Learn everything about coffee

You will find every aspect of coffee and coffee production processes carefully explained in this coffee section.

Coffee facts... worth knowing

Did you know...  that coffee has many different varieties, more than 60!
And did you know... that coffee is the second most actively traded commodity, right after oil.
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The earliest legend

The person who thought of the idea of brewing a drink from coffee beans is not known. However, coffee drinking has been known in the Middle-East since long before our era. Rhazes, an Arabic doctor, (approximately 900 BC) mentions coffee in one of his writings. A far nicer story is that of the Arabic goatherd. Different versions are told but the basic story remains the same.
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Coffee development - from Bean to Cup

You will find every step of coffee development carefully explained, starting with growing coffee plants and ending with the various quality checks before shipping roast coffee to other countries.
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Manufacturing process of coffee

Taste is a matter of personal preference, this is certainly true when it comes to coffee. Coffee's characteristic flavour and aroma develop during the roasting process. The flavour is locked within the green coffee bean until it is roasted. Heating green coffee beans sets a series of complex chemical reactions in motion that release the flavour compounds hidden within each bean. The coffee beans are usually ground after roasting, in so-called rolling mills. A coffee bean can not be ground fine enough in one time to be suitable for the modern filter systems.
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The secrets about coffee brewing

When hot water comes into contact with ground coffee, the aroma, flavour and colour constituents are released. Just how many of these components finally end up in the cup is determined by the grind size, water quality and quantity and brewing temperature, as well as the length of time the water is in contact with the ground coffee (brewing time).
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World coffee trade

After petroleum, coffee is the world's most important traded commodity, standing above coal, meat, wheat and sugar. The global harvest, however, is subject to considerable fluctuations from year to year. These fluctuations are caused by a variety of factors. Besides climate-induced fluctuations, both the amount of coffee produced and the price charged for it are determined by the commercial policy interests of the producing and purchasing countries. This explains why the total annual harvest figures tend to be variable rather than constant.
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Learn about decaffeinated coffee

Coffee naturally contains the active supplement caffeine. The stimulating power of coffee is as well known as the outstanding taste. A lot of people appreciate this stimulating power, but there are some people that do not handle caffeine so well or do not like the stimulating effect every time of the day. For them there is decaffeinated coffee on the market.
Normal coffee beans contain between 0.8 percent and 2.5 percent caffeine depending on origin and variety. Decaffeinated coffee is not entirely caffeine-free. In European Community (EC) countries, roasted decaffeinated coffee may contain a caffeine residue of 0.1 percent and coffee extract 0.3 percent.
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Learn about instant coffee

To produce instant coffee, millions of cups of coffee a day are produced. These huge amounts of fresh coffee are then concentrated by allowing a considerable amount of the water to evaporate. The coffee produced is then made into instant coffee using one of the two techniques: freeze-drying or spray-drying.
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source: Douwe Egberts