10 Best Coffee Beans Ranked for 2020 – Reviews & Coffee Bean 101 Guide

Are you a coffee connoisseur, avid drinker, or just an enthusiast? Well, it doesn’t really matter(!) because what we are going to talk about here is some must-know facts about Coffee Beans. And if you ain’t know anything about Coffee Beans then damn Daniel, you know nothing!

Did you know that there are more than 100 coffee bean species in the world!? Can you guess the massive number of coffee drinks these many bean species can produce? (Now you understand the confusing Starbucks menu, right?!)

But no more getting lost while looking at the menu of a fancy coffee bar anymore. We are going to teach you everything(well, almost) about coffee beans and transform you from a crawling caterpillar of the know-nothing province to a wing-spreading beautiful butterfly that utterly floats through the fancy coffee menus, promise!

Types of Coffee Beans

There are three major types of coffee which you will see commercially available. Moreover, the experts claim a definite number of types of coffees farmers grow. But there is no certainty of their claims. These are the three major coffee species.

Coffee Bean 101: Buyers' Guide

The coffee bean is a general term we use for the coffee seed, just because of its resemblance to that of a bean.

Yes, coffee is not a ground yield, it is a pit of the stone fruit - coffee cherry. You might recall a bean to look like a coffee bean clipart or a coffee bean logo, those are actually two halves of coffee seeds.

Coffee is a popular beverage that many of us heavily consume on a day to day basis.

The coffee goes through the several processes before is fit for consumption. The processes that a coffee bean passes through, starts well before we see the raw green coffee beans.

The processes start right from the cultivation and end in our mugs i.e. sowing, fruit picking, extraction, milling, roasting, grinding, brewing.

Nutritional Value

Nutrients in Coffee Beans

As we explained earlier in the first section of this article, coffee is not beans, it is seeds; just because it looks like a bean it gets recognition as beans. Nevertheless, coffee does have tremendous health benefits as many of us might agree to this.

It certainly has many benefits for the medical condition i.e. Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, Hepatic/liver ailments, cardiovascular activities, skin wrinkles, pain suppressant, etc.

• Fats and Sugar

There is no amount of fats and sugar present in the naturally available coffee. There might be some sugar present in the chocolate dipped coffee beans that many consume. Although, that type of coffee is not naturally available.

Fats and sugar are the obvious additions we make in our coffee by adding milk, cream, sugar, etc. Otherwise, black coffee has more health benefits to the body than milk coffee.

• Vitamins

Coffee has little proportions of vitamins in it. There is a substantial amount of vitamin B type in coffee. There are vitamin B2(riboflavin), B5(pathogenic acid).

Riboflavin helps in various oxidation and reduction reaction in the body. It contributed to a disintegration of the food into energy via metabolism.

While pathogenic acid helps in multiple ways. Vitamin B5 after proper blending with the body acids helps in keeping the digestive tract up to the mark. B5 also contributes to the higher production of the blood cells(RBC).

• Minerals

Coffee contains minute proportions of minerals, yet these minerals prove irresistibly important for our body.

Calcium helps in development and repairment of our bone and dental parts of our body. It also helps in maintaining the nerve motor action functioning which is utmost important to us. Calcium avoids kidney failures, by controlling osteoporosis causes.

Magnesium is a vital mineral in our body which is responsible for the active metabolism. It also helps in the development of bones, muscle and nervous system functioning. Osteoporosis is also related to the magnesium intake in the body.

Manganese

This too helps in bone development as to that like calcium and magnesium. Manganese is present in the bone, kidneys and, pancreas. It is important for digestion of protein, carbs, and cholesterol. Even it contributes to regulating the neutralization process of free radicals.

Potassium

This mineral efficiently ensures the lower blood pressure, avoid muscle mass loss, muscle strength, bone density. All these factors are quite important to sustain a healthy life. Potassium is believed to elongate the mortality span.

• Antioxidants

Our body has numerous molecules i.e. free radicals which damage the internal body. The radical molecule count increases in our body due to several reasons namely, pollution, radiation, synthetic food, smoking, etc.

Antioxidants tend to bond with the free radicals to neutralize them and relieve the body from further internal damage. Free radicals then become harmless to the body gets flushed out from the flow stream.

Therefore, the antioxidants play important role in the healthy maintenance of our body.

Antioxidants also have several other benefits beyond neutralization of free radicals i.e. it is an anti-aging agent, avoids cancer, diabetes, reducing inflammation etc.

There are more than one antioxidant sources of coffee. There is evidently optimum amount of antioxidants in the roasted coffee than the one which is not roasted.

Although antioxidants are present in some berries and other colored fruits, coffee is the only substance/beverage that people could frequently consume.

Chlorogenic Acid (CGA)

CGA is a polyphenol compound relating to the family of esters. Chlorogenic is naturally present in immense amounts in the coffee and its beans. However, the green coffee bean extract comprises of CGA supplement for preparing a higher concentration of CGA in its extract.

CGA helps to reduce the blood pressure a bit and has certain dietary benefits too. Along with it, chlorogenic acid helps in reducing inflammation, increasing insulin in the body(Yet to be proven for humans).

It helps in the rapid synthesis of the fats resulting in more energy generation and reduction of fats.

Does chlorogenic acid contain chlorine?

No, even though the chemical name denotes the chloro-term there is no chlorine present in the acid. The name chlorogenic derives from the Greek language stating - Chloro-light green color and Genic-giving rise to.

• Cafestol

Cafestol is also an antioxidant which bears the potential to increase the insulin secretion and decrease type-2 diabetes in the patients. Moreover, cafestol is present in both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee drinks. This makes it fit for brain’s health too.

• Caffeine

Caffeine is a renown term when it comes to coffee. It is a type of antioxidant which helps in cardiovascular activities and liver health.

Yet research results do not promise the perfect behavior of caffeine in the body for health benefits. Though, it is highly used as the substance which helps increase energy levels, concentration, muscle repair, etc.

It is not necessary that caffeine has all the benefits of consuming, it certainly has negative health effects also.

• Quinine

This antioxidant is found in a negligible amount of coffee. However, a larger amount of intake could have severe damaging results to the health of the consumer.

The consumer could face allergic reactions due to the higher amount of quinine consumption.

It has increased potential once after the beans are roasted. There is the same amount of quinine in both roasted and unroasted coffee but roasted has more potent quinine.

• Melanoidins

This antioxidant is responsible for the specific aroma while roasting the beans. It has more nitrogen fixation and is brown colored. It helps in immunity against bacterial infections and reduces the inflammation in the body.

• Hydroxycinnamic Acid

It actively contributes to neutralizing the free-radicals in the body. It also helps in notable reduction of inflammation in the body.

There are more antioxidants which contribute to overall health problems of the body. Some of the antioxidants i.e. trigonelline, 3-caffeoylquinic acid, 4-caffeoylquinic, 5-caffeoylquinic.

Coffee Bean to Coffee: Steps of Production

Coffee fruit goes through several processes before the brewed coffee fills our mug. This section describes coffee production right from the cultivation to brewing. There are seven production steps to prepare coffee.

1. Sowing

This the first step where the coffee production starts. Sowing is the method of planting a coffee bean or a seed in the soil in small bags for its germination and growth.

Ultimately coffee bean will take the shape of a tree in a year. However, it will require about four to five years to develop until it starts growing cherry fruit.

Sowing of the seeds also requires particular care during the process. Generally, we can sow the seeds a few centimeters into the soil, at the depth of about three times its size. In addition to that, the coffee bean or coffee seeds have to be 3 to 4 meter apart from adjacent ones to allow the appropriate nourishment of the crop.

Moreover, some of the farmers let the seeds germinate in the covered nursery and then shift it to the farm. Until then they don’t use any chemical fertilizer.

The crop requires a moist, cold, place for utmost growth and nourishment. Therefore, it is the best time after the monsoon or during the late winter where the temperature is not below 5 degree Celsius. Also, the region shall not bear the frost conditions.

The crop grows the best on loamy soils but it grows well in the sandy loam soils with good water drainage, generally hilly farmlands are the best place for it.

2. Fruit Picking

Picking is the next practice the cultivators carry out after the cherry fruits start to blossom on trees. Older the tree gets more it will have the fruits on it. Fruit picking is a labor intensive job which might require certain skills too. The picker needs to identify the yield which is ready to ripe and which is not.

In practice, the yield can take up to 9 to 10 months after the white flower buds start to grow. These white flowers have an intense fragrance.

In the hilly regions or congested farms, manual workforce strives to harvest the fruits. On the other hand, in the large and flat fields, people use mechanized harvesting which increases the speed of picking the fruits.

Yet, the picker wanders around the field for about a week or two to pick the perfectly ripened fruit. The ripe cherries are of dark red color and the range between green, pink, to red. This activity continues until the harvest is complete and it takes about 10 to 15 days for the large fields.

3. Coffee Bean Extraction

Extraction of seeds is a laborious activity too. In this activity, humans or machines extract coffee bean out from the cherry. It is a human or rarely a machine job to extract the seeds out from the cherries.

During extraction, the coffee makers carefully take the seeds out before the fruit gets stale.

There are two methods of performing extraction i.e. Dry extraction and, Wet extraction. Dry extraction is suitable at the places with scarce water availability. While the latter one requires liquid processing for coffee extraction.

a. Dry Extraction

In this process, the fruit consisting of the pit dries under the Sun. Turning the fruit will help it to uniformly shrink due to dehydration.

This might take up to a couple of days to weeks to lose its moisture substantially. The makers cover the cherries at night or during rains to isolate the cherries from external moisture.

b. Wet Extraction

This process can help in faster results than the dry extraction method. This process starts with popping out the seeds from cherries. By doing so, the flesh of the fruit is separated from the pit of the fruit.

The machine helps complete the process of getting seeds out of the fruit. However, these seeds usually have the parchment layer on it after popping.

Then the seeds are separated based on their weight; heavy seeds submerge in the water where the light ones float out. The heavier ones are passed through the centrifugal separation of larger coffee seeds from the smaller ones.

These seeds go through the washing process where those are put into a vessel containing for a day or two. After then, the parchment layer from a coffee bean gets washed off.

Finally, after this process, the coffee bean or beans will be left to dry.

4. Coffee Milling

The parchment layer yet remains on the coffee bean which is to be removed in this process. After the milling process, complete pericarp layer is removed and the coffee bean is separated.

This step or the process is done by the hulling machine thus it is also called the hulling process.

Even after that, the seeds are covered in the silver layer of the thin parchment.

Seeds pass through the polishing process for removal of that silver layer, not everyone prefers this process. However, the polished seeds are considerably better than the normal seeds.

5. Roasting the beans

Coffee that we usually see is brown, dark brown, black in color which is the result of roasting the coffee. A coffee bean is green colored beans which have an acute taste, thus roasting the coffee bean before consuming is a must.

Generally, the coffee is exported to the buying countries and is roasted then. It is advisable to consume the coffee right after some days after roasting. Otherwise, the taste and aroma changes which are undesirable. For the best-tasting coffee, it is believed the roasted coffee shall be consumed within a week or so.

Professional roasters buy the green coffee bean and sell it after roasting. Finally, after the picking the right coffee type you need pick the right roaster too. Roaster gives the final taste to the coffee bean depending on how good the beans are roasted.

Roasting is done at different temperatures, ranging from 75° Fahrenheit to 497° Fahrenheit. The roast also ranges from the dark green coffee bean to dark black coffee bean respectively.

Afterall, a variety of tastes that we get from the same coffee bean is due to the different temperatures at which the roast is prepared.

During roasting the coffee bean in a heating vessel is rotated such that the beans are uniformly roasted. This is one of the difficult processes in which you need to take care of the quantity you put in the vessel, temperature and time you apply for the roast.

6. Grinding

All these above processes are to get the beans to its perfect state for consuming. But, that is not all. Beans neither dissolve nor can perfectly mix in the water i.e. constituent of a coffee. Brewing the beans is not possible because those have a hard shell and less surface area than grounds.

Grinding is the crushing process where the grinder disintegrates beans into a smaller size. It ranges from the coarse granular size to the powder form (often called as coffee ground) from the beans. This allows the coffee to mix in the water which is desirable for consumption.

7. Brewing the Grind

This is the last process of all, brewing means infusing the coffee with hot water via a filter, French press or a percolator.

It is not as simple as it appears to be, time is the key factor for the flavor of brewed coffee. Even the slightest change in the brewing i.e. over-extraction or under-extraction will result in different tastes of the coffee.

Different brewing processes vary with the varying coffee types and flavors. It majorly depends on the type of the beans used and its quality.

The brewing processes i.e. Pour Over, Espresso, French Press, Automatic-Drip are prominent having different brewing principles and require different time for brewing.

These were the processes, right from coffee farming to the brewing which takes place before the coffee reached our mugs or paper glass.

When to Drink Coffee

This section will shed some light on the time and schedule for coffee consumption by which it delivers maximum health benefits. People generally prefer to brew and drink the coffee first thing in the morning. While some athletes prefer it right before their workout session.

Thus, go through this section and find the best suitable time for your coffee.

Coffee just after the bed

Many drink coffee first thing in the morning due to several reasons i.e. hectic schedule throughout the day, instant energy for kickstarting the day, simply tasting the beverage, reduce a headache, etc.

If you consume coffee just after a nights sleep then it is not the best habit for you. According to researchers, it is proven that our body has higher levels of hydrocortisone which develops decreases the effect of coffee. Due to that, your body in the morning becomes resistant to the effects of coffee.

The hydrocortisone levels are at peak through the day but between certain intervals. 8-9 am, 12-1 noon/pm, 5.30-6.30 pm are the intervals at which the hydrocortisone levels are at peak and thus it is better to avoid to consume any coffee or tea during this time.

Hydrocortisone is also called a stress hormone. This hormone release is higher at 3 intervals in the day. The release of hormone is due to stress or fear. Cortisol gets mixed in the bloodstream goes till the brain and creates depressive feeling during severe stress.

There is way out of all these fusses of morning hydrocortisone. To reduce the levels of stress hormone, you shall engage in some physical activities which lightens the stress burden on your shoulder even if you don’t realize it. Cycling, punching bag, swimming, jogging would help you achieve lower cortisol. This is the only loophole for the coffee lovers who also care for their hydrocortisone.

Therefore, morning might not be the best time to have coffee even though it seems to be perfect for your schedule.

Coffee before your workout

If you are a long time gym rat, then you probably would’ve found your answer in the previous section. Those sections which state coffee helps to focus, increase blood flow to the brain, help muscles repair, etc.

Anyways, this section will typically describe the benefits of consuming coffee before a workout.

Yes, coffee before a workout is advantageous only if consume it without sugar and cream.

Here antioxidants and caffeine play a major role. It surely releases a certain amount of energy which can give you a boost throughout your training.

Coffee will suppress your appetite and burn your fat to generate energy.

Caffeine takes about 30 minutes to 75 minutes to actually start acting in the body. Thus, the best time to consume coffee is before one hour of starting your workout.

Major benefits of consuming coffee before your workout is - reduced muscle pain, increased focus, better functional brain, energy rush through your veins.

Uses of Coffee Bean/ Coffee Bean Application

We hope you still have the coffee buzz to go through this section, or if were are busy (or shall we say buzy) and started with this section (pun intended) then its cool. Because this section might get you thinking about the several uses of coffee people find around us while we could only think of coffee mug when we hear coffee.

Coffee will undoubtedly be the first thought of every American. Everyone has their reasons for consuming coffee. In addition to those, there is also a believer in the myth that coffee can sober you after you get heavily drunk. Goodluck to those who yet to discover that coffee will not help you feel good during hungover situations. Coming back to point, coffee could be the only thought many of us might have.

That's how close coffee is to us. But coffee beans has versatile existence considering either it is energy drinks or desserts. Even coffee finds its application in non-edible purpose too i.e. fertilizer.

Beverages from Coffee Beans

This world becomes so full of coffee when you are a coffee lover or accompany one. Coffee lovers aren’t just obsessed with their coffee habit but they live their desire day-in & day-out. Appreciate yourself if you are not one of them.

A coffee bean is the main ingredient in many recipes while some have a bit of it. Coffee beans are utilized mostly for the beverage purpose.

Healthy coffee drinks are the most convenient medium for coffee consumption. That is the reason we find most of the mocha is consumed in form of drinks. There are some beverages which have coffee as primary ingredient i.e. Coffee itself, energy drink, etc.

Whole Bean Coffee

As we have explained in a section above, the importance of whole bean coffee and why it is better than grounds. Beans seem to be a primary raw material for many other i.e. coffee shops/cafe bars, brewery shop, ready to drink coffee manufacturer, energy drink brands, etc.

Generally, the brands selling coffee, deliver their coffee beans to the customer via a roasting facility. That roaster can be their integrated business associate or any professional. Thus, customers get the whole bean coffee in the roasted form which they will have to crush and brew.

Green Bean Coffee

Green bean coffee is believed to have weight reduction advantage for its consumer. However, green coffee has many other health benefits while can imply weight management to its consumer as a result.

Green bean may or may not be the best for common customers to use. Those seeds are too hard to grind in a domestic grinder. Even heavy industry graded grinder will be ineffective for green coffee beans. Boiling is an alternate which softens the coffee bean a bit but none seem to totally effective.

A green coffee extract is an answer to unroasted coffee requirement. Next section of this article describes how beneficial are the green coffee extracts.

Green Coffee Extract

The extract is the term used when the helpful nutrition is taken from unroasted coffee beans and put into consumable powder form. The powder has all the coffee characteristic as it is majorly coffee itself, but also it has some supplements which have health benefits.

Energy Drinks

How can we deny about energy drink or some sports drinks when we usefulness of coffee. All of the energy drinks consist of caffeine as its primary source for the energy boost, and coffee is the best caffeine source. Thus, the energy drink manufacturers use coffee for taste and its caffeine for energy rush.

Chocolate Drinks

Any chocolate we consume has some proportion of caffeine in it which again is from the coffee. Chocolate candies, chocolate bars, syrups, powdered chocolate, etc. In addition to this, there are many coffee candies available in the market consisting major coffee proportion than chocolate.

Ready to drink Coffee

Apart from the products having coffee beans or grounds or instant coffee, there are many ready to consume coffee available. These coffees will not taste any close to that of the coffee we make and consume readily. However, people like it while traveling to remote places or taking a long journey.

Desserts

We should’ve served this section at last, so that you would have finished this full course article. Desserts have mocha, it makes dessert taste better, it also makes the consumer feel better, it can tickle your taste buds and give a delightful experience.

Yes, coffee in the dessert tastes so satisfying that many never would want to rid of. Sometimes you might find coffee omnipresent in the desserts.

Mocha is a type of African coffee having dark complex and tastes bitter-sweet. It is mostly used in most of the desserts as it adds bitter-sweet flavor.

Medicine

Coffee is not useful as medicine after roasting, it loses some of the potent chlorogenic proportion from the coffee bean. Moreover, the green coffee bean is used as medicines. Of course, we cannot consume it directly, firstly it is needed to be converted into extract form. After then it becomes perfect for consumption.

On the other hand, where caffeine is the main reason for people consuming coffee, there is a loophole too. The caffeine pills are available in the market which focuses on caffeine demand of people.

More and more people are switching to caffeine pills these days. They are not fully aware of or neglect the side effects of it and continue consuming caffeine.

• Caffeine pills

Mainly coffee gets its character due to caffeine. It contributes bitterness, deep taste, energetic effects, etc to the coffee bean. Pills of caffeine have several placebo and physiological effects. That can alter the heartbeat pattern and blood flow, sugar levels, adrenaline rush, etc. which keeps you boosted until the dose lasts in your bloodstream.

People nowadays have a hectic schedule and scarcely leisure life. They engage in long working hours and take chronic stress due to their work. Since the whole biological clock gets disrupted due to the mismanaged timings of work.

People keep up late and don’t get complete sleep. Which goes on the next day, finally they start depending on some mediums which could keep them up. Rinsing eyes, stretching the body, smoking or taking caffeine.

Pills or tablets of caffeine could keep you boosted and restless, which many people expect. The need for energy rush can be good when it is in the morning when you are starting the day.

But there are no proven benefits of taking caffeine pills in the morning. Because of cortisol levels, caffeine cannot impact the consumer.

Apart from benefits, there is a darker side of caffeine consumption. There are more side effects of caffeine on humans than healthy effects.

It can leave you restless for the better part of your day; nervousness, depression, elevated blood flow, trembling heartbeats, etc. Only 200 mg caffeine is a considerable amount of caffeine which an adult can consume at once and up to 600 mg through the day.

More than this amount intake can adversely affect the consumer, it is called caffeine intoxication(caffeine overdose).

• Green Coffee Pills

Green coffee pills are the capsulated form of the green coffee extract, there is a procedure producing extracts out of the green coffee bean.

Again, the unroasted coffee bean is called green coffee bean. They are considerably more healthy than the roasted ones. These beans do not have deteriorated CGA which is a big possibility in roasted ones.

Generally, green coffee beans are not consumable either directly or by grinding(difficult to grind). Bean roasting makes them brittle and crispy which are fit of grinding.

Green coffee bean has a hard shell which is next to impossible to grind in domestic grinders. These beans are boiled and then they become soft enough to grind.

However, these beans pass via the process of extraction where the qualitative properties of coffee are reformed into the extract form.

An extract is similar to coffee having most of the coffee nutritional quality and slight supplement healthy for consumers. There are majorly two forms of green coffee extract i.e. pills/capsules, powder(green coffee dust).

Green coffee tablets have certain health benefits than the roasted beans. These tablets have become more of supplements than the shear beverage.

People rejoice in it as a beverage and also as a supplement. Many have experienced the health benefits of the green coffee pills and love it more than roasted coffee.

Fertilizer

Using coffee beans as fertilizer is a prominent and broad concept. Well, coffee beans will not be the perfect term here, coffee grounds are good for making the compost. Many people practicing horticulture might even promote this method with full enthusiasm. But, there is no reliable proof or result which affirms the claim.

Coffee bean has rich nitrogen content which proves to be good for making the compost. On the other hand, the caffeine might add the quality of diminishes growth rate of surrounding weeds. It denotes the germination of the seeds.

Phytotoxicity is the reason which diminishes the growth of adjacent plants. It hinders in the nourishment of their roots and ultimately shrinks its size. This phenomenon helps some trees to naturally demolish the weeds growing around them. But, here is not desirable.

Grounds mixed in the compost will lower the pH level of the soil when used. Lower levels of pH are an indication of acid, which will eventually neutralize due to compost decomposition. Thus, there is no significant hazardous effect due to acidic properties of coffee.

How to prepare the coffee compost?

The used coffee ground is a required form of coffee good for making the compost. You will not get the results if you prepare a mulch majorly made out of grounds.

We need to add some carbon-rich ingredients along with the nitrogen ingredient(coffee). Decomposition process will be effective when there is as far as 20% of nitrogen proportion in the compost and rest of it to be carbon.

Here we know coffee is a rich source of nitrogen, hence we need to add the carbon-rich content in the compost. Some of the carbon-rich substance i.e. paper waste, sawdust, straw, dry leaves, wooden twigs, a skin of wooden trees, wooden chips, etc.

Brown ingredients(carbon) in the compost will help aeration, fertilization, carbon fixation, decomposition. While the green ingredient(coffee ground) will help in nitrogen fixation.

Nitrogen in the mulch will not rapidly contribute to fertilizing the soil. It will slowly start nitrogen fixation in the soil. Nitrogen can easily be absorbed in the plants is the land is fertilized with the compost.

This fertilization method proves to be effective when you are using it for vermicompost. Coffee grounds can attract the worms easily and in return, those worms will fertilize the soil. Worms will consume the coffee ground and fertilize the soil with their excretion. This method can easily eradicate the disadvantages of phytotoxicity and enrich the soil with nitrogen.

It is also believed after six months of applying coffee contented compost to the field, the farm will yield more than normal. Therefore, you can adopt this technique when your patch is going to be idle for six months or more.

Using coffee compost in a miniature garden?

Miniature gardens are the ones which we grow around our dwelling area. These gardens have limited amount of air circulation, Sunlight intensity, water supply, fertile soil, etc. People generally grow flowers or some fancy no-fruit, a no-flower plant called gymnosperms.

These plants require nutrition from the soil, water, and air.

Our garden soil can easily lose its fertility on the course of two to three years if not fertilized with an external media like organic compost or biological compost.

Therefore, we can use the coffee contented compost which can easily increase the nitrogen fixation in the soil. The prerequisites for using this type of fertilizer are worms and idle time(no plantation).

However, it seems to be unreasonable to use coffee’s compost with these terms. But with systematic putting the compost in the garden we can optimize the good effects.

We can put the coffee contented mulch slightly around the crops on the land surface with no crop. This mulch will be black in colored due to coffee grounds.

Generally, people dress the mulch slightly around the crops within the soil which makes the soil appear completely dark. It seems like a set of contrast due to the dark soil and vibrant leaves and flowers of the garden.

Coffee Bean Certification

Coffee has a dramatic buying and selling arena which is somewhat peculiar than other farming commodities. The authoritative body sets the base price for the coffee and highest bidder in the auction purchases the finest tasting coffee beans.

There are several factors describing the quality of coffee, methods of cultivation, area of cultivation, species, ecological standards etc. on which the mocha gets certification. We are aware of some of the labels we see on the coffee bean bags, but there is a bit more to it.

This section enlists some of the important certifications that we need to know, while there are more stated by the International Coffee Organization(ICO).

Organic

This certification is approval of the farming practice used for the cultivation of coffee is acceptable under the norms of USDA’s National Coffee Program. There is an association which keeps a check on the organic crop i.e. International Organic Inspectors Association(IOIA).

In simple terms, the organic crops or yield shall be grown with cultural, mechanized, ethical farming practices. It shall not use the chemical fertilizers, synthetic pesticides or insecticides. Also, there should not the soil erosion, ecological unbalance, sewage sludge, Unhealthy water irrigation. These factors define the organic crop or the characteristics of any organic crops.

There is also a labeling protocol, the companies shall display the organic label at a certain position on the coffee bag.

Fairtrade

Farming families often succumb to the dirty market which exploits their expertise but never pays them enough for sustenance. Fairtrade certification helps the farmers achieve at least minimum prices for their yield from buyers.

And the authoritative organization measures the minimum prices by which farmers get optimum for their quality products.

Fairtrade America and Fairtrade USA exercise the labeling process by verifying the crop deals to be matching the standards emphasized by Fairtrade International. Authoritative bodies get the exclusive responsibility to check if the coffee bean farming families are paid at least a minimum amount that Fairtrade International states.

The authoritative body derives the minimum wages based on many factors which could keep the farming families to live a fruitful life.

Bird Friendly

This certification emphasizes the preservation of agroforest fit for the bird’s dwelling. Ecologists of Smithsonian Migratory Bird Centre conceptualized the bird-friendly certification.

According to their guidelines, the farmland in tropical forest shall have major native tree species with at least 12 meters high canopy-bed. There shall be two strata layers and a minimum of 10 various tree species throughout the farm. The trees shall have at least 40 percent of shade.

The Bird-Friendly certificate can help the seller earn some extra cents per pound and makes that product more appealing. There is an extensive auditing practice that the authoritative body practices, it keeps checking on the certainty of healthy farm conditions.

The certificate accounts for three-year validity and the regular audits ensure the farm’s status.

UTZ

UTZ Kapeh Foundation certifies the product which works according to their control points. These control points are revised every four years.
UTZ imposes the control points to keep transparency, certainty in supply order via optimum productivity and farm management. The healthy farming practicing shall include water management, avoid soil erosion, minimum pollution, and lower chemical fertilizer, etc.

However, this foundation has merged with Rainforest Alliance in January 2019. Next section will describe details of this merger.

Rain Forest Alliance

Rain Forest Alliance ensures the quality of yield, proper lifestyle of farming families, ecological balance, resources optimization. Certification focuses on various factors of farming practice stated by this alliance. Apparent certification focuses on a wider aspect of improving the framing practice and waging rates of the farmers.

But it is not a thorough process which emphasizes every factor for certification. The alliance only displays the good farming factors which are achieved during farming.

The merger was forecasted in June 2017 and happened in January 2019. A result of UTZ and Rain Forest Alliance merger, both organizations will continue to work in parallel format to achieve their motive till 2019. After which, new cost structure, policies, guidelines will be introduced to their working.

FAQs

Here are some frequently asked questions about coffee beans.

Difference between Arabica, robusta, and liberica?

Arabica :

• Tastes better than robusta.
• Expensive.
• Hilly regions are suitable for its farming.
• Contains more antioxidants
• Acidic
• Long and oval with narrow crack shaped seeds
• Its tree can grow 2.5 to 4.5 meters tall.

Robusta :

• Higher caffeine
• Tastes bitter due to a finer ground or excess time for brewing.
• Yields more.
• Economic than arabica and liberica
• More resistant to pests.
• Circularly shaped seeds.
• Its tree can grow 4.5 to 6 meters tall.

Liberica :

• Humongous asymmetric almond-like seeds.
• Its tree can be as much as 10 meters to 15 meters tall
• Its tree grows in the native islands of Malaysian province.
• It has smokey, dark chocolate like aroma.

Difference between a single origin and blend?

Single :

• Only pure coffee species cultivation.
• No cross-breeds, no hybrids.
• Neither mixing various species for a roast.
• Nor mixing various while grinding.
• Coffee bean which is of specific species is single origin coffee bean.

Blend :

• Mixing different coffee while roasting.
• Some blend after brewing. (rare practice)
• Blending helps to ensure perfect acidity, bitterness, smoothness.

Difference between acidity and bitterness?

Acidity :

• Acidity in coffee is due to its pH levels.
• It is desirable, up to some extent.
• Acidity also contributes to savoring the taste.

Bitterness :

• The caffeine is seldom responsible for bitterness.
• Heavy, dark roast makes coffee bitter.
• Improper brewing, heavy extraction of the grind.

Difference between light and dark roasts?

Light Roast :

• Coffee becomes pale yellow to dark yellow, at 270 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Roasting for short period and low temperature.
• It helps to make the beans crispy.
• Has none carbon and no smoky flavor.
• It is best for the coffee for beginners.

Dark Roast :

• Coffee becomes shiny black to thick textured black, at 270 degrees Fahrenheit.
• It has high carbon deposition layer on it.
• This can be dense bitter, even for the back palette people.

Are Coffee Beans better than grounds?

Yes, coffee beans are better than grounds for several reasons. The coffee bean can remain fresh for a longer period than the grounds. Because the beans have a lesser surface area along with harder surface. By purchasing bean bag you can make sure of the freshness.
However, you will have to engage in the coffee errands afterward. Coffee errands i.e. blending, grinding, etc after buying beans increase.

When to drink coffee for health benefits?

Best time to consume coffee is when the cortisol level in your body is minimum.
Avoid this period to drink coffee when the body has lower cortisol :

• 8-9 am
• 12-1 noon/pm
• 5:30-6:30 pm

Is green coffee extract different from green coffee beans?

Yes and no, the green coffee extract is not exactly equal to that of the green coffee beans. Neither in physical appearance nor in quantitative value. The extract contains most of the nutritional qualities of bean’s ingredients in it, which you can easily brew and consume.

No, the extract and beans are not at all similar when it comes to physical form. An extract is the coffee dust, on the other hand, beans are the coffee seeds. Yes, extract delivers similar taste and health benefits including weight loss of that of the green coffee beans.

Are there any coffee medicines or coffee pills?

There is no need for any coffee, after all, why would someone choose pills over real coffee. But there exists caffeine pills and green coffee pills, as many would need an excess amount of caffeine for late night assignments and working load.

Generally, caffeine that coffee bean contains do not add up the effect that could suffice a late working person. On the other hand, a green coffee pill is a product many health-conscious people prefer. Green coffee extract pills are just the tablet or capsulated form of green coffee.

Each person could have different acceptance and resistance towards caffeine effects. A couple of coffee mugs can keep someone up all night. On the other hand, someone might just sleep after consuming the same amount of coffee.

Although, there is a certain allowable amount of caffeine that a body could respond in a healthy way.

As we say, caffeine is a substance which can delay your natural sleeping time. It can keep you up for an elongated period and boost you some charge. Generally, 50 mg - 200 mg a day caffeine pills will not prove to be harmful to an adult. But going over 500 mg - 650 mg a day can develop alarming symptoms of anxiety, depression, mental instability, irritability, drowsiness.

Furthermore, consuming even the smallest dose on regular basis will make you physically dependent on caffeine and more or less addicted to it.

Is coffee a medicine?

An answer to this question will not be a specific yes or no. Coffee is a healthy drink depending on the quantity, quality, time of day, before or after food, etc you take. On the other hand, it can also have negative health effects when you consume irregular and abundant coffee.

Coffee does prove to healthy for people suffering from high blood pressure, premature aging, etc. It can avoid liver cancer, other hepatic diseases, kidney failure. However, it cannot cure these if once someone develops those diseases.

Precautions while taking caffeine pills

There are three points to keep in mind while you consume caffeine pills, i.e. caffeine pills will ruin your health if start taking it regularly - it shall be taken once in a blue moon, however, consumption should be no more than 300 mg, normally adults require 7.5 - 9 hours of sleep(there are many exceptions) - never deduce that period.

Advantages of caffeine

• Energy rush
• Better blood circulation
• Reduces premature aging
• Concentration
• Muscle pain relief

Disadvantages of caffeine(Side effects of caffeine) 

• Appetite loss
• Trembling heartbeats
• Sleeplessness
• Delay in the biological clock
• Strokes (in severe cases)
• Addiction
• Anxiety
• Nervousness (jitter)
• Depression

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What is coffee jitters?

Definition of jitter says, extreme nervousness. The caffeine content of the coffee can promote higher blood pressure, jitter, energy rush. So, by reducing the coffee intake to not more than you require.

How to stop coffee jitter/How to get rid of coffee jitters?

Jitter can leave your body trembling and that nothing but an excess of energy rush your body is facing. In this case, you just need to flush that excess energy by engaging in physical activities and yes that’s it.

You might have heard methods to calm jitters down, i.e. drinking water to detox your body from caffeine or eat a banana to do the same. But these tricks are just myth, some people might feel to be working for them but it actually does not.

Liver disintegrates the caffeine and for a coffee mug, an adult might need anywhere between 3 – 6 hours to perfectly break caffeine. However, water and banana cannot hinder that process and liver breaks caffeine on its own.

The EndNote

So this was our take on Coffee Beans. We tried to provide you all the possible information and best products related to coffee beans.

If you liked our article, check out some more on Coffeemakered!

If you have any query, comment in the section below.

Cheers!