Coffee Beans
Coffee can be supplied as beans or ground, ( coarse, medium or fine ). Please specify as required. If you require an alternative grind for a specific machine, please enter the machine type and the grind required in the order notes on the last screen before sending your order.
Regardless of coffees origins, all beans go through a similar process in preparation for brewing. Coffee trees reach maturity between three and four years when their clusters of fruit turn deep red. Farmers pluck the ripe cherries by hand and transport the full baskets by mule or truck to the processing plant. Since the coffee bean is the seed inside the sweet cherries, the fruit is forced through a manual machine to extract the seeds. While the pulp is salvaged for use as fertilizer, the seeds or coffee beans are soaked in cool water to stimulate a fermentation process. Next the beans are spread over mats to dry in the open sun. Rotten or disfigured beans are removed so only the highest quality coffee beans remain. Next the thick, parchment-like hull is removed to reveal a green coffee bean.
For many years, consumers purchased green coffee beans and roasted them at home. Today nearly all beans are roasted. Roasting the beans enhances the coffees flavor and releases pungent oils. Although there exist no strict conventions for classifying different types of roasts, there are some well-known roasts that have maintained a certain consistency between manufacturers. American roast produces a medium bodied coffee. This roast is used almost exclusively in average American store brands and in restaurants across the country. Brazilian roast is a slightly darker roast than the American roast. Despite its name, the roast has no connection to Brazil. An increasingly popular roast is the French roast. French roasted beans are the color of dark chocolate. The roast produces a deep, hearty brew and a touch of the bean oil should be visible on the coffees surface. The darkest roast is Espresso. Beans are roasted until they are nearly burnt which gives the roast its distinct, sharp flavor.
All coffee is best bought as whole roasted beans. The minute the beans have been ground their flavor diminishes. Whole beans can be frozen for several months, but ground beans will last in an airtight container no longer than a few weeks. Coffee is brewed by two methods: decoction or infusion. Decoction refers to boiling the beans until the flavor is released. This method was popular before coffee machines but is now only reserved for traditional Turkish coffees. The most popular means of brewing coffee is by infusion. Infusion includes steeping coffee grounds in hot water or filtering the grounds with hot water through paper or cloth.
| Picnic Hampers | Tea | Coffees Machines | Coffee Beans |
