The story of Coffee probably began in Ethiopia. There are many legends about its discovery and how the fruits of the trees were made into a beverage. Commercial cultivation seems to have begun in the Yemen province of Arabia, some say as early as 575 AD. The industry was highly developed there by the 15th century, with Mocha as its main port. Travellers to Arabia discovered the local population drinking coffee in the coffee houses and having sampled it themselves, wanted to introduce coffee into their own countries. Many were keen to grow the plant and produce their own coffee so, from being the product of one country and culture, coffee growing and consumption began to spread, and soon achieved international importance. It is now an industry that spans the globe having become the second item of International Trade. The social, economic and political history of many countries, including the United Kingdom, has been influenced by the discovery of coffee.

Coffee is, grown within the tropical zones 28° North and 30° South of the Equator, from sea-level to around five thousand feet above sea level. The coffee bean is the seed of the coffee tree. The tree produces attractive flowers which have a scent like Jasmine. Following the flowering, two beans begin to develop in an outer casing we call the cherry (sometimes nature only produces one bean which is classified as Peaberry). The cherry ripens to a bright red when it is ready for harvesting. After harvesting, the beans are removed from the cherry and prepared for export.

Coffee can be divided into two major species. Coffee Arabica and coffee Canephora Robusta. Both play an important part in satisfying world demand. Like other natural products coffee displays great individuality with a wide choice of flavour, and although there may be an underlying character to a coffee from a particular origin, there will also be a lot of interesting variations. Quality is usually recognised immediately, and is reflected in the price. Some very fine flavours are quite rare, and the demand always exceeds the supply.

If you are studying our list for the first time, a host of interesting discoveries await you. Even customers of long standing still find variations of flavour they have not previously experienced.

Welcome to coffee mix!

Generally medium-roast coffee has been distributed except special coffee shops due to distribution difficulties, but dark roast is highly recommended if tasting acidity and bitters of coffee. New generation has preferred light and medium roast, American style coffee. If you are a coffee mania, please find the real taste of coffee by dark roast coffee that has not been available due to distribution problem. For example, Stabux becomes favorite coffee in U.S.A by dark roast. The taste of coffee greatly depends on roasting process and therefore the coffee beans should be roasted suitably to my own taste.

Even well-roasted coffee should decide how to grind under the types of coffee makers. Generally for Espresso coffee and a coffee-brew maker using a paper filter coffee beans should be ground fine, and for Percolator coffee and a coffee maker using a metal filter beans should be ground coarse.

For extracting apparatus an electric coffee-brew maker that uses a paper filter, heats quickly and drips is recommended. It is available in the market. For coffee manias Espresso machine for home is recommended. Tab water makes coffee with superior taste rather than spring water or mineral water. The final factor to decide the coffee flavor is mixing proportion of coffee and water. The mixing proportion suitable to your own taste depends on your significant experience. Americans mix 3-4g coffee(1 spoon, 15ml) in 150cc water, Europeans do 5-6g coffee(1 1/4 spoons, 20ml). CR-100 made by Imex makes the coffee with same flavor even if roasting only one half of the conventional amount used. Please feel the original flavor of coffee made by using 2/3 of the conventional amount.

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1. New Guinea
Coffee labeled New Guinea usually comes from Papua New Guinea, which occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea. These coffees are grown in peasant patches and small plantations throughout the rugged mountain highlands. The best New Guinea coffee is estate- or plantation-grown. In general, New Guinea is a low-key version of the great Indonesian coffees: not as full-bodied as the best Sumatra, less acidy and aromatic than the best Celebes, but a comfortably rich cup. Coffee marketed as Arona seems to be the currently preferred New Guinea coffee among specialty roasters. Read more »

The Dutch were also growing coffee at Malabar in India, and in 1699 took some to Batavia in Java, in what is now Indonesia. Within a few years the Dutch colonies had become the main suppliers of coffee to Europe. Today Indonesia is the fourth largest exporter of coffee in the world. Coffee comes to ASIA

1. India
About 80 percent of India’s coffee is grown in the southern state of Karnataka, and is often sold as Mysore, after the former name of that state. At its best, rich, sweet, and full-bodied. At its worst, it is heavy and lifeless.
Monsooned Malabar is the best monsooned. Monsooned Malabar coffees have been exposed for several weeks to the moist winds of the monsoon, which yellows the bean and reduces the acidity, imparting a heavy, syrupy flatness reminiscent of aged coffee .

2. Sumatra
Some of the most famous coffees of the world are grown on the gigantic islands of the Malay Archipelago: Sumatra, Sulawesi or Celebes, and Java in Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Whereas Central American coffees are distinguished by their dry, winey aftertaste, the coffees of Indonesia and New Guinea are noted for their richness, full body, long finish, and an acidity that, though pronounced, is deep- toned, gentle, and enveloped in the complexity of the coffee. Many consider the Mandheling and Ankola coffees of Sumatra the world’s finest.
Mandheling is probably the most full-bodied coffee in the world.  It has a relatively low acidity, but enough to keep the cup vibrant and interesting. The flavor, like the body, is rich, smooth, and full.

3. Sulawesi
The island of Sulawesi, formerly Celebes, spreads like a four-fingered hand in the middle of the Malay Archipelago. The Celebes coffee most likely to be found in specialty stores today is Toraja, from the mountainous area near the center of the island, in the palm of that hand. Celebes Toraja is a splendid coffee very similar to the best Sumatran coffees, though perhaps a little less rich and full-bodied, and a bit more acidy and vibrant in the upper tones. Like Sumatran, it is arguably one of the world’s finest coffees.

4. Java
Java is the first location planted the Arabica trees. Java led the world in coffee production. Most of this early acreaged has been replaced by disease-resistant robusta, but, under the sponsorship of the Indonesian government, arabica has made a modest comeback on several of the old estates originally established by the Dutch.
Java, like New Guinea, shares the low-toned richness of the other Indonesian and New Guinea coffees, but tends to be more obviously acidy, a bit lighter in body, and quicker to finish. Lurking in the acidity is a slight smoky or spicy twist.

 Coffee

The story of how coffee growing and drinking spread around the world is one of the greatest and most romantic in history.

 It starts in the Horn of Africa, in Ethiopia, where the coffee tree probably originated in the province of Kaffa. One story has it that an Ethiopian goatherd was amazed at the lively behaviour of his goats after chewing red coffee berries.

Coffee was certainly being cultivated in Yemen by the 15th century and probably much earlier than that. Yemen actively encouraged coffee drinking as it was considered preferable to the extreme side effects of Kat, a shrub whose buds and leaves were chewed as a stimulant.

The first coffeehouses were opened in Mecca and were called ‘kaveh kanes’. They were luxuriously decorated and each had an individual character. The Arabian coffeehouses soon became centres of political activity and were suppressed. Coffee and coffeehouses were subsequently banned several times over the next few decades, but they kept reappearing.

Mocha - was also the main port for the one sea route to Mecca, and was the busiest place in the world at the time. The coffee bean is the seed of the coffee tree, but when stripped of its outer layers it becomes infertile.