Gourmet Coffee

Looking for the unique gift that will make them feel special? Share your passion for exotic gourmet coffee with our gourmet coffee gift box. Each coffee gift box includes one pound of each of the finest Volcanica Coffees.

• Volcanica Blue Mountain Coffee
• Volcanica Reserve - Costa Rican Coffee
• Volcanica Original - Costa Rica Coffee
• Volcanica Gran Reserve - Kona Peaberry Coffee

Each gourmet coffee gift box is shipped in a decorative holiday gift box with the coffee bags nestled in decorative crinkle cut paper. Price for only $99.99 and it includes free shipping.

A new study finds slight a increase in fatty acids in participants who consumed decaf coffee.

DALLAS - Fresh questions are percolating about the health effects of coffee, this time the decaffeinated variety. One of the first substantial studies to test it like a drug instead of just asking people how much of it they consumed found higher blood levels of cholesterol-precursor fats in those drinking decaf vs. regular coffee or none at all.

But the differences were very small, especially when compared with the effects of, say, the doughnut that might be dunked into the brew.

"I don't think there's a health threat," regardless of which type of coffee is consumed, said Dr. H. Robert Superko of Fuqua Heart Center in Atlanta, who did the study when previously at Stanford University. He reported on it Wednesday at an
American Heart Association conference.

The 187 volunteers were put into three groups: no coffee, 3 to 6 cups a day of regular, or 3 to 6 cups of decaf. Coffee was consumed black, no cream or sugar. Diet surveys were taken for a week at the beginning and the end so researchers could evaluate whether changes in eating habits might have affected results.

The result: decaf drinkers had modestly higher levels — 8 to 18 percent — of fatty acids and precursors of LDL or bad cholesterol than the others. Read full article

From AINSWORTH, Iowa
We're all familiar with the slogan, "The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup." But what if you found a dead reptile in your package of coffee? Well, Marge Morris says she drank turtle coffee. For a coffee lover like her, the morning routine wouldn't be complete without a cup of coffee.

"I had my sips of coffee, and I thought this tastes a bit bitter," said Morris.

But Sunday's brew didn't taste right to Morris. Her taste buds detected something out of the ordinary, but it was her eyes that saw something bizarre.

"I could see like a hard spot like a rock or something. I thought I've got to find out what it is. So, I pulled it out and that's when I found Mr. Turtle,” said Morris.

It was a two-inch turtle, in one piece, at the bottom of Morris' bag of Folgers Classic Roast Coffee.

The next day Morris called the company, and a Folgers employee told her it was probably packaged in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The plant reopened September 18, where it makes more than half of Folgers' products.

Sussane Dussing, a spokeswoman for Procter and Gamble, which owns Folgers, said there wasn't enough evidence, yet, to explain the turtle.

Morris isn't mad. Her preferences have just changed a little.

"Today I have some tea. It's safer because it's in a bag,” said Morris.

Morris won't file a lawsuit against Folgers. In fact, she threw out the package of coffee, but she's storing Mr. Turtle in her freezer as a keepsake.

Dussing's not aware of any other reports like this. She said the company will begin a full investigation after it talks to Morris. See full article.

This Fall we have lowed our prices on our gourmet coffees and now offer free shipping. Try our selection of Costa Rican coffees and try our Volcanica Reserve Costa Rican Coffee with its silky yet robust flavor that will pick you up, now only $14.99. Or relax with our Volcanica Original Costa Rica Coffee with a smooth flavor for only $12.99.

You can also save $5 on our exotic Blue Mountain Coffee or Kona Coffee. These prices are only for a limited time. We also offer free shipping on 3 or more items. Please visit us today at the home for fine gourmet coffee beans.

There was a special segment on NBC news tonight that found more evidence of the health benefits of drinking coffee. The surprising finding is that women who drank the most coffee were at the lowest risk of developing hypertentions. See the video clip:

Here’s good news for women who love coffee: Drinking it doesn’t seem to cause long-term high blood pressure, a study suggests.

But for some reason, women in the same study who drank sodas did seem to have a greater risk of high blood pressure. Researchers were surprised at that and cautioned that the study wasn’t conclusive.

Caffeine is a well-known ingredient in both beverages, and has been shown to cause short-term increases in blood pressure. But coffee drinkers in the study were no more likely than abstainers to develop high blood pressure during 12 years of follow-up.

Antioxidants in coffee
There was even some evidence that women who drank lots of coffee — four or more daily cups of regular or decaf — faced a slightly lower risk for developing high blood pressure than those who drank little or none.

Winkelmayer said that may be because coffee has lots of antioxidants, substances which are thought to help protect the heart and reduce risks of cancer. Read full article.

Costa Rica had been experiencing difficulties from the this years active hurricane season. Costa Rica has lost between 5 and 10 % of its 2005-06 coffee crop due to heavy rains caused by recent hurricanes, the head of the Costa Rican Coffee Institute said. Costa Rica`s forecast for the season had been 2.8 million quintals but beans had been knocked from plants by the rain and the spread of a fungus caused by the greater moisture. Hurricane Stan and Hurricane Wilma missed Costa Rica but the large rain bands associated the storms brought them weeks of heavy rains, causing flooding in the Pacific coast region of the country and washing out roads in mountainous, coffee-growing areas. In addition to crop damage the farmers are experiencing access problems reaching their plants to harvest

Costa Rica Coffee is the second largest source of income for the country after tourism.

New data from the annual coffee survey from the National Coffee Association (NCA) is begining to come out. Below is an except from an excellent article about coffee the mentions the survey but it is mainly about sustainable and shade grown coffee and the difficulties of coffee farmers.

According to 2005 data from the National Coffee Association (NCA), 80 percent of Americans drink coffee occasionally, while 53 percent drink it daily. America’s 236 million coffee consumers spent an estimated $19 billion on the beverage in 2004, or $80.50 per person. Coffee accounts for 91 percent of the U.S. hot drink market by volume and 76 percent by value, according to the market research firm Euromonitor International.

Although coffee isn’t quite as popular in the U.S. as it was during its heyday in the 1960s, when per-capita consumption reached 3.1 cups per day, it is still ubiquitous (2004 per capita consumption was 1.64 cups per day). Interestingly, the NCA reports that consumption jumped by four percentage points from 2004 to 2005 among consumers age 18 to 24, bringing daily consumption among this group up by 10 percentage points over the last three years. And if it seems like there’s now a new coffee joint on every corner, that’s not far from the truth. By 2003, the total number of retail coffee shops in the U.S. had swelled to 17‚400‚ up from 15‚400 in 2002, 8‚400 in 1997 and 1,400 in 1987.

Globally, more than 500 billion cups of coffee are made each year, making the steamy beverage a commodity second only to oil in terms of dollars traded worldwide. About 58 percent of coffee is consumed in Europe, the United States and Japan, although 25 percent is poured in the countries in which the beans are grown, according to the International Coffee Organization. The fastest growth in consumption is occurring in the Asian and Pacific region and in Central and Eastern Europe. Although the U.S. buys the most coffee by volume, per-capita consumption is actually highest in the Nordic countries, where Finns, for example, partake of more than four cups a day on average. Read the full article.

After my in-law broke our only coffee press before the hurricane I need to add this to list of neccessities to have in case of a hurricane, a Frech press. Hurricane Wilma tore through our area this week and took out the electricity in our home for 3 days. On the first day, feeling confident since I had everything prepared, I fired up the grill and was ready to boil water for my coffee press. Then my wife explained to me that the glass in the Fresch press broke. I had to resort to pouring hot water through a strainer with a coffee filter.

So much for preparation for a gourmet coffee professional. The tip of the week, make sure you have a French press before a hurricane arrive. Oh, and grind your beans ahead of time.

All right now, this is going to get a little gross for most of us. When I first heard of it I thought it was a joke but I researched it and found it to be true. There is a "gourmet coffee" that gets its flavor by passing through the digestive system of a wild animals.

The Kopi Luwak is supposidly most expensive coffee in the world. The beans are passed through an Indonesian wild cat known as a palm civet, a dark brown tree-dwelling cat-like creature found throughout Southeast Asia (people have mistakenly called them monkeys). Coffee pickers then pick them up as they excrete them whole without any dung.

Most of the beans are sold in Japanese buyers. Experts believe the wild cats give the drink a unique earthy taste and say it smells musty.

Yuck!

If you don't need to impress your high-brow friends stick to just fine gourmet coffees.

Shade grown coffee magically creates some of the best tasting gourmet coffees. By definition, shade grown coffees are simply coffee beans grown beneath a natural canopy of trees, not on cleared land. The natural surrounding of trees besides giving shade also provides a habitat for birds that feed on insects eliminating the use of pesticides and enrich and conserve the soil.

Shade trees such bananas, plantains eucalyptus and indigenous trees provide a canopy of protections of day-long sunlight from the coffee plants. The canopy prevents the sun from bleaching nutrients from the topsoil. The base and roots of the trees also prevent soil erosion. Some farmers mix in other types of farm trees such as bananas and plantains to help supplement their farm income while providing the side benefit for the coffee plants and the environment.

The Volcanic coffees from Costa Rica and Kona are all shade grown coffee and have been verified that they comply with this designation. We personally inspect our farms to verify they are incompliance.

Data gathered by Harvard researchers over the course of almost 20 years indicates that having six cups of coffee a day or more lowers the risk of diabetes in men by 54% and women 30% over those who don`t drink coffee.
According to WebMD.com, there are at least six studies that indicate that there is a direct correlation between the amount of coffee one drinks and the probability that he will develop Parkinson`s later in life.

Three of the six studies concluded that the more coffee one drinks, the lower the risk and that those who drink it on a regular basis are "up to 80% less likely to develop Parkinson`s."

Other research, reported on by the Chicago Tribune, says that at least two cups daily can reduce the risk of colon cancer by 25%, liver cirrhosis by 80%, and be a preventative measure in dealing with gallstones. Also, there is indication that coffee may help lift one`s mood and help reduce anxiety and depression.

Though it is the strong antioxidants that cause the above health benefits, scientists have concluded that caffeine can also have a strong positive impact on athleticism.
In fact, its effect on endurance and performance is so strong that it has been considered a `controlled substance` by the Olympic Game Committee in recent years. This means that competitors are only permitted to drink very small, pre-determined amounts of it.

The cafenets of Constantinople and Damascus were the prototypes of the great Western coffee houses. Simple and comfortable with prints and rugs decorating the walls they were located in cool pleasant open squares, often with a view onto a water way or landscape. These represented a welcome refuge from the scorching desert. Friends met there to talk and contemplate life. Backgammon and chess were played in coffee houses and it is said the game of bridge originated in the coffee houses of Constantinople.

We just revamped our Coffee Recipes web page. It contains a collection various recipes to enjoy gourmet coffee. Some hot, some cold and some exotic. Here is one of my favorites:

Bailey's Irish Coffee

1 cup hot gourmet coffee
1 shot of Bailey's Irish Cream

Combine your gourmet coffee and Bailey's Irish Cream. Top with whipped cream and serve. Makes 1 serving.

Now this is taking the unwired world to the next phase in home automation:

LONDON: Next time you fancy a cup of tea you really don't need to make a tiring face, as a kettle manufacturing company has bridged the gap between you and your first sip of the refreshment by collaborating with a mobile phone company to create the world's first satellite kettle. Now, just tap out a text message and the job's half done.

Tea makers 'PG Tips' have joined forces with mobile phone company 'Orange' to create a kettle, called "the ReadyWhenUR", which lets you brew via a text message.

Now, all you need to do is text the words "switch on", even when you're on the way home from work or lolling in the lounge watching TV, and the water will be on the boil by the time you get to the kitchen. Read full article.

The only think left is to add cream and sugar.

Another coffee show on TV this Saturday. The History Channel's Modern Marvels series will air a show about coffee at 1 pm EST. Here is the short description from their website:

Traces the origins of this tasty drink from Ethiopia over 1,000 years ago to the espresso-fueled explosion of specialty coffee stores like Starbucks today. Along the way, we'll see how American companies like Hills Brothers, Maxwell House, Folgers and MJB grew to be giants. Discover how billions of coffee beans make their journey from coffee farms and plantations, and are processed in gigantic roasting and packaging plants before showing up in coffee cups all over the world. Details the invention and production of instant coffee, decaffeinated coffee and freeze-dried coffee, and the espresso machine. Also, we explain how coffee made shift work in factories possible, while coffeehouses provided a creative cauldron that brewed political and artistic progress in the 18th and 19th centuries. And, we also provide tips on how to make a better cup at home

Tune In:
Saturday, October 8 @ 1pm ET/PT

Sounds very descriptive covering the many facets of the world of gourmet coffees.

On the Food Network this week is a show on coffee:

Secret Life of... Coffee
Coffee is the dark rich brew that gives you a boost in the morning and a break in the afternoon. In fact, as a world commodity coffee beans are second only to oil. How did a little bean become such a beloved beverage? Find out how when we reveal the Secret Life of Coffee.

AIR TIMES:
October 08, 2005 3:00 PM ET/PT
October 23, 2005 6:00 PM ET/PT

Coffee drinking from the beginning has been associated with artist, scholars and the witty folk. Ideas and liberal opinions generated around coffee cups from Constantinople to the coffee houses of the eighteenth century New England have made rulers from Amurath III to George III fear coffee's influence. Charles II tried to close the London coffee houses in 1675, when he rightly connected them with the progressive political sentiments that were to change the course of the British Empire. Eleven days after his "Proclamation for the Suppression of the Coffee Houses" was issued, he was forced to withdraw the order due to indignant public outcry from all parties.

The ideology and leadership of the French Revolution was first tested in Parisian coffee houses. The merchants of coffee house in New York was the government headquarters in the days immediately following the outbreak of the American Revolution.

If you are a rebel or an advance thinker, drink up you are in good company.

The earliest coffee drinkers from 900-1000 A.D. documented in Arabic scientific documents scientific qualities of the coffee bean. In addition to describing stomach benefits the writers noted that coffee gave "an excellent smell to the whole body." There is truth in that coffee does have an unusual quality of appearing to retain its aroma throught the sweat glands. One will note this in heavy coffee drinkers where the coffee smell still is present on their body hours after their last cup. In the days before people took baths on a regular basis and in areas where water was not in great supply, people must have greatly appreciated this deoderant effect that coffee provided.

Burger King Corp. Chief Executive Greg Brenneman said on Tuesday the No. 2 burger chain will launch a new coffee brand called "BK Joe" in the next 10 days, beating McDonald's Corp.'s nationwide rollout of its new coffee blend by several months.

The blend will replace Burger King's existing coffee, which Brenneman said "wasn't any good." Read full article.

National Coffee Association's National Coffee Drinking Trends of 2004 survey that found that approximately 16% of American adults drink specialty coffee on a daily basis and nearly 56% drink gourmet coffee on an occasional basis.

Millions of people around the globe rely on coffee to start their day. But the caffeine boost found in your morning cup of joe does more than wake you up. It can also help you work out longer and harder at the gym. Read full article.

“Everybody is asking about the situation at the warehouses,” said Rodrigo Costa, a broker at Fimat USA LLC in New York. “We still don't know the damage from the last hurricane.” Read full article.

This is an old article I just came across but it reveals the sneaky tactics that some coffee retaielrs and roasters employ. Next time you buy a gourmet coffee label as a single origin such as Kona Coffee or Costa Rica Coffee check to see how much of it is really what they claim it to be. Often times you only get 5% of pure and 95% junk coffee.

For nine years, millions of coffee lovers who believed they were enjoying the expensive Hawaiian brand might actually have been drinking cheaper Central American coffee.

But now Michael L. Norton, the man accused by federal officials of doing a bean switch and defrauding people out of drinking pure Kona coffee, is saying he didn't fool anybody. Read full article.

Is a cup of coffee the nation's No. 1 source of cancer prevention?

According to a study by University of Scranton Chemistry Prof. Joe Vinson, coffee is the No. 1 source of antioxidants - cancer-fighting enzymes - in American diets. Vinson and his research team, who have previously done studies on chocolate's benefits, analyzed the antioxidant content of various foods commonly consumed in the average American diet based on data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Dates, red grapes, pomegranates and other fruits are richer than coffee in antioxidants, in addition to providing fiber and other nutrients, but Americans do not eat much fruit in comparison, according to Vinson. Read full article.

Another report this time from ABC News.

Enjoying a cup of coffee while reading this story? Well, keep on sipping because a new study shows that coffee has health benefits.

A study released today from the University of Scranton revealed that coffee is America's No. 1 source of antioxidants, an important compound that protects your body from disease.

"Antioxidants are your army to protect you from the toxic free radicals, which come from breathing oxygen and eating sugar, that start chronic diseases," said Dr. Joe Vinson, the chemistry professor who led the coffee study. "Antioxidants help stave off cancer, heart disease, diabetes and stroke." Read full article.

For more information see our article on healthy coffee.

Procter & Gamble Co. said yesterday that its Folgers and Millstone coffee brands may temporarily disappear from store shelves because of a halt in production caused by Hurricane Katrina, but added that it hopes to have some coffee-making operations running soon. About half of P&G`s Folger`s and Millstone brand coffees are produced at two factories in New Orleans. The company suspended production at the facilities ahead of the storm. "Folgers and Millstone coffee may be temporarily unavailable or may appear on-shelf in different packaging until operations resume," P&G said in a statement, adding that it notified retailers of the possible shortages on Monday. P&G said it is in the process of restoring production at the Folgers plant.

More trouble from Hurricane Katrina. As reported earlier that impact to the coffee distribution facilities in New Orleans is starting to show its effect.

Hurricane Katrina's ill winds blew nobody any good and it's likely to rain on your grocery bill, particularly if you enjoy coffee, tropical fruit and seafood.

As of last week, Chicago's two biggest grocery chains weren't admitting that the storm would make a difference to customers. "We don't see shortages at this moment," snapped Juanita Kocanda, spokeswoman for Jewel-Osco. Higher prices? "We don't see that either," she said. "I can't speculate."

"At this point we've not changed anything," said Wynona Redmond of Dominick's. "It's too early to tell what the impact will be. We receive our supplies from many sources.

Sara Lee processes about 10 percent of its coffee in a plant in Hanrahan, La., just outside New Orleans. "It's under water," Economos said. "That's where all our specialty coffee comes from. Fortunately, that's not the bulk of what we do. Competitor Proctor & Gamble, however, produces more than half the output for Folgers brand coffee in Louisiana." Read full article.

The origin of the phrase "cup of joe" goes back to the early 1900s and Admiral Josephus Daniels. Admiral Daniels was secretary of the navy in the Wilson administration during World War I . After he outlawed alcohol on ships, coffee becaome the favorite beverage of naval crews. Hence the name "cup of joe."

Coffeehouses were first introduced in the Near East. They became so popular that the number of worshippers at mosques declined and religious leaders denounced the coffee establishments. Because Muslims were not allowed to drink wine, they drank so much coffee it was dubbed the "wine of Araby."

New Orleans is a major shipping port for coffee from the America's and Africa. Now reports are coming out of New Orleans that up to 8% of the U.S. coffee consumption was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Hurricane Katrina may have destroyed 1.5 million sacks of coffee stored at warehouses in New Orleans, raising the global price of coffee and benefiting coffee growers across the world, officials said yesterday. Green coffee is usually stored in warehoused for shipment to roasters. Read full article.

If you have not had the opportunity to bless some of the needed people from the devastation caused by Hurrican Katrina below are three great organization that needs your donations right now:

Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Donations
Southern Baptist Disaster Relief -– the third largest volunteer relief organization in the United States -– prepares the majority of meals distributed through the American Red Cross in a disaster. Southern Baptist Disaster Relief has more than 600 mobile disaster response units and 30,000 trained volunteers. State Baptist conventions recruit and train volunteers from Southern Baptist churches. NAMB coordinates multi-state and international responses by Southern Baptist Disaster Relief.

North American Mission Board Disaster Relief Fund

Phone	1 888 571-5895
Mail	North American Mission Board P.O. Box 116543 Atlanta, GA 30368-6543 Make checks payable to the North American Board (NAMB) and put "disaster relief" in the memo line.
Online	www.namb.net/disasterrelief

American Red Cross
Victims of Hurricane Katrina are attempting to recover from the massive storm. American Red Cross volunteers have been deployed to the hardest hit areas of Katrina�s destruction, supplying hundreds of thousands victims left homeless with critical necessities. By making a financial gift to support Hurricane Katrina Relief efforts, the Red Cross can provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those affected by Hurricane Katrina.


Salvation Army
Salvation Army volunteers, employees and officers are serving residents and first responders in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in what is expected to be a multi-million dollar relief effort.


Visit the USA National web site for the latest news and information about how you can help


“Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28, NLT).

More evidence to support healthy coffee. Now researchers find that it may lower the risk of liver cancer.

A new epidemiological study conducted in Japan confirmed a previous finding that drinking coffee may lower the risk of death from liver cancer.

When all factors were taken into consideration, the researchers found that the hazard ratio of hepatocellurlar carcinoma mortality for those who drank one or more cups a day versus those who did not drink coffee was 0.50. The hazard ratio for those who drank less than one cup a day versus those who did not drink coffee was 0.83.

The results confirmed an inverse association between coffee consumption and hepatocellular carcinoma mortality. One earlier study reported in April 2005 by U. Gelatti and colleagues in Italy found the inverse association between coffee drinking and heptatocellular carcinoma. Read full article.

Here are 25 amazing facts about the world's favorite beverage that I found in an article from the U.K.

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1. ACCORDING to folklore the coffee bean was discovered by an Ethiopian goatherd. He noticed his animals were getting frisky after nibbling the berries from a certain tree, so he tried some himself.
2. THE world's most expensive coffee comes from beans that have passed through the digestive systems of Indonesian monkeys. The brew, called Kopi Luwak, costs around £5 a cup and has an "earthy" taste.
3. COFFEE is the world's most popular stimulant. Around 3,400 cups are consumed every second of the day around the world - and Americans alone get through over 400 million cups a day.
4. THE brew comes from the seed of a cherry which grows on the coffee tree and is popular with civet cats. The average coffee tree produces a kilogram of coffee per year. The seeds are red when picked. They only develop their brown color and smell when roasted.
5. ALL 53 coffee-growing countries lie along the equator. Brazil produces a third of the world's output - 2 million tons every year.
6. THE New York Stock Exchange and Lloyd's of London both started as coffee houses.
7. TURKISH bridegrooms must make a promise during their wedding ceremony to always provide their wives with coffee. Failure to do so is grounds for divorce.
8. INSTANT coffee was invented in 1906 by George Constant Washington, an English chemist living in Guatemala. His discovery came after noticing a fine powder of dried coffee from vapors on his coffee pot.
9. CAPPUCCINO gets its name from its foam topping which is believed to resemble the hooded robe of the Roman Catholic Capuchin Friars.
10. THE word "coffee" comes from the Arab word qahwa which translates as "that which prevents sleep".
11. ROASTED coffee beans start to lose their flavor after two weeks; ground begins to lose its flavor in one hour. Brewed coffee and espresso loses its flavor within minutes.
12. COFFEE is the second most traded product in the world after oil. Coffee production tips the scales at around 6 million metric tons and the industry employs more than 25 million people.
13. WITHDRAWL is also one of the most common causes of headaches.
14. IT is the most common ingredient in anti-cellulite creams. Coffee is believed to stimulate the skin into breaking down pockets of fat. Cindy Crawford goes one step further and rubs coffee beans on her thighs to banish dimples.
15. DRINKING coffee improves the effectiveness of aspirin and other painkillers. But with caffeine with there are more than 25 strains of coffee but most brews come from three beans - Robusta, Liberia and Arabica, the latter representing 70 per cent of total production.
16. IF you screamed continuously for eight years, seven months, and six days you would produce enough energy to heat a cup of coffee.
17. AROUND 57 per cent of brewed coffee is consumed at breakfast. Forty per cent of coffee drinkers prefer their brew black and the average coffee drinker gets through three cups a day.
18. MORE than 30 million viewers tuned in to watch the Gold Blend couple in their last advertisement in 1993. The campaign was voted one of the top 100 of all time and spawned a book, two CDs and a video.
19. WOMEN in the Kona region of Hawaii believe the rich texture and pleasant perfume of their coffee makes it perfect for exfoliating their skin. And Japanese women believe bathing in coffee granules fermented with pineapple pulp helps ward off wrinkles.
20. YOUR morning espresso could save you a trip to the dentist. Italian researchers discovered some chemicals in coffee can help stop tooth decay by preventing bacteria from attaching to your teeth.
21. A COFFEE craze swept Turkey until Ottoman Sultan outlawed it in 1543. But the underground trade boomed and he later relented. In 1554, the first coffee house was set up in Istanbul.
22. COFFEE was believed by some Christians to be the devil's drink. Pope Vincent III heard this and decided to taste it before he banished it. He enjoyed it so much he baptized it, saying coffee is so delicious it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it."
23. CHARLES II tried to suppress coffee- houses, because men were neglecting their families to discuss business and politics over coffee. He changed his mind after a public outcry.
24. BACH wrote a coffee cantata in 1732.
25. THE first European coffee was sold in pharmacies in 1615 as a medical remedy.

Read full article.

Another great reason to drink up with your favorite cup of gourmet coffee from the newswires. Now it looks like coffee drinkers have more sex!

A survey, commissioned by Dunkin' Donuts, also found that coffee drinkers reported more robust romance, with two-thirds of respondents saying they had sex once a week or more. Only 58 percent of non-coffee drinkers reported as much action, according to the survey, with more than 1,200 respondents. Read the full article.

Another article in today's newswires reports the health benefits of coffee. Coffee is rich in antioxidants that are important for the human body:

Coffee not only helps clear the mind and perk up the energy, it also provides more healthful antioxidants than any other food or beverage in the U.S. diet, according to a study released Sunday.

Of course, too much coffee can make people jittery and even raise cholesterol levels, so food experts stress moderation.

The findings by Joe Vinson, a chemistry professor at the University of Scranton, in Pennsylvania, give a healthy boost to the warming beverage.

"The point is, people are getting the most antioxidants from beverages, as opposed to what you might think,'' Vinson said in a phone interview.

Antioxidants, which are thought to help battle cancer and provide other health benefits, are abundant in grains, tomatoes, and many other fruits and vegetables. Read the full article.

JAKARTA: Indonesian coffee exporters may be scrabbling to fill ships as farmers hold back stocks in the hope that a weakening rupiah will lift domestic prices, a senior industry official said on Friday.

Coffee bean prices in Indonesia, the world’s third-largest producer of robustas after Vietnam and Brazil, have risen by more than a fifth in recent weeks, to about 8,500 rupiah ($0.77) a kg from 7,000, said Rachim Kartabrata, executive secretary at the Association of Indonesian Coffee Exporters. Kartabrata said domestic prices could rise further as the rupiah, which has declined 6 percent this month, hit a fresh 3-1/2-year low of 10,460 to a dollar on Friday. Read full article

According to the National Coffee Association USA, 49 percent of Americans age 18 or older drink some type of coffee beverage daily, and many of them are waiting in lines at specialty coffee retailers to get their fix. The cafe segment of the specialty coffee market -- including cafes, kiosks, carts and coffee bean roaster/retailers -- reached $8.47 billion in 2003 and continues to grow. Read full article.

World coffee production for the coming season is projected to top 113 million bags, down about 6 percent, with production drops in Brazil, Peru, Vietnam and Ethiopia. Since Brazil is the largest coffee producer, swings in Brazil's supplies of coffee account for a large portion of the change in world total supplies of coffee. Total coffee supplies are forecast at 136.3 million bags, down 4 percent. Read full article.

I just started using a coffee press and I really does bring out rich flavor in your gourmet coffee. On Saturday I made a Blue Mountain Coffee and it tasted much better that our regular drip machine. Yes it is more work but for what many people spend on coffee beans, the coffee press gets you the most enjoyment out of it. This is not something that I can do every day due to the extra time required but it is a nice thing to do on a weekend.

A coffee press will yield the most flavor from your coffee beans but there is a risk. Because the coffee press uses a metallic filter instead of paper none of the cholesterol found in coffee is filtered out.

Paper filters out the majority of cholesterol. The best way around this is to run your coffee through a paper filter after you use your coffee press. You can still enjoy great gourmet coffee and stay healthy!

Very sad news for lovers of the champaign of coffee. News released last week from Reuters reports there is a major shortage of Blue Mountain Coffee because of the recent hurricanes.

LONDON, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Coffee connoisseurs may soon struggle to find the famed Jamaican Blue Mountain, one of the world's most expensive coffees, after hurricanes devastated this year's crop on the Caribbean island.
Jamaican Blue Mountain arabica, known as the champagne of coffees, risks becoming dearer still because Hurricane Ivan in September ruined 60 percent of the harvest just as it started.

Hurricane Dennis in July has also taken its toll, plunging the industry into its worst crisis since 1988, when Hurricane Gilbert damaged 70 percent of the island's coffee fields and factories and shut down production for almost two years.

Only about 1,000 tonnes of Blue Mountain beans are produced a year, equivalent to three hours' coffee output in Colombia, and Japan snaps up at least 90 percent of that. The U.S. and Europe split the rest.

"The connoisseur is definitely in trouble. We're not sure as yet what is going to happen but it is going to cause havoc," said Giles Hilton, product director at British tea and coffee retailer Whittard of Chelsea Plc .


For the entire Reuters article click here.

Visit our website for authentic Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee Beans

The great iced coffee recipe is actually very simple to prepare. This refreshing drink has not enjoyed the popularity of its cousin, iced tea, primarily because of poor preparation methods. Iced coffee requires more care than tea because the flavorquickly deteriorates after brewing. You cannot use the morning's left-over.

To get great tasting iced coffee you simply brew it at extra strength then pour while hot over ice cubes. Measure one tablespoon to 4 oz. of water rather than the usual 6 oz. The extra strength is needed to combat the dilution from the ice cubes.

Add sugar or cream and you are done! For an extra treat add whipped cream.

Three weeks ago I ordered an iced coffee from a Seattle's Best ciffee shop at the Orlando airport hoping for a refreshing treat. The manager pulled out refrigerated container of coffee and poured it over ice. To my dismay the flavor was bitter, the same bitterness that you experience from old coffee. My guess is that they recycled the left-overs from the previous day.

If you want to enjoy fresh iced coffee you need to prapare it from the scratch, not use your leftovers.

A coffee press or plunger pot is one of the purest methods of brewing your gourmet coffee beans. The coffee press brings out a richer flavor from your coffee beans that you cannot achieve from even the best coffee makers. It does take a little more work to brew your coffee this way but it is rewarding and a little fun doing it the manual way. Here are the quick steps to use your coffee press:

1. Boil the amount of water your are going to use on your stove.
   
2. Grind your beans and measure one tablespoon for each 6 oz. of water.
3. Add coffee grounds to the bottom of the coffee press.
4. Take the boiling water off the stove and pause a few moments then pour it about half of it over the coffee grounds. Stir then add the rest of the water.
   
5. Place the plunger and top over the water and grounds and wait 4-5 minutes for the coffee to brew. Then press the plunger straight down but very slowly.

Pour your cup and enjoy!

For more tips on making coffee visit our how to brew coffee page.

Coffee does have low levels of cholesterol but there is a very simple way to significantly eliminate it. Paper coffee filters have been found to eliminate the majority of the cholesterol that is naturally found in the Coffee Beans.

The use of any other type of metallic coffee filters found in some drip coffee machines or in a coffee press do nothing to eliminate cholesterol. Use only paper coffee filters and keep your arteries clean!

An article in yesterday's USA Weekend by Jean Carper reafirms the health benefits of drinking coffee. When we are trying to sober someone up we often offer them a cup of coffee. Now recent studies show tht coffee may lessen liver damage from alcohol. Research studies conducted in Japan show that drinkers of one or two cups of coffee a day are 30% less likely than non-coffee drinkers to have liver cancer.

The National Institues of Health recent study discovered that Americans at high risk of liver damage who drank more than two cups of coffee a day showed half as much liver damage as non-coffee drinkers. The people in the study had viral hepatitis, drank exessive amounts of alcohol or were overweight. The researchers credit caffeine and antioxidants in the coffee. So if you drink too much alcohol, drink up on the coffee as well.

For more information regarding the health benefits of coffee, see the healthy coffee article at Volcanica Coffee web site.

Welcome to this new blog where we discuss fine gourmet coffee from around the world. To see a complete selection of Volcanica Coffees please visit our Gourmet Coffee Beans home page at www.VolcanicaCoffee.com.