The Many Roasts of Coffee
Coffee Press Cup is happy to bring you this guide on the variety of roasts of coffee and what they each mean. The darker the roast, the more flavorful and stout it will be. Coffee beans, when picked, are green. It is not until it is roasted that coffee beans become brown or even black. The roasting time of coffee determines its flavor. The coffee’s origin can also affect the flavor slightly, but it will not have a great impact like roasting. So with this guide from Coffee Press Cup learn how to choose the coffee that meets your needs, and fulfills your desire.
Let’s start with a light roast coffee. These coffees tend to resemble tea, and do not have a lot of caffeine content. They are the weakest of all of the coffees. Coffee Press Cup does not endorse one particular roast or another. This is to inform you of the choices you have in coffee. A light roasted coffee bean is just as much coffee as any darker roast. This coffee is for those who like a mild flavor. Coffee Press Cup likes to dress the light roasts with only light cream and sugar, for a mild and tasty mid day sip. It doesn’t quite match up to being a breakfast blend but makes for a light treat.
Medium roasts are a common house blend for most restaurants. Medium roast can be found in my coffee maker throughout the day. This is a generally tasty and delightful cup of coffee. It is quite popular with Coffee Press Cup. The medium roast is also the most sold worldwide. This is a very popular variety. Chances are, if you enjoy a daily brew, this would be it. It is generally pre-ground and packaged. It usually has a course grind and is percolated for a moment to draw the beans’ flavor into the water. This is the basic process for rendering the ground beans into coffee.
Dark roasts tend to be much stronger in flavor. This would be like an Italian Espresso Roast. This is probably the most popular with Coffee Press Cup. Espresso has made itself popular worldwide. Espressos come in a huge variety of options with contrasting flavors. Espresso is most often known as a latte. Latte means that it is infused with steamed milk. Most espressos have added flavored syrups and sugar. Espresso shops have popped up all over America.
Last but not least, another, and also popular with Coffee Press Cup, is the French Roast. True French Roast is roasted until it begins to smoke. When this happens the natural sugars start to carbonize. This gives a French Roast a smoky flavor and aroma. It is very strong, even more so than espresso. It even has a hint of burnt flavor that is unique to a French Roast. This burnt quality is not overpowering, and can be reminiscent of camping. Coffee Press Cup is here with the finest coffee for you. So drink a cup and think of us.
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All About Espresso Machines
If you are a fan of Espressos then you might just be considering getting your own espresso machine. Espresso machines can be quite a money saver, especially if you spend money daily getting a good espresso from a specialty coffee shop. If you spend $4 a day, then it would only take a month for a decent espresso machine to pay for itself. As always, Coffee Press Cup wants you to get the best deal for your money so we have looked at a few different espresso machines, from the extremely high priced to the very cheap to give you some ideas as to what the best deal is for you.
There are several different types of espresso machines on the market, but they generally work the same way. The handle, or portafilter holds the ground coffee and most can adjust the grind, or to vary the amount of pressure required to tamp the grind, to get a different taste from the espresso. You can put the espresso shot right into a shot glass, called a demitasse cup, to maintain the flavor of the espresso. The cup is preheated so that you don’t lose any of the flavor of the coffee beans by cooling. You can also find espresso machines with steam wands that steam and froth milk so that you can make cappuccinos and lattes.
Espresso machines were invented in 1901 and there are a few different types to choose from. Espresso machines that work by steam force water through the coffee. This was the original type of espresso machine created. It can have up to four heads so that four different types of coffee can be made at the same time. This type of espresso machine also does not need to have any moving parts, and at Coffee Press Cup we like things without moving parts, as they tend to last longer then their siblings. You can also often find espresso machines that are also combo drip coffee machines so that you get both types in one package.
The next type of Espresso machine was created in Italy around 1950. It was the piston driven espresso machine created by espresso machine manufacturer Gaggia founder Achille Gaggia. This type of espresso machine uses a lever to pressurize the water and push it through the coffee grinds. The type that you find in coffee shops and espresso bars like Starbucks is the pump driven espresso machine. This type uses a motor to drive the pump which creates the espresso and are attached directly to the plumbing, making it easy to create espresso after espresso. You can also get home models which have a water compartment.
Espresso machines come in very different price tags and styles. You can actually pay up to $1000 for a very high quality commercial grade espresso machine, but we recommend that you go with the lower $150-$250 dollar models. The higher priced machines are created with the task of making a hundred or more espressos per day in mind, and you will likely not require this quality of machine. Another thing to keep in mind is how automatic the espresso machine is. You may not want a machine that requires laborious pulling and pumping to get your espresso.
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Choosing Gourmet Coffee
Coffee is completely subjective. A cup of coffee that tastes absolutely delicious to those of us here at Coffee Press Cup, may taste like a cup of bad out-of-the-way cafe coffee to you. However, there are some general things that we can recommend for you to choose the best gourmet coffee beans to make your special cup of coffee with. The first thing that we do recommend of course, is to use a coffee press, since in our opinion this produces the best cup of coffee, being far superior to coffee that you brew with a conventional coffee pot.
As far as getting the flavor of coffee from your local specialty coffee shops the first bit of advice that Coffee Press Cup can give you is to choose Arabica coffee beans. There are many online outlets for buying Arabica coffee beans and they are without doubt the best flavored coffee beans available. Often you can buy coffee beans in your supermarket or a local deli but make sure that they are Arabica coffee beans when you do. Delis, especially Italian Delis will often carry Robusta beans. These are more bitter than Arabica, but on the plus side they also contain about twice as much caffeine as their counterpart.
Another tip is to make sure that you buy whole coffee beans rather than pre-ground beans. This is because the flavor that you love from gourmet coffee beans comes from the oils in the coffee bean. If you look at at dark roasted beans, you’ll notice that they are oily on their surface. However, once the oil is exposed to oxygen it immediately begins degrading. Therefore, you should make sure not to get beans that are in a bag that isn’t airtight, and you’ll want to grind them yourself for maximum flavor. It goes without saying that you’ll also want to keep your beans airtight between grindings. Coffee Press Cup most definitely does not recommend buying your beans from the self serve dispensers in supermarkets, because they are not airtight, and the oil has been degrading and taking the flavor away for several days at least.
Even better is to buy your coffee beans from a store that roasts their own. That way you can get the most flavor possible by getting the beans immediately after they have been roasted, before any of the flavor gets a chance to break down. Next, you’ll have to determine which coffee beans work best for you. Some coffee beans can create a stronger coffee than you are used to, and so you’ll have to adjust your coffee grounds to taste. Another thing that can make a difference is the grind. Grinding your coffee extremely fine can give you a different taste than if you grind it coarsely.
Of course choosing the best coffee maker or coffee press can make a world of difference. The finest blend of coffee in the world, ground right in front of you can still lose its flavor if you don’t brew it correctly. Keep reading here at Coffee Press Cup and we’ll tell you everything that you need to know about coffee, because its what we’re all about here.
Filed Under Gourmet Coffee, How to of Coffee | 3 Comments
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