Different Kinds of Costa Rican Coffee

October 15, 2009 by admin  
Filed under Coffee Types

How would you know that your cup of coffee is perfect? Is there such a thing as perfect coffee? That is the critique labeled on Costa Rican coffees. They categorized their type of coffee as the classic cup, the traditional balanced coffee that has no defects or flaws. But there’s more to a Costa Rican coffee, for they are prized for their exceptionality- bright citrus or berry-like flavors in the acidity and in the best cups they fade into chocolate or spice flavors in the aftertaste.

Costa Rica sets the standards for fine wet-processed coffee for the rest of Central and South America. The most famous Costa Rican coffees by region are Tarrazú, Tres Rios, Herediá, and Alajuela. Most Costa Rican coffees come from a hybrid called caturra, a mutation of Bourbon discovered in Brazil, and is characterized as bright and full bodied. Other popular varieties are Mondo Novo and Catuai. The best coffees that are grown above 3, 900 feet are designated or classified as strictly hard bean, while the good hard bean are those grown from 3, 300 to 3, 900 feet.

The Tres Rios region near the pacific coast produces coffees that are mild sweet and bright. The Tarrazú region, which is situated in the interior mountains of Costa Rica, produces a fairly heavy coffee with more aromatic complexity. The La Minita estate is the most much loved coffee in all Costa Rica. What about the kinds of coffees that Costa Rica is so proud of?

The different kinds of coffee in Costa Rica are characterized by their type and from what zone they are harvested from. Let’s take a look at the different kinds of Costa Rican Coffee:

Cafe La Carpentira- This coffee is strictly classified as hard beans grown in La Carpentira Hill, Tres Rios, where perfect for producing the best quality coffee possible.

Cafe Atarazu- This bean comes from the volcanic mountains of Dota off the Great Mountain Range named Talamanca with rocky ladders and fertile valleys. It is classified as strictly hard beans from Tarrazú region.

Cafe El Gran Vito- This coffee has a string taste, and at the same times it is light and grateful like the mountains and forests that surround the city. It is classified as medium hard bean for Coto Brus region.

Cafe Zurqui- This coffee is cropped in one of the oldest plantation areas due to kindness of the soil and the excellent bean quality that it produces. On the slopes of Zurqui Hills is where this unique coffee with high acidity, very good body and aroma in produced. It is strictly hard bean from Herediá.

Cafe Ujarraci- This coffee grew on a beautiful landscape, fertile valley, and a lake with crystal clear waters near the zone of Cachí in the reventazón River Basin. This type of Costa Rican coffee is classified as High grown Atlantic from Cachí zone.

Cafe Buena Vista- This coffee has good aroma and body with a delightful acidity form San Isidro Del General and is a medium hard bean type.

Braun Coffee Maker

October 9, 2009 by admin  
Filed under Coffee Making

What could be more perfect than a cup of coffee in the morning? Coffee lovers would want to wake up and spend the morning with their best buddy- the coffee maker. You don’t have to go to cafes or restaurants just to have a quick shot of caffeine. You can have it right in your kitchen courtesy of your coffee maker. Coffee makers come in different brands, designs, features, and capacity. The many brands of coffee makers available in the market include Braun Coffee Maker and it is one of the distinguished.

Braun coffee makers also have different designs and features. For instance, Braun Impression Design Collection, this stylish Braun coffee maker KF 600, is designed for ultimate coffee enjoyment- delivering up to 10 cups of hot, fully extracted and aromatic coffee. It has exclusive Brita water filter which further enhance the flavor by reducing chlorine or iron taste, but also prevents calcification. For more satisfaction, the coffee flows directly into the stainless steel thermal carafe keeping your coffee hot for hours due to its double wall vacuum insulation. As an added feature, this Braun coffee maker automatically shuts off after the brewing is finished for your convenience and safety. This feature would best serve to those who tend to forget to shut the down the machine, maybe because they can’t wait to have a sip with their coffee. What do you think?

Cooking.com features 3 Braun coffee makers that come in black and white colors with distinct features for you to choose from whatever suits your taste. All of the modern designs of Braun coffee makers will definitely fit with today’s contemporary stainless kitchen. The KF 600 is also featured on this website along with four more, which are: AromaDeluxe Coffee Maker in black and white color and AromaDeluxe Timecontrol Coffee Maker also in black and white.

The Braun AromaDeluxe Coffee Maker is the perfect combination of design and ease of function. Its open, soft touch, non-slip handle allows unmatched easy poring. The filter release function is designed to facilitate the filling of ground coffee, a useful feature in everyday life. The fast brewing system allows brewing hot, fully extracted and aromatic coffee. It also comes with Brita water filter to help improve the flavor by reducing chlorine and other impurities to perfect the coffee taste.

AromaDeluxe Timecontrol Coffee Maker has a classy and stylish design offering innovative features and unique appointments like metallic accents. The 10-cup carafe features a matchless, cushioned handles that’s extra wide and slip-free. It has a smooth-touch buttons that let you preset the 24-hour digital clock and timer so your coffee is ready by the time you wake up. Now, isn’t that impressive? I would love to have a coffee maker like that for myself. In addition to the already amazing features, this model of Braun coffee maker has an auto shut off anywhere from 10 minutes to four hours after brewing. Additional features also include Brita water filter dial alerts, which tells you when to change it; easy-to-use automatic filter basket release button, pause and serve feature, reusable gold screen filter, side view water level indicator, and convenient cord storage area.
From the choices you have above, pick the one that gives you the convenience to fully enjoy every cup of coffee you need. Any Braun coffee maker you’ll choose surely gives you the ultimate coffeehouse experience.

Italian Coffee

October 3, 2009 by admin  
Filed under Coffee Types

The Italians have all sorts of names for it – espresso, caffe normale, cappuccino, caffe corretto, granite di caffe con panna, among others. How many types of pastas are there in Italy? That’s how many different names one small tazza of Italian coffee has.

Certainly, Italian coffee is more than just a beverage for the passionate Italian. A cup of Italian coffee is a form of art and for every occasion, for every mood, you are guaranteed to get one that fits perfectly.

In Search of the Perfect Tazza

The possibilities of Italian coffee are enough to bewilder anyone who has the taste for coffee but not the tongue for its numerously confusing names. So what kind of Italian coffee should you order in a caffe? Here is a list of some of the most popular caffeine-laden drinks that you will typically find in an Italian caffe:

* Caffe – generally a small cup of very strong coffee; often referred to as espresso but be sure to pronounce it with an ‘s’ instead of expresso.
* Caffe Americano – this is American-style coffee but stronger
* Caffe corretto – coffee “corrected” with a shot of grappa, cognac, or other spirits
* Caffe fredo – iced coffee drink
* Caffe hag – decaffeinated coffee
* Caffe latte – coffee mixed with hot milk; usually served in a glass for breakfast
* Caffe macchiato – espresso “stained” with a drop of steamed milk; really a small version of cappuccino
* Cappuccino – espresso infused with steamed milk and drunk in the mornings; never ever order this after lunch or dinner
* Granitadi di caffe con panne – iced coffee with whipped cream

Italians don’t drink coffee with any meal. In that regard, they are much like the French. The only exception is during breakfast when cappuccino is served with brioche and other breakfast treats. Most of the time, Italian coffee is only ordered after a meal and only the unwitting tourist orders cappuccino in a restaurant after lunch or dinner.

When you do order for Italian coffee after a meal, don’t ask for an espresso. Ask for un caffe, per favore.

How Italian Coffee is Made

There as many espresso machines in Italy as there are Italian coffee. From fully automatic espresso machines to lever piston espresso machines to even the classic aluminum espresso coffee maker, the choices are widely varied.

And just when you think you’ve got everything down, there are also the debates regarding the specific bean type to use. Italian coffee is often a heated battle between blade and burr grinders and factors like tamp pressure, water temperature, and humidity.

Lovers of Italian coffee even have their favorite caffeine haunts in the form of local torrefazione or coffee houses and barista who are valued for their ability to deliver a perfect caffe espresso.