How To Select The Best Espresso Machine

Writen by Dave Poon

First of all, what is this beverage called espresso? The word espresso itself is derived from the Italian word meaning express. This is because espresso is ordered by and delivered quickly to the customer. A good espresso must taste sweet with a strong aroma whose flavor is like freshly ground coffee.

The wonders of science have made it possible for people to make their own espresso using espresso machines at home - instead of having to visit commercial coffee houses for it. Before, coffee houses employed professional baristas to brew each and every cup of coffee for their customers. Now, people can just buy an espresso machine to enjoy their own coffee at their convenience.

How does one select the best espresso machine for their purposes? Ideally, consumers should test-run each espresso machine and judge every one based on taste, build-quality, features, and ease of use. However, since this is not practical, consumers can rely on testimonials from their friends or turn to the reviews published by reputable coffee afficionado magazines. They can also go around the stores and window-shop, asking pertinent questions from the salespeople in order to make the best buy.

How does an espresso machine work? An espresso machine shoots out water that is 90 degrees Centigrade hot (or at a temperature equal to 195 degrees Fahrenheit) using 9 bar of pressure into a puck of freshly ground coffee. The oils in the finely ground coffee are thus extracted and emulsified to create a rich, nearly syrupy liquid.

Ideally, a machine can churn out a double shot of espresso within 20 to 25 seconds from when its pump is initially switched on. The amount of time necessary can be adjusted by putting in coffee that is either of a finer or coarser blend. Or you can change the tamping pressure.

Certain espresso machines are combination machines that rely on a steam wand to create milk-based espresso beverages like the latte and cappucino. The machine steams and froths milk to produce these drinks.

The different kinds of espresso machines are called the pump-driven espresso machine, piston-driven espresso machine, steam espresso machine, stovetop espresso machine, automatic espresso maker and lastly the super automatic espresso maker.

The key to good espresso is using an excellent espresso blend. Coffees must be specially blended to produce the smoothness, aromatics and sweetness inherent in good espresso. However, the blend should be freshly ground and brewed within four days from roasting.

Another element of good espresso making is that the espresso must be roasted light so that its sugars and aroma will not be lost. Darkly-roasted espresso produces a bitter liquid that tastes like charcoal.

You must filter water used for brewing since if the water tastes weird it can affect the final outcome of brewing.

Make sure that the espresso machine you choose can maintain water temperature between 92 to 96 degrees Centigrade to assure a consistent espresso.

Many machines are made to be as easy to clean up as a standard coffee machine.

So there's no reason to feel intimidated about buying your own espresso machine. Clearly, the benefits do outweigh the difficulties.

Dave Poon is an accomplished writer who specializes in the latest in Food and Drink. For more information regarding Best Espresso Machine please drop by at http://www.hotcoffeeplus.com/

Flavored Coffee Syrup Adds A New Dimension To Beans

Writen by Julie Carter

Flavored coffee syrup is a popular addition to any coffee beverage and a welcome change for any regular coffee drinker. Whether you are looking to satisfy a sweet tooth or just want something different, flavored coffee syrups put a great kick into any drink. If you own a coffee business, these syrups are another great way to attract customers, allowing them to customize their own drinks so they can enjoy exactly the flavors that their taste buds desire.

Coffee, of course, has a wonderful taste itself, but it also acts as a catalyst for many other flavors. The growth in popularity of flavored coffee is testament to coffee's versatility and strength. People today have come to expect variety and certainly flavored coffee offers them a choice. Flavored syrups means that coffee drinkers can enjoy their beverage all day in a host of different ways.

The best flavored coffee syrups are made from all natural ingredients. The chemical additives and preservatives found in some syrups can distort or hide the flavor of the coffee, while all natural flavors will simply enhance a beverage. Although all natural syrups are more expensive, they are worth the investment as your customers will surely taste the difference and come back time after time for more.

There are four different groups of syrups. The most popular syrups are the vanilla based, which include nut and creme flavors like Irish creme and hazelnut. These flavors go well with just about any type of coffee, and can even be used to sweeten a cappuccino or latte. Chocolate is the next most popular flavoring group, followed by the fruit and spice flavors. It is always a good idea to have an offering from each group so your customers can experience different flavors (and spend more!)

Today, more than 100 different and delicious flavorings lace the coffees, espressos, cappuccinos, and frappes. To say the least, flavored coffee has become an interesting and fast growing area of the coffee market. Blends such as Irish Creme, French Vanilla, Hazelnut and even Macadamia Nut grace the shelves of both coffee specialty shops and home kitchens alike.

The concept of adding flavors to enhance the taste of coffee is, by no means, a new craze. Arabs began flavoring their coffee with cardamom hundreds of years ago, Africans experimented with citrus flavors, and South Americans enjoyed a hint of cinnamon in their cups.

Flavored coffee syrups are highly concentrated, so a little goes quite a long way â€" this makes it very cost effective for the café owner. One half-ounce shot of syrup is usually adequate to flavor an entire coffee drink. These syrups are available from most coffee suppliers; if you are a new retail or business customer, they will often send you samples to allow you to taste them for yourself; this way you can choose the best tasting syrup product for your customers. This is the fun part â€" then you have to sell them!

Looking for information about Coffee? Go to: http://www.dkcoffee.com DK Coffee is published by Julie Carter The Complete A to Z Of Coffee Resources Check out more Coffee related articles at: http://www.dkcoffee.com/archive

Italian Roast Coffee For An Authentic Espresso

Writen by Nicholas Webb

One of the things people think of with Italy is it's coffee. In fact Italian roast coffee is perfect for bringing a touch of Europe to your home. Can 50 million plus Italians all be wrong? Well, with Italian roast you can't go wrong either.

Generally speaking, Italian Roast coffee is darker in colour than most roasted blends of coffee and consequently develops an intense, full-bodied flavour from the blend of Pacific and Latin American origins. It seems to be richer and fuller and has a bit of a bite to it. The aroma is balanced and complex.

Why the name Italian Roast when coffee comes from Brazil?

As is known, most of the coffee we drink today originates from Latin America or the Pacific, so where does the name Italian Roast come from?

Well, the name Italian Roast derives from the dark roasted blend style that is commonly used in Italy. And do the Italians know a thing or two about their coffee? I think they do. Naturally it goes without saying, if you grind your own, Italian roast coffee is perfect for making authentic espresso. If served in Illy Collection cups, for instance, you cant go wrong.

There is espresso coffee and espresso coffee, but with an Italian roast blend the difference is clear

In fact, most of today's household names, such as Gaggia, Lavazza and Illy are Italian family companies that have conquered the world with their particular blends of coffee, targeted marketing and wonderful coffee making machines. Gaggia, for instance started business in the 1940's, not so long ago, but they are recognised as a well respected coffee-company in most of the world.

Similar with Lavazza, started in Turin, not only famous for its coffee, but also a prestigious calendar, similar to that of Pirelli. And what espresso lover isn't familiar with the Illy Collection; neat espresso cups with exclusive designs produced in limited numbers.

Do you think all this could have been possible without a deep knowledge and respect for coffee? Italian roast must deserve some of the success of these companies.

Nicholas Webb is a successful author and publisher of http://www.allabout-coffee-beans.com Coffee is a passion to be shared. Info from coffee beans to coffee making machines can be found by clicking over to this great resource site.

Coffee Can Be Healthy

Writen by Jim Konerko

Most studies you will read about today tell how coffee can be harmful to you. But did you know that no other American liquid drink contains more healthy antioxidants than coffee? And did you also know that drinking coffee may reduce the risk of developing of the common type-2 diabetes? And did you also know that coffee drinkers may be far less likely to develop Parkinson's disease, cirrhosis of the liver, and colon cancer?

These findings are all based on studies performed at such prestigious universities as Harvard and Vanderbilt. Other studies have been done in Japan, Canada, Holland, and other countries. Many schools participate in research of all foods, to discover antioxidants and how certain foods may help combat disease. Tea is one food used to a large degree, so it necessarily follows that coffee can also be studied as well. In fact, close to 20,000 studies have been done world-wide for the last several years, on finding the benefits of coffee.

As you can guess, the most closely scrutinized ingredient of coffee is caffeine. Caffeine is used in many over-the-counter medicines today, to help with headaches, asthma, and other ailments. But it has been discovered that caffeine can also help with Parkinson's disease, for example. Moreover, caffeine derivatives are being tested as drugs to possibly help control Parkinson's.

Coffee is extremely rich with caffeine, possibly four more times than that of other beverages such as cola or tea. But coffee itself is also laden with antioxidants, according to studies done at Harvard. These studies have also shown that decaf coffee demonstrated a reduced risk to diabetes among normal adults, even a lower risk than tea offers. And coffee with caffeine showed an even higher reduction of risk, compared to decaf. Studies done at the University of Scranton have also shown that coffee contains more antioxidants than the average fruit or vegetable.

Another study was done in Japan that demonstrated that daily coffee drinkers showed a reduced risk of developing liver cancer, by as much as 50%, over those people who never drank coffee. This and most of the other studies showed that drinking three to four cups a day was more effective against these diseases, than drinking one or two cups a day.

So does that mean you can drink five or six cups of coffee and eliminate fruits and vegetables from your diet and therefore become immune to all disease? Of course not. Fruits and veggies overall contain many more vitamins, minerals, and nutrients than coffee, and so should not be neglected from any diet. Also they contain fiber, which is essential for good nutrition. Eat your fruits and veggies.

Also, coffee has the caveat that it can raise your cholesterol, make you nervous, make you tremble, raise your heart rate, clog your arteries, and other problems. And research is still going on to discover the benefits of antioxidants, and with coffee in general.

But for sure, if you drink coffee and it doesn't affect your life any, then feel free to continue and enjoy your habit. In the long run, it may prove more beneficial than you think.

Jim Konerko is the publisher of http://www.coffee-craze.net where he provides interesting advice, tips, and information about coffee.

History Of Instant Coffee

Writen by Randy Wilson

Mention instant coffee to any connoisseur and you are sure to get a frown of disgust. Yet, who among us hasn't, after finding the coffee tin empty, scoured the cupboard in desperation with hopes of finding a long since misplaced jar or 'hotel packet' of instant coffee? And, after sighing in relief, relished in amazement that it is still good after all those years of obscurity, abandonment and outright neglect on the dusty top shelf at the back of the pantry. You haven't? Well maybe I just like to live dangerously.

Instant coffee, or soluble coffee, as it was originally called dates back as early as 1771 when the British government granted a patent for a 'coffee compound'. There have been many attempts since then to make instant coffee more palatable but capturing the essence of freshly roasted, freshly brewed coffee has proven a difficult task.

Instant coffee is made by brewing a concentrated liquid solution of real coffee, then removing the water through various means of dehydration. What is left, the residue, is instant coffee. Early methods of dehydration involved spraying the concentrated solution into heated stainless steel drums and after the water had evaporated the drums were scraped and the powdery residue was packaged. The taste was scorched, pungent and bitter to say the least. If you have ever left a pot on the burner too long and have ended up with a charred disgusting mess in the bottom of the carafe, then you have made instant coffee.

The next advancement in instant coffee came in the 1960's when the process of agglomeration was introduced. Particles of instant coffee were steamed and made sticky so they would clump together. The clumps were then redried by reheating. The result was a better looking product that closer resembled ground coffee but the flavor may have actually been degraded even further by the additional heating cycle.

Most recently the process of lyophilization or 'freeze-drying' has become the standard method of making instant coffee. This method is a vast improvement over other methods for two reasons. The first is that the coffee concentrate is extracted under high pressure so the water used never actually boils even though the water is well above the boiling point.

The second is that the water is removed without adding heat which helps preserve the coffee flavor. The concentrate is then frozen and placed in a vacuum chamber and the temperature is raised to just above freezing, at which point one would expect the mixture to melt. However, since it is in a vacuum the frozen water is prevented from becoming a liquid. But since the temperature is above freezing the solid water (ice) goes directly from a solid to a vapor. It is then vented to a separate chamber where it is refrozen as pure water. What is left in the vacuum chamber is the coffee residue.

Even with the improved process of freeze drying instant coffee remains a sad substitute for the real thing.

© Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.

Randy has more articles on coffee such as Colombian Coffee, Coffee and Alzheimers and Coffee Breaks.

Top 5 Bestselling Coffee Makers

Writen by Monice Dulcinea

Coffee is the number one breakfast drink the world over. There are very few places that do not serve this staple and that is a very good thing to say the least. So many people depend on this drink for that bit of energy in the morning to get through the day and of course there is some big business when it comes to coffee and the coffee maker. The business that surrounds this part of the world is big and more and more people are trying to get in on it. This means that there is more than enough competition to make the best in coffee maker products that the world has seen. This is an important thing to a good many people as the coffee maker is the number one appliance in their home.

Bunn is the best-selling coffee maker currently on the market. For a good many years the company was not making products for the home, but instead only those for the many businesses that served the drink. This has all changed as the Bunn company has seen the demand for their top quality coffee maker products for the home. This has brought new levels of financial stability to the company and they are enjoying the success overall.

Senso makes a great coffee maker as well and they are second only to Bunn in terms of quality and sales. This is normal when you see the many products that they offer. Some of the finest makers are brought out by this company and there are a good many people who make the best coffee with them. They are a staple in the restaurants across the world as well.

Cuisinart is a big name in the small home appliance world and their coffee makers make that statement as well. While they have not always been in this business, they are making a mark across the world with the new lines. Many people trust this company more than many others because of the attention to detail and quality that they have always had.

Keurig is one of the newer players in the coffee maker game but that does not mean they are anything but great. They have makers that will do just about everything for you and they are of the best construction to boot.

Krups is a fine company that does offer some fine coffee makers. There have been a few problems with the company as they were plagued by some recalls when they tried to out-source some of the products and took a big hit in the process.

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Click here for more information about coffee, coffee maker, and gourmet coffee.

Coffee Roasting Learning The Fundamental Art Of Making Coffee Can Be Fun

Writen by Nicholas Webb

Coffee roasting from light to very dark, is an art form in itself. Green beans have none of the flavor we are all accustomed to. Coffee roasting brings out the vibrant flavor from the coffee bean. It is true that before roasting, the 'green' bean contains all the complex acids, protein and caffeine, but just a yukky green-like taste that doesn't resemble coffee.

It is the heat from the roasting process that cause the coffee bean's carbohydrates and fats to turn into aromatic oils. During coffee roasting moisture and carbon dioxide are burnt away, thus breaking down and enhancing the acids and providing the wonderful coffee flavor.

Coffee roasting provides the flavor, but understanding your roast is important too

Coffee roasting is only part of the equation of a true connoisseur, we also have to consider the blend to really reach perfection. It is difficult, if not impossible to describe the taste of a particular roast, as there are so many variants, coffee bean types and roasting times. However as an approximate guide, the following will certainly help you get a better understanding of the coffee roasting basics:

Light Coffee Roasting

Also known as Cinnamon roast, or New England. Set your roaster to about seven minutes. The coffee beans will grow to almost double their size and your light roast is ready. This kind of coffee is very easy to find from mass market coffee roasters. The bean is dry to touch and offers a light bodied flavor that is rather sour to taste.

Medium Coffee Roasting

Your medium roast coffee is also known as Breakfast, American, full City and Regular. To obtain this level of roasting you'll need to set your roaster anywhere from nine to eleven minutes. Perhaps not quite as abundant as light roast in the stores, however it is not so difficult to find. The flavor is sweeter than light roast, and offers a more full bodied cup with a deeper more satisfying aroma.

Dark Coffee Roasting

Also known as French or Continental roast. In order to obtain a nice dark roast around thirteen minutes are necessary. the beans will start to hiss as the oils reach the hot surface of the beans. Dark roast coffee provides a nice deep taste, somewhat spicy and rather sweet.

Really Dark Coffee Roasting

This is about as dark as it gets before the quality of the beans start to deteriorate. Also known as espresso, or Italian roast. Depending on the coffee roaster fourteen to fifteen minutes will be enough to provide a nice Italian style roast. As with dark roasting, the beans will hiss (remember the oils?) and then start to smoke. The natural sugar content of the beans will start to carbonize and caramelize. The results will be a smokey, full flavor.

Remember, coffee is more than just a passion. For a wide range or articles, tips and tricks ranging from coffee beans to coffee making machines, click over to http://www.AllAbout-Coffee-Beans.com