The Best Coffee Bean

There’s nothing like savoring a great cup of coffee brewed in your own kitchen from freshly ground beans. If you’re new to grinding your own coffee, you may not know beans about your choices. We can help.
Just like grapes for making wine, coffee beans are grown all over the world. They have distinctive flavors and aromas that are influenced by climate, soil, rainfall, farming methods and elevation.

Here’s a guide to the basic characteristics and flavors of coffee beans.

Roast

Coffees are classified as light, medium, medium-dark or dark roasts depending on how long the beans were cooked.

Light roast has the mildest flavor. Medium roast, also called American roast, has a slightly stronger taste. It’s the most common roast sold in grocery stores. Medium-dark roast is richer-tasting and has a bittersweet quality. Dark roast has the strongest and most bitter flavor. Espresso is the best example of dark roast.

Even without a label, you can differentiate between roasts by examining the beans. Beans for light roast are pale and dry. Beans for dark roast are black, shiny and somewhat oily. Medium and medium-dark roasts are somewhere in between.

Flavor

Aroma, acidity, body, balance and finish contribute to the overall flavor of a coffee.

On your tongue, you can taste only salty, sweet, sour or bitter flavors. Your sense of smell fills in the rest. The aroma of a coffee may strike you as earthy, fruity, floral or smoky.

Acidity, sometimes called brightness, perks up flavor. The less acidity a coffee has, the mellower its flavor. A coffee that’s high in acidity will have a pleasant sharpness to it.

Body refers to the weight and density of the coffee and how it feels in your mouth. Just like wines, coffees range from light-bodied to full-bodied. The difference can be compared to drinking cream or drinking skim milk. Cream feels full and rich in your mouth; skim milk feels light and watery.

Balance is about aroma, acidity and body interacting to give coffee a complex and pleasing flavor. One overwhelming factor, such as extreme acidity or a heavy floral aroma, can upset the balance. The resulting flavor will be unappealing.

Finish is a term for the taste that lingers in your mouth after swallowing. It might remind you of chocolate or a certain nut.
Variety

Coffee beans belong to one of two species: arabica or robusta.
Both varieties can be grown anywhere, but arabica beans are more difficult to grow and require higher elevations. They are typically more expensive than robusta beans, and they show up in pricey artisan coffees. Their flavor is very well-balanced.

Robusta beans have a somewhat harsh, nutty flavor and usually contain higher levels of caffeine. For the most part, they’re used in common commercial brands and are more affordable.

Major Growing Regions

• Columbia and Central America

Mainstream American brands are sourced from this region. The coffees are slightly acidic and fruity-tasting. Most are light roasts.

• Hawaii

Hawaiian coffees have a sweet aroma and are slightly floral and mellow in flavor.
• Brazil

This region grows mostly robusta beans for dark roasts. Brazilian coffees are full-bodied and taste faintly of chocolate.

• Ethiopia

Ethiopia is the birthplace of the coffee plant. Its coffees are thick and syrupy with berry overtones.

• Indonesia

These coffees are dark, rich, earthy and smoky. The cocoa aftertaste will stay with you for a while.

• Kenya

Marked by high acidity and the faint aroma of black currant, Kenyan coffees have sharp, unusual flavors.

Other Considerations

Storing coffee beans for up to a year in a dry location won’t interfere with their freshness and quality. However, bacteria can be a threat in humid climates.

If a coffee is said to be aged, it means that the beans were held for a time and closely monitored in the country of origin. The result is an aged, mellow flavor. Those coffees are very expensive.

Finally, do your homework. Buy only from reputable roasters. Beans are roasted all over the world, and farms and facilities should be regularly inspected and certified by local government agencies. Organic, sustainable and fair-trade certifications raise a coffee’s price, but they’re worth it.

Cool Beans

Here are some suggestions for waking up your taste buds tomorrow morning:

• Lavazza Super Crema Espresso

Italy’s favorite coffee is a perennial best-seller around the globe. Brazilian, Central American and sweet Indonesian beans are perfectly blended for velvety, long-lasting flavor.
• Rising Sun Roasted Brazil Peaberry

The coffee plant is fruit-bearing. Coffee beans develop from the seeds inside the fruit, which is called a cherry. Normally, two beans develop inside each cherry. When one of the seeds is not fertilized, however, it grows differently and becomes a sweet, nutty-tasting peaberry. Peaberry beans account for only 5 percent of the coffee in the world.
This coffee is so tasty that the makers suggest trying it without cream or sugar.

• Blue Horse 100 Percent Kona Coffee

This Hawaiian medium roast comes from a single family-owned farm high in the mountains. At $39.95 per pound, it’s the most elite coffee on our list.

• Dark Brazilian Santos

Bean counters on a budget will find much to like about this dark roast that sells for around $6 per pound. It’s packaged immediately after roasting for freshness.

• Death Wish

According to its packaging, Death Wish doubles up on the caffeine and is the world’s strongest coffee. It comes with a money-back guarantee. We assume that anyone who continues to live after drinking Death Wish is entitled to a full refund.

• Marley Coffee Organic One Love

Predictably, the coffee named after Bob Marley tastes mellow. The beans are ethically farmed, sustainable, kosher and as cool as Marley himself.

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This page about Coffee Bean was composed by V. Tobies and published by Alternative.me.
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