Mesquite Roasted Coffee

Coffee Cupping

admin — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:46:14 +0000

Cupping is one of the coffee tasting techniques used by cuppers to evaluate coffee aroma and the flavor profile of a coffee. To understand the minor differences between coffee growing regions, it is important to taste coffee from around the world side-by-side.

Coffee Cupping Conclusions

The key to cupping coffee is practice and humility. The best cuppers I know are modest and always eager to learn more. I have served on cupping juries with some of the best in the world and we do not always agree. The beauty is that we agree to disagree while respecting and trying to identify the characteristics that other people find.

Do not be intimidated by people that try to impress you with some abstract description of a coffee. This is more of a romantic tribute to a coffee rather than a reality. Cupping coffee should be fun and interesting, but not a contest of who is more articulate. On the other hand, your description should be more substantial than a reiteration of a textbook definition of a coffee.

Despite the strict, scientific-like protocol to coffee cupping, the method followed in the industry is quite varied and almost every good cupper has his or her own permutation. Cup under conditions you like, but try to stay close to the standards in case you need to cup with other people.

The secret to becoming a good coffee cupper is simple: trust yourself by practicing regularly and be humble enough to continue to learn from others.

For more information about coffee cupping, visit CoffeeGeek.com or read “Coffee Cupping: A Basic Introduction” at INeedCoffee.com.

The Beginnings of the Coffee Story

admin — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 04:29:06 +0000

The story of how coffee growing and drinking spread around the world is one of the greatest and most romantic in history. It starts in the Horn of Africa, in Ethiopia, where the coffee tree probably originated in the province of Kaffa. There are various fanciful but unlikely stories surrounding the discovery of the properties of roasted coffee beans. One story has it that an Ethiopian goatherd was amazed at the lively behaviour of his goats after chewing red coffee berries. What we know with more certainty is that the succulent outer cherry flesh was eaten by slaves taken from present day Sudan into Yemen and Arabia, through the great port of its day, Mocha, now synonymous with coffee. Coffee was certainly being cultivated in Yemen by the 15th century and probably much earlier than that.

Mocha was also the main port for the one sea route to Mecca, and was the busiest place in the world at the time. But the Arabs had a strict policy not to export any fertile beans, so that coffee could not be cultivated anywhere else. The coffee bean is the seed of the coffee tree, but when stripped of its outer layers it becomes infertile. The race to make off with some live coffee trees or beans was eventually won by the Dutch in 1616, who brought some back to Holland where they were grown in greenhouses.

Initially, the authorities in Yemen actively encouraged coffee drinking as it was considered preferable to the extreme side effects of Kat, a shrub whose buds and leaves were chewed as a stimulant. The first coffeehouses were opened in Mecca and were called ‘kaveh kanes’. They quickly spread throughout the Arab world and became successful places where chess was played, gossip was exchanged, and singing, dancing and music were enjoyed. They were luxuriously decorated and each had an individual character. Nothing quite like the coffeehouse had existed before: a place where society and business could be conducted in comfortable surroundings and where anyone could go, for the price of coffee.

The Arabian coffeehouses soon became centres of political activity and were suppressed. Coffee and coffeehouses were subsequently banned several times over the next few decades, but they kept reappearing. Eventually a solution was found when coffeehouses and coffee were taxed.

How do you drink your Mesquite Roast Coffee?

admin — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:08:22 +0000

The Ethiopians drink dark coffee with maybe a pinch of salt. The Italians are the unrivaled World Masters of Espresso drink their espresso with sugar. The Swiss enjoy with equal parts of hot chocolate and the Mexicans add cinnamon. The Greeks enjoy coffee iced or very dark frothed with sugar and cream. The Belgians, like the Swiss drink theirs with chocolate. Moroccans drink their coffee with peppercorns or cardamon.

Coffee drinkers in the Middle East usually add cardamon and spices. Whipped cream is the favourite amongst Austrians and with Irish coffee drinkers. The Egyptians like the Ethiopians are extremely fond of pure and strong coffee. They serve unsweeteened coffee to mourners and sweetened coffee at weddings.

I drink only Mesquite Roasted, if i can help it, then usually with dessert. Normally it has a very slight amount of sugar(more like a seasoning rather than a sweetner), a tablespoon of cream to hot MRC. These things bring out the full spectrum flavor of mesquite roasted coffee on to my palate.

How do you drink your Mesquite Roast Coffee? (Leave your answer in the comments below)

Irish Style Mesquite Roasted Coffee

admin — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 05:10:14 +0000

MRC Irish Coffee ingredients list:

4 cups fresh Mesquite roasted Coffee.
1 cup whipping cream.
½ cup Irish whiskey.
¼ cup sugar.
2 Tbs sugar.
2 Tbs Irish whiskey.

Instructions:

In a saucepan:

add 4 cups of strong fresh coffee

½ cup of Irish whiskey

¼ cup sugar

Heat mixture but do not boil.

Whip 1 cup of whipping cream until it just barely leaves a trail with a spoon

Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and

2 Tbs whiskey

Beat until sugar is fully dissolved. Pour the coffee into coffee mugs and spoon the cream on top and enjoy!

When Buying Coffee - Make sure you buy only whole bean coffee packed in airtight bags.

admin — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 05:45:51 +0000

First off, never buy ground coffee if you can get any other. Why? The mere fact that after they have gone to the expense of the machinery and labor for grinding, the big coffee manufacturers can still sell it cheaper per pound than grocers can sell the whole grains, roasted or raw is a big red flag signaling every sensible person that the ground coffee is adulterated with artificial flavorings because it is substandard quality or has been laced other less expensive substances or very low quality beans.

Once ground, coffee flavor degrades rapidly. Volatile oils, which are what gives coffee its taste and are what is brought out by roasting, are called volatile for a reason. Coffee loses its flavor(aroma) so rapidly after it is ground that it is worth your while to buy it whole, either in small quantities freshly roasted, or raw, and roast it yourself. Even whole-bean coffee is best bought from a local dealer who roasts it in-house if the ideal level of freshness is to be obtained.

Green coffee, if properly stored, lasts almost forever, but once roasted the condition begins to go downhill. Mesquite Roasted Co. packs all of their coffee in foil flavor protecting bags that prevent the air from depleating the volatile flavor oils available in mesquite roasted coffee. Thus you can easily store WHOLE roasted cofffee beans in a sealed foil bag for up to three months with no noticable flavor loss.

Coffee Drinking Reduces Risk of Mouth and Throat Cancers by Half

admin — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 02:38:17 +0000

January 6th, 2009

Taken from Health News posted 2 months ago by The Healia Team

A study conducted in Japan finds that drinking coffee can reduce the risk of mouth and throat cancers by half. If true, this would be another entry in a sizable list of benefits that have recently been attributed to drinking the brewed beverage.

Researchers at Tohoku University in Japan analyzed data from a group of more than 38,000 people aged 40 to 64 who were enrolled in the Miyagi Cohort Study. They report in the American Journal of Epidemiology that people who drank one or more cups of coffee per day had half the risk of developing cancer of the mouth, pharynx, and esophagus compared to people who did not drink coffee.

The reduction in cancer risk occurred both in people who are at high risk for these cancers because they drink alcohol and/or smoke, and in people who did not have an elevated risk of these cancers. The best way to lower your risk of these cancers is to quitting smoking and drinking, but coffee consumption seems to be another way to significantly reduce risk.

The consumption of coffee in Japan is relatively high, as it is in the United States. Recent studies conducted in Europe and America have found benefits of coffee that include lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes, reducing Parkinson’s disease risk by as much as 80 percent, cutting colon cancer risk, lowering the risk of cavities, and even treating headaches.

However, people should be cautioned not to overdo it: most of these studies (including the present one) find benefits to drinking moderate amounts of coffee, and consuming too much of this caffeinated beverage can cause heart palpitations and increases in blood pressure. Coffee can also aggravate gastrointestinal conditions such as GERD and ulcers. Pregnant women, heart patients, and those at high risk for osteoporosis are usually counseled to avoid coffee.

To find out more about the health benefits of coffee, conduct a Healia Web search.