What is Arabica and Robusta?
All coffee beans come from plants in the genus Coffea. There are two strains of coffee plants. Arabica, which grows at higher altitudes, produces the finest coffee. It can be enjoyed unblended because of its quality. Robusta, on the other hand, can grow at lower altitudes, and is commonly used as a filler to make the Arabica go further in commercial grade coffee. Specialty Gourmet coffee is made up of 100% Arabica. Arabica is genetically distinct: it has four sets of chromosomes, whereas robusta, and liberica each
have two.
What is Specialty Gourmet Coffee?
Specialty gourmet coffee comes from exceptional coffee beans grown only in ideal coffee-producing climates. These coffee beans have unique characteristics because of the soil they grow in which produce very distinctive flavors. Gourmet coffee has a more balanced flavor and richer taste than standard, mass-produced coffee. Gourmet coffee beans go through a rigorous process of certification that is stricter to help keep the quality high. In 1982, the Specialty Coffee Association of America was created by coffee professionals to help set quality standards for the specialty coffee trade. Since the 1990’s, the growing popularity of coffee houses and specialty gourmet coffee retailers have made gourmet coffee one of the fastest growing food services markets in the world. In the United States alone, it nets approximately $8.5 billion
each year.
What about the beans?
Fresh beans are critical, and perhaps the most commonly overlooked factor. Try to find a local roaster, or a coffee retailer where they can verify the roasting date, which should be no more than a week before sale. Look to see that the retailer is relatively busy and that their stock turns over frequently. Be suspicious if they store the coffee in containers that are exposed to the air; such beans will stale more rapidly than those stored in airtight containers.
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Some “gourmet” shops store their roasted beans in large, open containers holding twenty pounds each or more. Unless they’re selling a truly amazing amount of coffee, much of it is likely stale.
How much ground coffee should I use?
A standard “cup” of coffee uses six ounces (177 ml) of water. The SCAA’s standard measure of ground coffee for this quantity of water is 10 grams (+/- 1 gram) or slightly over a third of an ounce (or, simply, two tablespoons). Since the ground coffee will absorb water, you will be left with approximately five and one-third ounces of coffee.
Unless stated otherwise, the preceding is the ratio used in the FAQ’s descriptions. Most coffee scoops and water chambers will be calibrated to this standard, but that is not necessarily so; the country of manufacture may result in different calibrations, and some measures may simply be wrong. Accurate scales can help verify how much a particular scoop holds.
Recommendations to grind more finely and thereby use less coffee are simply wrong. Grind fineness is related to steeping time; using less but finer coffee will make the resultant product bitter; using less coffee under these circumstances will make a weak, bitter cup.
What about Hawaiian
Kona Coffee?
Hawaii is the only state in the United States that grows coffee, although the US territory of Puerto Rico also produces a fine coffee.. Compared to Jamaican Blue Mountain, Kona’s lower per-pound price yields a coffee whose quality is arguably more commensurate with its price.
Located on the western coast of the island of Hawaii, Kona stretches twenty miles north-south and two miles east-west, and is divided into the North and South Kona Districts. Under federal and state regulations as well as federal trademark, only coffee grown here may be called Kona. The Kona region constitutes somewhat less than half of the 7,600 acres devoted to coffee
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on the Hawaiian Islands; most of the remainder, approximately 4,100 acres, is on Kauai. Kona is the oldest continually planted region for Hawaiian Island coffees; most of the other Hawaiian coffees were planted during the 1980s on available fallow sugar lands after the demise of the Hawaiian
sugar plantations.
Kona coffee, Var. typica, was first planted in 1829 and has continued to thrive; many of the trees are over 100 years old. Most of the 680 or so farms are less than four acres, although there are also a few huge estates. Due to the island’s isolation and the state’s strict import restrictions on agricultural products, minimal pest control is required and, as a result, no pesticides are used, nor may they legally be used. With a rainy growing season and a cool, dry harvesting season, the region is particularly well suited to
coffee production.
What about Jamaican Blue Mountain?
Often used as a synonym for coffee excellence, Jamaican Blue Mountain refers to a specific region on the island of Jamaica: the Blue Mountains, of which Blue Mountain Peak is the highest point on Jamaica at 7,402 feet. Only coffee grown on certain estates may be called “Blue Mountain”: Wallenford, Mavis Bank, Silver Hill, and Moy Hall registered the rights to call their product Blue Mountain, and Old Tavern Estate was in recent years also awarded the right to use the name. The roasting and exporting of Blue Mountain coffee is strictly controlled by the Jamaican government and the Coffee Industry Board. Jamaican Blue Mountain is quite expensive which has much to due with the rarity of product as there is limited production land and most of the yearly crops are sold for Japanese consumption.
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