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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.

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Coffee Pods Are The Perfect Option for Busy Individuals

September 3, 2009 – 4:46 am

When you ordered a cup of coffee from a coffee shop a few decades ago, all the bartenders would ask you is whether you want sugar or cream with it. Today, you will have to make a choice from dozens of coffee varieties, many of which have lavish and sometimes hard to pronounce names. To add to the confusion, a new kind of coffee product called the coffee pod has been introduced to the market.

Coffee pods have actually been around for several years now, but recently it has been re-launched as a great new way for busy individuals to get their daily coffee fix. These handy products are simply small packets that are filled with just enough ground coffee to fill a pot. The filter papers used in these coffee pods are identical to regular coffee filters. However, while coffee filters are single sheets of filter paper, coffee pods are actually two sheets that sandwich the ground between them. The two layers are them sealed at the sides, keeping the coffee inside and the moisture out.

Some people are seriously wondering what it is about coffee pods that make them so popular today. Basically, the reason is convenience. With the kind of lifestyle that most people are living these days, any amount of time saved would be appreciated. Coffee pods eliminate the need to measure out the exact amount of ground coffee that you need to brew a pot. Instead, you just have to take out a coffee pod and place it into your coffee maker — easy as pie!

If you are among the millions of people rushing to prepare for work every morning, you will definitely appreciate the convenience offered by this revolutionary product. With coffee pods, you will no longer have to fumble with the measuring spoons and risk the spilling of coffee grounds all over the kitchen counter.

Cleaning your coffee maker after brewing your pot of coffee will also be a breeze with coffee pods. All you have to do is take out the used coffee pod and dispose of it. There will no longer be a need for incessant scrubbing just to remove coffee residue that has been left in the basket.

Coffee pods can certainly do a lot to improve the quality of your mornings. With the amount of time save on preparing your coffee and cleaning your machine, you can take the time to actually sit down and enjoy a good breakfast that you truly deserve.

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