The Quest for The Perfect Coffee Beans

Goats Discovered Coffee Beans Before Humans.

Coffee heritage can be traced back centuries to fields in Ethiopia. A known legend says that a goat herder, Kaldi, discovered the potential of coffee beans by seeing how his goats responded after eating the fruit. The goats wouldn’t want to sleep at night. Kaldi tried the fruit with similar results.

Now coffee beans grow in more than 50 countries in the world and are well known. As of 2017, the largest producers of coffee beans are Brazil, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Columbia, Vietnam, and India.

As a new coffee enthusiast, you might be thinking, how am I to distinguish between the different tastes in coffee? It starts with knowledge of the beans and understanding what your taste pallets are looking for. Today, we will be covering all that stuff to help you.

What Makes The Biggest Difference

You can have the best coffee maker, but without high-quality coffee beans, you won’t achieve superior tasting coffee. If you are new to the world of coffee brewing, you might not appreciate the importance of good coffee beans.

1. Well-Balanced

Good coffee beans have just the right balance of mellowness and acidity; you will achieve a satisfying and complex overall flavor and aroma. Cheap beans normally are extreme in one aspect of taste. Thus, it creates a shallow experience. With Good beans, you can achieve the right taste.

2. Full Bodied

Good coffee beans will create a unique tasting experience. It’s physically heavier and denser in your mouth. These beans equal on-the-point tasting coffee.

Sharp, Snappy & Bright: The Acidity Factor

Coffee with the right acidity tastes sharp, snappy and bright. The wrong amount of acidity will cause the taste to be flat, dull and mellow.

1. The beans determine the taste of the coffee.
2. Whether the beans were shaded or organically grown will determine acidity, which will influence the taste.
3. The method of enriching the soil and processing the beans will influence the taste of the coffee.

Harsher Coffee is usually the results of using cheap Robusta beans.

The Fine Art of Coffee Beans

Altitude, soil quality, farming methods, elevation, and climate determine the quality of coffee beans. As a new coffee enthusiast, you should work your way to finding exceptional coffee beans, but first, it starts with being aware of the basics.

1. Growth & Processing
   The best coffee beans are organically shade-grown in nurturing forests with native birds. The growing, cleaning, milling, drying, transportation, shipping, warehousing and roasting of great coffee beans happens when top standards withheld.
2. Well-Roasted
   High-quality coffee beans are well roasted, which brings out the flavor and aroma of coffee. Roasting is part art and part science. It takes years of training to become an expert.
   • Light Roast: This is perfect for milder coffee varieties.
   • Medium Roast: Another name is ‘the American roast’ because it is popular in the United States. It’s medium brown in color and has a non-oily surface and a stronger flavor.
   • Medium Dark Roast: This has a rich, dark color and some oil on the surface. It produces a slight bittersweet aftertaste.
   • Dark Roast: Produces shiny black beans with pronounced bitterness and an oily surface. This roast is ideal for espresso drinks.
3. Certified
   The best 2017 coffee beans are certified. The current certifications are organic, shade-grown, high-altitude, fair trade, and sustainable. Organic certification is not easy to achieve. Growers are held accountable for the manner of how the beans are treated. Coffee beans certified as organic have no traces of pesticides.
4. Origin
   The origin usually matters. Beans that come from suppliers who are transparent and specific about describing the origins of their beans have a better reputation.
   • Brazilian beans, you will get a fine cup of coffee that is clear, low-acid, medium-bodied and sweet
   • Kenyan beans are popular in the West. They produce sharp, full-bodied and fruity acidic coffee with a rich fragrance
   • Colombian beans are consistently good, mild and well-balanced.
   • Kona coffee is well known and is in high demand. It is a product of coffee beans harvested from coffee farms in Hawaii. In Hawaii, nature provides the right environment for the growth of coffee trees.
5. Storage
   The best storage for coffee beans is a low-humidity and high-altitude locations. Beans stored in a hot, humid warehouse lack character and taste. Also, hot and humid storage creates a perfect environment for bacteria growth.

ARABICA & ROBUSTA COFFEE BEANS

• Arabica coffee beans grow best at high altitudes in rich soils. They produce premium-tasting coffee. It is expensive and has a more balanced taste sometimes called soft or winey. Arabica coffee requires high elevation to thrive.
• Robusta coffee beans thrive in lower grounds with higher temperatures. They produce cheaper coffee varieties. Robusta is cheaper to buy and easier to grow because it doesn’t need high elevation. They have a harsher flavor that is more nut-like and has high caffeine levels.

Top 4 Buying Tips

As a coffee enthusiast, these coffee bean buying tips will help you immensely.

1. Buy directly from a local roasters.
2. Buy from a roaster who will give you detailed information about the origin of the beans.
3. Buy beans that have a notation of the roasting date.
4. Buy roasted coffee in small quantities that will last you between two to three weeks. It’s because their state begins diminishing after roasting.

The Leading Retailers:

• West Coast Roasting company is known for quality fresh beans and hand-roasting each batch.
• Zoka Coffee Roasters headquarters are based in Seattle. They sell locally and online. Zoka is known for single-origin and blended coffees. They offer tasting notes and information on the growers.
• Sweet Tree Artisan Roasters are known for highly distinguished and specialty-grade coffees. This coffee roasting company is in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
• Kona Rainforest Organic Coffee Company grows its coffee in rainforests in Hawaii. Little known fact – White House dinners usually have Kona coffee.

Appealing to Your Senses

You need coffee that appeals to your senses of smell, sight, and taste. You need it to create a delightful tasting experience and is a real pleasure to the eyes.

If you are a new coffee enthusiast, you need to understand that creating great coffee at home is all about having the correct ingredients, which of course starts with the coffee beans.