The Gourmet Cupboard

Espresso coffee is a strong small amount of coffee beverage produced as a result of forcing hot water through a plug of coffee grinds under pressure.

A decent espresso must be rich, strong and have a reddish brown foam on its surface – the famous crema. Originally the crema was thought to be undesirable, but now it is thought of as the crucial way to judge the quality of a good espresso. It is the main ingredient and base for most coffee shop drinks including cappuccino and latte.

It is said that the first ever espresso machine was invented in France in 1822 and not Italy as one might expect. In fact espresso machines were around in various forms for over 100 years before the Italian Achille Gaggia applied for the first patent in 1938. Mr Gaggia devised a system using a powered lever system to force hot water through the coffee to produce espresso. The name Gaggia is closely associated with espresso machines even today.

A couple of decades later, in 1960 the Faema Company starting manufacturing machines that used a pump system for producing espresso.

Every espresso machine has at least one brew point, commonly known as a group. Near the coffee points, group handles are fitted which contain the filters and coffee grounds. Usually espresso machines for the home only have a single group head. Espresso equipment used in restaurants and coffee houses often have 2,3 or even 4 group heads. The group handle is fitted with either one or two spouts which direct the espresso into a coffee cup below as it is brewed and forced through. That means an espresso machine can brew up to twice the number of cups as it has group heads simultaneously.

Espresso equipment uses three different types of extraction methods: steam, piston and pump driven. The steam model uses steam to force water into and through the grounds using steam pressure. These were the first type of machines produced and although this technique is not used for commercial equipment it is still used for domestic machines today.

The piston versions use a piston or long lever to pressurise hot water and force it through the coffee. The well known expression, a shot of coffee is supposed to have originated from this. The act of pulling the lever became known as pulling a shot.

The pump espresso machines uses an electric pump to force the water through the coffee so there is no need for an applied manual force. The pump method is commonly used in sturdy commercial coffee equipment suitable for heavy usage.

For more information about espresso machines, coffee machines and the history of coffee visit our website www.cafebar.co.uk

With Green Mountain Coffee, you can enjoy a delicious cup of coffee every morning quickly. They have been making delicious world class coffee blends for a long time now. Everyone is well aware of the pleasures of a steaming cup of coffee in the mornings. Green Mountain Coffee can turn lazy mornings into a delightful experience. With gourmet blends of exotic coffee and flavors that go beyond your taste buds to deeply rejuvenate and refresh your senses. So just grab yourself a cup of hot coffee and let yourself be a victim of sinful taste.

Green Mountain Coffee is a well known name in the world of gourmet coffee. For decades now, they have been bringing top notch quality and breathtaking taste to your kitchens. This unique brand has always ensured high quality by using only the best coffee beans from the best coffee estates around the world. They have a high technology processing system that yields the best flavor of pure natural coffee and retains the freshness and delightful taste. Their system uses k cups to brew single servings in a Keurig coffee maker. What really makes Green Mountain Coffee special however is their extensive collection of blends and huge array of flavors that really make them stand out of the huge crowd of coffee brands.

You may be a huge coffee enthusiast and may have a few unique recipes up your sleeve. But admittedly, it’s quite impossible to blend a huge number of restaurant quality coffee recipes at home. Most often, you would just wake up in the morning, pick up a packet of instant coffee mix and just go from there. But your mornings need not be that routine or repetitive any more. Green Mountain Coffee offers you k cups in over one hundred unique blends of coffee. From light and mild blends to full bodied dark coffee, you can have anything you like brewed in a Keurig coffee maker. And not just for coffee lovers, Green Mountain Coffee has some brilliant options for chocolate lovers too. Specially flavored hot cocoa blends are also available to suit your taste.

Green Mountain Coffee offers a vast selection of flavors to pick from, so you never fall short of options. You can literally sip a brand new cup of coffee every morning. Nantucket Blend Breakfast Blend, Fair Trade Vermont, and many others are some of the flavors Green Mountain Coffee offers.

A steaming hot cup of coffee is an absolute delight in the morning or after a long day at work. Coffee is a great conversation starter and a cup of coffee is an amazing thing to bond over. And when this cup of coffee is a cup of freshly brewed coffee, it couldn’t get any better. So just grab yourself a cup of hot coffee and sit back and relax while Green Mountain Coffee does its job of lifting your senses.

Thanks to the advent of Keurig cups, you no longer need to wait for your morning coffee to brew in a pot. You can now have a fresh cup brewed just for you in a matter of seconds. Just pick up a k cup, set it inside of the Keurig coffee maker and fresh, steaming coffee starts pouring into your cup. K cups are a path breaking innovation from the house of Keurig.

So if you are wondering what these Keurig cups are all about, well, these are pre-packaged, vacuum sealed coffee mix pouches that come in a cup. These cups contain all the ingredients required to make a cup of hot coffee. All they need is some boiling hot water. That job is done by a Keurig coffee maker. When you place a Keurig cup in the coffee maker and press the button, a tube punctures the Keurig cup and sends a stream of scalding hot water running through it. This hot water instantly mixed with the proportionate blend of coffee in the Keurig cup and makes a cup of delicious coffee. This coffee is then delivered to your cup using a dispensing nozzle. So all you need to really do is push a button, and your coffee is brewed before you can spell the word coffee! Isn’t that amazing now.

And that’s not all. There’s more to the pleasures of K cups. How many flavors of coffee can you brew at home? Two? Maybe three? Well, I can do just one. But with K cups, you can savor up to two hundred different kinds of coffee. So you can have a new coffee every morning. That’s because Keurig cups come in a huge variety of flavors from light blends to dark espressos. The range of flavors on offer is incredible. Some of the flavors come from the remotest parts of the world. Rich, aromatic and exotic, Keurig cups are a gift of god for all coffee lovers and others too. Yes, K cups also come in some very fine blends of tea, hot cocoa and iced beverages. So there’s something for everyone out there.

K cups are specially packed with a vacuum seal to lock in the flavors and keep the coffee blend fresh and aromatic for a long time. So you can have fresh Brazilian coffee or hot green mountain tea sitting in your living room, without worrying about any compromise in the flavor.

Keurig cups are especially useful for offices and commercial spaces where a lot of people need coffee and each one needs it at a different time. No more waiting for someone to blend a pot full of coffee and serve everyone. You can now have your own, fresh out of a Keurig cup.

Green Mountain Coffee is a well known name in the coffee world. Based in Waterbury, Vermont, Green Mountain Coffee has been offering its customers great quality coffee for a long time now. What could be better than a steaming cup of coffee on a lazy morning? Or for that matter, any time of the day, a good cup of coffee can really lift up your spirits. That is what Green Mountain Coffee likes to do. Lift up your spirits and put you in the best of your mood with the best coffee blends from around the world.

Green Mountain Coffee uses only the best quality coffee beans and puts them through a unique processing system that preserves the flavor of the coffee. What really makes them stand out of the crowd however, is their extensive range of exotic blends. With some unique flavors and intoxicating aroma, a cup of Green Mountain Coffee fills up your senses and refreshes your spirits instantly. No matter how big a coffee enthusiast you are, just how many different blends of coffee can you have up your sleeve? Two or three, or maybe four. But no matter how hard you try, being able to prepare two hundred different flavors of restaurant quality coffee at home is not an easy task. Green mountain coffee offers more than two hundred different blends of coffee, each with a unique flavor. So you can have a different taste of coffee each time.

Green Mountain Coffee has now also taken over Keurig cups to make your coffee experience even better. K cups offer a proportionate blend of coffee in individual pods that can be used to brew a single cup of coffee instantly. All you have to do is pick up a Keurig cup containing your favorite flavor blend of coffee and place it in the Keurig coffee maker. Just pressing a button yields a steaming cup of delicious coffee.

With a huge array of flavors to choose from, the use of k cups never lets you run out of choices. You can literally have a new cup of coffee every time. Some of the most popular flavors from Green Mountain Coffee include Breakfast Blend, Nantucket Blend, Fair Trade Vermont Blend, and a lot more.

A coffee is not just a coffee, is much more than that. It’s a great way to start your day. Wash away that laziness and liven up your spirits every morning. Or if you just had a real long day at work, unwind, rejuvenate your senses and lift your spirits with a warm cup of coffee. A Keurig coffee maker can make the perfect blend of coffee for every mood and every time of the day.

Pop round a friends or neighbors house in the UK for a coffee and the chances are very high that you will be served a mug of bland instant coffee. This doesn’t happen in the US.

The reason may be due to past unavailability, but this is no longer the case. In the past, most offices and places of work in the UK had little or no provision for real coffee – instant coffee was the only option to a thirsty worker via a vending machine or jar and kettle. This has never been an issue in the US, where it seems fresh coffee has always been the preferred choice. Just watch any old cop show going back in time as far as you like – you would always see a coffee pot not far from the action.

Let’s be honest here. Instant coffee, made by adding hot water to powder or granules is not very nice when compared to the real thing. It bears little or no resemblance to the proper stuff. Real coffee has that amazing complicated aroma, intense taste and real personality. Coffee made from instant granules has little smell, a bland taste and absolutely no personality whatsoever!

Slick instant coffee TV commercials continue to infest TV in the UK. This may have tricked the general public into putting up with such a lousy beverage? There are two or three very large commercial brands that have captured most of the market and have no intension of letting their sales slip.

Thank goodess for the invasion of US coffee shops into the UK high street. These have really taken root over the last 10-15 years and this has slowly been educating the public that real coffee is best. Indeed, it’s almost impossible to walk anywhere in central London without having at least two coffee shops in view at any one time. Thanks heavens.

It appears that things have been changing and now freshly brewed coffee is available almost anywhere. The acceptance of vending machines that now brew a reasonable bean to cup coffee has been a great help. Now nearly all premises serving visitors have fresh coffee on the menu.

In the home however the situation hasn’t changed. Very few households in the UK have a facility to brew freshly brewed coffee from the bean. The majority still stick with instant coffee even if they have a coffee maker for convenience. Yes, it takes longer to brew a proper cup, and there is more mess to clear up. Fresh coffee needs to be looked after properly and stored well. The final drink however is divine and beyond comparison.

Hopefully in the not too distant future, the Brits will throw out their jars of instant and get stuck into the real thing.

Coffee is a fascinating subject – Take a look at our website to discover more about the wonderful world of coffee and coffee machines.

By Byron Dyson

If you are like me and you appreciate drinking coffee, you might have realized that purchasing a cup of joe from Starbucks or that fast food restaurant in the morning every day can rapidly get costly. Even a small regular coffee can cost you at least $1.50 at most places. It is going to cost you more if you get a fancier cup of coffee with flavoring or even a shot of espresso. If you wanted to get five cups a week, it could cost you $7.50 a week, $30 a month, and $360 per year.

Getting a coffee maker is a a lot less expensive option. If you obtain a coffee maker, you can aquire your own coffee at the supermarket, and you could make your own coffee. Even if you buy the nicest coffee at the food store, this will save you money in the long run because you will not be spending cash every day on coffee from the coffee shop or the fast food restaurant.

If you have roommates or perhaps a family that also drinks coffee, as you’re able to all pitch in on the cost of coffee and then it will be even cheaper, a coffee maker would certainly cut costs for everybody. You can make small quantities of coffee at once or get one of those single serve coffee makers if you reside by yourself, and this should allow you to cut costs at the same time.

If you get a coffee maker, you must then have the ability to make it last longer if you take care of it. As an example, so that you can have better tasting coffee and so that your coffee maker lasts you a extended period, you should definitely discover ways to clean a coffee maker. You will be able to save cash by making your own coffee for a long time, and if you look after your coffee maker, that is certainly true.

Also, you can experiment with different types of coffee if you get your own coffee maker and see which kinds will taste better. You may also try to see if you can find interesting blends or flavors which you might especially enjoy from the internet. You might also find that other countries will have interesting blends of coffee that you could pick up when you travel and bring home.

You may want to think about getting your own coffee maker for most different reasons. You ought to undoubtedly think of all of the advantages that you could experience if you had your own coffee maker, and to most people, one of the most advantageous reason is simply because it saves you money. Get ready to enjoy cheap and delicious coffee every single day if you get your own coffee maker, which is undoubtedly an excellent thing if you are a coffee lover.

If you’re searching for more information on how to clean a coffee maker, you must undoubtedly look at this page in order to get additional expertise on coffee urn instructions.

The innovative pods called k cups have turned the world of coffee brewing upside down. A company called Keurig began making and selling high quality coffee makers in 1992. Six years later, they developed a coffee brewer that would brew one superior cup of coffee at a time. The little pods of coffee or tea that would be placed inside the innovative coffee makers were called Keurig cups, which became k cups.

The key concepts behind k cups are controlled brewing and variety. The amount of finely ground coffee and tea inside the pods is portioned very precisely. Controlling how much premium coffee or tea is in the pod is a way of determining the taste of the final product. The k cups developed for a Keurig Coffee Maker are perfect for offices. Staff can choose from a wide selection of blends and types and flavors of coffee, teas, and hot cocoa. One pod is used to make one cup of coffee, specifically to suit that one person’s taste. There is no need to throw out stale, old coffee.

In the past, there was a never-ending disagreement about the type of coffee to purchase for the office coffee maker. Do you remember how that was: some people in the office wanted a very strong coffee and others preferred a milder blend? With a Keurig coffee maker system, those disagreements are over, because every person in the office can choose their own type of coffee or tea to drink. Brewing with k cups makes a perfectly proportioned cup when you are filling a cup of any size. Most of the Keurig coffee makers have a removable cup tray, which allows you to fill your travel mug.

The same technology that built Keurig coffee makers and k cups for offices goes into the ultra modern Keurig coffee maker for home use. Controlled, consistent brewing and over 200 varieties of coffees, teas, hot cocoas, and iced beverages to choose from make Keurig the coffee making favorite. Being able to choose what type of beverage you like at home morning, noon, and night is a great treat for you, your family, and your guests. Besides that, a Keurig coffee maker would look terrific in your home.

As of today, the number one single serve brewing system in North America is Keurig, with its wide selection of k cups, brewing 2,500,000 beverages every day. Their coffee makers are in many offices, and lots of homes. A Keurig Coffee Maker produces a consistent, freshly brewed cup of coffee or tea in less than one minute. Though the numbers are impressive, their focus remains on brewing a perfect cup, every time.

The best way to enjoy coffee is freshly brewed. That is the philosophy of the Keurig Coffee Maker Company, and I wholeheartedly agree. There is nothing quite like the smell and taste of fresh coffee brewing in the morning, or walking into a coffee shop, no matter the time of day, and having the sweet delicious aroma of fresh ground coffee envelop your senses. Ahhh.

They have been creating fresh coffee since the early nineteen nineties. Olaf Keurig founded the Keurig Coffee Maker Company of Reading, Massachusetts, in 1992. It became a subsidiary of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters in 2006. Presently, the Keurig Coffee Maker Company is the number one single cup brewing system in North America, brewing 2.5 million beverages a day. Their coffee makers are in over two hundred thousand offices, and a large number of homes. A Keurig coffee maker brews six percent of all the coffee brewed every day. Keurig first introduced the single cup brewing system, or K Cups in 1998, producing a consistent, freshly brewed cup of coffee or tea in less than one minute.

The k cups designed for Keurig coffee makers are ideal for office use. Employees can choose from a variety of types and flavors. Since K Cups are used to produce one cup of coffee, there is no waste from throwing out old, stale coffee. Many office coffee machines are installed with a direct water line to the coffee maker, eliminating the need to refill a water reservoir. K cups brew a perfectly proportioned cup whether you are filling a small or large cup. Some coffee makers even have removable cup trays, which enable you to place your travel mug under the brewer.

The same ingenious technique for brewing a fresh cup of coffee in the office works just as well at home. A Keurig coffee maker in your home is basically the same coffee maker used in offices, but on a smaller scale, and they generally do not have a direct water line installed. The price range for the home coffee makers is reasonable; starting at about $80 and running up to $250. The coffee makers are available at brick and mortar retailers, or may be purchased online. They use the same k cups as the office models, and depending on model, cup sizes range from 4oz up to 12 oz. The size of the water reservoir varies with the type of machine. Some of the models are fully programmable with an interactive touch screen capable of adjusting the brew temperature, setting the digital clock, auto on/off for saving energy, and even a language preference for touch screen instructions in English, Spanish, or French.

We all feel that a satisfying mug of coffee does us good, but now some researchers have found real evidence that this may actually be the case!

According to studies, coffee drinkers are happy at work, don’t get depressed, have less stress, and suffer less from colon cancer, arthritis and diabetes. In addition it has been shown that coffee is safe to drink in pregnancy and is even healthier to drink than black tea.

Please note that these are the claims of research studies and are not meant to serve as medical advice.

While it is understood that consuming any product in large quantities is potentially harmful, research has shown that drinking five cups of coffee daily is not a problem to general health.

Harvard Medical School studies have shown that instances of skin cancer are reduced amongst coffee drinkers. By drinking just three or more cups per day, on average the risk is reduced by 10% in men and 20% in females. It has also been independently shown that coffee can reduce the risk of liver cirrhosis, colon cancer and developing gallstones.

A popular TV news channel recently reported that consuming black coffee is a healthier alternative than black tea. According to an interview with Chris Kilham, founder of Medical Hunter in the US, coffee contains special antioxidants called flavonoids which can help with cardiovascular problems and help reduce heart attacks and strokes.

Fighting depression – A long term study by the Harvard School of Public Health found that women who consumed four or more cups of coffee a day were 20% less likely to suffer from depression than those that only had one cup per day. Those consuming less, but still having two or three cups still showed a 15% reduction in showing signs of depression. This extensive research was conducted over a decade of study.

It is now thought that drinking coffee before exercise can enhance ones performance. This is according to Dr Pamela Peeke of Discovery Health TV. She states that caffeine increases the performance of the body when exercising and it can aid people in both short and long bursts of physical activity.

Drinking coffee when pregnant also seems to be safe for the mother and baby. According to Chris Kilham, again speaking on Fox News, drinking coffee does not appear to increase the chances of a miscarriage.

Who would have thought that something that tastes so satisfying could be good for you!!

Coffee is a very interesting subject. Visit the Coffee School section of our website to find lots of additional information on coffee and coffee machines.

Most people will know that the biggest tea growers in the world are China, India and Sri Lanka. Surprisingly however there are many other tea growing nations including Russia and the UK.

It may also be hard to believe, but England also produces its very own tea. The Tregothnan Estate near Truro in Cornwall has been a commercial tea growing estate since 2005 and now actually sells its finished product to – amongst other places – China! When you consider the tea plant (camellia sinensis) prefers a damp climate in which to thrive, south west England may seem ideal.

Of the rest of the worlds tea growing countries, here are the top ten producers based on figures from 2008.

10TH – IRAN Iran did not build its first tea processing plant until the 1930′s despite being a heavy consumer of the beverage. This has expanded to more than a hundred near the settlement of Lahijan. Iranian tea production is mostly of high quality black teas, however the tea industry has recently hit trouble due to plantation and factory owners being able to earn more money by building and selling houses on their land. Production figures in 2008 were 59,000 tonnes

9TH – ARGENTINA Argentina is best known for its production of Mate tea – which is not a true tea (from the camellia sinensis plant) but from the holly like yerba mate plant. Nevertheless true tea production – generally black tea – from northern Argentina, was in the region of 70,000 tonnes in 2008.

8TH – JAPAN The Japanese people love tea and are the world’s fourth largest consumers. An excellent quality green tea is the main product with over 90,000 tonnes being produced in 2008, however the export of Japanese tea has dwindled over the past few decades due to the high costs of land and labour.

7TH – INDONESIA Tea has been part of the Indonesian way of life for over 200 years, with Java and Sumatra being two of the main growing areas. The Indonesian tea estates were in very poor condition after WW2, with abandoned factories and tea plantations that had reverted to their wild state. Due to heavy investment in the 1980′s exports from Indonesia began to expand. Since then however, old estates have been replanted and large investments made in machinery. Teas from Indonesia are light and subtle flavoured, with most being sold for blending purposes and more than 150,000 tonnes of tea production was recorded in 2008.

6TH – VIETNAM Much like its coffee counterpart, tea from Vietnam is produced for quantity rather than quality. Most of the tea exported is black and used in blended teas. There is however a rich culture of green tea drinking within the country and their green teas are of a high standard. More than 170,000 tonnes of tea was produced in 2008 by Vietnam.

5TH – TURKEY Turkey was probably the first nation to absorb tea into its culture and heritage and is today a heavy consumer. Black tea from Turkey is grown in fertile soil under a mild, wet climate. Within the country this tea is usually known as Rize tea as virtually all of it is produced in the Rize province, on the Black Sea coast. The total tea produced in 2008 by Turkey was 200,000 tonnes.

4TH – SRI LANKA Under its former name of Ceylon, Sri Lanka used to be the world’s biggest exporter of black teas. Tea from Sri Lanka falls into three categories: low-grown, medium grown, and high grown (this refers to the height above sea level and not the bush sizes). Each category produces teas of unique character and by blending from different areas of the island, Sri Lanka produces teas of a very wide range of flavour and colour. Tea can be harvested all year round in Sri Lanka dues to its special climatic conditions. Tea is the mainstay of the Sri Lanken economy and they produce over 300,000 tonnes.

3RD – KENYA As one of Africa’s oldest tea producers, Kenya’s history of tea production dates back over 100 years, when it began by using plants obtained from India. Today, due to the ideal climate, tea – mainly black – is grown and harvested all year round. Tea from Kenya is a common ingredient of popular UK tea brands. Together with coffee, tea is the major foreign exchange earner in Kenya, and the total recorded amount of tea produced in 2008 was more than 340,000 tonnes.

2ND – INDIA India is the worlds largest producer of black teas and second only to China in tea production overall. The two most well known and main growing areas are Darjeeling and Assam . Teas from Darjeeling, grown among the Himalayan foothills, are known as the ‘Champagne’ of teas for their wonderful delicate and distinctive flavour, whilst the more robust Assam’s are favoured for their ‘afternoon tea’ quality. Indian teas are produced all over the country and whilst they are mainly black, some excellent quality green teas are also to be found. The total amount of tea produced in India in 2008 was over 800,000 tonnes.

1ST – CHINA The place where it all began, the original and only producer for hundreds of years. China drinks a lot of its own tea, but still manages to export one fifth of the world market. Whilst mainly known for its Green Teas, China produces five other principal types for which the country is famous: Black, White, Oolong, Pu’erh and Lapsang. The traditional Lapsang teas get their flavour by being smoked over pine needles, however nowadays it has become a very commercialised process. Tea production in China is carried out on both a small traditional scale and on a highly commercial scale, with the amount of production increasing on a daily basis. The total tea produced in China in 2008 was more than 1,250,000 tonnes.

Find out all you need to know about tea and coffee machines by visiting the Coffee School at our new website.