price of the branded coffee beans.
The United States have a regulation that requires the international manufacturer to state on the package that it is 100% coffee. Manufacturers that want to save money will attempt to mix the Kona coffee and a cheaper grade of coffee. After that, they will advertise it as pure Kona coffee. When buying international coffee, make sure the manufacturer states that it is 100% harvested from the local farm in the country.
If you want to get advice on which coffee beans to buy, you should buy from a coffee shop. The salesman in the coffee shop is familiar with all kinds of coffee beans and knows which one will best suit your need. If you buy it from a department store, the salesman won’t have the knowledge to give you good buying advice on coffee beans. If you cannot find the gourmet coffee beans at the local store, you can visit the online store.
Green Mountain Coffee
July 17, 2010
Green Mountain is the leading coffee manufacturer in the United States. It offers a variety of coffee beans at the store. Green Mountain coffee can be divided into several categories including signature blends, seasonal, decaf coffees, flavored coffees and etc. Some of the most popular coffee beans from Green Mountain are Fair Trade Wild Mountain Blueberry, Fair Trade Perfect Peach Coffee, Chocolate Raspberry Truffle, Vermont Country Blend, and Caramel Vanilla Cream Decaf.
Fair Trade Wild Mountain Blueberry is a blueberry flavored coffee that is suitable for people that loves blueberries. This blueberry flavored coffee does not contain sugar. To make it taste better, you can whip some cream and put some blueberries on top as garnish. The wild mountain blueberry coffee can be enjoyed during hot summer day. Fair Trade Wild Mountain Blueberry coffee is the most popular Green Mountain coffee.
Fair Trade Perfect Peach coffee is rich in peach flavor. It is made from fresh peach that is harvested from the farm. Just like other flavored Green Mountain coffee, it is a healthy coffee and does not contain artificial sweeteners. It is filled with all kinds of nutritional values such as Vitamin C. The taste of the perfect peach coffee reaches up to the same standard with wild mountain blueberry and pumpkin spice.
Chocolate Raspberry Truffle is a blend of dark chocolate and raspberries. It is made from the natural cocoas and does not have artificial sugar. The dark chocolate is good for the heart and help to improve the blood circulation.
Vermont Country Blend offers a dark roasted coffee with toasty and mellow flavors. It is perfect for people who need refreshment at anytime of the day. It has a crisp aroma that smells like raisins and cedar.
Caramel Vanilla Cream Decaf is a decaffeinated coffee from Green Mountain. It offers a blend of caramel and vanilla flavors. The coffee is decaffeinated through the direct process. In the direct process, the beans are steamed in water. After the beans are steamed, they are being dried to remove the caffeine properties. Based on scientific research, caffeine does not cause any major health issues. However, caffeine is able to stimulate the central nervous system and cause addiction. If you are concern about your health, you can buy the caramel vanilla cream decaf coffee.
Gourmet Decaf Coffee
July 12, 2010
Gourmet decaf coffee is a fine coffee drink that contains less caffeine. It is a healthy alternative to the non decaf coffee. Unlike non decaf coffee, it does not produce side effects such as acid reflux, diabetes and etc. If you want to take care of your health, you should buy the gourmet decaf coffee. There is a large selection of gourmet decaf coffee which you can choose from.
The caffeine can be removed from the coffee beans through a number of ways. The history of the decaf coffee can be traced back to the 1903. During 1903, a person called Roselius discocer a special way to remove caffeine from the coffee beans. Roslius soak the coffee beans in salt water. The salt water is able to remove most of the caffeine from the beans. However, the salt water method is rarely used because it strips away the taste. The high salt content in the salt water causes the coffee beans to become salty and not good for health.
The most popular traditional decaffeinate process involves soaking the coffee beans in hot water. The coffee beans that are soaked in the hot water are steamed. After the coffee beans are placed inside the hot water, a chemical solution will be added to strip off the caffeine.
The carbon dioxide water is also commonly used to remove caffeine from the coffee bean. This method removes the caffeine by using a high pressure. It is environmentally safe and won’t produce side effects for the customers.
The Swiss water process is the purest form of decaffeinating the coffee beans. The water is used to remove the caffeine from the coffee beans instead of chemicals and activated charcoal. In order to remove the caffeine from the coffee beans, you have to implement a number of extractions. The disadvantage of using the Swiss water process is that it can remove the flavor of the coffee beans.
The gourmet decaf coffee does not mean that it is one hundred percent free from caffeine. It still contains caffeine but the amount of the caffeine is considerably less caffeine than the non decaf coffee.
Coffee Roasting Methods
June 22, 2010
Coffee roasting is an important process in achieving resultant delicious taste of coffee. Coffee roasting involves heating of coffee cherries by heating them with the help of passage of hot gas or placing the cherries on hot metal. Coffee Roasting should be done in a professional manner to get the expected results.
There are different types of coffee roasting methods. Depending on the coffee roasting methods, you can achieve different variety of coffee tastes and scents. Different types of coffee roasting methods have different names.
Coffee Roasting Methods
Depending on the color of the roast the names of the different coffee roasting methods are derived. Generally there are four prominent and popular coffee roasting methods. The coffee roasting methods include light, medium, medium dark and dark roasting.
Light roasting coffee methods produce coffee roast of light brown in color. Different types of coffee roasting methods in this category includes light city, half city, cinnamon and New England. For the production of coffee varieties of milder version light roasts are done. Since they are roasted for less time the surface of the coffee beans don’t contain any oil.
Medium roasting coffee methods produce coffee roast of medium brown in color. These methods produce coffee beans of non-oily surface and stronger flavor. Different types of coffee roasting methods in this category include city, breakfast and American medium roasting. These type of roasting is preferred by USA and generally they are referred to as American roasts.
Medium dark roasting coffee methods produce rich dark color and the surface of the coffee beans contains some oil. This roasting produces slight bitter sweet after taste. Full city type of roasting method is the popular medium dark roasting coffee method.
Dark roasting coffee methods produce oil surfaces of shiny black coffee beans. Different types of dark roasting coffee methods in this category include high, continental, new Orleans, European, espresso, Viennese, Italian and French type of coffee roasting methods. Most of the names are used interchangeably leading to lot of confusion among customers.
Different types of roasting require various types of roasting skills. This requires years of extensive training and one requires to take quick decisions with in split seconds by reading the beans with expertise. Expert roasting brings out flavor and aroma of the green coffee beans for the benefit of the users.
One can enjoy the benefits of roasting according to individual tastes and preferences.
French Roast Coffee
April 30, 2010
French roast coffee is the most delicious and tasty coffee. The coffee blends and varieties are named depending on the type of roasting and amount of roasting process followed. A little and minute change of color in the coffee beans changes the taste and flavor of the coffee. The process of French roast involves roasting of the coffee beans. The coffee beans are then grounded and are used in espresso drinks and coffees.
French Roast Coffee Process
French roast coffee process involves the following procedure. The coffee beans in the French roast coffee method are roasted at the temperatures ranging between 180 to 282 degrees Celsius or 370 to 400 degree Fahrenheit for around 13 minutes. During the process of coffee roasting a crack or popping sound can be heard. The roasting process at the first crack is known as cinnamon roast or city roast and the flavor of the coffee will be of mild and light one. When the roasting is continued further till the second crack, then the roast is known as French roast and the coffee attained from the French roasted seeds is French roast coffee.
Characteristics of French Roast Coffee
French roast coffee has the following characters. The French roast coffee has unique distinct smoky flavor and it differs depending on the type of manufacturer. The caffeine content is similar to that of other different coffee flavors and roasts. The coffee beans of the French roast coffee have oily surface and are intense light and dark colored. Some times depending on the roast, the French roast coffee also is available with mildest coffee flavor when hey are subjected to a very light weak roast.
There are various varieties and flavors available in French roast coffee. Now you can even enjoy decaf French roast coffee. You can enjoy the taste of French roast coffee with beans, roasted vegetables, and desserts and nuts. The most popular brands of French roast coffee are baronet coffee, coffee people, java one and timothy’s world coffee.
You can enjoy the taste and flavor of the French roast coffee by purchasing the French roast coffee beans and preparing the coffee at your house or you can enjoy the coffee in cafes. You should visit high quality coffee makers or restaurants for having ultimate delight and experience of French roast coffee and have the pleasant memories of all time till you savor another drink the next time.
Coffee Roasting Process
February 15, 2010
One cannot actually drink coffee form the coffee beans as such. The coffee beans will undergo lot of lot of processes before they reach the final delicious flavor. So coffee roasting is an important step that helps coffee reach its final flavor.
There are several types of coffee roasting processes. There are traditional or conventional roasting process and fast roasting process. The roasting process consists of heating the fresh cherries by placing them on hot metal surface or passing hot gas over the cherries. The resultant physical changes and chemical reactions produce the delicious taste for the coffee.
Different coffee Roasting Process
There are different methods and various processes in the coffee roasting in the present environment. People are even involved in introducing new technologies and methods and even may researches are going on in the process of coffee roasting so as to improve and enhance the taste of the end product.
What ever may be the resultant process and methods the end results are same and even the basic fundamental process is same. This involves heating the cherries so that there will be loss of water in the form of evaporation. When the temperature of 210 degrees Celsius is attained there will be different complex chemical reactions taking place in the cherries increasing the pressures in the coffee beans.
The high pressure in the coffee beans makes the water vapor and carbon dioxide to leave the beans. These results in the beans popping up and expand. The beans are left in the coffee roaster till it reaches the desired and optimal temperatures. Once the beans reach the optimum roasts they are very quickly cooled with the help of air cooling and water mechanisms.
Coffee roasting is very severe and hard resulting in massive changes in the green cherries physical appearances. There will be definite color changes. In addition to distinct color changes the beans experience increase in volume by 50%, loss of density by 40% and loss of moisture by 75-85%.
So if people like to enjoy and relish delicious coffee tastes of different varieties then coffee roasting is a must. One should use effective and result oriented coffee roasting process to achieve desired results on the coffee seeds. Once the coffee roasting process is perfect then you can enjoy the delicious taste as well as attractive smell, odor and fragrance of the fresh coffee, which mesmerizes people and draws them towards them.
Double Roast Coffee
December 21, 2009
There are different varieties of coffees and coffee flavors. Depending on the type of roasting and process of roasting of coffee seeds the coffee flavors are named. Some times it is quite confusing and it is only the technical aspects but it will definitely helps you as it will enable you to enjoy and relish different types and flavors of coffees that are available in the market.
The knowledge you gain in the process helps you to try various types of coffee blends and also you can enjoy and differentiate different coffee flavors. Double roast coffee procedure involves subjecting of coffee beans to roast till they emit smoke. This will enable the sugars present in the beans to carbonize resulting in the bitter smoky taste to the coffee.
Features of Double Roast Coffee
Different types of roasts produces different flavors and tastes so one should be careful while roasting the coffee beans. Other wise some other flavors may result or coffee beans may be completely spoiled. So the process of roasting has to be done by people who are experts and are knowledgeable about the intricacies of roasting types.
Double roast coffee is a type of double French roast coffee which has a unique taste of the combination of bitter, sweet and spicy that is unmatched by any coffee flavor or roast. This is possible by prolonging the roasting process after the French roast by mere 15 seconds. Now one can really realize and experience the difference with the small variation of roasting process time.
Double roast coffee blends are unique and even though it has the similar mixture of Latin American exotic coffee it has the darker roasting levels. The color, flavor and taste dominance of double roast coffee is clearly visible in the cup when compared with other French roast coffees. People can really enjoy the rich unique and delicious taste of double roast coffee and you can feel the difference and impact made by the coffee on you.
The kick that double roast coffee gives you is unique different and one that cannot be explained in words. You have to feel the experience rather than hear to the experience from another person. Such is the popularity and reputations of double roast coffee that people are competing with each other to grab their cup of double roast coffee. It is time for you to enjoy and relish the unique taste of double roast coffee.
Home Roasted Coffee
December 13, 2009
Many people consume coffee in restaurants, cafes when they go out. Even though one has various wide ranges of options and tastes in coffee to choose from, many a time they find some thing is lacking in the coffee made outside. People can satisfy their desire and quest for tasting ultimate coffee by tasting home roasted coffee. It is quite easy to prepares home roasted coffee and it saves you from the trouble of complaining that extra bit of some thing is lacking in the coffee produced outside.
Advantages of Home Roasted Coffee
Home roasted coffee presents you a lot of advantages. The process of home roasted coffee is easy, fresh, and economical which even enables you to impress your girlfriend, friends, colleagues, family and relatives. For making roasted coffee you need to have two metal colanders, hot air popcorn popper, scale and needle thermometer. Even though home roasted coffee consumes some time for its preparation the freshness it offers is incomparable which you don’t get in the roasted coffee you purchase elsewhere.
For roasting home roasted coffee depending on your tastes and preferences you can purchase different blends and varieties of green coffee. The procedure for roasting coffee is very easy and simple and it can be compared to boiling of water. Depending on the roasting preference and the type it takes only around 15 minutes for its preferences. There are lot of books and materials available on internet and if a person like to try making home roasted coffee in order to relish is preferred taste of coffee he can make use of them.
The simplest and easiest type of roasting coffee includes stirring green coffee beans in a flat pan at heated temperatures. There are many improvised and innovative equipment available for preparing home roasted coffee. The instrument used for preparing home roasted coffee is hot air popcorn popper. These are of very lightweight and are inexpensive and you can get excellent quality of home roasted coffee. The setup and installation is also very easy.
With quality home roaster you can formulate exact roasting times according to your preferences to produce delicious coffee of your choice. The home roasted coffee preparation is very simple and is inexpensive. You can save a lot of money and get incomparable taste of coffee without having to come out of your houses. With different types of green coffee beans available you even have option to achieve different coffee tastes quenching your thirst for coffee.
Coffee Roast Level
December 8, 2009
People from times immemorial are confused with the different varieties of coffees. They look the same to naked eye but only way in which these different types of coffees differ is in the coffee roast level. The minute difference in the coffee roast level changes the tastes of the coffee and the aroma along with it. The differences in the coffee roast levels gives the coffee different ultimate tastes to coffee and mesmerizing aromas and fragrances of different levels.
Different coffee roast level gives rises to different varieties of coffees like cinnamon, French roast or city roast. So now it becomes important to know the different roast levels in order to prepare different types of delicious coffees.
Determination of Coffee Roast Level
When you examine the coffee beans carefully and minutely then you will come to know that there are two types of coffee beans. They are roasted coffee beans and unroasted coffee beans. When you are having an unroasted coffee bean on hand you can be sure that it is the berry plucked out from the coffee plant or the one that is just processed from the coffee plant. This coffee bean turns out to be green coffee bean. Even though coffee beans are of different varieties and in different forms naturally they will have green shades on them.
Coffee beans have different colors at different stages of processing. A coffee bean that is exposed to heat has a very pale color of green. When it is heated even further it turns into yellow colored coffee bean. This yellow color of the bean changes into dark yellow color changing the bean to yellow tanned or brownish bean. At some stage the color changes to lighter brown or cinnamon color making the bean to cinnamon bean. Normally coffee will not be served at this stage. The lighter brown quickly turns to brown colored bean.
When the bean is heated further it makes a cracking sound resulting in first crack. The process of carmelisation results in browner color to the bean. This stage is known as city roast. Continuation of the process results in city plus roast stage of the bean. Further processing leads to full city roast a common phenomenon in coffee bean where breaking of bean’s cellulose structure occurs and reaches second crack stage.
Full city plus is a stage during which second crack occurs. When the bean enters the light French or continental or Vienna roast the second crack is till on for around 30 seconds. The oils from the beans are absorbed as the roasting process occurs at rapid pace. This results in full flavor to the beans and beans are sold at this stage. The later processes leads to full French roast and fully carbonized or Spanish or Italian roasts.
