Tag: green coffee beans

Monday Morning Coffee Wisdom

Posted on by Sara Walker

It’s that time of the week where you look at your schedule and have a potential meltdown…and pick up the week’s first cup of coffee and drink it like you mean business. Because you do – it’s Monday morning and you have a mountain of work, making your schedule look more like Mount Everest than a walk in the park. Thankfully the caffeine will soon kick in, you will start to feel happier, more relaxed…and potentially even excited about your week ahead. That’s what coffee does to you: it opens your mind to possibilities. It keeps you going until wine o’clock when it’s time to chill out and do your best to enjoy the view of where you got so far on Mount Everest. After all, each day you get a little bit further up the mountain and instead of stressing out the best thing to do is to relax and enjoy the view that is a little bit better than yesterday. Even if you actually managed to fall and go down the mountain that day, at least you know one more route that DOESN’T work. Edison found 100 ways of how not to make a light bulb, before he made a light bulb.

47e44866c9025549de657d5553edf346

Here at the Wholesale Coffee Co. we love Monday mornings. It’s time for strategy sessions surrounded by green coffee beans, fresh roasted coffee beans, espresso machines, and fresh espresso served all round – whether made by Nespresso machines, or we ground our own coffee beans and made the espresso with a traditional espresso machine. It’s quite a treat.

The best thing about Mondays though is love. No, seriously. If you love what you do Mount Everest looks kind of grand from the Monday morning perspective. Quite divine in fact – it’s your mission, your purpose in life. Or at least part of it. The other part might be friends, family, relationships, hobbies…and as with work they are all mountains as everything comes with obstacles. It should seem like a bad thing though, but rather like climbing a mountain – a mountain where every day you get a grander view.

Life is a loving work. Work fueled by coffee beans… And if you are looking to buy coffee online, you know where to find us 😉

937a54261b65aaf0dd05331c77e8e7bf

 

Barista Training Courses Worldwide

Posted on by Sara Walker

Fresh roasted coffee beans, maybe even some green coffee beans to roast yourself, great espresso and coffee machines, secret coffee ingredients…these are things that can make some people swoon and if this is you, it’s probably time to pack your bags and head to a barista school if you haven’t already. After all, if you love coffee so much you want to be able to make yourself the best coffee, don’t you? Know which the best coffee beans are and how to treat them for ultimate satisfaction when it comes to the end result.

Last week we talked about doing a barista vacation to the US, this week we talk about…the rest of the world. Of course we can’t cover all schools on here, so it makes sense if you want to go to first decide your budget and what area you want to go to.

London. Yep, if you like red double-decker buses, black taxis, the British accent, and rain, then you will be happy to know that you can also learn about coffee in London. In fact, the London School of Coffee (sounds just like Hogwarts to us) offers four different level barista trainings and various workshops around coffee, like how to set up your own coffee shop.

Like the UK, but would prefer a Scottish accent, or more mountains and less traffic? The Scottish Barista School will be your perfect match in that case. They offer a variety of courses and proper barista training.

Want something a bit more…exotic? Palm trees and all? Then there’s the Dormans Barista and Coffee Training Center in Kenya. They are the only Specialty Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE) certified Barista training centre in Africa. There you can learn how best to brew your coffee, do various levels of barista training and do things like sip coffee from Kilimanjaro.

If you’d prefer Asia to Africa, then you could go to the Philippine Barista & Coffee Academy. They offer a range of barista course, business training for coffee shop owners, or to be coffee shop owners as well as short courses i everything from holiday drinks, to how to pair different teas with food.

Want to browse the rest of the world? A good place to start is the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe. You can find out more about the courses their trainers hold around the world here. Also, if you want to partake in a great barista competition that’s the site to explore! On Barista Guide you can find a few more.

 b4e5a76e37710493310530a73d3c2697

A Barista Vacation to the USA

Posted on by Sara Walker

Are you one of the millions who absolutely love coffee? Do you wake up for the sake of smelling the smell of fresh roasted coffee beans? Do you order your own green coffee beans so you can toast them to perfection? Do you experiment to make different patterns with the foam of the coffee, or coffee art as it is known as? Maybe, just maybe it’s time for a barista vacation? In other words – it’s time to take a vacation to indulge in your passion for the little bean known as coffee.

There are many different barista schools worldwide that offers day, week and month long courses and in this article we will look at some in the States and in the next article some barista schools in other countries.

Portland and Seattle are known as the coffee capitals of America, so not surprisingly you find one of the best schools in Portland. It’s the American Barista & Coffee School The school boasts of having had clients from over 40 countries. Portland might not be your city of call if you want sunshine, but if you want a very eco-friendly town, with tons of hipsters and incredible cafes, you will be very pleased.

If, on the other hand, it is the beaches you want, what better than sunny California? They may have earthquakes, but on the upside you can drive to the desert (and even Vegas if you go out of state), mountains (for skiing), nature reserves for hiking, wine farms for well, wine and the big city, usually within an hour or two of where you are, if you are in Southern California. SoCal is also where the Ivy League Barista Academy is. It’s actually in picturesque San Diego, which offers a nice small town vibe. They offer consulting as well as hands-on barista training…and 247 days of sunshine a year.

If you want lakes instead of beaches Holland in Michigan is another alternative, as it is home of the Midwest Barista School. The school offers clients both hands-on coffee classes and courses to help entrepreneurs start or improve their cafe business. In summer you will want to bring your bathing suit and enjoy the fabulous lakes and in winter ice skates and really, really warm clothing! It might be a nice summer holiday, cozy autumn break, or beautiful summer vacation!

If you are looking for a vacation in a city that never sleeps and where the latest trends mingle with the fresh arts, the sophisticated views of centuries gone past and the craze of new entrepreneurs and old school economics, then New York will probably be your best bet. After all, there’s something for everyone in that town, including the Kitten Coffee Barista School in Brooklyn, who offers Espresso 100 and Advanced Espresso classes.

We hope this might have given you some ideas and inspiration, and as mentioned in our next blog we will cover barista schools worldwide. For now though, sit back and smell the smell of those fresh roasted coffee beans…

large

The Philosophy of Coffee

Posted on by Sara Walker

Have you heard of the perfect cup of coffee? Every year coffee enthusiasts try to find their own perfect cup of coffee and many coffee entrepreneurs travel the world to find what they believe to be the best cup for their clients. Often, if it’s a good coffee shop they will work with rare and expensive beans that grow in specific climates. In other words: that kind of coffee costs.

What is the perfect cup of coffee though? To some coffee is just coffee – so long as it isn’t too weak or too strong they don’t usually mind what beans, or what roast has been used, given the beans weren’t burnt when roasted. For those people to pay a lot of money for a cup of coffee when they can get another cup cheaper makes no sense. If you can’t tell the difference between a diamond and glass, why pay for the diamond? You won’t enjoy it more.

If, on the other hand, you have a developed palate when it comes to coffee then if you buy a coffee that’s inferior to what you think a good cup of coffee is all about, then you have just paid for a bad cup of coffee. Not as much as you would for a good cup of coffee, but nonetheless, you paid for something you didn’t really enjoy. If the coffee was decent, just not excellent you may find it a fair bargain, but if it tasted bad, then you have just wasted money.

Then you can choose to buy the perfect cup of coffee, or make it yourself. If you make it yourself, how much time are you prepared to spend? Is a little increase in taste experience worth a few extra minutes making the coffee, or is time worth more to you? Or do you prefer having others make it for you even if it costs more, as it makes you feel more luxurious, or relaxing?

Perfect coffee is different to everyone, because everyone enjoys coffee for different reasons. So is there a perfect cup? Well you decide…but if you are buying coffee online, then of course our coffee beans are the best! We even have green coffee beans so you can roast them yourself! And for the rest of the beans we only sell fresh roasted coffee beans! Quality to a good price – now that has to be the perfect cup, doesn’t it 😉

large

Real Caffeine Free Coffee? For Real, Real?

Posted on by Sara Walker

You may have heard of it – the natural decaf. The those golden green coffee beans that contain no caffeine. I.e. in their natural state (as green coffee beans) there is no caffeine present, or so little that they could be called decaf without having to be processed first.

There are two varieties of naturally decaffeinated coffee that are fairly well known to mankind, the only problem with those is that, well, they aren’t on the market due to licensing and other such things. Thus most people aren’t really that concerned about those glorious green coffee beans and no one outside the coffee industry pays much attention to them. What most people don’t know is that there is a third variety, native to Southern Africa that is available on the market with no licensing hick-ups. It’s called Racemosa and is so low in caffeine it can be said it’s caffeine-free (decaf really implies it has been decaffeinated by a process).

If you are a mad coffee lover or to be coffee entrepreneur you might want to check this bean out by say, taking a vacation to South Africa. There you will find that Sukkot Coffee is the only company who grows this particular bean. In nearby Mozambique there is also a nursery that grows these coffee beans but it is a slow process to grow enough fruit bearing trees to start exporting the bean.

2

What City Takes Coffee Seriously in America?

Posted on by Sara Walker

Coffee is said to be an art. A fine art. Some drink it just to get a caffeine kick in the morning (hey, it’s Monday today, we don’t blame you!), but really to make good coffee is akin to making good wine – it takes and artist with a flair for science to create the perfect cup. Imagination and science comes together to give you something to tantalize your taste buds.

There is one city in the U.S. that takes coffee seriously, very seriously. The fresh roasted coffee beans are so fresh they were probably green coffee beans up until the morning of the day you were having your coffee, being roasted to perfection in the basement of your favourite coffee shop.

The city…we almost forgot (but you probably guessed it right anyway): Seattle. Given the amount of rain you cannot be that surprised: people there will need something to keep them awake and what better than coffee?

In Seattle you can actually “often read where the coffee beans came from, how those beans were roasted–and even a short résumé of the barista who’s making your cup,” according to the Huffington Post. Rather impressive, don’t you think?

Second in place for best coffee city came Portland, third New Orleans, fourth Providence and fifth San Francisco (read more about each city here). Seems like the big cosmopolitan cities like New York and Los Angeles are missing out, but do not fret: each will have at least one or two coffee shops that serve cafe extraordinaire.

Can’t go to Seattle? Why not buy fresh roasted coffee beans from us? We ship to wherever you want the beans, then you can experiment with the brewing yourself. If you want to roast your own beans, we even sell green coffee beans! Check previous blog posts for many tips on how to brew the perfect cup, or bake using the best coffee ingredients!

large

Green coffee bean extract

Posted on by Sara Walker

caribana-green-coffee-beansDedicated coffee connoisseurs will already know about the benefits of buying green coffee beans, and roasting them at home for the maximum coffee flavour. Did you know, though, that unroasted green coffee beans could be good for you?

Health food shops and online retailers sell green coffee bean extract, which has strong antioxidant properties, similar to those found in other natural substances such as
green tea and grape seed extract. The coffee beans contain polyphenols, which act as good antioxidants, helping to reduce free oxygen radicals in the body. There’s also some evidence that green coffee extract can act as an appetite suppressant and metablism booster, aiding weight loss when used in conjuction with  lifestyle changes such as increased exercise.

Although you can buy green coffee bean extract, the advent to easily available green coffee beans mean that it’s easy to make your own extract at home.

It’s best to use distilled water, so that you don’t introduce any chemicals into the mixture.  Put 60g of good quality green coffee beans and 350ml of water in a saucepan, and bring the mixture to a boil. Turn down the heat, and let it simmer for 15 – 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, and let it stand for an hour before seiving out the beans. The stronger the beans you use and the longer you let them steep, the greater the strength of the extract.

Start by taking one tablespoon of extract in the morning, and another in the evening, and build up to doubling that amount. Mix in a little honey or sugar if you like, or mix the extract with fruit juice or a smoothie. Green bean coffee extract is a natural supplement with few known side effects, but if you experience any problems then discontinue use.

To browse our range of green coffee beans online, please visit our coffee ingredients page.

Tips for home roasting green coffee beans

Posted on by Sara Walker

caribana-green-coffee-beansIf you’re serious about coffee, you’ll know that the only way to guarantee really freshly roasted beans is to roast them yourself in small quantities, just before you use them. Now online retailers, wholesalers and even some supermarkets have started to stock green coffee beans, they’ve become much easier to get hold of and available to everyone. Here are a few top tips to help you get the most out of your home roast.

  • You can roast green coffee beans in a stovetop popcorn maker or a heavy bottomed frying pan, but if you’re planning to roast your own beans every day, it’s worth investing in a roasting machine for consistency and ease of use.
  • It’s easy to scorch the beans and ruin them – an ideal roasting temperature is between 185 and 280 degrees celsius. If you’re not using a machine to control the temperature, use a culinary thermometer instead.
  • The beans need to be kept moving to prevent uneven roasting. If you’re using a DIY method, keep stirring the beans continuously to prevent them burning. Roasting machines may need to be hand turned by the user, or more expensive versions use a hot air current to keep the beans moving.
  • Whichever method you’re using, make sure you’re working in a well ventilated area, as roasting coffee produces smoke and gases.
  • As the beans roast, they shed their outer skin (called chaff), which can make a mess. If you’re working on the hob, clear your work area as much as possible before you start. Roasting machines usually need to be emptied of chaff between roasts.
  • Keep a few beans from a favourite roast handy for a colour comparison, so that you know when your beans have reached perfection.

To browse our range of green coffee beans, please visit our coffee ingredients page.

What are green coffee beans?

Posted on by Sara Walker

caribana-green-coffee-beansCoffee beans are the seeds of the coffee tree, and are found inside fruit called ‘cherries’ or ‘berries’. The berries are harvested, normally by hand, when they turn a reddish colour, which indicates ripeness. They’re then processed to separate the beans from the flesh. Green coffee beans, also called ‘raw’ or ‘unroasted’ beans, are coffee beans that have been through the process of picking, processing and drying, but haven’t yet been roasted.

Once they’re dry, the beans take on the slightly green colour which gives them their name. They have none of the rich, dark colour or smell normally associated with coffee beans, which they’ll acquire during the roasting process.

They’re then sold as green beans to the retailer or end consumer, who carries out the final stage of roasting, to get as fresh a brew as possible.

Although roasting the beans at the last minute can mean more work, it’s really the best way to get the maximum flavour from your coffee. The unroasted beans are also less porous, and keep fresher longer than roasted beans, so although you may buy your green coffee beans in bulk, it’s best to roast them in small qualities as you need to use them.

It’s possible to roast your own beans at home on the hob in a skillet or frying pan, but most regular users have a domestic or commercial roasting machine, which guarantees evenness and consistency. Green beans are becoming increasing popular, and with the advent of online sales are more widely available than ever before.

If you’d like to try roasting your own coffee beans, why not browse our range of green coffee beans? Roasting your own means that you can control the strength and intensity of the roast, so that your cup of coffee’s exactly the way you like it.

 

 

 

 

Roasting green coffee beans at home

Posted on by Sara Walker

home-roast-green-coffee-beansEvery coffee lover knows that freshly roasted coffee beans pack the most flavour. With modern vacuum packing and storage techniques, most commercial suppliers do a great job of delivering ready-roasted coffee that’s still fresh tasting and vibrant, and buying pre-roasted beans is far more convenient. If you’ve never tried roasting your own raw, green coffee beans, though, why not give it a try and see if you can tell the difference?

Roasting the green coffee beans forces water out, causes them to dry and expand as well as taking on a rich, dark, shiny colour and complex flavour. The best way to roast at home is to buy a home roasting pan or electric roaster, which will give you a consistent result. For your first try, though, use a heavy based skillet or frying pan, and make sure you’re in a well ventilated area.

Take a handful of your usual roasted coffee beans to use as a comparison, then switch on your hob to a medium setting. The ideal roasting temperature is around 250 degree celsius, but it’s important not to scorch the beans with too high a temperature. Add around 225g of green coffee beans. If possible, use a sugar thermometer to measure the temperature of the pan before adding the beans.

For a consistent roast, the beans must be kept moving, so keep stirring them continously. After a few minutes, they should start to jump and crack in the pan. Now is a good time to open a window! Keep moving the beans moving around until they’ve reached the same colour as your comparison beans, then take the pan off the heat immediately.

Tip the coffee beans into a colandar, and shake  it vigorously to remove any chaff and debris, and help cool the beans down. When completely cold, store and grind the beans as usual.