First, there are two types of coffee beans Coffee beans come from two basic versions of coffee plants: either the Robusta ( aka Coffea robusta, or Coffea canephora) or Arabica (aka Coffea arabica) version. At Toomer’s Coffee Roasters we do not roast or sell Robusta beans . I once asked our coffee broker how much Robusta they sell and she said less that 5% of their…
What’s The Difference? Browsing the coffee aisle, you might notice some bags are marked as espresso or drip blends. That get’s you thinking: “What’s the difference between coffee and espresso beans?” The truth is, there’s no difference between espresso and coffee beans. A coffee bean is a coffee bean. So, why are bags labeled differently? As it turns out, it s the…
Brazilian Coffee Beans Brazilian Coffee History Coffee was introduced in Brazil by Francisco de Mello Palheta in 1727 from Cayenne, French Guiana. Today, Brazil is the world s largest coffee producer and is becoming a significant player in the specialty coffee industry. Bourbon, Typica, Caturra, and Mundo Novo coffee varietals are grown in the states of Paraná, Espirito…
From mountaintop to countertop Our coffee master, Jay Isais, only selects the top 1% of Arabica beans from the world’s best growing regions in East Africa, Latin America, and the Pacific. We roast in small batches at our facility in Camarillo, CA, where we find the roast that best suits the beans from each origin and captures what makes each country’s coffee unique…
The past couple of months have been a real adventure for us. Sleepless nights, cold brew daydreaming, recipe perfecting, roasting, delivering, and dreaming big with you in mind. We have spent many hours perfecting our nitro can recipe over and over, hoping to revolutionize the way you take your coffee hour. With that said, we are very proud to give you the amazing…
The world’s most popular coffee bean, arabica, is under threat in the country where it was first found. According to new research, rising temperatures and decreasing rainfall could render as much as 60% of Ethiopia’s coffee-growing areas unsuitable for cultivation by the end of the century. As many as 15 million Ethiopian farmers, or about 15% of the country’s population…
Coffee Grinders: It’s practically unanimous: every great cup of coffee starts with freshly ground coffee. And when I say fresh, I mean grinding your beans just moments before brewing. Too much trouble, you say? Nonsense! Poppycock! Where shall we begin? We’ll start with the two basic types of grinders and the notable variations within. • Blade Grinders That high-speed…
This story comes from This Is What You Just Put In Your Mouth? by Patrick Di Justo. Penguin Random House This is what you just put in your mug: Cocaine-like brain chemicals and the juice of death. Caffeine This white powder is why the world produces more than sixteen billion pounds of coffee beans per year. It s actually an alkaloid plant toxin (like nicotine and…
The effects of coffee on health have been a focus of a number of large research studies. In the last two years, a report in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings indicated a higher mortality rate with coffee consumption, while another from the National Institutes of Health published in the New England Journal of Medicine reported the opposite findings. What could lead to such…
A new study has found that a major ingredient in those green coffee bean dietary supplements — often touted as miracle weight-loss products — doesn t prevent weight gain in obese laboratory mice fed a high-fat diet when given at higher doses . The first-of-its-kind study also linked the ingredient to an unhealthy build-up of fat in the liver. Vance Matthews, Kevin…
When I m feeling a bit randy for a taste of true Brazilian coffee, I brush up on my Portuguese and head for exotic, sexy Rio de Janeiro to Carnival, one of the greatest shows on earth. When they re not prancing around in sequins and feathers, these lively people are hard at work producing thirty-five percent of the world s coffee. They are the world s leading exporter…
At Home (the latest version, scroll down) The green coffee we sell for home roasting is a processed (de-hulled) dried seed. For all the processing entails (from wet-milling, depulping, drying, stripping the parchment, and even polishing sometimes) the embryo that makes this a live seed is often intact. It is located at one end of the seed lengthwise, near the crease…
Related Guide Selecting a bag of coffee from a sea of unknowns can be a challenging business. Though coffee is a fruit, squeezing and sniffing all the bags on your local café shelves just isn t quite as helpful as you d think (and will definitely trigger some puzzled glances from the barista). So what s the best way to narrow in on the best beans? Use the clues scattered…
On a recent trip to Costa Rica with Contiki Travel, I took a tour of a coffee plantation. As an avid coffee enthusiast (okay, bordering on addict), I was confronted with a very humbling question, Do you know where your coffee beans come from? Costa Ricans typically drink coffee at home without sugar or cream (forget pumpkin spice lattés). Instead, it s enjoyed…
