Coffee, the brew, that more than half the people around the world need to kick start the day. Ever wondered about the origins of this humble but oh so important cup of joy and how it landed up on the shelf in your neighborhood store? Did you also know that everyday there are about four hundred million cups of coffee consumed around the world? It all began about two thousand years ago and today it has a market where the output as a commodity is a close second to petroleum in its dollar value.
Coffee by itself is broadly categorized into two main types – the Arabia which started out on the Arabian Peninsula and the Robusta which has twice the amount of caffeine. Apart from this there are at least a dozen bean varieties in existence today. The beans are red or green in type and here the red is known for its higher aroma and lower acid content and it is this type that is used to make some of the finer coffees of the world.
The coffee berry or cherry as it is called, is not of any value by itself but yes, the bean inside it, thats the one which has all the importance attached to it. It is this bean that is aged, roasted, ground and then sent on for brewing. The...