Coffee Cuppa :: Cuppa Tea

Green Tea When Only The Best Will Do

January 21, 2010 – 11:13 am

Green tea is everywhere these days. You can find it in drink form and in supplements. It is added to all types of products. But how do you know that you are getting the best green tea? In a time when our food sources are coming into question this is more than just a quality issue. This is a safety issue. You need to know that what you are consuming is safe and that it offers the maximum health benefits. Finding the best green tea is important.

From The Teapot

Green tea is best served hot from the teapot. It is better if it has low sugar content as sugar can counteract many of the health benefits. It is also best if the tea is not mixed with other ingredients. Tea bags are fine, but loose tea is also a good alternative. Most of the time loose tea uses whole leaves which are better for you because they contain more of the healthful ingredients.

Loose tea also has less caffeine. While some caffeine is preferable in the best green tea, too much can be a detriment. Loose whole tea leave offer the right balance. Also, loose green tea has the best quality. Loose tea can be steeped up to three times whereas bags can only be used once. This increases the value of the product because a little goes a long way.

If You Use Tea Bags

Still, tea bags offer convenience and less mess so most people use them for expediency. If you use tea bags use the least processed ones. Most tea in bags is cut in small pieces, curled, steamed and dried. There is also fermentation that occurs that can change the taste and the quality. You need to look for the least processed product you can find because the best green tea is the most pure.

The best comes from China. Green tea originated in China and there are over 168 different brands to choose from. Consistently these teas rank highest in the ingredients that promote health in green tea. It is a fair assumption to make that the best green tea comes from China.

If you are looking for better health green tea is a good place to start. You need to be sure you take it in the most pure form. The chemical interaction between hot water and tea leaves seems to let loose the healthy ingredients to a higher degree than other methods of consumption. There may be more flavorful ways of using the product, but the best green tea is the plain, simple unvarnished tea with few of the bells and whistles. After all, if you don’t have your health, nothing else really matters.

Posted in Green Tea | No Comments »

Roasted Coffee Beans - Fresh From Bean To Brew

January 21, 2010 – 10:51 am

Whether you’ve considered making your own roasted coffee beans or you simply want to be able to buy truly fresh beans, some simple facts about coffee can help you choose the best beans and end up with the best coffee you’ve ever had.

Coffee beans start out green. These raw beans are then roasted and ground into the coffee that most of us are familiar with. In fact, most everyone who has ever drunk coffee has experienced both an excellent and a horrible cup of coffee. Considering that you can do everything from growing your own coffee to purchasing instant coffee that only requires hot water, it’s no wonder that the quality of coffee can vary from one extreme to another.

Price really has no bearing on quality. You can pay a lot of money for brand name instant coffee that tastes worse than the cheaper ground coffee that sits next to it on the shelf. Expensive Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee might cost more than the store-brand, but if the Jamaican coffee is old and stale, the cheaper coffee will taste better. The problem with coffee you buy in a store is that you never really know how old the roasted coffee beans were when the coffee was ground, and how long ago the beans were ground—both factors that make or break the quality and flavor of coffee.

Roasted coffee beans are considered fresh for about a month, so the coffee you buy in a store should have been ground from those beans during that time. And the moment bean are ground, the coffee is fresh, but should be used immediately. Vacuum packing does retain much of the freshness, but coffee lovers know that freshly ground from bean to brew makes a better cup of coffee than freshly ground and instantly packaged, to sit on shelf for who knows how long.

If you’re purchasing whole roasted coffee beans, then the way they’re packaged will tell you something about their age. If there’s no way for carbon dioxide to escape the package, then the beans had to sit for several days before they were packaged. If the packaging does allow for this release, then they were probably packaged immediately and will be fresher, providing you’re able to purchase them right away.

While they’re considered fresh for 30 days, true coffee fans will tell you that 3 days is the window for the best tasting coffee. After 3 days, the fresh roasted coffee beans will start to lose their aromatic oils. So for the best coffee possible, you can buy green coffee beans and roast them yourself at home.

The whole process of roasting your own beans takes less than a half an hour. Home roasting equipment lets you roast only small batches—batches than can be easily used within 3 days—so you’re always guaranteed a fresh cup of coffee. If you choose to purchase roasted coffee beans, choose a shop that revolves around coffee so you know you’ll get quality every time.

Posted in Coffee Beans | 5 Comments »