I Once upon a time in America there was drip or instant, milk or sugar. Folger’s was the name of the game. Then, from Australian Skybury to Kenyan Peaberry, from Kona to Barcelona, the world exploded with options. Today there’s enough variety in choices of blend, country and style to boggle the greatest coffee aficionado. [...]

Ever wonder why one bean makes it to your local specialty shop and another doesn’t? Long before you sip a delicious cup of dark ambrosia, coffee graders make hot and tiring journeys, face insects and hostile governments and endure weeks of frustration and danger to bring you that favorite brew. Ok, maybe it’s not quite [...]

Why should professionals have all the fun? ‘Cuppers’ taste coffee as an adjunct to professional buying, judging contests, writing reviews and so forth. But the joy of sitting before a half-dozen cups of Tanzanian Peaberry, Monsoon Mysore and the rest is a delight anyone can experience. The cupper tastes (and smells) for aroma, flavor, body, [...]

True coffee aficionados always drink their coffee straight, right? Wrong! There are, if anything, more blends and flavorings of coffee than there are of wine. Cast off your confines and let loose with the 101 different ways to enjoy nature’s gift. The creativity of blenders is inexhaustible. One Indonesian blend is a combination of Sumatran [...]

Brazil The coffee from Brazil is world-famous for a good reason: it’s stellar. None more so than the Brazil Bourbon Santos. Brazil is the world’s largest coffee bean producer, but hasn’t always been regarded as the best. That may change if this blend catches on. Named after the birthplace of the cultivar, an island now [...]

To achieve a good roast you have to start with beans that have been skillfully selected and dried. Some bean processors use a wash to remove the fleshy fruit from the bean and to separate different kinds of beans. Density differences in the bean will cause some to float higher, making for easier removal or [...]

Choosing the Right Coffee Machine Nowadays, coffee is all the rage. Not only do your have to choose among the dozens of franchise coffee shops, coffee types, espresso, cappuccino, and all other kinds of java. You also have to worry about what kind of coffee machines to work with. There are still the old-fashioned drip [...]