Tips For Picking The Perfect Coffee Roast

There aren't many of us who know the difference between a Spanish Roast blend and a Vienna. Most just grab the French standards and get out of there, but you may be missing out on some great coffees.

The basic idea behind roasting is that a roast should best compliment the bean's origins, and it's the roasting process that really brings out a coffee bean. Some of the most common roasts include; French, Italian, Vienna or City, American and European.

French roast makes a black and oily coffee. The beans are roasted longer, giving them their darkness. The flavor has a slight burnt taste and because the long roast releases the oil in the beans, you'll always notice that shiny film floating on top.

Italian roast is for espresso or cappuccino. It's a very dark roast, almost burned, and the beans are shiny and brittle. You don't want to use this type for a regular American-style coffee, it would be overwhelming.

Vienna, also known as City Roast, is a light roast favored because it allows the bean's natural flavor to come out. If you're dealing with a fruitier or nuttier bean, sometimes the Vienna is a nice way to retain that touch. The Full City Roast is similar, but with a longer roasting process to extract a more fuller, deeper flavor. It also gives the coffee a bit of a caramel taste, making it a popular choice at coffee houses.

Meanwhile, the American roast is very light and quite common in commercial, grocery store blends. It's best suited to coffee drinkers who like a gentler flavor and tend to avoid the overly bitter or acidic tasting blends. The result is a medium-brown coffee.

Last but not least is the European roast. This is sometimes called the Espresso Roast, After-Dinner Roast, or the Continental Roast. The coffee is brought to a darker level than the traditional American flavor, but settles on a dark brown. It has a rich, bitter-sweet tendency and is just as popular as the American style.

To find a roast that's right for you, think about bitterness and richness. Often, the darker the roast - the fuller the flavor, but remember that fullness comes with a burnt aftertaste, one that some drinkers adore and some despise. The best advice for picking a roast is try them until you find a style that jumps out at your palette.

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Delicious Coffee Ideas

Ok so how many of you love a cup of coffee? I know I do! Below you can see 6 of the best recipes to enjoy your coffee a different way. We hope you enjoy it.

Irish Coffee
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 jigger of Bushmills Irish Whiskey
2/3 cup of coffee or flavoured Irish Creme coffee

1/4 cup of heavy cream, lightly whipped
Preheat the glass with hot water. Dump the water out and add the hot coffee with the teaspoon of sugar and stir. Add the jigger of whiskey, and top with the whipping cream. Dark coffee's are best for this recipe.

Spiced French Coffee
1 teaspoon fresh, grated orange peel
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
5 whole cloves
Regular amount of your usual coffee or try Swiss Chocolate Orange flavored coffee

Add the above ingredients together and brew as normal. Place a slice of orange at the bottom or your cup. Pour in coffee and add sugar and cream to taste. Top with whipping cream and sprinkle with a dash of nutmeg and cinnamon if so desired.
Mint Chocolate Coffee

1 ounce of chocolate mint liqueur
Dash of shaved chocolate
Whipping cream (optional)
Regular coffee or try Dutch Chocolate Decaf

flavoured coffee
Brew your regular coffee, add the 1 ounce of liqueur into your cup. Add some whipping cream if desired and sprinkle with shaved chocolate.
Coffee Flavoured Milkshakes

1 pint of coffee ice cream
2 teaspoons finely ground coffee
1/2 cup light rum (optional)
4 to 6 scoops vanilla ice cream
Instant coffee powder

Spoon coffee ice cream into blender. Add rum and finely ground coffee. Blend on high until creamy smooth. Pour into tall glasses, adding a scoop of the vanilla ice cream to each glass. Sprinkle lightly with instant coffee powder.
Frosty Mocha Coffees

1 cup of freshly brewed coffee
1 pint of vanilla ice cream, softenend
6 tablespoons of chocolate syrup
1 cup prepared cold coffee

Blend hot coffee and chocolate syrup in blender. Blend until smooth. Cool the mixture to room temperature. Pour the mixture into a medium bowl. Add the softened ice cream and cold coffee. With a rotary beater, beat until smooth. Spoon into tall glasses and serve immediately.
Egg Nogg Coffee

1 cup of coffee or try Pumpkin Spice flavoured coffee

1 egg yoke
1/2 cup of cream
Dash of nutmeg
Beat the suger and egg yoke together. Place cream in a saucepan and heat over low setting, do not burn. Wisk the egg mixture into the warmed cream, heat until hot. Add coffee to mugs and top with the cream mixture. Garnish the coffee with nutmeg.

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The Health Benefits Of Coffee

Coffee is made of a number of compounds that are well known for having a positive effect on humans. In addition, it contains certain chemicals that are pleasing to the body and that make the consumer "feel good."

One of the benefits of coffee is its ability to reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. According to one study, those that drank two cups of coffee per day as compared to those that drank less than one cup per day were significantly less likely to develop the disease. A similar study comparing coffee drinkers to non drinkers found that those that drank 3 cups of coffee per day were less likely to develop Parkinson's Disease.

Studies have also shown that drinking caffeinated coffee has reduce the risk of developing gallstones as well as gallbladder disease in women and in men. Those who drank decaffeinated coffee, however, did not experience the same risk reduction.

Coffee has also been long well known for its ability to help increase the short term memory of those that drink it as well as to increase IQ scores. Those that drink coffee were also found to have a quicker reaction time, better visuospatial reasoning, and improved incident verbal memory. In fact, the amount of coffee the person drank had a direct correlation with how well he or she performed on tests. Studies also found that women over the age of 80 that has regularly consumed coffee during their lifetime performed significantly better on cognitive tests.

Coffee has also been found to have antidiabetic qualities and may even help reduce the risk of developing diabetes mellitus by as much as half. It was also found to provide analgesic enhancement, which means it can make painkillers work more effectively. This is particularly true of those taken for headaches and painkillers. It is because of this research data that some aspirin manufacturers add caffeine to their medication.

Coffee is also considered to be a diuretic and also helps to prevent constipation. It is possible, however, that coffee can cause the bowel movements to become excessively loose. Similarly, it contains a number of anticancer compounds and, therefore, behaves as an antioxidant. In fact, the antioxidant compounds found in coffee and not available in significant amounts in other foods. It is important to note, however, that the most important compound is not found in raw coffee beans. Rather, it is formed during the roasting process. As such, it is found in caffeinated, decaffeinated, and even instant coffees.

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Where Your Coffee Comes From

The process that coffee goes through between the plant and your cup is a long and convoluted one indeed. Most people drink coffee for their whole lives without ever thinking about what goes on before it reaches stores.

The countries with the highest output of coffee include Brazil, Colombia, and Vietnam. However, almost every country makes at least some coffee. It can grow all over the place, at a variety of altitudes. It is important that it gets plenty of water, and that the growers know what the coffee needs to flourish. Other than that, there are not many restrictions. Coffee plants, or "Coffea Robusta", take several years to fully mature. But once the plants are matured, they produce fruit for almost the entire year, barring any harsh weather.

Most people would not even recognize a coffee plant. The fruits are red and soft, much like cherries or tomatoes. The growers leave these fruits on the plant for several months, as they ripen. Once they are perfect for harvest, they are handpicked. This is necessary, since at any given time there could be fruits in all stages of ripeness. Only human harvesters have the sense to distinguish between the ones that are ready and the ones that need a few more months.

So now they have a bunch of red fruits, but how do they get the coffee beans out? There are several different methods. The first is to dry them out by leaving them in the sun for a few days. Then, the fruits are put through a processing machine that crushes the bean out of the fruit. The second way is to pulp the fruits in a machine, then keep them in large water tanks that dissolve the last of the pulp off of the beans. This method is frequently preferable, since it is said that soaking in the water causes the beans to improve their potency and quality.

With the raw beans taken out one way or another, the processors proceed to sort the beans. Defective beans with poor color, size, or odd shapes are removed from the main batch, and may go to other uses. The good beans are tested for quality and taste, and if they are up to standards, they are shipped out. Usually they are shipped unroasted, then roasted in factories at their country of destination. The roasting is the most important part, and gives the coffee the unique flavor that you enjoy when you buy it from the store.

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The Caffeinated History of Coffee

Coffee has a long and interesting history. In fact, use of this bean can be traced back to the 9th century during which time it was used in the highlands of Ethiopia. Here, shepherds noticed how the caffeine affected their goats when they ate naturally occurring coffee beans and seemed to dance afterward because of the increased amount of energy they enjoyed.

Beyond Ethiopia, coffee then appeared in Egypt and then in Yemen. By the time the 15th century had rolled around, its use had spread to Turkey, Persia, and northern Africa. It then appeared in Italy as the result of trade between Italy and North Africa and Egypt.

The wealthy citizens of Venice would purchase the coffee, as it was quite expensive. Before long, it was being used all over Europe. It became particularly popular in 1600 after the Pope Clement VIII determined it to be an acceptable Christian beverage.

In 1645, the first European coffee house was introduced in Italy. Then, the Dutch began to import the bean on a massive scale and even smuggled seedlings into the continent in 1690 despite the prohibition set in place by the Arabs that prohibited the exportation of the plant or of its unroasted seeds.

After smuggling the seedlings, the Dutch began to grow crops in Ceylon an in Java. It then became a popular drink in England and was well received by France in 1657. Austria and Poland soon followed.

When coffee finally made it to the American colonies, it did not experience the same amount of success that it had in Europe. Rather, the colonists found it to be a poor replacement for tea. After the Revolutionary War, however, the demand for the drink increased. This was partially because the British had cut of access to tea on a temporary basis. As a result, the demand was so high that the dealers ultimately had to hoard the supplies the had and they raised their prices significantly.

After the American colonists were essentially forced to replace tea with coffee, their taste for the beverage grew stronger. As such, it remained in high demand during the American Civil War and has remained a staple in many American diets ever since.

Today, coffee is found in most US households as well as in households throughout Europe. Several major chains focusing entirely on serving coffee have been established and quaint coffee houses can be found throughout the country.

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