The news of this amazing fruit spread throughout the region. Monks started drying the berries to transport to distant monasteries. They reconstituted the berries by soaking them in water. They would eat the fruit and drink the liquid to provide stimulation for a more awakened prayer time. The berries were transported from Ethiopia to the Arabian peninsula and were first cultivated in Yemen.

Then coffee travelled to Turkey where beans were roasted for the first time over fires. The beans were crushed and boiled in water, creating a crude version of the coffee of today. Coffee arrived on the European continent through Venetian trade merchants. The catholics were totally against drinking coffee. In fact they thought the Pope should ban coffee, calling it the "Drink of the Devil'.

However the pope had already become an avid coffee drinker. He liked it so much that he blessed it. Coffee houses spread quickly. Many great minds gathered in them for thought and creativity. In the 1700's coffee made its way to the America's by means of a French infantry captain.

He travelled with a small plant. It was then transplanted to the Carribean Island of Martinique. There grew 19 million trees within 50 years. Coffee was declared the national drink of the colonized U.S. by Congress.

Today coffee is a giant global industry employing more than 20 million people. This commodity ranks second only to Petroleum in its dollars traded worldwide. There are 4 billion cups consumed every year. Coffee is the worlds most popular beverage. In Brazil, over 5 million people are employed in cultivating and harvesting over 3 billion coffee plants.

Sales of premium speciality coffees have skyrocketed. Sales have reached the multi-billion dollar level and increase annually. Well that is the history of coffee. It all started with a farmer wanting more energy. Even today most of the world wakes up to a cup of coffee to start thier day.

I am one of those people who can't live without coffee, especially in the morning. Due to it's popularity, I am sure I am not the only one..

Even the rarest and most expensive coffee sold, the exotic Kopi Luwak, at $175 per pound, is still less than $1.75 per cup when brewed at home!With summer approaching, the popularity of cold premium coffee drinks soars at local coffee bars. A medium size frozen gourmet coffee drink has about 400 calories and as much fat as one-third recommended daily fat intake! That is equivalent to a slice of pizza, two cream donuts or a quarter pounder with cheese! A venti Java Chip Frappuccino from Starbucks has chocolate chips under whipped cream, includes chocolate syrup, and totals 650 calories, 25 grams of fat, 17 grams of saturated fat and 99 grams of carbohydrates. This, according to calculator on the Starbucks.com web site.So consider making low calorie, low fat frozen and other gourmet coffee drinks at home. As with other home brewed gourmet coffee drinks, you can choose your favorite coffee beans and roast to complement your favorite flavors.About Tastes of The WorldTastes of The World coffee company focuses on specialty gourmet coffees which are not readily available in the United States. Rare Gourmet Coffee is their business so they make shopping with them risk free.

If for any reason you are not happy, they will make it right. http://www.tastesoftheworld.net/Coffee-fat-calorie-press.htm E-mail e-mail protected from spam botsCall 1-877-895-2662.

You can buy whole beans or ground coffee, but if you're not sure if your friend has a coffee grinder, either pick one up at the same time (2 of the 3 merchants we recommend sell them) or go with ground coffee beans. Most people like the amount of caffeine in espresso (myself included) and not just the taste. But for those of us who can't have too much caffeine for health reasons, you can also get decaffeinated espresso.You can also purchase espresso pods. Before doing so though, carefully check if your machine will accept espresso pods. What is a pod you ask? It looks almost identical to a tea bag, perhaps slightly larger and acts in the same way as a teabag.

It's mess-free, unlike using a filter and loose coffee and ensures the same great taste for every cup. It's much easier to use, but also slightly more expensive. Whatever you choose, have fun with it. There are so many brands to choose from, you might want to try them all to find the perfect coffee for you. Happy shopping!.

So, because roasting is everywhere, how do you choose the coffee roaster for you? Your first question is whether you're looking for wholesale coffee roasters to supply your business, or retail roasters to keep you happily supplied with beans at home. But for our purposes, let's say you're looking for a retail roaster to feed your coffee habit because you are a die hard coffee lover. One approach is to decide exactly which coffee beans you prefer. Once you have found the coffee beans that you like you can then search for that specific bean. It might take you some time to research this and you might want to join a coffee club so that you can do some extensive taste testing.

They will send you a number of coffee varieties each month for a small fee and this gives you the opportunity to try out blends and pure coffees to see what you prefer. But once you know what coffee you are after, the online suppliers can tell you which of the coffee roasters that carry the beans you are looking for, who has the freshest beans and who has most skill in roasting them to perfection. You might also want to look for coffee bean suppliers that are geographically close to you. By doing so you can be confident that the beans can be delivered faster and will therefore be fresher when they reach your door. But before you make your final decisions, consider organic coffee as an option.

Organic coffee is another choice you might want to make. This coffee is certified to have been grown and processed without chemical intervention and is becoming more and more popular with wholesale outlets. It generally has a mild nutty flavor. It is also becoming popular with celebrities who are eager to adopt the coffee cause. Organic coffee, understandably sells very well in Hollywood.

Now all that is left to do is try several brands of coffee to find out which one you like the best. Enjoy your next coffee!.

Also coffee carafes come in many different shapes and sizes to.Coffee pots and carafes can be found for casual or formal dining. The selection ranges from the simple to very elegant. Fine china pots and carafes can be found to make any dinner party a success.Coffee pots and carafes can be found either in a set or sold individually. One can find coffee pots made from fine china to serve with and carafes that will keep coffee hot and ready to drink for a long time. Online buying of coffee pots and carafes is very easy.

Replacement carafes for coffee pots can be found at many online stores for great prices.Proper care for coffee pots and carafes include the following: Wash the pot and carafe thoroughly at least once a week. Bitter oils can stick to both. With drip coffee makers periodic cleansing with a solution of water and vinegar is also good. On coffee pots remove hard water deposits by perking with 1-2 tablespoons cream of tartar dissolved in water; rinse thoroughly. And of course a daily cleaning and rinsing helps alot to..

Gourmet coffee beans are mostly Arabica because of their superior flavor and smoothness. Many blends, however, include Robusta coffee beans to give an edge to the coffee.After the coffee is picked, it must be roasted. Roasting makes the green coffee beans expand in size and changes their color to a light to dark brown. Lighter roasts reveal more of the flavor of gourmet coffee beans, while darker roasts take on the flavor of the roasting process itself. After roasting the coffee should be kept in vacuum packed containers to minimize flavor loss.Gourmet coffee beans must be ground to the correct fineness to bring out the most taste.

Generally speaking, a fine grind will result in a full-bodied cup of coffee, but coarse grinds are used when making coffee with coarse filters like the French cafetiere.Once the coffee has been ground, there are many ways to brew a cup of coffee. No matter whether you prefer espresso, drip, perked, or pressed, you need to start with high-quality gourmet coffee beans to get a good cup of coffee.You can buy gourmet coffee beans in many types of blends. Most blends are a mixture of dark and light roast coffee beans and can be ground to suit the type of coffee maker you use. Freshness is important when making good-quality coffee. Fresh ground coffee beans will give you the best tasting cup of coffee..

Clubs are now springing up all over America and different clubs have different offerings so it is easy to find one that suits you. Most clubs offer a coffee of the month and/or your choice of flavors. With flavors you can choose what coffee you want delivered each month, or allow the company to surprise you. Depending on the club, it could be your favorite flavor, or a different flavor every month. Amounts vary from company to company also.

Usually it is one pound per month, but you can order more if you desire. Some clubs even offer newsletter subscriptions with informative articles about the month's featured coffee as well as coffee recipes and helpful hints about coffee making and removing coffee stains. When you join one of these clubs, you are also usually entitled to a members-only discount. If the company has a sale or special offering, generally the club members will be the first to hear about it through the newsletter. In addition to coffee, gourmet coffee clubs sometimes include extras like coffee mugs or books with coffee recipes in them.

With clubs, the membership terms are usually fairy flexible. You can usually choose the length of your club membership, from three to twelve months, whether you want whole beans or ground, the type of grind you would like and finally, you can choose flavored or regular, caffeinated or decaf coffee. The choices are endless and are designed to cater specifically for each person's tastes. This is more work for the club but at the end of the day is done to induce you to buy more coffee. An idea for a coffee gift is a coffee club membership.

This is where you purchase a subscription for a coffee of the month club, and your recipient gets coffee delivered to them each month. Gourmet coffee clubs make a great gift idea for holidays, birthdays, or as thank you gifts. you are looking for a unique business gift, think about giving a coffee club subscription. Most people appreciate a good cup of coffee; it is enjoyed around the world. This is one gift that transcends borders.

Your recipient will like the convenience of having the coffee delivered on schedule, without having to reorder all the time. If you give a club subscription as a gift, you will be able to send a gift card or letter to your recipient, notifying them of your gift membership..

It is incumbent upon us to take steps to show them how much we appreciate them and all that they are doing," said Howard Kaloogian, Chairman of Move America Forward.Cornerstone Coffee was chosen by Move America Forward to provide the coffee because of their unmatched quality and dedication to supporting our troops and the missions they are serving on."We are so very grateful to our troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and we want them to know how many Americans support them. It is our honor and privilege to provide the coffee for this program, and our goal is to see to it that every unit that desires the highest quality coffee receives it," said Burke Hodge, president of Cornerstone Coffee.Americans have already sponsored several hundred pounds of coffee. The coffee is first specially roasted at Cornerstone Coffee's roasting facility. Then the coffee is packaged along with letters of support at Move America Forward's headquarters at 770 L Street ? Suite #950 in Downtown Sacramento. The packages are then taken to the downtown Sacramento Post Office facility at 801 I Street.Individuals can sponsor their own bag of coffee to be shipped over to our troops.

To participate, log on to www.MoveAmericaForward.org and follow the order instructions. For $11.95 a 12 ounce bag of premium ground coffee will be shipped to a U.S. serviceman or woman serving in Iraq or Afghanistan along with a note from the person placing the order. The individuals message, their name and their city and state will be printed out and affixed to the bag of coffee so the troops know who paid for the coffee and read their message of support..

Nor nationality. In Italy, the country that gave the name of the job, a barista is most likely a man around the age of 40. In America, there are more chances that you find a young lady. But not necessarily.2. One sure thing is they're susceptible to be found behind the bar-counter, always ready to prepare several varieties of coffee 'expressly for you' - by the way, did you know this was the initial definition of the espresso coffee?3.

A skilled barista, the one you would like to have prepare your cup, has several years of experience.4. A good barista carries out to near-perfection four operations: dosing, tamping, pulling and steaming.5. A good barista knows that no. 4 is not enough and sometimes helpless. For example, tamping depends on the finesse of the grind.

The finer the grind, the less important the tamping.6. A really good barista pays atention both to the quality of the coffee and the presentation.7. The skilled barista is capable of performing more operations at the same time.8. The barista you like interacts with his or her customers.9. A good barista can manage to make a pretty good cup with less sophisticated appliances.

Meanless to say, the opposite is not true.10. A good barista can make a flourishing business out of your modest old cofee-shop. Again, the opposite in not true..

The company has grown dramatically, and now boasts over 1,000 distributors in 43 states, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. As gourmet coffee continues to break into the mainstream consumer audience, and the interest in working from home in a downsized corporate job market also grows, the timing of Espresso Italia's core concepts - inexpensive coffee distributorships for small business entrepreneurs, and free espresso machines for end users - starts to look more and more auspicious.As President Shadd Vickery points out: "Our very attractive program allows our distributors to participate in the dynamic coffee industry. This immediate growth potential, coupled with the fact that the business is home-based, with locations supplied by us, adds to the appeal." Look for Espresso Italia to continue contributing to the trend of more accessible and sophisticated gourmet coffee arriving in your neighborhood in the months and years to come!.