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A perfect cup of coffee
There are several steps and many factors that help to create the perfect cup of coffee. Not just one, brewing, ass many would assert. Coffee lovers strive to find the perfect cup of coffee , but are often eluded because adverse water conditions...
Coffee History
Coffee - THE Drink of Choice Did you know coffee is the most consumed beverage in the world. How did coffee get this ranking? What country first figured out coffee was safe for consumption? When was the first drink of coffee prepared? Where did the...
Does Coffee Make You Fat or Help with Diabetes?
Who the heck knows…?
According to two studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association the opposite is true and it states if you have diabetes you should get rid of caffeine.
Duke University Medical Centre in a 2004...
From One Cup Coffee Makers to “Smart” Refrigerators: Kitchen Appliances Catch Up with the Speed of Life
From One Cup Coffee Makers to “Smart” Refrigerators: Kitchen Appliances Catch up with the Speed of Life By R.L. Fielding The modern kitchen would not be complete without a refrigerator, an oven, a microwave, and a coffee maker. As fixtures...
Heartburn and Coffee: Break the Connection
Doctors have always detected a connection between heartburn and coffee. It has almost become a part of common wisdom that coffee, wonderful drink that it is, is one of the main causes behind heartburn. One out of five coffee drinkers in the US...
How to Make a Great Tasting Cup of Coffee - It’s Not Rocket Science
There is good coffee and absolutely abysmal coffee. Both may start with the same elements, but one cup can taste completely different to another. Freshness is the key to great tasting coffee. Here is the play by play smackdown of how to create a...
How to Make Restaurant Quality Coffee At Home
Have you ever wondered how restaurants get their coffee to taste so good? First of all, restaurants are in the business of pampering you so they devote much more time to the perfection of a good cup of coffee. Sometimes I'll remember a...
Jewish Coffee Cake
Now here is a coffee cake that will make you want no other
coffee cake, and once you prepare this coffee cake and get a
real working idea about this cake you can become very creative
and use some different jams, jellies, fruits and so on.
...
Resisting the Coffee Sensation can be Hazardous to Your Health!
Coffee consumption has rapidly increased in the U.S. in the past few years. Aside from its wonderful taste and the stimulating affect of caffeine, coffee's rising popularity is now due in part to social factors as evidenced by coffeehouses springing...
The Romance of Coffee
(ARA) - As the great composer Johann Sebastian Bach once said, '"Ah! How sweet coffee tastes! Lovelier than a thousand kisses, sweeter far than muscatel wine!" Since its introduction to Paris in the late 17th century, romance has...
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Home Coffee Roasting – Makes all the difference
Go Ahead---Have Some Coffee--- It’s Not JUST COFFEE Anymore!
As I sit here one the deck with my daily morning cup of coffee, I realize… just a few years ago I’d have had a cup of dark strong, stovetop brew with some milk to ease the taste. No more!! Now there’s almost every kind of coffee available that you can imagine.
Roasting Coffee at Home
First, we’ll start with the fact that you can buy green coffee beans and roast them to your liking right in you own home. One way to roast coffee beans at home is to skillet fry the beans until they are brown. They need to be cooked somewhere between 460F degrees and 530F. Beans must be kept moving so it won’t cook them unevenly. The roasting must stop at the right time and cooled down quickly. This is the old method but definitely won’t taste like today’s methods and needs proper venting.
Another way to roast coffee beans is with a hot-air corn popper. Hot-air poppers roast pretty quickly causing a bright, medium roast and strong flavored dark roasts. Giving a clear-cut taste opposite of beans roasted in a gas oven or in a stovetop popper. This may be a little easier than other methods. There is less to worry about, such as setting the temperature just right.
Although a great taste, there is a down side to using these poppers. First of all only not all poppers are designed to roast coffee. You should only use the ones with the proper roasting chambers. This way makes a less amount each time than other methods. Roasting with the popper will also cause smoke to be more difficult to vent. Most of these poppers can be used to make French or Espresso coffee, which is darker but are not recommended. This may cause your popper to be over worked and shorten its life.
Roasting beans in a gas oven was also popular. You could roast more at a time and the oven did the venting for you. Just set the ovens temperature like baking. This had to be a much easier way and the results were rather good. Don’t forget, the timing and cooling process for all roasting is very important and may be different in other blends to achieving the goal for a great cup of coffee.
The only way you are going to find out which technique you might enjoy to use is to find a whole bean coffee roasted style that you already like, then try to make it yourself at home. Do a little experimenting!
Brewing Methods
Next let’s move on to the many different brewing methods. There are several different ways in which to brew coffee. Before you choose a coffee maker you need to understand first what you demand out of the machine. It will be a question only the person using it can answer. Let’s examine the differences a little closer.
The filter drip is the most popular method used to brew coffee because it is easy to operate and consistent. Water is poured in a chamber where it is heated and slowly poured over the ground coffee. This can be done two ways. It can be electronically dripped or manually poured over the grounds. Some electric machines can be preset to have the coffee ready for you when you wake up in the morning. Others may prefer the taste of hand-brewed coffee for a different flavor.
The French drip is another form of drip coffee making, which is made without paper filters. A separate top sits above the porcelain coffee pot and acts as the strainer as the water soaks into the grounds. Working its way through the strainer,
coffee liquid makes its way to the bottom pot for hot steaming coffee.
The Percolator was the preferred way to make coffee in the 1950's. Now coffee drinkers see the light that the coffee made this way was thin, watery and bitter. Most people may remember it by the perking pot and the aroma it gave off.
The Neapolitan flip device is made up of two segment. The whole product comes in aluminum, copper or stainless steel. An area in between the two segments holds the coffee grounds. The lower part is poured with water and put directly on the stovetop to heat. While boiling the steam goes through a hole under the grounds. After that, the pot is removed from the stove, flipped over to drip the water on the grounds, which go into the serving pot. The down side to this is that it only makes about 3 or 4 cups per serving.
There are two different types of espresso makers, stovetop and household electric counter top model. A nice characteristic about the counter top model is it can steam milk for cappuccino and latte’s. Stovetop on the other hand have two parts similar to the Neapolitan flip method only no flipping needed.
French Press is a trendy European way that allows for more oils and coffee solids that give you a cup of coffee with a lovely smell and has a dense body. More of your strong coffee drinkers would prefer this technique. Although good and strong, some grounds may enter the coffee during process.
Vacuum procedures are more involved and are used for ceremonies mostly by the Japanese. They are rare and very hard to find.
The Middle Eastern way is popular of course in the Middle East and also Greece and Turkey. Their form of making coffee is also very different and comes out to be dark, thick and syrupy tasting. Because it is so rich, one or two cups a day would probably be all I could drink.
Last but not least on the list, the cold water method simply soaking the coffee grinds in cold water for about a day, straining the grounds, and storing the liquid in a refrigerator for a few weeks. When you want a cup, boil some water and add liquid to desired taste.
Makes a rather mild cup for those of you who like it that way.
If you’re not into roasting the beans yourself, your choices are still many. Coffee manufacturers have given us an almost unending list of different blends and flavors. How the coffee’s ground after its roasted will have a major effect on the taste of the coffee. There are regular, coarse and finely ground coffees.
The taste is also affected by the combination of the type of coffee used. The two categories of trees from which the coffee beans come from are called Arabica and Robusta. The Arabica is a milder coffee and the Robusta a much stronger coffee.
Another important addition to the coffee world has been the addition of many flavorings, and flavored creamers. If you haven’t browsed through coffee selections lately, you owe it to your taste buds to check out the many varieties and flavors of coffee.
About the Author
Hilda Maria is the mother of five great children. She understands the need for a great cup of
coffee in a flash and enjoys using a
coffee maker and fresh green
coffee beans to get it.
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