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Recommendations So You Can Find An Excellent Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans

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Recommendations So You Can Find An Excellent Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans

Author: Leslie Karren

Coffee and chocolate fanatics, alike, will love chocolate covered coffee beans. However, finding high quality products with just the right blend of coffee and chocolate is very hard to do. If you are searching for chocolate covered beans that will make your mouth water, this article will tell you how to find them.

There are no limits to the types of beans and chocolates available these days. You can now get coffee beans that are covered in dark, milk, or white chocolate. You can even find other flavors, including coffee flavored chocolate and orange flavored chocolate.

If you come across a large bag of incredibly inexpensive covered beans, you should be wary. Some brands do not cover their beans with real chocolate and they may also use poor quality beans. To be on the safe side, read the label and ingredients carefully. If you see phrases like chocolate flavored or coffee flavored, it most likely means that neither real chocolate or real coffee is being used.

Any time you are going to buy these beans, you should make sure that cocoa is one of the ingredients. When you see that cocoa is on the ingredient list, you know that real chocolate is being used. Also, if the beans are meant to be covered in dark chocolate, there should be no milk in the outer shell if the shell is made of true dark chocolate. [Read more…]

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Coffee Basics 101 – Choosing a Great Coffee!

7:31 pm by Leave a Comment
Structure of coffee berry and beans: 1: center...

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“I’m searching for a really great cup of coffee — what variety should I buy?”

I’ve been asked this question many times over the years and I always provide the same answer — “That depends!” Early coffee drinkers used to choose their coffee for the caffeine jolt it provided. But times have changed, and in today’s world, when choosing a great coffee — it’s all about the taste, and the taste depends on many things.

The taste of a great coffee depends on the climate, soil and cultivation methods involved in the beans’ production. Coffee beans contain hundreds of compounds that give them their flavor and aroma. The type of coffee bean you choose, arabica or robusta makes a huge difference in coffee quality and taste. Arabica beans are of a much higher-quality compared to robusta beans, which are normally used as filler for most lower-end coffees. The roasting and brewing process used on the beans can also greatly affect the taste. All of these factors, together, have an enormous impact on coffee taste and quality, and as a result, they do determine whether the coffee is really great or not.

But, I also think that when it comes right down to it, the most important factor that ultimately determines whether a coffee is really great or not is whether you the consumer like it. Not everyone prefers the same characteristics in a coffee; some prefer it light and mellow, while others prefer it heavy and full-bodied. So when asking what variety to buy in order to get a really great cup of coffee, you really have to look at your own personal likes and dislikes in a cup of joe. [Read more…]

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Coffee Facts and Gourmet Coffee Figures

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"The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor&...

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Some great gourmet coffee trivia:

* The Boston Tea Party was planned in a coffee house – the Green Dragon Coffee House

* One Coffee Tree or plant in its normal harvest will produce enough coffee cherries to make one pound of coffee bean

* 27% of U.S. coffee drinkers and 43% of German drinkers add a sweetener to their coffee.

* The world’s largest coffee producer is Brazil with over 3,970 million coffee trees. Colombia produces alot of gourmet coffee for its size – coming in second in the world with around two thirds of Brazil’s production of gourmet coffee.

* Hard bean means the coffee was grown at an altitude above 5000 feet.

* Arabica and Robusta trees can produce crops for 20 to 30 years under proper conditions and care.

* Most coffee is transported by ships. Currently there are approximately 2,200 ships involved in transporting the beans each year.

* In Turkey a husband who refused to provide his wife with a mocha latte could be divorced by her! [Read more…]

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Coffee Health – New Antioxidant On The Block

2:27 pm by Leave a Comment

coffee Waves

Green coffee beans have supplied a new player in the antioxidant arena. An extract of green coffee beans has been found to have a stronger antioxidant effect than established antioxidants like green tea and grape seed extract.

The active constituent in coffee that is responsible for its many health benefits is a compound called chlorogenic acid. It neutralizes free radicals, and addresses the problem of hydroxyl radicals, both of which can lead to cellular degeneration if left unchecked. Chlorogenic acid also helps regulate metabolism. Compared to green tea and grape seed extract, green coffee bean extract is twice as effective in absorbing oxygen free radicals.

One of the advantages of using the green coffee bean extract is that the negative effects of coffee are avoided. The chlorogenic acid is thought to boost metabolism by changing the way glucose is taken up by the body. And it does contain caffeic acids, which give a boost to energy levels like regular coffee does. But unlike boiled coffee, green coffee bean extract contains no cafestol, which is a diterpene. Along with its diterpene relative kahweol, cafestol increases concentrations of the ‘bad’ cholesterol, LDL, to levels that over a lifetime might increase the risk of coronary heart disease by as much as 20% These diterpenes also had an effect on the levels of liver enzymes measured. When these are elevated it is an indicator of stress on the liver. However the study that measured this found this was a transient effect, and also that the levels of liver enzymes were much lower than those with liver disease. [Read more…]

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