Key Facts about Coffee Beans
Coffee is a very old beverage that people have been drinking for thousands of years. Starting with the Boston Tea Party in the United States, coffee has now become one of the most popular beverages on the planet, and green coffee beans are as nearly as valuable a commodity as oil. From coffee grounds, instant coffee, espresso, green coffee beans to pods of coffee for your coffee maker, the vast array of options for coffee is dizzying.
Of all the different kinds of coffee beans, all of them can be categorized into two different plants. Arabica coffee beans were originally grown on the Arabian Peninsula in the area now known as Saudi Arabia, hence their name. Robusta coffee beans are hardier plants and contain considerably more caffeine.
The berry of a coffee plant is not valued as a fruit. Only the seed inside the fruit that becomes the bean has importance. Therefore, the coffee plant fruit is thrown away and the seeds are dried and roasted to become what we know as coffee beans. The coffee beans are then ground and brewed to concoct a tasty beverage. Incredibly, there are hundreds of millions of cups of coffee drunk all across the world every day.
Coffee beans come in two different varieties which is determined by their color, red and green. Red coffee beans smell more pleasant and have a less acidic taste. This kind of bean is used to make a lighter cup of coffee.
Coffee beans are picked by from the coffee tree by hand. The raw coffee berries are then sorted into separate batches for the red and green coffee beans. The beans are then soaked and scoured to remove the berry from the bean. The beans are washed thoroughly and the dried.
During the roasting process coffee beans will double in size and pop like popcorn while roasting at temperatures around 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Roasting methods differ around the world and produce distinct and appealing flavors.
Roasted coffee beans are then ground in a number of different ways. Common household grinders use blades to chop the beans and beans can even be ground with a mortar and pestle.
Coffee is brewed in several different ways that produce distinctly different beverages. These methods of brewing are drip, steam, boiling water, or steeping. Drip brewing techniques are what typical at home coffee makers use where hot water is dripped into the coffee grounds and then passes through a filter. Steam brewing uses pressure to force the water through finely ground coffee grounds to produce espresso. The boiling method is where boiling water is poured into the coffee grounds and then the coffee is filter. Coffee presses use this technique. The final method of brewing coffee is to steep it in hot water just as if you were making tea.
Buying wholesale green coffee beans online is a great way to purchase your coffee and these facts should assist you in your next purchase.