Jan 23 2009
Specialty Gourmet Coffee
Supermarket coffee might be fine for your everyday, get-up-in-the-morning cup of coffee. But on those occasions when you want to relax and savour your brew, a nice specialty gourmet coffee is a must.
Finding gourmet coffee can be a challenge if you don’t live in a large urban area that has some fine food stores you can go browsing in. Thankfully, many quality coffee suppliers have gone online and you can now order beans from anywhere in the world.
These days, you can order your coffee beans from any of the famous coffee-growing regions around the globe with just a phone call or a click of your mouse. If you’re not sure what to choose from the huge selection out there, here is a quick run-down on some of the finer regions that you should sample from.
Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is some of the most exclusive in the world, and usually the most expensive to buy. The region is small, but the high Caribbean mountain area has the perfect climate from growing coffee. Blue Mountain coffee is known for its very smooth and mild flavour, with none of the bitterness that you can find in some blends.
The next spot you might want to try would be Hawaii. There are several different regions for coffee in Hawaii, but the best would be Kona coffee. Kona coffee is grown on the slopes of either Mount Hualalai or Mauna Loa on the big island of Hawaii. Coffee from Kona is also smooth, though with a stronger flavour than Blue Mountain. There is a bit of spiciness to it as well.
When buying a regional gourmet coffee, be careful of any that are labeled as a blend. You can end up buying a bag of beans containing only 10% from that region. That doesn’t make it bad coffee, but you shouldn’t be paying high prices for coffee that is made up of mostly cheaper beans.