Houston Coffee Roasters
In search of high quality, freshly roasted healthy organic coffee ? There are Houston coffee roasters from whom you can purchase a wide range of regular and organic coffees. Freshness of coffee comes down to a few facts.
- Properly stored green coffee beans last for about two years.
- Roasting coffee brings about a number of complex chemical reactions in the coffee bean.
- Antioxidants formed in roasting coffee are responsible for its unique taste and many health benefits.
- Anti-oxidants break down with exposure to oxygen.
- Roasted beans can maintain most of their flavor for up to six months if vacuum packed.
- Once they are exposed to air but kept in a cool and dry place roasted coffee beans maintain flavor for no more than two months.
- Once you grind roasted coffee beans you expose all of the inner antioxidants to the air and you lose flavor by the hour if not the minute.
So, if you want to preserve those organic coffee antioxidants buy and store green coffee beans to roast and grind at home or, better yet, purchase small quantities of freshly roasted coffee of your choice from any of a number of Houston coffee roasters. If you buy your own green coffee store it in a bag that breaths, paper or burlap, and not in plastic. If you visit one of the Houston coffee roasters save your roasted coffee beans in a sealed glass jar in a cool place. Remember that a place like the handy cupboard right above the stove heats up when you are cooking. Pick a handy spot away for heat sources. Coffee fresh from one of the Houston coffee roasters will keep its flavor for a couple of months. Just make sure that you only grind enough for a serving or two at a time.
If you are looking for good wholesale organic coffee, green beans that is, feel free to contact Panamá Natural Organic Coffee or other suppliers through www.buyorganiccoffee.org . Panamá Natural Organic Coffee can supply naturally grown organic and sustainably grown coffees from Panama as well as Colombia. From Panama mountain grown organic coffee to Juan Valdez organic coffee from Colombia Latin America produces a number of fine coffees, available as green beans or freshly roasted coffees put in the post to mail to your home almost before the beans have cooled.
If you would just as soon walk down the street to a local vendor for your freshly roasted organic or regular coffee, here is a list of Houston coffee roasters:
- Java Pura
- Fusion Beans
- Whole Foods
- House of Coffee Beans
- 3 Cups
- Purple Turtle Coffee Company
- Duncan Coffee
Remember not to stock up on large quantities of roasted coffee beans from Houston coffee roasters, at least not more than enough for a couple of months or you will see a decline in flavor from the first cup to the last. And, certainly, do not grind a large quantity of freshly roasted coffee as the decline in flavor will be precipitous over just a few days.
Dry Coffee Beans to Stop Fermentation
A recent news release regarding coffee production in Honduras refers to the need to dry coffee beans to stop fermentation. Coffee, whether regular of healthy organic coffee, needs to ripen to the right degree and no more. Remember that the coffee that we drink comes from the seed of the coffee berry and not the fruit. An integral part of processing coffee is to remove the fruit down to the coffee seed. This is often done by immersing the coffee in water for sixteen to thirty-six hours. At that point the fruit has loosened and can be washed away. The ripening or breakdown or fermentation of the fruit makes this possible. However, the seed also ferments and this process needs to be stopped before it results in unwanted changes in coffee flavor. So, processors dry coffee beans to stop fermentation. The problem mentioned in the article about Honduras is that they have ramped up coffee production in that country and have run out of space in existing facilities to dry coffee beans to stop fermentation. The article mentions that one processor rented a soccer stadium, spread plastic sheets and dried his coffee where the local “futbol” team usually played.
Drying machines can be used as well as air drying in the sun. The problem for coffee processors in a country like Honduras is cost. Honduras is relatively competitive in the Arabica coffee market, behind Brazil and Colombia and in a tie with Mexico. Land prices are cheap as is labor in the countryside. During the dry season the cheapest way to dry coffee beans to stop fermentation is to spread them out in thin layers in the hot tropical sun. When the rainy season starts processors need to use machines, typically natural gas, diesel, or electric driven and there goes the cost advantage. To dry coffee beans to stop fermentation the beans are dried to eleven to twelve percent moisture content. If coffee is soaked too long (past 36 hours) or drying is not started promptly individual coffee beans develop an offensive aroma and are referred to as stinkers. In fact the entire batch will eventually go bad if not dried. Bad coffee can be sold at very low prices in the country of origin but there go any profits the processor may have dreamed of getting for his organic whole bean coffee.
Perception is important in the coffee business. If an exporter sends out an occasional bad batch of coffee his reputation suffers. He does not get orders the next year. This problem works back up the supply chain to growers. If the processor does not adequately dry coffee beans to stop fermentation the work of the small organic coffee farmer goes to waste. Organic coffee certification is not any good if buyers get a bad bag of coffee. The small grower needs to pay for Bio Latina organic coffee certification but the money goes to waste if processing is not up to par. In the end the processors in a growing market like Honduras need to buy $70,000 coffee driers and absorb the cost of fuel to dry coffee beans to stop fermentation and maintain coffee quality.
Store Coffee and Preserve Freshness
If I cannot use the freezer for a bag of coffee that I am using, where can I put the coffee? Remember that the warmest place in the kitchen is above and beside the stove. So, don’t put coffee in containers in this kitchen hot spot. Although your refrigerator is cool the top may be warm from heat bleeding off. Try a cupboard away from heat and sunlight.
Once I Open the Container
Many coffee containers are fine for shipping and until opened. After first use it is often wise to put remaining coffee into an container with an air tight seal. The cost is worth it as you will store coffee and preserve freshness away from the air.
Does Coffee Age?
The answer is yes! The reason that Panama Mountain Grown Organic Coffee is often shipped to the USA for roasting is not because they cannot roast coffee in Panama (or Colombia, or Brazil, or Vietnam). It is because coffee starts to lose its flavor as soon as the roasting process is completed. Thus roasting takes place close to the market where coffee will be sold. You will want to store coffee and preserve freshness but you will also want to purchase small quantities of coffee, enjoy our coffee, and buy more when you run out. Coffee is not a fine wine. It does not improve with age.
If you purchase a large quantity of wholesale coffee put the larger amount in an air tight container and take your daily coffee out of a smaller container, replenishing as needed. Small and airtight containers can be store in the freezer but only until the first use. The same rules apply for regular coffee and healthy organic coffee. Coffee ages and it ages more if it is warm, wet, and exposed to the air. For more useful information about organic coffee feel free to browse through our articles at www.BuyOrganicCoffee.org.
Ways to Prepare Coffee
There are many ways to prepare coffee. Coffee prepared at home is typically brewed coffee. Coffee house coffee is espresso and espresso plus other ingredients. A tried and true means of making coffee for large family gatherings is to put coffee grounds, water, and maybe a cracked egg or two into a very large pot and boil. If you live in the coffee growing regions of Latin America you probably have a wire ring on a handle which holds a cotton bag in which you place ground coffee. Boil water; pour through the suspended ground coffee into a pot or right into the cup. Add sugar or milk to the cup and enjoy. Which of the various ways to prepare coffee is best? Is regular coffee better is USDA organic coffee what you should use?
Start with the Bean
If you purchase whole bean coffee you will need to grind it before using any of the various ways to prepare coffee. Coffee comes in two general varieties, robusta and Arabica. Both varieties can be grown under sustainable growing conditions to produce healthy organic coffee. The differences between organic coffee and regular coffee are two. Organic coffee has many fewer impurities as it is grown without the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. And organic coffee helps save the earth. The sustainable practices used in growing organic coffee preserve wildlife habitat, watersheds, and small coffee farming operations in the remote areas of the world. Now that you have decided on a type of coffee bean and have ground it what are the ways to prepare coffee?
Home Brewing
Filtered or bottled water is best if your tap water is not good or has too much chlorine. A good rule of thumb is to use one to two tablespoonsful of ground coffee for every six ounces of water which is a cup. You can adjust this to your own taste. Temperature is important. Usually the most effective brewing temperature is right around 200 degrees. The most effective brewing time is around 5 minutes of a drip system, two minutes for a French press or plunger system, and thirty seconds for making espresso with very finely ground coffee. No matter which of the way to prepare coffee you use make sure to drink your coffee right after it is made. The regular or organic coffee antioxidants provide a great flavor. Enjoy your coffee fresh.
If you like the idea of the cloth bag approach, make sure to grind your coffee very fine. Boil water and let it rest just for a minute at sea level. If you are in the mountains, the land of eternal spring, in Latin America your water will boil at less than 212 degrees so boil and pour.
Making good espresso really requires an espresso maker. You make espresso by forcing nearly boiling water through very finely ground coffee beans. This gives the coffee a stronger taste, thicker consistency, and higher caffeine concentration. It is served in one ounce quantities. If you want to jazz up your espresso add chocolate syrup to make mocha or steamed milk to make latte. By the way, if you want “Americano” it is just half espresso and half water. The GI’s in Europe after World War II remembered Mom’s coffee and asked the barista to water down their espresso to taste.
Coffee House Coffee
Still confused when you request coffee house coffee? Don’t know the differences between espresso and Americano, latte and cappuccino? Here is our primer for coffee house coffee. It starts with the fact that all coffee in a coffee house starts with espresso. Hopefully they use healthy organic coffee in making their espresso but you probably have to ask for it.
Espresso is very concentrated coffee that retains a lot of dissolved as well as suspended solids from the roasted coffee bean. It is made by forcing steam (boiling water) through fine ground coffee. It has a thicker feel because of the suspended solids and foam because of the pressurized steam. Espresso concentrates the flavors of coffee and is served in a small cup, usually an ounce (30 cc). A cup of espresso typically has between 40 and 75 milligrams of caffeine while a standard cup of percolated coffee contains about twice this much but in an 8 ounce cup. Thus coffee house coffee espresso is about four times more concentrated than the cup of coffee that you had a home for breakfast. Because espresso contains more coffee per ounce also contains more organic coffee antioxidants if you insist on organic for your espresso.
But there are more varieties of coffee house coffee than just espresso and you may find yourself confused looking at the list on the back wall above the barista working at the espresso machine. Here are the derivatives of espresso that you can typically find at your local coffee house:
- Americano
- Breve
- Cappucino
- Latte
- Mocha
Americano
Americano is a coffee house coffee made from espresso and diluted with water. This goes back to the World War II era and after when GI’s who were used to Mom’s home perked or boiled coffee asked the barista to add water to their espresso to make it less strong. Think “weak espresso.”
Breve and Latte
Both of these are made with espresso and foam. Latte is made with steamed milk and breve is made with half and half. For latte think “coffee with milk” or café au lait and for breve think “coffee with milk and cream.”
Cappuccino
Cappuccino is made with espresso plus hot milk plus lots of steamed foam.
Mocha
Mocha is for coffee and chocolate lovers. It is made with espresso plus chocolate syrup plus milk.
All coffee house coffee is made with espresso. If you want your espresso made with USDA organic coffee you probably have to ask for it. For those interested in strong flavor and aroma espresso is probably the ultimate. Likewise espresso and each other coffee house coffee made from espresso has a high concentration of the antioxidants that give coffee much of its flavor and many of its health benefits. But, if you want authentic organic coffee as the base for your espresso, cappuccino, or mocha make sure that you ask.
Hope that you are no longer confused about that list of coffee house coffee at the coffee shop. If you have not tried one or the other feel free to experiment, and enjoy.
Recession Drives Coffee Sales Down in Europe
Recession drives coffee sales down in Europe if figures from Starbucks are an indication. Not only did worldwide sales for the coffee shop giant fall, but sales in Europe fell by one percent. As recession drives coffee sales down in Europe it is same store sales that suffered for Starbucks. Considering that austerity measures are likely to cause a recession this year in the Euro Zone and countries like Spain have unemployment of a quarter of their work force it is not surprising that high end coffee sales are down. But, what is a lover of healthy organic coffee to do in such a situation?
First of all, in Europe or elsewhere, one does not need to go to Starbucks or any other high end coffee shop chain to buy good coffee. Wholesale coffee from Panama, for example, is available through Panamá Natural Organic Coffee by way of www.BuyOrganicCoffee.org. Panamá Natural Organic Coffee can vouch for organic coffee certification of products shipped anywhere on earth. While recession drives coffee sales down in Europe the lower prices of coffee this year may be damaging to small organic coffee operations. Organic coffee farmers need to premium typically paid for organic coffee to pay for their more intensive and sustainable coffee farming operations. A combination of lower prices and a reduced demand could be fatal for some coffee farmers. On the other hand, as recession drives coffee sales down in Europe, organic coffee lovers can go online to www.BuyOrganicCoffee.org for Panama Mountain Grow Organic Coffee shipped directly to their door.
While recession drives coffee sales down in Europe Starbucks and others are putting up more coffee shops in China. The point is that despite the risk of a Chinese real estate collapse and reduced exports from China, the economy there is less dicey than in Europe. Also the market for coffee is not saturated. Starbucks and others are having a fair degree of success selling coffee in a traditionally tea drinking culture. Also, China is right next door to the second largest coffee producer in the world, Vietnam. In fact, the highlands of all of Indochina are ideal for coffee growing. Laotian organic coffee is available through small farm cooperatives right next door to a rapidly expanding coffee market in China.
Despite a fall off in high end coffee sales in Europe there are lots of cheaper sources of good organic coffee. Organic coffee prices may not fall as much as regular coffee prices but organic coffee may become more attractive economically as well as esthetically. For information about selection and shipping please contact Panamá Natural Organic Coffee by way of www.BuyOrganicCoffee.org. Organic coffee cooperatives in Panama are looking for customers. Much of their organic coffee excess goes to local sales for lack of a wider market. Come and join the ranks of Panama Organic Coffee lovers. You will be glad that you did. We ship directly from Panama to you. In addition we offer a variety of non-Panama organic coffee brands via Amazon.com. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us today.
Coffee Shops in China
Who would have thought? There are coffee shops in China. The land of Chairman Mao, the little red book, the Great Cultural Revolution, is home to a growing number of Starbucks, Costa Coffee, Paris Baguette, Tous Les Jours, and Pacific Coffee establishments selling coffee. For anyone who has not been tuned in, China is a land of tea drinkers. However, the impressive economic success of China has put money into the hands of a growing middle class which has a taste for foreign products and flavors. Starbucks already has over five hundred shops in China and plans to triple this number in the next three years. As we wrote in Starbucks Organic Coffee in China, the company opened its first outlet in China in 1999 and now has coffee shops in China in 42 cities.
Coffee Shops in China and Throughout the Orient
Starbucks and other are not limiting their coffee shop expansion to China. Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and India are on the list. Of course the second biggest wholesale coffee producer in the world is Vietnam, second only to Brazil. Starbucks and others do not note how much of their coffee sold in the orient will be healthy organic coffee but Starbucks sells about a seventh of its coffee as certified organic coffee. The competition selling coffee in a tea drinking culture comes from around the world. Costa Coffee is British. The owners of Paris Baguette and Tous Les Jours are South Korean, and Pacific Coffee is from Hong Kong. In addition, MacDonald’s sells coffee in their restaurants as do Dunkin’ Donuts and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, all of which plan to expand their operations in this fast growing market.
Aiming to Change a Culture
The advent of coffee shops in China is part of another “cultural revolution” in China. However, this one is not dictated from on high and is not accompanied by bands of Mao suited individuals rounding up the educated elite and packing them off to farms in the hinter lands. China’s managed capitalism is succeeding in putting money in the pockets of entrepreneurs in China. This emerging middle class likes Western brand names and will pay more for products and services that imply their nation’s “arrival” as a major player on the world stage. A middle class with expendable income may be an excellent target for selling USDA organic coffee. As China comes to integrate its economy, and its culture, with the rest of the world we can expect to see more coffee shops in China. As this phenomenon spreads we can expect to see Chinese companies enter the battle for consumer attention and sales. However, at the current time, a large part of the attraction of Chinese coffee shops is that they are new. They sell great coffee. And, these outlets provide a level of service and visibility that the newly rich or well to do of China find attractive. The next wave may well be a preference for organic coffee as the culture becomes more environmentally aware.
Is It Really Colombian Coffee?
Colombian coffee buyers are purchasing coffee from Peru to make up for a weak harvest. It turns out that roughly a fifth of Peruvian coffee exports are going to Colombia this year. So, when you see a bag of Juan Valdez organic coffee you might wish to ask yourself, “Is it really Colombian coffee?” Colombia produces more Arabica coffee beans than any country outside of Brazil. But, historic rains damaged coffee plants as they flowered and continuing rains increased the incidence of plant diseases. Thus Colombia expects to see a fall in its harvest of 300,000 bags to 7.5 million. Last year the harvest was 7.8 million bags. This year will mark the lowest production of coffee in Colombia in a quarter of a century as a persistent El Niño has reduced harvests for years. Colombia produced 12.5 million bags of coffee in the 2007 to 2008 growing season. So, when you see the Juan Valdez label, is it really Colombian coffee?
What Does the Juan Valdez Label Mean for Colombian Coffee?
The Juan Valdez name was made up by the Colombian Coffee Growers Association years ago and gives the buyer assurance that what they are getting is 100% Colombian coffee. There is, in fact, a coffee house chain in Colombia called Juan Valdez as well. Regarding the question, is it really Colombian coffee or not, Peru is only selling just under 100,000 bags of coffee to buyers in Colombia. Colombia, even in a historically bad year will produce 7.5 million bags. This is seventy-five times the amount that they are buying from Peru. The Colombian cafetero is still a major coffee producer where growing organic coffee in the shade is tradition and healthy organic coffee is common. It would appear that there is little reason to fear a wholesale replacement of Colombian coffee found under the Juan Valdez label. So, is it really Colombian coffee? It probably is.
Getting Organic Coffee from Colombia
A sad fact is that Colombia has been dealing with a civil war for half a century. The government is winning and the rebellion has been driven out of the cities. However, large parts of the Cafetero are mountainous and jungle. Rebel groups that may have started out with a clear motive of improving the lives of Colombians have resorted to running drugs and kidnapping in order to survive. Thus, Colombia is not only a major producer of coffee but also a producer of cocaine. If you fly out of any airport in Colombia please expect to have the armed agents pin prick any bags of coffee that you are carrying and apply a “sniff” test for drugs. No other nation in the world will allow mailed bags of Colombian coffee to enter. So, if you yearn for organic coffee antioxidants from the land of Juan Valdez you need to find another route. And you still need to ask, is it really Colombian coffee, as Colombia strives to make up for production shortfalls caused by bad weather.