Monday, January 3, 2011

An Introduction to Coffee Beans and Varietals

By Jim Johnson


Second to water in popularity, coffee is consumed by billions of men and women all through the globe. Statistics have shown that about 400 billion cups are consumed annually and that children and adults have been taking it for numerous great reasons.

Coffee is really a popular beverage served in two ways: hot or with ice. It really is naturally prepared from the roasted seeds of a coffee plant, and these seeds are generally known as "coffee beans". The beans originate from an evergreen tree which has grown and has been cultivated in numerous subtropical locations around the globe, which includes Latin America, the Caribbean Islands, Africa, Arabian Peninsula, Indonesia along with other regions in Southeast Asia.

Being cultivated and produced in numerous countries, coffee comes in varieties. Each variety has its distinctive good quality and differs according to flavor, acidity, quantity of caffeine, and mouth really feel. All of these characteristics are highly dependent on the environment exactly where the coffee plants are grown, also as on the way they're processed and produced.

There are three major varietals of coffee: the C. Robusta, C. Arabica, along with the Blended types. Beneath are short descriptions for every single sort. Read on.

* C. Robusta - Known scientifically as coffee canephora, the Robusta selection naturally contains 40 to 50 percent of caffeine and is cultivated in some key locations in the planet where the second variety, C. Arabica, will not thrive. This type has a bitter taste and has small flavor. Its aroma is deemed as something comparable to that of brunt rubber or wet cardboard. And, one of the very pricey and unusual subtype of this species will be the Indonesian Kopi Luwak along with the Kape Alamid, which is identified and extremely valued in the Philippines.

* C. Arabica - Noted to have originated from the Arabian Peninsula, the Coffee Arabica will be the older sort of coffee known to man. It can be believed to be indigenous to Ethiopia, and is widely recognized for its richer flavor and taste. A few of the well-known subtypes of C. Arabica are Colombian, Colombian milds, Costa Rican Tarrazu, Guatemala, Hawaiian Kona, Jamaica Blue Mountain, Ethiopian Harrar, Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, Sulawesi Toraja Kalossi, Tanzania Peaberry, Sumatra Mandheling, Sumatra Lintong, Java, and Kenya AA.

* Blends - As the name implies, this coffee assortment is a combination of both C. Arabica and C. Robusta. Blends are normally thought to be mainly to produce a sense of balance and complexity. With this idea, numerous blends are accessible nowadays and one of the oldest is the Mocha Java, which is but a combination of coffee beans belonging to the same name. This blend is noted for its chocolate flavor, leading to the blending of the identified Caf Mocha.

Several other varieties of coffee exist nowadays. All of these varieties are prepared from the blends, that are mixed with other less costly varieties to present a new taste and flavor. The Jamaica Blue Mountain and the Hawaiian Kona are but two of the most prominent examples of these current coffee blends.




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