September 11th, 2009 by Geoff Marks
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 …
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April 16th, 2009 by Geoff Marks
When it comes to best means of storing coffee beans, many theories are going to hit you each of which will ensure that your coffee beans continue to retain their freshness and flavor. The simplest theory suggests that when storing coffee beans, it may be best to place ground coffee in the freezer until it is consumed at a later time. However, before you put your coffee into the freezer based on this theory, it would be worth your while to first of all check whether it is indeed the best way of storing coffee beans.
Universal Idea?
Of course, the universal idea is that by freezing foods and even coffee beans, you can ensure that such items will last longer while also being able to retain their freshness. Thus, on the face of it, freezing is a great way to store things such as fruits, vegetables and meats as well as breads as they will prolong the life of …
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April 10th, 2009 by Geoff Marks
Coffee is one of the most drank beverages in the entire world. It is among the top five beverages that people drink daily. We get the coffee beverage as a result from grinding roasted coffee beans and then processing the coffee grounds with water to create the divine drink that we have now. Roasted coffee beans are the result of an art form of roasting.
Roasting Your Own Beans
Roasted coffee beans are achieved by exposing the green coffee beans to heat and waiting for the sugars in the beans to come out. The first step to having your very own roasted coffee beans is to pick the beans that you wish to home roast. There are actually just a few kinds of coffee that are quite popular. Arabica is one of the most highly utilized coffees because of the flavor.
After choosing the beans that you wish to make roasted coffee beans with, you have the option of choosing …
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March 24th, 2009 by Geoff Marks
Espresso – do you know what it is, really? Italians were the first to originate the concept and the revolution continues to evolve into so much more. Here’s the scoop (pun intended), espresso is simpler than you may realize. To drink an espresso is to either use a press type – which manually presses the coffee beans with intense hot water, or to make it easier, there are various kinds of espresso machines. What is so basic is that espresso simply is to use hot water over finely ground coffee. Now, today the term espresso is a very common word in our vocabulary and culture.
If not careful, one may assume that there is such a thing as an espresso coffee bean. However, any coffee bean could be used to make espresso. Of course not all coffee beans are created alike. In order to make the best espresso care should be taken to chose a bean that meets your taste. …
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March 19th, 2009 by Geoff Marks
The Kona coffee plant is one of the most precious gifts to the coffee community. It yields an extremely full-bodied, smooth bean that has been known to make some of the best coffee available. Farmers in Hawaii take great care to make sure that the kona coffee beans that come in a Kona bag are of the utmost quality. They make it that way by a series of strict guidelines that come down to a fine art.
The first step is in the growing portion of the year. The plant blooms a white flower in January, and this period is known as “Kona Snow”, as the ground is covered in blossoms. The berries grow on the trees after the blossoms have fallen off, starting at green, and then maturing to a deep red. Once they are at their perfect condition they are harvested.
The harvesting process is one that occurs year-round. Because the plants can be picked between six and …
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March 18th, 2009 by Geoff Marks
The State of Hawaii has been contributing a very important flavor of coffee to the community of coffee lovers. It is called “Kona”, and it is grown on a relatively small portion of the Hawaiian Islands. The entire crop of kona coffee beans comes from a two to three thousand acre plot of land which has it’s own unique history.
Hawaii has strict rules on it’s coffee industry. To be called by the name “kona” the beans have to be from the specific part of the region where the beans are currently grown. Some lower cost versions of Kona coffee are mixed with Arabica beans from Columbia and Brazil. While these Kona coffee blends are still full of flavor, they are not the true variety hat has brought such renown to this delicious bean.
The coffee plant was originally brought to Hawaii by a Brazilian man in the 1800′s. It never really came of any significance until the coffee market …
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