When Coffee Beans reach the temperature of 400F during the roasting process, they develop oils in a process called pyolysis. The outer part of the bean darkens. The beans are then dumped from the roaster and cooled immediately. Some roasters use water but the preferred method is cold air.

During the process of roasting coffee beans, coffeol gathers in pockets throughout the bean. This substance is forced out to the surface of the beans of darker roasts, as moisture is lost. Hence the bean has this oily appearance.

Caffeine is on the International Olympic Committee list of prohibited substances. Athletes who test positive for more than 12 micrograms of caffeine per milliliter of urine may be banned from the Games. This level may be reached after drinking about 5 cups of coffee.

A double shot of espresso has the same amount of caffeine as a 16-ounce cup of coffee. However, by volume, espresso has a lot more caffeine; 12 ounces of espresso is going to have much larger caffeine content than 12 ounces of regular coffee. One final note is that there are several species of coffee plants and their natural caffeine content vary; most commercial coffee is either the Arabica or robusta varietel.

Of these varities, robusta has more caffeine.....

(see below for more information).

Robusta and Arabica are the most common Coffee Bean Varieties. Arabica coffee is grown at high elevations, has more of a tree like appearance and is considered the more desirable of the two. Arabica is the coffee you will find in most cafes.

Robusta, is a heartier shrub-like coffee plant that is grown at lower elevations and is commonly used in mass-produced brands, such as Foldgers and Maxwell house because it typically costs less. Both plants use caffeine as a bug repellant. The Robusta plant grows lower to the ground which makes them much more susceptible to bugs and therefore naturally produce a greater amount of caffeine.

Coffee beans are graded in various ways.....For example: Kenya coffees are graded as A, B and C. AA is the best coffee. In Costa Rica, coffees are graded as Strictly Hard Bean, Good Hard Bean, Hard Bean, Medium Hard Bean, High Grown Atlantic, Medium Grown Atlantic, and Low Grown Atlantic. Those coffee beans from Colombia are labeled as "Supremo" "Excelso", "Extra" and the lowest grade, "Pasilla".

Coffee Beans are actually berries! We know them as "beans" because the coffee plant has two "beans" which start as green berries in the early stage of growth, turn yellow, red, then dark crimson when coffee berry is finally ripe it yields the best coffee. In fact, the Arabica coffee plant takes about 5 years to mature and produce its first crop.

The Specialty Coffee Association of American (SCAA) defines specialty coffee as:

The main difference between "coffee" and "espresso" is how each is prepared. The entire process comes down to extraction ~ how you cook the Coffee Bean......

Drip coffee is ground and dosed at .26lbs per 72 ounces of water and it's brewed at about 198 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. The water simply runs through the coffee and pulls the flavor from the grounds. Espresso is a bit more complicated....

The purpose of the espresso machine, besides steaming milk and providing hot water, is to extract the delicate oils that contain all the subtle nuances that create the prism of flavors that make up quality espresso. But how does the machine pull out something so small from coffee grounds, which are already practically microscopic in the first place? The answer is pressurized water, very hot pressurized water. Espresso oils are extracted at about 125lbs pounds of pressure (9 atmospheres) running at 203.3 degrees Fahrenheit.

The exacting rite of passage for coffee is known as "cupping" or cuptasting....much the same as wine tasting....It is the act of assessing the qualities of a particular batch of coffee beans by freshly roasting, brewing, and tasting it. It is the work for serious and talented professionals called Baristas.

Many coffee lovers, upon trying espresso for the first time, encounter espresso that tastes bitter and believe that's the way all espresso tastes. Indeed, they believe that's the way espresso is supposed to taste. It's not! A skilled barista can pull a shot of espresso that to many is just as sweet – if not sweeter – than brewed coffee. Although much espresso is indeed bitter, it is only because it is prepared incorrectly. Too often, an inexperienced barista and poor equipment results in the wrong water temperature or....a coffee grind that is just too fine, which often results in a "long shot" ~ an over extracted shot of espresso.

Coffee is decaffeinated before it's roasted. There are three common ways of pulling the jitters from the green beans, all of which leave about 2 to 3 percent of the caffeine. Unfortunately these processes diminish the flavor quite a bit. Our good friends at Underdog Coffee say...."We can put a man on the moon, but we seem to have a hard time making a great decaf."