When coffee is grown organically, it is just so much better for the coffee farm land as well as for all of the land that surrounds the coffee farm. Water quality is improved for the entire area where organic coffee farms operate.

Of course, buying organic coffee can be a real challenge for organic coffee producing companies. Most coffee farms grow their coffee beans with the help of fertilizers and pesticides. Organic coffee farms are small and usually family operated or are cooperatively owned farms where income as well as tools, mills, mulches, and organic methods of raising organic coffee beans are shared. The idea of organically grown coffee beans is to produce higher quality coffee beans that simply produce a better tasting cup of coffee.

Organically grown coffee beans are raised in the shade. A lot of shade over the coffee trees produced by larger trees that actually make a canopy above the coffee trees means that the sun can’t bleach out the nutrients that are naturally in the coffee beans. It also helps to prevent pests and prevents the depletion of the topsoil.

Those who are not very concerned about the environment still look for coffee that has been made from organically grown coffee beans for one very simple reason. The entire organic process means that the coffee beans will simply produce a better tasting cup of coffee, and a better tasting cup of coffee is a universal pursuit of happiness.

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How many different kinds of coffee do you suppose are available around the world today? I don’t know, either, but there isn’t much doubt that hundreds of thousands would be a guess that was not far off the mark.

Just go look on the shelves of your local supermarket. My goodness! There are dozens of brands and several choices of roasts for each brand. There are coffees that are made especially for drip coffee makers. There are coffees that are prepackaged and ready to be put into coffee makers. There are single servings. It’s mind-boggling, and you haven’t even scratched the surface yet — the coffees on the shelves of your local supermarket aren’t even the gourmet coffees.

To find the gourmet coffees, you will need to visit a coffee specialty shop or go surfing on the web. Now the choices are REALLY mind boggling. Unless you already know which gourmet coffee you are looking for, you will need to have some good information before you buy. It might even be a good idea to buy a “variety” package that includes several different gourmet coffees and give yourself the opportunity to try before you buy.

Some gourmet coffees have very high acidity. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Only your taste buds can decide. Some people prefer high acidity coffee, while others do not. Is the acidity a good thing or a bad thing? Well, some say that acidity causes stomach problems, and others say that the acidity is what makes the coffee a cancer fighter of the first order and what gives it the unique taste.

Some gourmet coffees, particularly those from the islands, have an earthy taste that isn’t present in coffees from other regions. Some coffees, particularly those from Jamaica, are so smooth they make you want to cry. It all depends on your own individual likes and dislikes.

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Now, when your feet first touch the floor in the morning and you are groggily making your way to the coffee pot, you probably aren’t thinking about where coffee came from or who discovered the magic stuff. But the origins of coffee are really rather interesting, and after you have finished that first cup, you might like to know how it happened that you have a cup of coffee to get your day started off right. There are several versions of how coffee was discovered.

One story is that a sheep herder from Caffa Ethopia named Kaldi noticed that when his sheep ate red “cherries” from a certain plant, they became very active. The sheep would have been bouncing off the walls, had there been walls. The sheep herder decided to try the “cherries” himself and soon he was as hyper as his herd of sheep. A monk came along and scolded Kaldi for “partaking of the devil’s fruit,” but then the monks discovered that the red “cherries” helped them to stay awake while they were saying prayers.

This isn’t the only story about the origin of coffee, though. There is another story about an Arabian, Omar, who was banished to the desert along with his followers to “die from starvation.” There was nothing to eat in the desert, and Omar and his followers were sure to die. Then, in an act of desperation, Omar ordered his followers to boil the fruit from an unknown plant and eat it. The fruit and the broth saved their lives and it was considered a miracle from God. The residents of the nearest town, Mocha, were awed by the miracle, and the plant and the beverage were named Mocha to honor the event.

Take you pick…both stories are great. Originally the coffee plant grew in Ethiopia (Ethopia), but once it was transplanted to Arabia, it was claimed by them.

The history of coffee is peppered with details ranging from serendipitous events to deliberate actions, from intriguing truths to incredible legends.  All stories form part of people’s love affair with coffee, an affair that has transcended geography and time to form part a global coffee-drinking culture.

The use of coffee has been traced back to as far as the 10th century in Ethiopia.  Before the 1000AD, the members of the Galla tribe consumed the coffee berries with animal fat and experienced a boost in energy from the recipe.  How the Galla tribe came to make use of coffee is unknown except for a legend saying a sheep herder named Kaldi noticed changes in his herds behavior after the animal ate the red cherries from the tree.

It was in 1000 AD that Arab traders began cultivating the crop in their homeland. It was also the Arab who started to brew coffee into drinks they called ‘qahwah’. The Arabs kept coffee a deeply-guarded secret.  Coffee was illegally brought to India by an Arab named Baba Budan.

It was in 1453 when coffee was first introduced to Constantinople by Ottoman Turks. In 1471, the first coffee house was opened in Instanbul, the establishment was named Kiva Han.

In Europe, Venetian merchants introduced the drink to the members of society. They had gotten the coffee from Muslim traders from North Africa and Egypt. In Italy, in 1600, advisers of the Pope advised the Pope to banish the popular Ottoman drink then believed by some Christian as the devil’s brew.  Pope Vincent III decided to baptize the drink after trying it himself.  It wasn’t until more than four decades later when a coffee house first opened in 1645.

It is believed that it was Captain John Smith who brought coffee to North America in 1607.  In 1652, a coffee house opened in England, the coffee became part of forums and discussions, much like how people discuss business and issues over coffee today.  The coffee houses were dubbed as “penny universities” (a cup of coffee went for a penny at that time) for stimulating discussions among educated and non-educated people.

In 1668, Edward Llyod opened his coffee house in England. The establishment frequented by maritime insurance agents, became the predecessor for the company Lloyd’s, a business conglomerate that today offers maritime insurance, stages maritime events and others.

In 1675, after Turkish army left a sack of coffee in Vienna, Franz Georg Kolschitzky, a Viennese opened his coffee house and started the practice of filtering coffee, adding milk and sweetening it.

In 1727, the coffee industry in Brazil started. By 1907, much of the coffee production worldwide came from Brazil. In 1938 Nestle invented the process of freeze-drying to make use of Brazil’s production surplus.

It wasn’t long before coffee spread throughout other parts of the world. The Dutch began transporting coffee commercially in Ceylon and Java. It was seedling from the Dutch that started the whole coffee industry of France. In 1886, Joel Cheek named his coffee blend Maxwell House, a brand that exists up to this day. The Hills Bros started selling packed coffee in 1900. By 1901 the soluble instant coffee had already been invented.

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Which is that beverage that is universally popular and valued? If you are thinking of ‘booze’ or ‘tea’, then you are mistaken. It is the coffee which we are talking about. In almost every part of the world, coffee is served in offices, meetings, homes, dates, parties and so on.

History has it that coffee was served in Ethiopia in the ninth century as well. the popularity of coffee can easily be gauged by the fact that there are millions of coffee shops in the world today. Without a doubt it can be said of coffee that it rakes in a lot of money compared to its counterparts.

When you return home after a day’s work and rest on your couch while watching a program on the television, your desire to have a cup of coffee never seems to disappear. Talk about a base ball match or a football match, everyone needs a cup of coffee to feel the excitement.

Even while traveling, the first thing you ask an air-hostess for is the same old ‘cup of coffee’. The best thing about this beverage is that it can be consumed in every season. Be it a cold chilly night or a hot afternoon, you can always insist for a cup of coffee.

The reason behind this is that there are a number of recipes of coffee. Iced coffee, “cafe’ latte”, “cafe’ macchiato”, “cafe’ Americano”, “espresso”, “mocha” etc are some of the variants of coffee. No matter what kind of coffee you would like to brew, you can always do so with a vintage coffee maker. A vintage coffee maker simplifies things for you by making you a cup of coffee within seconds.

You can even opt for a vintage coffee maker which has two coffee makers attached together. With the usage of non-stick plates in these coffee makers, the headache of cleaning them has almost disappeared. There are a number of established consumer electronics which make coffee makers. Vintage coffee makers have a charisma that would leave your guests in awe.

Some of the advanced coffee makers have superior features like automatic shut-off, water level indicator, timer etc. Serving coffee is an art too and therefore you would definitely like to have stylish coffee mugs, coffee cups etc at your home. These days, a popular product is the two-in-one “coffee cups pottery glass”. Talk about “coffee pots collectibles” and the Internet brings you hundreds of options. Visit some online stores and check out the stylish range of coffee cups, mugs etc.

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What Makes The Organic Peruvian Coffee The Best?

There are two things that contribute to the amazing and unparalleled taste of organic Peruvian coffee – one, it is organically grown since 1700 AD and the technique that the farmers use has been handed over by word of mouth from generation to generation; and two, there is no interference yet from modern technology on any of the 110 thousand coffee farms in Peru. The combined effect of these two factors is that the organic Peruvian coffee has a remarkable taste the richness of which no one has yet been able to copy.

The farms where the coffee is grown are small, about 2-3 acres each where the farmers work hard to uphold the amazing quality of the crop using exclusively indigenous methods. Each farm is equipped with a micro-wet milling system which is yet another effort to keep Peru free form any type of chemical pollution.

The coffee crop is cultivated in between trees so it is shielded completely from the sun. The organic Peruvian coffee is grown completely in shade. The beans are picked over a period of five months, i.e. May to September by hand. The next step, pulping, is also done by hand after which the beans are stored in huge fermentation tanks which helps in cleaning them. Lastly, the coffee beans are transported to the market where about 80 percent is exported.

Though the organic Peruvian coffee is considered to be the best money could buy and is in high demand all over the world, the farmers who grow this coffee were until recent past still struggling for their sustenance because they were unorganized and incapable to protect their rights or have a say in the price of the coffee they sold.

Today, assisted by cooperatives the Peruvian farmers are poised to become the second largest supplier of organic coffee in the world. The Cooperative and Fair Trade networks have empowered the farmers to receive what is rightfully theirs, i.e. recognition for producing the best coffee in the world and the price due to such quality crop.

Next time you are in the super market look up organic Peruvian coffee and check it out. It is said that once you taste this coffee, you would never be able to enjoy any other type of coffee. Are you willing to take up this challenge?

Actually, not all people are affected by coffee in a negative way. Many can drink two cups of coffee daily and not feel anything wrong with them while some drink just one and everything goes haywire. Organic decaf coffee can help these people get a good grip on their health but at the same time enjoy their cup of coffee.

Many people had their doubts regarding decaffeinated coffee because of the process of decaffeination that involves soaking the coffee beans in a solvent to remove the caffeine in them. The entire process needs several stages of soaking the beans and some chemical solvents. Fear of the effects of these chemical solvents has triggered some people into looking for another alternative for processing decaf coffee.

Enter organic decaf coffee made with Swiss Water. This process has revolutionized the decaf coffee market because it used only pure Swiss water to dilute the coffee beans and isolate the caffeine. This process has been found to be purely organic and highly efficient in isolating the caffeine without fully sacrificing the taste of coffee. It is advisable to gradually or slowly switch to organic decaf coffee from pure coffee since you can actually notice the difference in taste. The knowledge that there is a difference in taste between organic decaf coffee and pure coffee can be disheartening, to avoid the noticing the gap, make the transition as gradual as possible.

Advantages Of Organic Decaf Coffee

Organic decaf coffee can be advantageous for coffee drinkers because some of them have negative reactions to pure coffee. Having the similar taste of coffee without the caffeine is a godsend for many. Other advantages of using organic decaf coffee is the advantage of helping the environment and not using harmful chemicals that can affect the body. There have been reports that decaf coffee made the traditional way, which involves chemical solvents, may cause cancer and other sicknesses. Organic decaf coffee has none of these finding because it uses only pure Swiss Water to isolate the caffeine.