Is Waking Up With A Folgers Coffee In Your Cup The Best Part Of Your Day?

2009 February 24
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Folgers Coffee

Most of us are familiar with the famous Folger’s slogan: “The best part of waking up is Folger’s in your cup!” Folger’s Coffee was founded by James A. Folger in the 19th century in San Francisco. Proctor & Gamble acquired Folger’s in 1963, after it had become one of the major brands of coffee in America. Folger’s not only offers several basic coffees, but has developed Folger’s several gourmet selections as well.

For those who use ground coffee on a daily basis, Folger’s Classic Roast is the most popular. Folger’s Simply Smooth collection was created for those who love coffee, but have sensitive stomachs. It comes in regular and decaffeinated. Simply Smooth is created by choosing quality coffee beans and roasting them to a level that will ensure good flavor without irritating sensitive stomachs.

The Folger’s Coffeehouse Series offers something for everyone. Starting on the mild side, Folger’s Breakfast Blend offers a mild, smooth coffee flavor. Moving on to a medium roast, their new House Blend has full flavor and a café-style richness. Heading into the medium-dark roast, Folger’s French Roast is hearty and robust in the French tradition of coffee. Also in the medium-dark range is their 100% Columbian which offers a rich and unique flavor. Folger’s newest offering in dark-roasted coffee is called Black Silk, which is described as smooth, with a subtle smoky note. Finally, Folger’s gold standard coffee is the dark-roasted Gourmet Supreme, a smooth, rich, full-bodied coffee.

Folger’s Flavors gives the coffee fan even more to experiment with. Chocolate Silk combines the richness of chocolate with a full-bodied coffee flavor that appeals to chocolate fans everywhere. Cinnamon Swirl adds a delightful hint of cinnamon to a rich coffee. French Vanilla is a very mellow coffee with the enticing scent of vanilla, and finally, Hazelnut combines a rich nuttiness to another mellow coffee.

And finally, we have Folger’s Gourmet Selections. Bistro Blend is a medium roast coffee that is available as ground coffee, perfect for drip coffee makers. Crème Brulee is a ground coffee with a unique light flavor. Lively Columbian is a rich, full-bodied medium-roast coffee available in decaffeinated, ground and in whole bean.

Morning Café is a light-roasted coffee with a delicate bright taste. It is available in ground. Caramel Drizzle is another ground coffee with a rich creamy finish. Hazelnut Crème is enticing, rich and smooth, and is available in ground and in whole bean. Chocolate Truffle is a must for chocolate lovers. It is creamy and rich with a distinctive chocolate flavor you won’t soon forget. Vanilla Biscotti is smooth and creamy with a luscious vanilla finish. It is also available in both ground and whole bean. Espresso Roast is a bold and intense ground coffee, perfect for anyone who truly loves the full flavor of coffee.

Folger’s still makes instant coffee as well… the well-known Folger’s Crystals, and now in single serving packets as well. They also make three Cappuccino flavors that make an instant cup.

Folger’s also makes Coffee Pods, which work with the Home Café system to brew one perfect cup of coffee at a time. Coffee Pods come in a variety of flavors. The pods look similar to a round tea bag, and are placed into specialized coffee makers by Krups and Black and Decker.

By: Best Coffee Maker

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Administrator of Coffee Information a site providing many,many types of Coffee Information.

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Information On The Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

2009 February 22
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The Ethiopian coffee ceremony is very important in the Ethiopian culture. The coffee ceremony will be performed when friends visit, during celebrations, or simply as a part of the daily routine. It is so important to how the Ethiopians view coffee that most Ethiopian restaurants will have the coffee ceremony performed for you at your table.

The Ethiopian coffee ritual takes the participants through the entire coffee preparation process. Whether you are witnessing the ritual in a restaurant or lucky enough to participate in someone’s home, the green coffee beans will be brought to your table by a woman. She will wash the beans, and then start a fire in a small open roasting furnace.

The washed beans will be put into a small pan with a long handle and held over the fire. The woman preparing the beans will shake the pan back and forth, like an old-fashioned popcorn maker. This keeps the bean from burning. Some people have described the sound of the shaking beans as similar to shaking coins in a tin can. Once the beans are roasted, the preparer takes the pan and walks around the room, filling the room with the enticing aroma of freshly roasted coffee. Experiencing the sounds and smells is an important part of the ritual.

The next step in the Ethiopian coffee ceremony is to grind the freshly roasted beans. In restaurants, they may use an electric grinder to speed up the process. Traditionally, the beans will be ground in a small tool called a mukecha (pronounced moo-key-cha). The mukecha is a very heavy wooden bowl. The beans are poured inside, and then crushed with a zenezena, which is a wooden or metal stick that is used in an up and down motion, rather like a mortar and pestle.

The ground coffee is then put into a traditional clay pot called a jebena (pronounced jay-ben-ah). Water is added, and then the pot is put over heat until the coffee boils. The scent of the boiling coffee again fills the room, tempting the senses of all the participants of the ritual.

Coffee prepared in the Ethiopian coffee ritual is then served in small ceramic cups resembling the small cups you see in Chinese restaurants for tea. The cups are arranged on a tray very close together, and the coffee is poured from one cup to another in a single pour from the pot. This is a very important step, even if some sloshes onto the tray. If the server poured each cup individually, the coffee grounds would get mixed up with the liquid, resulting in gritty coffee. With the single pour method, the coffee remains free of the sediment.

Once you’ve taken your first sip, you’ve witnessed the full life-cycle of making coffee, from washing the raw beans, through roasting, grinding, and boiling the coffee. If you’re in a restaurant, the ceremony usually ends here. Traditionally, second and third servings are often prepared as well. Each serving has its own name: the first serving is called Abol, the second serving is called Huletegna, and the third serving is called Bereka. Once you’ve reached this stage, you have completed the Ethiopian coffee ceremony.

By: Best Coffee Maker

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Administrator of Coffee Information a site containing information on many, many types of Coffee Information

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Finding the “best of the Best" in Coffee

2009 February 22
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Tips for Finding Perfect Premium Coffee…

There is coffee and THERE IS COFFEE! You likely know about the generic quality coffees you find at the supermarket, using the inferior Robusta beans. And, in contrast, there is the alternative: the coffee regularly termed Gourmet Coffee you buy direct from roasters around the country. Popular large volume roasters, like Starbucks as well as most of the the smaller roasters dispersed about town, essentially utilize this far better grade, high altitude, shade grown Arabica bean.

That being said, and broadly known by all nowadays, how can you siphon out the crème de la crème of gourmet coffee beans to purchase?

To begin with, let’s hone in specifically on taste. Nowadays, coffee has become a “drink of experts”…

evolved into an art of reflection! We’ve begun to savor our coffee…flavor identify and define the subtle hints and nuances, as well as the qualities that identify the bean’s continent of origin. You as a coffee drinker, can begin to explore and experience the undertones of your coffee’s region, but better yet, begin to revel in the independently specific flavors of the bean defined by the specific hill and farm where it’s grown.

Coffee Cupping: Defining Coffee by its “Underlying Flavors”

There are, nowadays, a limited number of coffee roasters that independently test their coffee beans for taste observations and aromas. These beans are graded and assessed just like fine wine. This activity is called Coffee Cupping or Coffee Tasting. Professionals known as Master Tasters are the assessors. The procedure involves deeply sniffing a cup of brewed coffee, then loudly slurping the coffee so it draws in air, spreads to the back of the tongue, and maximizes flavor.

These Master Tasters, much akin to wine tasters, then attempt to measure in detail, every aspect of the coffee’s taste. This assessment includes measurement of the body (the texture or mouth-feel, such as oiliness), acidity (a sharp and tangy feeling, like when biting into an orange), and balance (the innuendo and the harmony of flavors working together). Since coffee beans embody telltale flavors from their region or continent of their origin, cuppers may also attempt to predict where the coffee was grown.

There is an infinite range of vocabulary that is used to describe the tastes found in coffee. Descriptors range from the familiar (chocolaty, sweet, fruity, woody) to the conceptual (clean, vibrant, sturdy) to the wildly esoteric (summery, racy, gentlemanly).

Following are a few key characteristics as defined by Coffee Geek. (http://coffeegeek.com/guides/beginnercupping/tastenotes)

Key Characteristics

Acidity:

The brightness or sharpness of coffee: It is through the acidity that many of the most intriguing fruit and floral flavors are delivered, and is usually the most scrutinized characteristic of the coffee. Acidity can be intense or mild, round or edgy, elegant or wild, and everything in between. Usually the acidity is best evaluated once the coffee has cooled slightly to a warm/lukewarm temperature. Tasting a coffee from Sumatra next to one from Kenya is a good way to begin to understand acidity.

Body:

This is sometimes referred to as “mouthfeel”. The body is the sense of weight or heaviness that the coffee exerts in the mouth, and can be very difficult for beginning cuppers to identify. It is useful to think about the viscosity or thickness of the coffee, and concentrate on degree to which the coffee has a physical presence. Cupping a Sulawesi versus a Mexican coffee can illustrate the range of body quite clearly.

Sweetness:

One of the most important elements in coffee, sweetness often separates the great from the good. Even the most intensely acidic coffees are lush and refreshing when there is enough sweetness to provide balance and ease the finish. Think of lemonade…starting with just water and lemon juice, one can add sugar until the level of sweetness achieves harmony with the tart citric flavor. It is the same with coffee, the sweetness is critical to allowing the other tastes to flourish and be appreciated.

Finish:

While first impressions are powerful, it is often the last impression that has the most impact. With coffee the finish (or aftertaste) is of great importance to the overall quality of the tasting experience, as it will linger long after the coffee has been swallowed. Like a great story, a great cup of coffee needs a purposeful resolution. The ideal finish to me is one that is clean (free of distraction), sweet, and refreshing with enough endurance to carry the flavor for 10-15 seconds after swallowing. A champion finish will affirm with great clarity the principal flavor of the coffee, holding it aloft with grace and confidence like a singer carries the final note of a song and then trailing off into a serene silence.

Coffee Buying Caveat

Buying coffee simply by name instead of by taste from your favorite roaster (in other words buying the same Columbian Supreme from the same ”Joe’s Cuppa Joe Roaster”) definitely has its pitfall! According to Coffee Review, “Next year’s Clever-Name-Coffee Company’s house blend may be radically different from this year’s blend, despite bearing the same name and label. The particularly skillful coffee buyer or roaster who helped create the coffee you and I liked so much may have gotten hired elsewhere. Rain may have spoiled the crop of a key coffee in the blend. The exporter or importer of that key coffee may have gone out of business or gotten careless. And even if everyone (plus the weather) did exactly the same thing they (and it) did the year before, the retailer this time around may have spoiled everything by letting the coffee go stale before you got to it. Or you may have messed things up this year by keeping the coffee around too long, brewing it carelessly, or allowing a friend to pour hazelnut syrup into it.”

Your savvy coffee-buying alternative is to look for roasters who buy their beans in Micro-Lots- smaller (sometimes tiny) lots of subtly distinctive specialty coffees. According to Coffee Review, “These coffee buyers buy small quantities of coffee from a single crop and single place, often a single hillside, and are sold not on the basis of consistency or brand, but as an opportunity to experience the flavor associated with a unique moment in time and space and the dedication of a single farmer or group of farmers.”

Coffee Review: Coffee Ratings

And finally, look out for the very small community coffee roasters that will submit their coffees to be 3rd-party evaluated by Coffee Review and other competitions for independent analysis and rating. Coffee Review regularly conducts blind, expert cuppings of coffees and then reports the findings in the form of 100-point reviews to coffee buyers. These valuable Overall Ratings can provide you with a summary assessment of the reviewed coffees. They are based on a scale of 50 to 100.

http://www.coffeereview.com/about_us.cfm

Bottom line for a certain premium purchase: To find the coffee that will ascertain most flavor satisfaction, seek out beans that been independently reviewed and rated. This approach will, without a doubt offer you the advantage of being able to choose the flavor profile suits you best in a bean. What’s more, it gains you certainty in quality due to its superior rating. The higher the rating, the better the flavor. True premium coffees start from the upper 80’s. By finding a roaster that consistently rates within the 90’s will ultimately buy you the best java for your buck!

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br />By: michelle faber

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About The Author
Michelle Faber is owner of Gourmet CoffeeXpress, the “Ultimate Website Gallery”, showcasing the creme de la creme in gourmet coffees, & teas, and artisan chocolates, desserts & gifts.
Within this gallery, you can find incredibly high quality items, and many designer styled products. Gourmet CoffeeXpress offers distinctive products for gift-giving and personal pleasure with world-class service.
Please visit Gourmet CoffeeXpress at http://www.gourmetcoffeexpress.com
Visit http://www.gourmetcoffeexpress.com to indulge in the world’s most EXTRAORDINARY Gourmet Tea, Coffee and Desserts.

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Illy Coffee Is Rather Like A Fine Wine

2009 February 21
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Illy Coffee

Illy coffee was founded in 1933 by Francesco Illy. Today, Illy markets a single blend of remarkable coffee made of 100% Arabica beans from nine different growing regions in Africa, India, South America and Central America. It is this blend of beans from different growing conditions that gives Illy its unique taste.

Illy thinks of coffee rather like a fine wine… they describe the tasting experience as something that not only affects the palate, but the entire person through all the senses. They strive to create a consistent coffee with every cup, offering richness, a mixture of flavors including fruity and flowery, with hints of caramel, chocolate, almond and honey blending together to create an unforgettable cup of coffee.

Illy coffee is best experienced as espresso. Illy believes that espresso is the quintessential method for true coffee lovers to enjoy coffee. The Illy espresso blend features notes of caramel and chocolate, toast and honey. It is velvety and sweet, setting the stage for the pleasant bitter tingle that is soon to follow. An authentic Italian coffee, Illy’s espresso awakens the spirit, caresses the senses, and opens the doors of the mind. Their espresso is available in a fine grind, a medium grind, as whole bean, or in moka, if you use a moka pot for preparation. They also make ESE (easy serving espresso) in pods, to use in any ESE-compatible coffee maker. Illy’s newest coffee innovation is the Hyper Espresso Capsules, to be used in the Francis Francis Hyper Espresso Machine. Any of these can be used to make creamy cappuccinos as well.

For perfectly brewed coffee every time, Illy recommends its medium grind for use in automatic drip coffee machines. Illy makes their medium grind available in a medium roast for those who prefer a smooth flavor with notes of caramel and chocolate; for those who prefer a more robust flavor, they offer a dark roast with deep notes of cocoa and hints of creamy caramel.

For those who like using moka pots, Illy offers a special coarse grind. For those who don’t know what a moka pot is, think of a better designed percolator. It is used on the stove top, cold water is put in the bottom, coffee is put in a filter, the lid is put on, and as the water heats, and it rises through the filter. When the coffee begins to sputter, it is done.

Illy coffee can also be brewed using a flip pot, a French press, or in the thick Turkish style.

Illy coffee makers are state of the art, too. They offer the Francis Francis X1 Espresso Machine, the Hyper Espresso System for the Hyper Espresso Capsules, and the Francis Francis Trio, which work with the ESEs. All are true works of art, designed by architect Luca Trazzi.

And finally, to finish off the perfect coffee experience, Illy began commissioning cups from Italian designer Matteo Thun in 1990.The first edition was available to the public in 1992. Illy offers these cups in signed limited editions, treating the cup as canvas. Each edition is decorated by a different artist.

By: Best Coffee Maker

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Administrator of Coffee Information A site containing many,many types of Coffee Information

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What to Look for When Choosing a One-cup Coffee Maker

2009 February 14
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Single-serve coffee systems and one cup coffee makers were first introduced in the late 1990s, and have become more and more popular with each passing year. If you are considering a one cup coffee maker for your house or office, there are a number of things you should consider in making your decision.

Types of Single Serve Coffee Makers

These days, a one cup coffee maker is more than a just a miniature drip coffee maker. There are many different kinds of coffee makers that only make one or two servings of coffee at a time. They include some of the oldest types of coffee makers in the world - the French press and the steam mocha pot, for instance. However, when most people refer to one-cup coffee makers today, they’re talking about automatic coffee makers. These fall into two different types of machine - a drip coffee maker that serves up one cup of coffee at a time, or the so-called single-serve coffee systems that use pods, cups or some other sort of special delivery system for coffee.

The first thing to consider when deciding on a single cup coffee maker is whether you’re willing to be limited in your choice of coffee. The major brands of single serve coffee makers - Senseo, Tassimo, and Keurig - all require that you use coffee that is specially packaged for their machines. If a wide selection of coffees is important to you, or if you have a specific favorite, you’ll either want to be sure that the coffee maker you choose offers your favorite brand of coffee or choose a standard drip coffee maker that brews a single cup at a time.

What to look for: One-Cup Drip Coffee Makers

There are only a few considerations if you’re choosing a one-cup drip coffee maker. They include:

Does the coffee maker require paper filters, or does it use a permanent filter?

Does the coffee maker dispense coffee into a regular sized mug?

Can the height be adjusted for a larger mug or does it come with a thermal travel mug for easy dispensing?

Can you make two or more cups immediately after one another?

Can it be set to start your coffee automatically on a timer?

What to look for: Single Serve Coffee Systems

All single serve coffee systems have a number of things in common - they all have a reservoir to hold water, a boiler or heater to heat water, and some sort of specially designed coffee-and-filter combination through which the water is either pumped or dripped to extract the coffee. The major difference between the brands is in the coffee holder/filter mechanism. Each of the major brands uses a different kind of system.

Coffee Pod Systems

Many of the single serve coffee systems use coffee ‘pods’ (sometimes called coffee pads in other markets). The pods are an all-in-one coffee and filter arrangement that most often look like a large, round tea bag. There are standard pod sizes for single serving, double serving and espresso pods, and the better coffee pod systems will include coffee baskets to fit each of the three sizes so that you can use the coffee maker with the widest variety of coffees. In addition, there are products on the market that allow you to create properly sized coffee pods using any brand of coffee. The results are variable and it can be time-consuming to make your own coffee pods, though, so you may want to be certain that your favorite coffee is available in pods before choosing one of the coffee pod systems.

Single-Serve Coffee Brewing Systems

In addition to the pod systems, there are several one cup coffee systems that use a patented, proprietary ‘mini-brewer’ that is sized to fit their machines. The most popular of these are the Keurig brewing system, the Senseo and the Tassimo brewing system. Each of them uses a very similar mechanism for making your coffee. You simply drop one of the pre-packed pre-measured coffee ‘cups’ or ‘discs’ into the coffee maker, hit a button and wait. The cup or disc contains both the coffee and the filter. The machine is designed to force water through the disposable brewer and dispense it directly into the cup. When your cup is finished brewing, you simply remove the spent brewer and toss it out - no dealing with messy grinds, and since the coffee never touches any part of the machine, you can easily make multiple cups of coffee in different flavors and roasts without worrying about crossing flavors.

The biggest thing to consider when choosing one of the coffee brewing systems is whether the coffee that you prefer is available in packages that fit your machine. Currently, Keurig’s K-cups seem to come in the largest variety, with more flavors and roasts being added frequently, but each of the major brands is affiliated with one of the world’s major coffee roasting houses.

One further consideration when choosing a coffee brewing system is the cost of the coffee. As a general rule, you will pay more for coffee when you’re buying capsules, cups or pods for single serve machines, and in most cases, you have to order your coffee through the manufacturer. Also, few of them are sold in supermarkets or groceries.

By: Stephanie Larkin

About the Author:

Stephanie Larkin is a freelance writer who writes about topics pertaining to the food and beverage industry often discussing specific brands such as Tassimo

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Differences in One-cup Coffee Makers

2009 February 14
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For many years, coffee makers were just that. They would brew a pot of coffee, which was then poured into several different cups. However, in recent years, there have been advancements in coffee makers, and the most popular new type of coffee makers is one cup coffee makers. Not surprisingly, these coffee makers make one cup of coffee at a time. These machines are very popular because many people enjoy being able to make one cup of coffee at a time. There are several different types of one cup coffee makers out there on the market today.

One of the initial advances one-cup coffee makers offered were smaller coffee pots, which saved time and unused coffee grounds. These smaller coffee pots only hold enough water for one cup of coffee at a time. An individual would add a spoonful of coffee, and wait a few moments for the pot to percolate. This allows a person to make only one cup at a time.

However, there are many more advancements one-cup coffee makers have to offer than just smaller decanters. One of the biggest challenges was that it was often difficult to measure out the amount of coffee needed for one cup of coffee. Due to this difficulty, the pod type coffee makers were born. The pod coffee makers were a way for people to have one cup of coffee, and not have to worry about deciding how much coffee to put in their one cup coffee makers.

With a pod coffee maker, a person puts in enough water to have one cup of coffee. Then, instead of putting loose coffee into the coffee maker, a pod is put there instead. The pod is constructed out of coffee-filter material, with the pre-measured coffee inside of it. The pod is placed into the coffee pot; hot water is run through it, creating the perfect cup of coffee.

There are also one-cup coffee makers that make coffee directly into the mug. These coffee makers use portioned packets or pods to have just the right amount of coffee grounds. The mug is part of the coffee maker itself. Hot water is poured into the coffee maker, and the coffee is percolated directly into specially made mugs that attach to the coffee maker. These coffee pots are very easy to use and very convenient. However, if the coffee mug is lost or broken, the entire coffee pot cannot be used. Some of the brands have replacement coffee mugs that can be purchased.

There are many reasons that a person might want to use a one-cup coffee maker. With the pods and portioned packets, a person can choose one single type of coffee each day. A husband can have one type of coffee while a wife has another type of coffee. Also, a person can have only one cup of coffee at a time. Many people prefer this because they do not have to wait for an entire pot of coffee to brew. Usually, one cup coffee makers brew the coffee in a matter of minutes.

The revolution of one cup coffee makers has led to an influx in the coffee market in general. In the past, flavored coffees and specialty coffees were not sold as much because people did not want to make entire pots of different coffees.

However, with the advent of the one-cup coffee makers, specialty coffee brands are introducing new products all the time. Different flavors can be alternated with little effort, and this feature is one that many individuals greatly prefer. Some people enjoy one-cup coffee makers because it allows them to experiment with different kinds of coffee without purchasing a whole bag of coffee grounds. Also, if they do not like the flavor, a one-cup coffee maker does not create too much waste. The common perception is that people are more likely to try various kinds of coffee when they only have to try one cup at a time. In this environmentally conscious world, this thought process makes perfect sense. Also, a person is much more likely to try out different types of coffees if they can purchase variety packs of many different types to use in their one cup coffee makers.

As with many other popular products, there is an evolution in how a product is brought to the consumer. In this case, less is certainly more, and coffee-lovers everywhere are enjoying this advancement one cup at a time.

By: Stephanie Larkin

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Stephanie Larkin is a freelance writer who writes about topics pertaining to the food and beverage industry such as Keurig | Keurig K Cup

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Blue Mountain Jamaican Coffee

2009 February 7
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Blue Mountain coffee comes from the mountains of Jamaica.  Blue Mountain coffee is known for its mildness and a distinct lack of bitterness. Over time, it has become the most expensive coffee in the world, and the most sought after. Besides making incredible brewed coffee, the Blue Mountain coffee bean is used as a base for the famous Tia Maria coffee liqueur.

The Blue Mountains of Jamaica are located between Kingston and Port Maria. Rising to an impressive height of 7,402 feet, the climate is cool and misty, and gets a lot of rainfall. The soil is rich and drains well… an ideal situation in which to grow coffee. Coffee beans were first brought to Jamaica in 1728 by the Governor, Sir Nicholas Lawes.

Once the beans are harvested, they are pulped and washed. The beans are then dried and cured for at least twenty weeks. Next, the beans go through a sorting process. Only a very few countries besides Jamaica allow the coffee beans to age at least six weeks. Aging improves consistency among the beans. Before exporting, the coffee is checked for appearance, and some is taste tested to insure quality.

As with other varieties of coffee around the world, there are several different grades of Blue Mountain coffee. For Grade 1, which is the best quality, 96% of the beans must fit a 17/20 screen size. No more than 2% of the coffee beans can have significant defects.

For Grade 2, 96% of the beans must fit a 16/17 screen size. No more than 2% of the beans may have any significant defects. There is also a Grade 3, a Blue Mountain peaberry, and a Blue Mountain Triage, which is a combination of the top three grades.

There is quite a lot of interesting trivia about Blue Mountain coffee. Many commercial coffee blends add a bit of Blue Mountain coffee to enrich the quality of their blend. Due to the strength of the Blue Mountain coffee beans, more cups of coffee can be made for the money. And even James Bond loves Blue Mountain coffee. The author of the James Bond series, Ian Fleming, lived in Jamaica for a part of every year. In his book, “Live and Let Die,” he has James Bond sitting to breakfast declaring, “Blue Mountain coffee, the most delicious in the world…”

In 1988, Jamaica lost a great deal of its coffee industry, due to damage from Hurricane Gilbert. It is just recently that production has been restored to previous levels for this unique coffee.

Out of all the coffee lovers in the world, Japan is the largest importer of Blue Mountain coffee. They invest a lot into the coffee industry, and they import approximately 80% of the Blue Mountain coffee crop every year. The rest of the world wrangles over the remainder. And is it worth the fight? Anyone who has tasted it would say yes. Blue Mountain coffee is sweet, smooth and mellow… all in all, an excellent cup of coffee.

By: Best Coffee Maker

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For information on the Best Coffee Makers as well as lots of other Coffee Information visit Best Coffee Maker

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Melitta Coffee And The Melitta Coffee Maker Are Named After Melitta Bentz, A German Housewife

2009 February 5
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Melitta Coffee

Melitta’s US headquarters are located in Florida, and they are part of the Melitta Group of Minden, Germany. Their coffee roastery is in New Jersey. Melitta coffee is a well-known brand today. Melitta is named after Melitta Bentz, a German housewife who, in 1908, revolutionized how we make coffee. One day, in the hopes of reducing the sediment in her coffee, she punctured holes in the bottom of a brass pot, and lined the pot with a sheet of her son’s blotting paper. The coffee she poured in strained through very well, giving her a wonderful cup of coffee with no sediment. In July of that same year, Melitta received a patent on her “filter top device lined with filter paper.” She was soon in business, and Melitta the coffee company was born.

Today, Melitta continues to make coffee filters, and specializes in gourmet coffee in both ground and whole bean. Melitta coffee makers are also extremely well-known among coffee connoisseurs.

Whole Bean Coffees

Melitta’s whole bean selection of coffee includes a Kona Blend from Hawaii, 100% Columbian, which makes a deep, rich and robust coffee and Hazelnut, which offers a delightful mixture of coffee’s richness with a touch of hazelnut.

Ground Coffees

Melitta coffee is available in many different varieties already ground. Their Classic Roast is made of 100% Arabica beans, and has been a household favorite for over 25 years. It is also available decaffeinated. If you prefer ultra-dark, rich, full-bodied coffee, try their 100% Columbian coffee… it was judged “America’s Best” by the American Tasting Institute.

Melitta’s Classic Lite is perfect for coffee drinkers who love the rich flavor of coffee, but are sensitive to caffeine and acidity. Classic Lite features 40% less caffeine, and 45% less acidity.

Hazelnut features a delicate aroma, and a rich, mellow nutty flavor. A perfect dessert coffee, it is a sweet reward anytime. Vanilla Almond is another flavored coffee. Blending creamy vanilla with almond’s nutty flavor creates a very special coffee with complex flavors.

Lawa’i Estate is an exotic Hawaiian coffee from Kauai. Smooth and balanced, it will give the flavor of the islands. Chucaras Springs Estate is a rich, strong coffee from Costa Rica… truly unique flavors that you can only get from Central America. Villa Luz Estate is from Columbia, one of the world’s greatest coffee growing regions. Villa Luz grows a truly superior coffee.

If you enjoy different coffees throughout the day, you may enjoy this trio. Morning Bliss Organic is a light roast with a bright, smooth character. Enchanting Evening Organic is a dark roast featuring a deep flavor with a little hint of smokiness. Finally, Sun and Moon Organic is a unique blend of light and dark roasts, creating a complex coffee that is bold and rich, finishing intensely.

Melitta makes a single serving coffee maker, the One:One. Melitta’s coffee maker is made to take their Javapods and make a single cup of incredible coffee. Each cup is freshly made, and you never need to finish the pot before you make another again.

By: Best Coffee Maker

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Administrator of Coffee Information A site containing many,many types of coffee information.

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Coffee Facts - Fair Trade Coffee

2009 January 30
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Fair Trade coffee is the first commodity to be set up with an independent monitor. This monitor makes sure the Fair Trade agreement is adhered to, supporting the small farmers growing coffee around the world. The Fair Trade agreement, whether it is for coffee, chocolate, or any other number of items, creates a fair partnership between consumers and the producers of item in question. You may have seen this label on other foods or hand made items at your local store. The Fair Trade movement is to ensure that small farmers and craftsmen get a fair price for their work… whether it is for a crafted item or for a harvest. In the case of Fair Trade coffee, it is the coffee farmers who get a boost from the agreement.

The Fair Trade coffee farmers are grouped into cooperatives around the world. The farmers receive a living wage (they are guaranteed a minimum of $1.26/pound no matter what the market is paying); credit at a fair price; and long lasting relationships with the buyers. Fair Trade payments are invested in education, health care, economic independence and environmental care. Fair Trade certified coffee is the first product to use this independent monitoring system. The system ensures that the coffee was produced under fair labor conditions for the workers. This is very important, as coffee production is very labor intensive work for all concerned.

Why is Fair Trade Certified Coffee so important? More and more people around the world are caring about how their products are produced. Is the product good for the earth? Are the workers treated well and paid sufficiently for their time? As more consumers learn of this trend, they are jumping on the bandwagon to purchase more Fair Trade products.

Over 100 companies have signed on to offer Fair Trade coffee. You may recognize some of their names: Starbucks, Peet’s, Equal Exchange, Tully’s, Green Mountain and Diedrich are but a few. These companies represent over 7,000 retail shops around the world.

The environment needs the support. Small farmers like the ones represented in the Fair Trade coffee farmers’ cooperatives take the best care of the land. Supporting Fair Trade means you are supporting the environment with your purchasing power. Fair Trade coffee farmers are too poor to clear cut the land or buy chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Their coffee is grown in small plots of mixed crops, and is grown organically.

Why can’t the farmers do this by themselves? You’d think with the popularity of gourmet coffee, they’d be doing just fine. The truth is the price of coffee beans is volatile. It rises and falls dramatically on a daily basis. The grower gets only a very small piece of the pie, while the consumer pays a high price at the stores. The grower then is kept in a cycle of poverty and debt, as the grower is often paid less than it costs him and his family to grow and harvest the coffee. Buying Fair Trade coffee will help farmers and their families all around the world to break out of this cycle and live a better life.

By: Best Coffee Maker

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Information On Java Coffee

2009 January 29
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coffee
Java coffee… it sounds a bit redundant, doesn’t it? Many people call coffee java, just like they may say they want a cup of joe. In reality, Java coffee refers to coffee grown on the island of Java, the largest island in Indonesia. Java coffee was so popular and was exported around the world, that many Americans just used the term ‘java’ as slang to mean coffee in general. And there is good reason for that.

The history of Java coffee is a long one. The Dutch brought coffee to Java in the 17th century, and it has been a major export for Indonesia ever since. They planted Arabica beans, but a coffee rust plague wiped many of the coffee plants out in the 1800s. The Dutch replaced them with Liberica beans, which while hardier, did not please the palate as much. Most of the beans grown in Java today are of the Robusta and Arabica variety.

Java coffee has a distinctive flavor that true coffee aficionados revere… it is known to be strong, spicy and sweet. The specific growing conditions on the island of Java create the flavor of the coffee beans grown there, and while they share similarities with coffee grown in other places, they have differences too. Coffee flourishes at an altitude between 3,000 and 6,000 feet in Java, with the majority of it being grown on a plateau around 4,500 feet. The coffee plants really thrive in the volcanic soil, which is rich in nutrients, and provides good drainage to the roots.

Even the area in Java influences the coffee… the most sought after Java coffee comes from the far eastern side of the island, near the Ijen volcano complex. There are four main coffee farms in this area, all started originally by the Dutch hundreds of years ago. These farms are now run by the Indonesian government, and they grow 85% of the coffee on Java.

Java coffee is wet processed, with the beans being pulped immediately after harvest, then washed. The beans are dried and rested for many weeks before being sorted and sent to the roasters. In fact, one variety of coffee, known as Old Java or Old Brown, is aged for two to three years. Java coffee beans are often added with others from different areas of the world to create unique blends. Java coffee beans produce a rich coffee with chocolate undertones, and when paired with Mocha, creates the ever-popular Mocha-Java blend.

Coffee has become part of Java’s culture as well as a primary agricultural product. Visitors are handed a cup of coffee in homes before they even ask for one. It is part of the fabric of everyday life in Java. So, if you have a cup of Java coffee, you may be inclined to spare a thought to the long history and culture that lies behind those beans that lent their flavor to that dark liquid you are enjoying. Java coffee is one of the world’s most famous brews, and will continue to be for a long time.

By: Best Coffee Maker

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Administrator of Coffee Information a site containing information on many, many types of Coffee Information.

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