COFFEE POUND

Gourmet Coffees

Gourmet Coffees for Coffee Pound Hounds

We know that gourmet means high quality products with exotic ingredients or simply fine foods and drink, or something along those lines. The same holds true when referring to gourmet coffees; they are a blend of the best organic coffee beans that have been harvested at exactly the proper time. It is coffee that has been processed by the most skilled artisans who have roasted the beans to perfection. The beans are then made into a variety of blends and numerous types of high quality coffees of unsurpassed taste. In other words, these are not the brands of coffee that you will find in your local grocery store.

When you hear the word gourmet, you probably think of fine food and drink or a 5 course meal. Yet it can also be used to describe coffee, as in gourmet coffees. These coffees do not normally come from your neighborhood grocery store, as the organic coffee beans are harvested at the precise time, roasted to perfection, made into a variety of flavors and blends and then shipped to coffee houses across the country.

After being picked, the beans are normally processed in one of two ways; they can either be soaked or washed to remove all of the chaff from each bean or a more natural drying method may be employed. Both methods have their own advantages and will produce great coffee if done correctly.

After the beans have been washed and processed, they usually get roasted at a very high temperature and then cooled rapidly according to individual practices. Generally, darker beans will produce the more full bodied and stronger gourmet coffees. As well, the darker that the ground coffee looks the longer the original roasting process took, which usually means a better taste. Fair trade coffee beans are becoming more available and offer some of the best gourmet coffees you'll ever brew at home.

Generally, there are two ways to get your morning fix of java. You can be one of those morning commuters that rush to get in line at their local coffee house for that cup of regular or gourmet coffee, latte or espresso, or you can brew your own cup at home with your own home coffee machine where you can leisurely drink it, read the paper and then get ready to leave for work. Of course, another added bonus of brewing your own is that wonderful aroma that just seems to say that it is going to be a great day.

Since coffee is one of the most consumed beverages, many ways of preparing it have been developed for the discerning consumer. It is important to know that there are two basic types of organic coffee beans, Arabica and Robusta. The Arabica normally produces a very fine quality coffee and usually the highest grades are sold primarily as gourmet coffees to gourmet retailers. These beans are flavorful and delicate and are normally higher priced and have a more limited availability. The Robusta usually bears more coffee cherries, is hardier and more resistant to disease; however, they are rarely found in gourmet shops and are often used in commercial blends.

Perhaps the secret to a perfect cup of coffee begins with the coffee beans; there are two major types of beans, the Arabica and the Robusta. The Arabica produces a very fine quality coffee that is usually sold to the retailers that carry gourmet coffees. The Robusta is hardier, more resistant to diseases and produces more coffee cherries; however, it is normally used by retailers that use commercial blends rather than the more elite gourmet retailers.