Coffee Beans

I love a great cup of coffee.  A while ago my children gifted me a personal coffee roaster.  Fresh Roast plus 8.  It takes about six minutes to roast your own green coffee beans.  I have Peruvian Decaf, Ethiopian, and Colombian-all organic and fair trade.  It's really fun to roast the beans and then French press them into a great cup of coffee.

Buying beans:  Central American beans are light and clean, with tangy citrus flavors. 

South American beans, especially those from Colombia, produce the most traditional coffees, with fuller body and mellower; fruity flavor.

 African coffees are prized for their red wine-like complexity and boldness.

 Pacific Island/Indonesian beans are often rich, funky and not too tart.

Many people use spice grinders for coffee, but they produce an uneven result.  It's better to invest in a burr grinder, which crushes the beans between two surfaces and makes it possible to select a precise grind size, from coarse to fine. 

Unroasted-Coffee beans, which are actually seeds of a Cherry-like fruit, start out pale gray-green color.

Under-Roasted-Coffees that haven't been roasted long enough-called face melters by pros-taste grassy and are acidic.

Light Roast-Popular at many top coffee shops, these beans are bright, fruity and taste great black, but the acidity can clash with milk and sugar.

Dark Roast-Dark, bold roasts are great with milk and sugar, but can taste bitter and harsh when served black.

Over-Roasted-Too-dark beans are oily on their surface, lack all fruitiness and smell unpleasantly of burnt rubber or even petroleum.

Buying Beans-  Food and Wine  2013.