In Nicaragua coffee cultivation began early but it did not dominate the economy as in Guatemala and El Salvador. Coffee cultivation began in the lands in the southern uplands in earnest in the 1860 s where the transition from other commercial agricultural endeavors was smooth. But the prime coffee growing lands in Nicaragua turned out to be in the north central highlands, where Indians owned most of the land, and a familiar course of action that was taking place in other growing areas of the world was about to ensue.

That was the systematic elimination of native populations that stood between the coffee barons and huge profits from coffee experts. These coffee wars were often very bloody and lasted for years. Those that weren t killed were enslaved to work the plantations on what was once their own land. In 1881 several thousand Indians revolted and attacked the government headquarters in Matagalpa and demanded an end to the forced labor.

The Nicaragua Army suppressed the revolt killing over a thousand natives. Nevertheless, the resistance remained strong for many years and coffee growing in Nicaragua was dangerous business. Many top growers and government officials were assassinated by resistance fighters.

The U.S. government even sent troops to Nicaragua to protect U.S. interests as the U.S. was considering building a canal there to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. However, after securing rights for the canal in Panama, the U.S. was not as eager to provide support and as a result the coffee industry stagnated compared to other Central American nations.

Most of the political unrest in Nicaragua was centered around the coffee industry and government corruption that involved catering to the businessmen that wanted the prime highlands for growing coffee. The unrest continued well into the twentieth century and in 1979 the Sandinista resistance fighters led a revolt against the longtime president Anastasio Somaza Jr. The entire country rallied behind the Sandinistas and Somaza fled Nicaragua.

The Sandinistas took over and promised a better life for all including the coffee growers and Indian laborers. Although they knew very little about the coffee business they did manage to turn the country, and the Nicaragua coffee industry around.

Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.

About the Author

Randy works with his son on Ultimate Coffees Info. Randy owned and operated a very successful storefront/mailorder business from 1988 to 2003. Currently full time owner/operator of several online businesses.

In 1607 The London Company sent 105 adventurous employees to the New World and the founding American colony of Jamestown was created. In New England coffee would not appear until around 1660.

The coffee craze of the 1700 s was well underway in England, however, unlike in London where the coffeehouse had a distinct and respected persona all its own, the American coffeehouse shared space with pubs and taverns. New England coffee was a beverage that was consumed along side ale and rum and therefore was not well received by the refined upper class. Coffee was seen as a debaucherous and wicked beverage that only drunks used to sober themselves up. Tea was the beverage of choice among the affluent.

New England coffee remained the harsh and bitter astringent of drunks for 75 more years or so until 1773 when, in protest to the very high taxes the British government placed on tea and “taxation without representation”, American colonists staged the rebellious Boston Tea Party and threw case after case of English tea into Boston Harbor.

In 1774 the Continental Congressed passed a resolution against the consumption of tea and renounced British rule as revolution loomed. The sentiment of the country can be summarized in a line that John Adams wrote in a letter to his wife shortly thereafter, “Tea must be universally rejected and I as well must be weaned, the sooner the better.”

The image of New England coffee began to change as it was now seen as the beverage of the American patriot. From the dark and smelly taverns to the tables of aristocrats, drinking New England coffee became a patriotic duty and a symbolic gesture of independence.

A new American coffeehouse emerged and became a gathering place for casual conversation as well as a central political forum for revolution campaigning. The role that New England coffee played in the creation of the world s most powerful country is often overlooked yet is a key element in the independence of the United States. As Americans rallied against tea, they in turn rallied in support of coffee, a trend that continues to this day. America is the world s largest consumer of coffee and the world s least consumer of tea.

Revolutionary soldiers carried coffee in their field rations as have soldiers of every war Americans have ever fought, hence the term cup of Joe , as in G.I. Joe. So I raise my mug in patriotic salute to the resistance of tyranny and oppression, “Give me coffee or give me death!” Well, maybe not death.

Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.

About the Author

Randy works with his son on Ultimate Coffees Info. Randy owned and operated a very successful storefront/mailorder business from 1988 to 2003. Currently full time owner/operator of several online businesses.

Maxwell House Coffee History:

Legend has it that in 1907 President Teddy Roosevelt visited Maxwell House, the prestigious Nashville hotel and after finishing a cup of their namesake coffee, he declared it was, “good to the last drop.” At least that is what Maxwell House Coffee Company advertised in 1920. While legends are romantic they are rarely accurate. Teddy Roosevelt did indeed visit the hotel and probably did have a cup of coffee but there is no evidence that he ever uttered those words. Still, legends are romantic and this one sure sold a lot of coffee.

The story of Maxwell House Coffee begins in rural Kentucky in 1873 when Joel Cheek, a traveling salesman for a wholesale grocery firm was asked by a customer what the best coffee that he sold was. In rural areas in the 1870 s people bought their coffee green and roasted it at home. He naturally recommended the most expensive one, though he knew nothing about the differing qualities of coffee.

Whether bothered by his conscience or simply out of curiosity, that night he roasted some of each type of coffee that he sold and sampled them side by side. He decided that actually one of the cheaper brands had the best flavor. The next day he returned to the grocer that had asked him the question and explained why he would be shipping him the cheaper brand.

Continuing to experiment with different varieties of coffee, Cheek became quite the aficionado, recognizing that some brands had better body and some better acidity and yet another better flavor and aroma. He began mixing different coffees together to find just the right blend.

Many years passed before he would move to Nashville in 1884 and meet Roger Nolley Smith, a British coffee broker who could reportedly tell the origin of a coffee simply by smelling the green beans. The two became fast friends bound by their passion for coffee. This friendship would be the beginning of Maxwell House Coffee though it would be several more years before either of them knew it.

Over the next few years the two worked on finding the perfect blend and in 1892 Cheek believed they had found it. He approached the food buyer for the Maxwell House and gave him twenty pounds of his special blend for free. After a few days the coffee was gone and the hotel returned to its usual brand. After hearing of complaints from patrons, who liked Cheeks coffee better, the hotel bought Cheeks blend exclusively.

Inspired by his success Cheek quit his job and formed a wholesale grocery distributor with partner John Neal, The Nashville Coffee and Manufacturing Company, specializing in coffee with Maxwell House Coffee, as it came to be known, as the central brand.

Later the Nashville Coffee and Manufacturing Company was renamed the Cheek-Neal Coffee Company. Over the next several years the Maxwell House Coffee brand became a well respected name noted for its high-brow snob appeal that set it apart from the competition.

Like most coffee companies, the Cheek-Neal Coffee Company marketed many lower-grade brands of coffee keeping Maxwell House Coffee as its flagship. In 1910 the company was fined for adulteration and misbranding of one of its lower grade coffees containing 10 percent chicory. There was a strip label across the lid indicating the use of chicory but the print was tiny and the main label read big and bold “Cheek & Neal Cup Quality Coffee.”

The legal mess that resulted had little effect on the company or the reputation of Maxwell House Coffee and by the 1920 s Maxwell House was a household name. In 1928 General Foods bought Maxwell House Coffee. Hope you enjoyed this little tidbit of Maxwell House Coffee History.

Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.

About the Author

Randy works with his son on Ultimate Coffees Info. Randy owned and operated a very successful storefront/mailorder business from 1988 to 2003.

How to start off about Kona Coffees. First talk with an expert about coffees. Like: what is his or her favorite type of bean, almost invariably you ll hear one variety mentioned: Kona coffee.

Kona beans are grown in Hawaii and are treasured worldwide for their aroma and flavor. Kona beans are some of the most expensive on the market, and have come to be known as the best of the best.

For over 175 years, Kona beans have been growing continually on Hawaii in the North and South Districts of Kona, an area about 20 miles long and 2 miles wide.

In the shadow of two volcanic mountains, the Kona Districts have a unique microclimate of sunny mornings and cloudy afternoons which provide natural shade. The volcanoes protect the area from strong trade winds that would otherwise harm the coffee plants and give the soil its ashen quality in which the plants thrive.

The mountains also give Kona a cool, dry, winter season for harvesting and a rainy summer when the coffee plant is growing and the fruit is developing.

Most Kona coffee is grown on large, old-growth, productive Typica trees. Kona trees grow strongly on the steep, well-draining slopes of the two enormous volcanic mountains.

Known today as Kona Typica, this coffee variety was first called Guatemalan when it was introduced back in 1892 by an Oahu grower named Hermann Widemann.

After this variety was grown for several years on the Big Island of Hawaii, growers were convinced that this coffee was far superior to the Brazilian variety which was previously brought to Kona.

As a result of their care and hard work, Kona Typica continues today as it has for over 100 years.

Kona beans flowers bloom in early spring. Because of the careful cultivation by the farmers, the plants don t develop fruit all at the same time and instead develop in rounds, one section at a time.

The Kona bean farmers hand picks the beans. This is because only the ripe coffee cherry is picked from the Kona tree, each tree may get 5 visits during the harvest season in order to get as much fruit as possible. Picking the fruit by hand gives the Kona coffee farmer the opportunity to pick just the ripest coffee cherry, resulting in a sweet cup of coffee.

This is an enhancement over the mechanical harvesting done with most coffees that ends up including the immature, imperfect and old Coffee cherries that tinge the flavor of the coffees.

Most Kona coffee farms are about 4 acres in size and are family-owned and operated. Because of the small size of the farms, each plant is able to receive specialized care.

As the farmer walks through his orchard, he can quickly see the general health of each plant and cultivate appropriately. The Kona trees are often planted alongside vegetables, fruit and other trees like banana, macadamia and avocado.

The Kona coffees themselves are full-bodied and rich in flavor with a hint of spice. This combined with the hand-picked quality of the coffees on less than two thousand acres in the entire world lends itself to the expense of the Kona beans on the open market.

Due to this expense, Kona beans are often blended with other coffees before being sold at your local market.

If you re buying a bag of beans labeled Kona, you should be very careful to read the label. Most of these bags contain 10% or less Kona coffees and the rest are inferior, South American beans.

If you want to experience the true bliss that is Kona coffee, make sure the bag you buy is 100% Kona beans.

This may not be available in your local market; instead, look to purchase Kona coffees online from a Hawaiian retailer in order to get true Kona beans directly from the source.

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Article written by Randy Wilson and brought to you by http://www.profitable-home-businesses.com/greeting-cards-home-business.html.

In Kenya coffee production dates back several hundred years. Coffee was originally discovered in Ethiopia, Kenya s neighbor to the north. Unfortunately, just as in other coffee growing regions of the world, the coffee trade in Kenya triggered heated and bloody battles over the prime growing lands. The Arabs, who monopolized the coffee trade for several hundred years, killed and enslaved many thousand Kenyans and put them to work in coffee production both in Kenya coffee fields and on Arabian coffee plantations.

Around 1900 British settlers came to the region to grow Kenyan coffee. As more and more white settlers entered the region conflicts between the natives and the whites arose and led to more bloodshed. The British, being more skilled in the ways of politics and business quickly assumed control of the country.

This only escalated the violence and several native groups organized and revolted violently. The region remained a violent place until around 1960. Then the British relinquished control and granted the Kenyans independence.

All Kenyan coffee is of the Arabica variety, grown on rich volcanic soils in the highlands of Kenya. Approximately 250,000 Kenyans are involved in coffee production. Most coffee is produced by small holders with small plots of land. They are members of cooperative societies which process their own coffee.

There are two flowerings in each season. The blossom normally appears shortly after the beginning of the long rains in March and April. In most districts, the main crop ripens from October until the end of the year. The second and smaller flowering comes with the short rains in October or November. These are picked in the early part of the season, often starting the following June.

During the harvest, only red ripe cherries are picked, and always by hand. This entails frequent picking rounds with each tree picked every ten days or so. After milling, the coffee beans are graded mechanically into various grades which differ in size, weight and shape. The smoothness of its acidity and the subtle notes of its fruitiness make for an exceptional cup of coffee.

Today Kenyan coffee is a major export crop and provides jobs and security in an impoverished nation. As in many other regions of the world coffee has played a key role in development of under-developed countries. And unfortunately, money has driven some ruthless people and governments to place profit ahead of human rights. But as the world becomes more aware of injustices taking place the people of the world unite in support of democracy.

Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.

About the Author

Randy has more articles on coffee such as Colombian Coffee, Coffee and Alzheimers and Coffee Breaks.

When we think of Spanish coffee we tend to think of a steaming mug of coffee with rum or other alcohol and topped with whipped cream, but the Spanish influence on the coffee industry reaches much further than the bar in a ski lodge.

Spanish ships carried coffee plants and seeds to many remote areas of the world where coffee was not native but soon became central growing hubs. Descendants of Spanish conquistadors settled in Central and South America where they created huge plantations for growing Spanish coffee.

Coffee originally came to Spain with Turkish immigrants. Not much, if any, coffee was actually grown in Spain but they developed a method for roasting that produces very dark, almost black oily beans that make very strong coffee that is known as Spanish Roast, or Dark French Roast.

Spanish coffee growers in Latin America accounted for nearly half of all the coffee exported; however, most Spanish coffee served in Spain comes from Angola and Mozambique and is roasted dark to bring out the full flavor.

Coffeehouses in Spain are usually elaborate, elegant gathering places with high ceilings, ornate furniture and waiters in white shirts and black ties. The customers are appropriately dressed and the atmosphere is somewhat reserved. Spanish coffee houses are quite different from other regions of the world where a casual, informal environment would be expected.

Early Arabic coffee traders tended to gouge the Spanish coffee merchants on pricing and the result was the highest priced cup of coffee in Europe. Portugal, Spain s neighbor, had colonies in several coffee growing regions in Africa and sold coffee to the Spain at more reasonable prices, however the quality was not as good and some importers chose to pay the higher prices for the Arabian coffee.

Whether the Spaniards were the first to add alcohol to coffee is unknown, but this practice is very common in Spanish coffee houses even in the morning hours so it is possible. The familiar drink on cold afternoons does have its origin in the rich and elegant coffeehouses of Spain.

Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.

About the Author

Randy works with his son on Ultimate Coffees Info. Randy owned and operated a very successful storefront/mailorder business from 1988 to 2003.

If necessity is the mother of invention then profit may be the mother necessity. As the Great Depression gripped the United States in the 1930 s and coffee sales plummeted there was a definite need for the coffee growers to find new ways to sell their product. Nescafe came to the rescue.

In 1867 Henri Nestle, a German chemist living in Switzerland, had invented a baby formula for women who couldn t nurse. By 1900 he had set up production facilities in several countries, including the United States, where he also made condensed milk. Over the next thirty years the company expanded their products to include powered chocolate milk mix and other confectionary products.

In 1930 the Brazilian government approached Nestle to create a new instant coffee that would give the consumer another option and at the same time increase the dwindling coffee exports of Brazil. It took eight years but in 1938 Nestle introduced Nescafe.

Instant coffee was not a new idea; it was originally invented by a Japanese chemist named Satori Kato in 1901 and had been marketed and sold by various companies with disappointing results. Nescafe revolutionized the way instant coffee was made.

Early methods of making instant coffee involved brewing a batch of high-strength, concentrated coffee and then boiling it dry in stainless steel drums; the residue left behind was instant coffee. The heat involved in the boiling process destroyed most of the aromatic and flavorful properties of the coffee. When reconstituted in water the result was a pungent, bitter decoction that little resembled coffee.

Nestle developed a new process for dehydrating the concentrated coffee which vastly improved the quality. In entailed spraying a fine mist of the solution into a heated tower where the droplets turned to powder almost instantly. They then added carbohydrates in the form of dextrose, dextrin and maltose which helped preserve the flavor.

Nestle struggled to come up with a name for this new product which would inspire the public to buy it. They combined the word Nestle and the Italian word for coffee, caffee, or caf in hopes that the Italian inference would create an aura of romance and capture the imagination. Apparently it worked; through an aggressive, and expensive, ad campaign that targeted the American housewife Nescafe became a huge success for Nestle and doubled its global market share.

WWII rebounded the country from the depression and did much to further the Nescafe name as instant coffee became a staple of the soldiers ration kits.

While instant coffee accounts for only about 25% of coffee sales world-wide. Nescafe is bar far the dominate player in the arena. Nescafe remains the second most recognized brand name in the world, second only to Coca-Cola.

Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.

About the Author

Randy works with his son on Ultimate Coffees Info. Randy owned and operated a very successful storefront/mailorder business from 1988 to 2003. Currently full time owner/operator of several online businesses.

Mexico has a long history of coffee production as well as its Latin neighbors the south. Mexican coffee is grown mainly in the South central to Southern regions of the country. Coffee from Coatepec and Veracruz is much different from Oaxacan Plumas, which are in turn much different from the southernmost region of Chiapas.

The later is a growing region that borders Guatemala, and you will find similarities between those coffees. In general you can expect a light-bodied coffee, mild but with delicate flavors, but there are exceptions of course. Mexico is one of the largest producers of certified organic coffees, and because of the close proximity, most Mexican coffee is exported to the U.S.

Coffee was introduced into Mexico during the nineteenth century from Jamaica. Mexican coffee is mainly the Arabica varietal, which grows particularly well in the Pacific coastal region of Soconusco, near the Guatemalan border. In the early 1990s, the southern state of Chiapas was Mexico’s most important coffee-growing area, producing some 45 percent of the annual crop of 275,000 tons.

More than 2 million Mexicans grew coffee, most barely subsisting. Seventy-five percent of Mexican coffee growers worked plots of fewer than two hectares. These small cultivators produced about 30 percent of the country’s annual harvest; larger and more efficient farms produced the rest.

During the 1980s, coffee became Mexico’s most valuable export crop. In 1985 coffee growers produced 4.9 million sixty-kilogram bags, and coffee exports earned $882US million at the unusually high world price of $0.90US per kilogram. Thereafter output fluctuated between 5.6 million bags and 4.4 million bags.

As international coffee prices rose further, the government in 1988 encouraged coffee growers, especially in Chiapas, to increase output and expand the area under cultivation. It tried to increase production by offering easy credit to coffee growers and by converting forested land into ejidos for cultivation by poor Mexican coffee growers.

The finest grade of Mexican coffee is “Altura,” which means “high-grown.” Where coffee is concerned, higher always means better, and the high-grown coffees of Mexico are considered very high-quality indeed and among the finest grown in the Americas.

Mexican coffee drinkers have a unique way of brewing their coffee, many prefer to add a small amount of cinnamon to the ground coffee before brewing, this adds a distinct flavor and also reduces the acidity.

Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.

About the Author

Randy works with his son on Ultimate Coffees Info. Randy owned and operated a very successful storefront/mailorder business from 1988 to 2003.

The history of Jamaican coffee begins half a world away in France in 1723 when King Louis XV sent three coffee plants to the French colony of Martinique, some 1200 miles to the SW of Jamaica. Five years later in 1728 the governor of Jamaica, Sir Nicholas Lawes, received one coffee plant as a gift from the Governor of Martinique. The plant took root with vigor and only nine years later, in 1737, coffee exportation began with an initial shipment of 83,000 lbs. The Jamaican coffee industry was born.

Coffee plants thrive in the naturally potash, nitrogen and phosphoric acid rich soil of Jamaica. Coffee trees prefer high altitudes and are perfectly suited for the mountain slopes that are otherwise unsuitable for the other agricultural endeavors such as sugar cane, banana, cocoa and citrus, none of which, interestingly, are native to the island yet vital to the economy of Jamaica.

Coffee is grown in all parts of the island and at all elevations, however, the finest Jamaican coffee comes from an area on the eastern side of the island, just north of Kingston in the Blue Mountains known, appropriately enough, as the Blue Mountain Region. Coffee grown outside the Blue Mountain Region is referred to as Jamaican High Mountain, which is comparable in body and balance but tends to be a bit more acidic to the refined tastes of the connoisseur. Lower grown coffees are referred to as Blue Mountain Valley coffees, they are medium bodied, delicate to bland in flavor and rather rich in acid.

Many Jamaican coffee brands claim their product is Jamaican Blue Mountain but in fact may be a Jamaican High Mountain or even a Blue Mountain Valley variety and is only milled within the boundaries of the Blue Mountain Region.

True Jamaican Blue Mountain coffees are full-bodied, moderately acidy and richly complex, though occasionally marred by a slight mustiness, which is characteristic of many Caribbean coffees.

The Jamaican coffee market has had its share of setbacks from worker shortages around the turn of the 20th century to the complete shut down of production for two years due to hurricane devastation in 1988. Early in the exportation of Jamaican coffee, Canada was the largest consumer with over 60% of all coffee exports bound for this country. In 1943 the Canadian government declared the quality of Jamaican coffee unacceptable and stopped all importation.

In 1944 the Jamaican government established the Central Coffee Clearing House, where all coffee bound for export was cleaned, inspected and graded, in an attempt to raise the standard of Jamaican coffee. In 1950 the Jamaican coffee growers established their own governing body, the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board, to improve and maintain the quality and reputation of Jamaican coffee.

The JCIB successfully accomplished its goal through setting and enforcing standards for growing, harvesting, processing and marketing of its product. Today, Jamaican coffee is known for its high-quality. Annual production of Jamaican coffee stands around 6,600,000 lbs. of which about 85% is exported to Japan. The remaining 15% is distributed mostly between the U.S. and the U.K. gourmet specialty markets where it can fetch up to US$40/lb.

Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.

About the Author

Randy works with his son on Ultimate Coffees Info. Randy owned and operated a very successful storefront/mailorder business from 1988 to 2003. Currently full time owner/operator of several online businesses.

Mention instant coffee to any connoisseur and you are sure to get a frown of disgust. Yet, who among us hasn t, after finding the coffee tin empty, scoured the cupboard in desperation with hopes of finding a long since misplaced jar or hotel packet of instant coffee? And, after sighing in relief, relished in amazement that it is still good after all those years of obscurity, abandonment and outright neglect on the dusty top shelf at the back of the pantry. You haven t? Well maybe I just like to live dangerously.

Instant coffee, or soluble coffee, as it was originally called dates back as early as 1771 when the British government granted a patent for a coffee compound . There have been many attempts since then to make instant coffee more palatable but capturing the essence of freshly roasted, freshly brewed coffee has proven a difficult task.

Instant coffee is made by brewing a concentrated liquid solution of real coffee, then removing the water through various means of dehydration. What is left, the residue, is instant coffee. Early methods of dehydration involved spraying the concentrated solution into heated stainless steel drums and after the water had evaporated the drums were scraped and the powdery residue was packaged. The taste was scorched, pungent and bitter to say the least. If you have ever left a pot on the burner too long and have ended up with a charred disgusting mess in the bottom of the carafe, then you have made instant coffee.

The next advancement in instant coffee came in the 1960 s when the process of agglomeration was introduced. Particles of instant coffee were steamed and made sticky so they would clump together. The clumps were then redried by reheating. The result was a better looking product that closer resembled ground coffee but the flavor may have actually been degraded even further by the additional heating cycle.

Most recently the process of lyophilization or freeze-drying has become the standard method of making instant coffee. This method is a vast improvement over other methods for two reasons. The first is that the coffee concentrate is extracted under high pressure so the water used never actually boils even though the water is well above the boiling point.

The second is that the water is removed without adding heat which helps preserve the coffee flavor. The concentrate is then frozen and placed in a vacuum chamber and the temperature is raised to just above freezing, at which point one would expect the mixture to melt. However, since it is in a vacuum the frozen water is prevented from becoming a liquid. But since the temperature is above freezing the solid water (ice) goes directly from a solid to a vapor. It is then vented to a separate chamber where it is refrozen as pure water. What is left in the vacuum chamber is the coffee residue.

Even with the improved process of freeze drying instant coffee remains a sad substitute for the real thing.

Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.

About the Author

Randy has more articles on coffee such as Colombian Coffee, Coffee and Alzheimers and Coffee Breaks.