By: Alison Cole
To relax and unwind after a hard day’s work, all one has to do is take a sip of her favorite gourmet coffee and feel the tension leave her tired body.
With countless gourmet coffees in the market, one needs not only a watchful eye but a discerning taste to spot the real gourmet from the fake. But where do gourmet coffees originate?
The Arabica coffee beans are the main source of gourmet coffees. The Robusta beans on the other hand, are known for their disease-resistance properties and are more popularly used in commercial blends. Gourmet coffees from Arabica coffee beans boast of a finer aroma, richer flavor, and more body than those made from Robusta beans. For commercial purposes, coffee merchants mix their Arabica gourmet coffees with Robusta beans to save on production costs.
Companies often use deception to confuse the coffee-drinking public as to the superior quality of their gourmet coffees. A typical abuse word is “blend,” which manufacturers commonly use to describe the name of a particular brand or those from the same origin. Problems arise when, for instance, the Kona coffee blend contains only a small amount of Kona coffee beans and the rest is from other sources such as Robusta beans, thereby minimizing the coffee experience.
Considered as the best gourmet coffees are those from Central America, Jamaica, Hawaii, Columbia, Africa, and Sumatra. Those that originated from a single source are often blended with other sources to produce a distinctive taste. The volcanic regions create the most wonderful gourmet coffees, owing to their rich volcanic soil, which adds a deep and flavorful taste to the coffee. These areas are home to the best-tasting coffee ever produced.
Supermarkets are not a good place to look for excellent gourmet coffee since they normally carry generic brands and origins that are actually blends, matched with a not so affordable price. Since their market is the masses, groceries often do not carry high-quality fresh roasts or single-origin gourmet coffees. Gourmet coffee bean hoppers more often than not lose their freshness since they have been exposed to elements for weeks, thereby diluting flavor.
