And we say hail to that!
Emerging players like Burundi and Tanzania offer high-grade African coffee that is good enough to rival the old guard.
Keep reading as we explore the African coffee industry through 6 of its biggest producers. We’ll talk about growing regions and flavor profiles. As a bonus, we’ll recommend some od the best African coffee beans you can try for yourself.
Many African nations grow coffee, particularly in East Africa. But only a few countries export high-quality Arabica coffee beans to the Western market. Here are seven African coffee regions you should know. From Ethiopia and Kenya’s well-established coffee regions, to up-and-coming producers like Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda
Coffee is now grown around the world, but Ethiopia is considered its homeland. Plus, it’s the largest coffee producer in Africa. The environment is so perfectly suited for the crop that Ethiopian coffeegrows wild, with more than a thousand different varietals present in the country. Perhaps not coincidentally, Ethiopia is one of few African nations that regularly consume coffee. Only about 50% of the crop is for export.
Coffee grows throughout the country. Yet, the high-elevation southern regions are most renowned internationally. Among these is the province of Sidamo, within which the town of Yirgacheffe produces coffee that is coveted worldwide. Other popular origins are the Guji region and Harrar.
The better natural processed coffees maintain the clean citric and floral notes with a touch of added sweetness and body compared to their washed counterparts.
You’ll rarely find high-end Ethiopian coffee given a dark roast as this can mask the subtle and complex flavors says Ken the roaster.
Kenya doesn’t grow as much coffee as Ethiopia nor has quite as long a history. However, Kenya AA beans are recognized worldwide for their quality. This didn’t happen by chance; the country has invested heavily in research and coffee production to achieve this reputation.
The Kenyan coffee system’s unique aspect is the Coffee Auction. This is a weekly government-run auction in which roasters and green coffee dealers bid on the beans. The Auction is considered the most transparent selling method, and it helps farmers get higher prices for better beans (1).
The most prized Kenyan coffee beans are SL-28 and SL-34, so named because Scott Labs developed them. The beans are graded by size, with Kenyan AA coffee being the largest and most valued.
Most coffee from Kenya is grown by small-scale producers and cooperatives. Kenya’s biggest coffee regions are the high plateaus around Mount Kenya. The coffee is known for being full-bodied with bright acidity. The flavors are complex and delicate, featuring juicy fruits like blackcurrant and citrus and a spicy winy character.
We will have a part 2 to review more African coffees we offer. African coffee is some of the finest in the world. Though known collectively for their fruity flavors and winy acidity, each country offers unique assets thanks to differences in production, processing, and climate.
Use this guide to choose your favorite African coffee growing region, or better yet, treat yourself to a continental feast of coffee and try them all!
]]>What are the 5 good reasons to love coffee? This article explores the different ways coffee could have a great impact on your everyday life.
1. Start Your Day
Drinking bold flavored coffee is one of the best ways for you to jumpstart your day. Coffee is a healthy beverage that is loaded with a variety of healthy nutrients that your body needs. Once you wake up in the morning, making coffee is the most important morning routine that you should implement. Whether you’re going to the gym, work, or performing other activities in the morning, coffee can help you to feel more awakened.
2. It’s Relaxing
Listening to music is not the only way for you to feel relaxed. Regular coffee consumption may help to put you in a relaxing mood. If you experience high levels of stress or depression, you may experience positive benefits from coffee consumption.
3. Exceptional Taste
Coffee lovers are addicted to the exceptional taste of coffee. You don’t even have to include cream or sugar in your coffee to enjoy the smooth, delicious taste. Coffee is naturally delicious with a strong taste and smell that you will enjoy every morning.
4. Brew Methods
You have the benefit to try different methods to brew your favorite coffee. Some common popular coffee brewing methods include French press, Espresso machine, manual pour-over coffee makers, and using a coffee bag.
5. Widely Diverse
Coffee beans are grown and collected from all over the world. The diversity of coffee beans allow you to experience the different qualities and taste of coffee.
Drink the Premium Coffee that You Deserve
There are so many good reasons why millions of people look forward to drinking a delicious cup of coffee in the mornings. Coffee is an amazing drink that you can consume regularly to improve the way you feel. You also have the benefit to save time by ordering premium coffee online.
Would you like to enjoy the sweetness and bold flavors of premium coffee? At Mugsys Coffee Co, you can rely on us to provide you with our superb collection of online coffee. Contact us to learn about our mugs and organic coffees harvested from all over the world.
]]>We think this complements our excellent catalog of international coffees in light, medium and dark roast varieties. We offer our customers the ability to brew a cup of coffee up to any aficionado’s high standards.
Showcasing the Bean
In one of our previous blog posts, “Beans Up Close,” we talked about the visual appeal of arabica and robusta coffee beans.
That's part of what went into our website refresh, as you can see on the landing page that the beans have a very real visual appeal in and of themselves. You can almost smell these high-quality beans brewing in your own percolator or stovetop coffee machine. Or French press, or whatever you prefer. Our job is to ship you the highest quality beans from some of the best coffee producing regions of the world.
That brings us to another point on what we put into our website to help customers choose the best coffee varieties for their palates.
Coffee Around the World
Simply put, where the coffee comes from makes a difference. There are differences in soil acidity and chemical makeup, differences in local varieties, and other differences that create those unique aromas and tastes that coffee aficionados love.
“Isn't it just a cup of coffee?”
If you're asking that question, you're probably not used to buying this kind of high-quality bean for your daily mug. But if you are a true coffee fan, you will be able to distinguish between different varieties from different parts of the world, with the right taste notes on your tongue.
For instance, if you click into our Indonesia page, you'll see a detailed map of this island region and some of the blends that it produces. We feel like that's another important part of the site, useful in order to help guide customers and build their understanding of how where coffee comes from influences how it tastes.
Then you can also see on the site that we offer flavored coffees such as sweet treats for your morning brew. There is a whole genre of coffee fans who love these kinds of tastes like crème brûlée or cinnamon bun. It just makes your mouth water just thinking about it!
Check out our FAQ blog and other resources for more on the best high-quality international coffees you can buy anywhere.
]]>To that end, in highlighting some of our best tastes that we are excited about, let's talk about one of the most prominent gourmet international desserts around.
You probably know it as crème brûlée. But in the area of Europe where it originated, it also goes by different names. The Brits know it as Cambridge burnt cream. (People in some regions refer to a similar yet different dish as “crème Anglaise.”) In the northeastern Spanish region of Catalunya, locals call the desert “crema catalana” as if contending that they alone invented it. Go to Perpignan or thereabouts and ask for one of these dishes.
So what is this tasty treat? Essentially, it's custard with the top burned. Chefs typically use a blowtorch or some other resource to brown the top of the custard and caramelize the sugar. That leads to the unique texture and taste of crème brûlée to delight dining audiences everywhere.
Cranberry Crème Brûlée Coffee
What? Crème brûlée coffee? Yes, it’s exciting! Our cranberry crème brûlée roast takes South American arabica beans and subjects them to a process that leaves the resulting blend with a sort of fruity finish and a smooth, creamy texture that represents the union of cranberry, a tart little berry that's not very sweet on its own, and that crème brûlée custard that is a sweet eggy delicacy.
You really have to taste it to describe it further, but you can find this on our website along with other specialty blends that our customers have come to rely on for a great cup of morning brew.
Specialty Coffees
In addition to the above, we also have other kinds of high-end coffee roosts. For instance, on another blog post we talked about peaberry blends, which are essentially blends where harvesters handpick certain kinds of specially grown beans with a genetic mutation. That resulting labor and sorting is what gives the peaberry coffees their unique aroma and flavor, and also adds to the value of these types of blends.
Browse the site and get high-quality coffee at the best available prices through our modern e-commerce portal. We are ready to ship you something your taste buds won’t believe!
]]>The coffee connoisseur in us is always on the search for that perfect coffee blend. We look for the source of the bean to the final blend, be it medium or strong. We always look for the perfect roast so that our cups of coffee are imbued with the ideal flavor and fragrance. Somehow, anything less feels like a huge disappointment. We may spend years trying to find that one blend that we will finally make our own.
Taste The Coffee
Cupping the coffee is not for everyone. It is something like what the wine taster would do. Sniffing, sipping, and savoring are parts of an elaborate process called cupping. It can be done out of fun, or you could make a career of it. The purpose of cupping is to test the quality, and flavor including the fragrance and taste. Cupping also includes texture and color. However, all of these tests can seem very technical to the coffee lover. After all, we are not all coffee growers or graders. All we want to do is enjoy our coffee.
Coffee Drinking Ritual
In any home, there are coffee mugs and teacups. They may be old and chipped or constantly replaced with new models. Our coffee mugs may also have our names engraved on them, and we are probably quite territorial about it. We look forward to that first sip of coffee each morning, drinking it from our particular coffee mugs, having made the coffee just as we like it. It becomes a daily ritual, and our day doesn’t go well if we miss our morning coffee. Some might say it is an addiction. Perhaps, it is. Nevertheless, this ritual is special and important to us.
Coffee For Good Health
Research tells us that drinking a couple of cups of coffee can be healthy. It is easy enough to agree with the researchers because it improves our energy levels and boosts our brains. Coffee contains a stimulant called caffeine that is known to give us higher energy to last through the day.
What’s more, coffee also contains antioxidants to help preserve our cells from cell damage. It is important to remember that too much of anything can be harmful to health. Therefore, drinking coffee in moderation is highly recommended. The coffee lover will also know the value of a pure cup of coffee that needs no additives such as sugar or syrups. For, it is the additive that causes more harm than good.
So, go ahead and enjoy your coffee and make it an indulgence you deserve.
]]>What does it mean to acquire the best coffee varieties and sell only superior coffee products?
If you're just used to the regular old arabica or robusta coffee beans, you might not know that other high-profile types of coffee are out there, types of coffee that pros consider “premium,” and aficionados prize above all others.
But we do. Our catalog showcases some of the hottest new tastes and varieties that are causing a stir in the coffee community – no pun intended!
History of Tanzanian Coffee
Legend has it that coffee came to Tanzania from neighboring Ethiopia a few centuries ago. Tanzanian coffee is also associated with a Bantu group called the Haya tribe in a region west of Lake Victoria. Some say that the volcanic soil of the area was a good growing condition for various types of coffee products that eventually made it to global market, alongside other major exports of Tanzania such as bananas.
The Tastes
Tanzanian peaberry coffees have been known to produce tastes that are described as bright, acidic and “clean in the cup” – tastes that have a straightforward flavor profile and some amount of clarity to the palate. True tasters have the vocabulary to describe these tastes in detail, as they do in some of the best literature around these varieties that you can find if you are into really doing a deep dive into flavor.
Harvesting
Let's get to one of the more interesting aspects of why Tanzanian peaberry coffee is so popular.
Peaberry coffee is a term for a type of coffee product that is made by separating specific kinds of coffee cherry seeds at harvest.
Experts note that these “peaberries” only account for 5% to 10% of the total harvest. What are they? In this type of seed that has a particular defect, only one of two available ovules is able to pollinate. Because this single seed doesn't have to share nutrients, some believe it increases its density and taste power.
Unfortunately for producers, offering peaberry coffee means that these rare seeds have to be picked from the harvest by hand, barring any new modern AI harvesting technology.
That's part of what leads to the higher price for these coffees, and also part of what makes them known for a superior flavor profile.
Check out these and more at our site for your best cup of coffee every day! Ask us about any new additions or good deals on a better cup of java as we maintain a shop with a well-deserved reputation for quality.
]]>Why do we include these up-close visuals? Because it's one way to visualize how great it is to grind whole beans into your morning cup of Java! Coffee is a very popular part of our mornings – millions of us wake up to the smell of freshly brewed and caffeinated blends that give us the strength to tackle the day. So we have put together a great coffee menu for even the choosiest drinker.
Quality Beans
When you see pictures of real coffee beans, you see the natural and organic harvest that goes into your daily cup. Without hands-on experience with whole beans, we tend to think of coffee as “just a black liquid,” and we may never even see the whole beans unless you're one of those aficionados who swears by a grinder. So much coffee is sold pre-ground that some people just aren't familiar with the beans themselves. So having up-close look at beans gives our buyers a little more insight into the whole supply chain process.
Shipping Beans
Along with that first point, some of our visuals also show the beans in transit, packaged in burlap, and labeled with their country of origin.
This reminds our buyers that these products have to go through customs, and that they have specific shipping requirements. It's yet another way to visualize the trip that the coffee takes until it gets to your home or business, where you drink it and enjoy it, and put in milk or sugar, or alternately, insist on drinking your daily coffee black.
Imagine Beans Ground
As we mentioned, you can take a look at the raw material products, and imagine how that translates into a steaming cup of coffee. Then check out our coffee menu. We have regional coffees from Africa, South America, Indonesia and other far-flung places of the world where those shipping processes come into play. We also have domestic beans, as well as holiday beans and different roasts – light, medium and dark roasts for a particular drinker’s palate. We have coffee for everybody! Check it out.
Get the best cup of coffee that you can. Buy from a company that has true quality in sourcing and shipping in mind.
]]>Do you love coffee, like really love it? Is it your go-to beverage, morning, noon, and night? Are you willing to spend $50 a pound for the specialty roast you can only order from halfway across the country? If so, congratulations, you have found “your people.”
However, spending big bucks on your coffee is just the first step. Consider your coffee drinking style. Do you really take the time to enjoy it? If you aren’t doing the things detailed below, then you aren’t getting the full experience your coffee has to offer.
When a professional is tasting coffee, it is a technical procedure that is called cupping. For you, avoiding this is suggested unless you have plans to become a coffee roaster or coffee bean grader. Not only do you have to pay a ton of money in overhead, but it is often overwhelming to taste so much of the bean’s raw flavors. Also, it is not the best way to enjoy your coffee.
If you consider yourself a coffee purist, stick with the pour-over. This is a low-tech, inexpensive way to taste the very best flavors in coffee. If you are all new to pour-overs, learn the right way to do it.
Another option is to use a French press or AeroPress. The fact is, though, when it comes down to it, the method you use for brewing is secondary when you consider the impact of fresh beans, clean water, and a consistent grind to make a superior cup of coffee.
When tasting coffee, it should not be left up to the tongue alone. Flavor perception occurs from the chemosensation system in the body. This is when gustatory and olfactory inputs work together. When you drink coffee, you will automatically engage your sense of smell. However, it is also recommended that you take time to consciously smell the coffee too. This includes smelling the whole beans, smell the grounds right after they come out of the grinder, and inhale the bloom if you are doing a pour-over.
Before taking your first sip, be sure to tilt your cup over the bridge of your nose to inhale the scent. Each of the smelling experiences is going to be slightly different. However, they will help your brain warm-up and provide you a fuller experience with the coffee you are drinking.
As you drink your coffee, think about how sweet it is and what type of sweetness you can detect. You can also consider things like the cleanliness of the coffee, body, and acidity.
When it comes to tasting coffee, what you like is highly personal. However, when you use the tips and information here, you can begin experiencing coffee the way it should be experienced and enjoying every sip to its fullest. In the long run, this is going to help improve your coffee drinking experiences.
]]>Whether you are drinking it in a travel mug or sipping it in the early morning hours, coffee has become a staple in our society and is one of the world's most popular drinks. Not only does it taste and smell amazing, but it comes with high levels of antioxidants and nutrients that do wonders for your body. Today we are excited to highlight a few of the major positives you will be sure to enjoy the next time you pour yourself a cup:
It may go without saying, but coffee can increase your energy levels, all due to a great stimulant called caffeine. A study was conducted where participants drank one to two cups of coffee per day. The results showed an average 17% increase in their ability to meet the study's physical activity guidelines. All of this was due to the increase in energy and reduction of fatigue.
You may be surprised to learn that coffee contains more antioxidants than green tea. Antioxidants are substances that can slow down or even prevent the destruction of cells. Cell damage can often lead to diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and others. Not to mention, these antioxidants can also stop headaches, liver disease and reduce cavities.
If you feel suddenly more awake and ready to start your day after you've had coffee, there is a reason behind that. You're not just experiencing a temporary boost of energy, but you are also experiencing some longer benefits to your thinking processes. Caffeine blocks receptors called adenosine, which is a chemical that can prevent the excitatory chemicals. Having a cup of coffee allows these chemicals to flow freely so you can get a boost of much-needed energy.
According to the National Coffee Association, coffee drinkers are far less likely to be depressed than non-coffee drinkers. A recent study showed that people who drank at least two cups per day experience a 32% less likelihood of depression. It could be due to these major health benefits that people experience fewer depressive symptoms.
So, as you pour yourself a cup of coffee tomorrow morning, or maybe pour yourself another right now, you'll be pleased to know that there are major benefits that come with every cup. Don't miss out on your next great coffee experience, and purchase coffee from Mugsys Coffee Co.
]]>Over 26 million bags of coffee are sold in the United States every year. The first thing coffee lovers do when they wake up is to brew of cup of their favorite blend. If you are a real coffee enthusiast, you probably grind your own beans. The painstaking process of grinding these fresh beans is worth it when you taste the fruits of your labor. People who have been drinking coffee for years go through periods where they don’t drink this caffeinated beverage.
If you feel like you are on the verge of burning out on coffee, it is time to change a few things up. There are tons of ways to improve the coffee drinking experience and here are some of them.
A variety of different factors go into how a cup of coffee tastes. While high-quality coffee beans are a crucial component to a great cup of joe, you also need the right water. Most people use tap water from their faucet to fill their coffeemaker. When putting this water into your coffee, you will be exposed to harmful bacteria and chemicals. These chemicals are horrible for your body and can also make your coffee taste weird.
If you have detected a bitterness in your morning coffee, you need to try using distilled water on your next brew. Most coffee drinkers find that using distilled water makes their favorite drink taste better. Most grocery stores carry a variety of distilled water brands at different price points. The extra money you spend on this distilled water will be worth it, considering how great your coffee will taste.
Most people spend around four hours a month cleaning the space they live in. The majority of this cleaning time is spent tidying up bedrooms, kitchens and living rooms. Most people forget all about cleaning their coffee pot, which can affect the way their cup of joe tastes. Rather than drinking coffee that is bitter and disgusting, you need to give your coffeemaker a thorough cleaning.
Running some white distilled vinegar through your coffeemaker can help you remove grime and grounds. Doing this cleaning once a month can help you avoid bad tasting coffee.
Modern coffee grinders offer users lots of options. Instead of always drinking fine ground coffee, you need to change it up a bit. Many people find that using a coarser ground provides them with a more robust taste. If you find that your existing coffee is simply too weak, then it is time to give coarse grounds a try. Investing in a high-quality grinder will help you change up your coffee drinking experience regularly.
If you love high-quality coffee, then you will love the products we offer. The coffees offered by Mugsys Coffee Co. are both affordable and tasty. Once you taste our coffee, you will quickly see why our brand is so popular.
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