Help and advice on how to make great coffee, choose from the best coffee makers, and explore gourmet coffee beans

Can you think back to the best cup of coffee you've ever had? Actually, most people have several favorite coffees. That's because the coffee you drink is the end result of many factors. You can make a special cup of coffee every time, and it is really pretty simple.

Keurig B30 K-Cup Brewer

This mini brewer from Keurig is the ultimate in no mess, no fuss, single serve gourmet coffee makers. It is the least expensive K-Cup brewer, that you can plug in anywhere to brew a full cup of great coffee. Small enough for your home office, RV, boat, vacation home, or dorm room, this brewer is a great gift idea or treat for yourself.

Read more about Keurig B30 Mini Brewers.

Organic Fair Trade Coffee – worth knowing the details

Organic fair trade coffee refers to coffee that meets both parts of this tests: it is grown organically, by a farmer who receives a fair price for his or her efforts.

When coffee is organic, it is grown without the use of pesticides, herbicides or artificial fertilizers. That is fairly straightforward and means the coffee you drink has not been treated by strong and harmful chemicals in the field. It also means that the coffee farmers have not had dealt with these dangerous  chemicals, and in so doing the fragile mountain environment and water supplies are more protected

Fair Trade Coffee and Social Conscience

Considering the question of fair trade coffee is a somewhat more complex.

Very simply, "fair trade" is ensuring that farmers are paid a fair price for their labor. There are two compelling reasons why fair trade is so important to embrace for sales of organic coffee.

First, coffee is the most traded commodity on the planet, other than oil. The price of coffee depends more upon the trading centers and Wall Street, than upon what the coffee farmers themselves charge and receive for their harvest. An increase is coffee prices reflects what Wall Street traders think the price should be, and the farmers themselves have very little control over the price they can charge, to cover their costs and make enough profit to improve their life.

For example, the price of coffee may stay the same or even increase. All the same time, the farmers may be paid less and less for their coffee beans, as it has been for the recent years.

Secondly, a small increase in what these farmers receive can tremendously improve their quality of life. Coffee grows only in the tropical climates, which cover mostly developing countries in parts of South America, Africa, Indonesia and a few other regions.  Moreover, small farmers grow about 60% of the world's coffee, and many of them are not paid enough to cover their costs.

Keeping the price paid to small coffee farmers low is actually a disadvantage to us, the coffee consumer. At some point, this cycle of poverty and desperation will drag down the coffee production, or move it to large corporations. Either way, coffee prices would rise dramatically, as smaller farmers lose their livelihood.

Here is where Fair Trade helps

If you are like me, you pay attention to the Fair Trade certified labels on coffee. An importer can only use that label if it meets the strict international standards.

For example, the importer must pay a minimum price per pound of $1.26 and provide much needed credit to farmers. If the coffee is grown organically, then the minimum amount paid increases to $1.41. This is current as of March 2009.

The importer also is required to provide technical assistance, such as help transitioning farmers to sustainable farming practices.

Since the United States consumes nearly 20% of the world's coffee, we have a large role to play in ensuring that small coffee farmers receive a fair return on their efforts. When you buy "organic fair trade coffee" you help improve someone's life, and also the ecosystem and economy of far away communities.

At Coffee Daydreams, we support buying organic fair trade coffee. Not only are you assured that the coffee has never been grown using harsh chemicals, you are doing good with each cup of coffee you drink. That should give you an even better feeling as you enjoy the gourmet coffee beans that were grown and picked half way around the world by a coffee farmer who's life is improved by every cup of coffee you drink.

You can also buy fair trade coffee beans through our fair trade coffee store

Learn more about organic coffee beans with these links...

Where to find organic K-cups... Where to find organic coffee pods... What is the organic coffee lifestyle... What is shade grown coffee... Learn more about the price of coffee... What is the Starbucks Challenge... Do K-Cups contractict fair trade coffee...

For more information about what organic fair trade coffee means to developing nations and to you, you can visit FairTradeCoffee.org

March 25, 2009

What do I need to know about Arabica coffee?

For anyone wanting a great cup of coffee, it doesn't take long to discover that you should start with Arabica coffee beans.

Arabica coffee first grew in Ethiopia and Yemen. Believed to be the first coffee to be cultivated, Arabica coffee is generally considered the best gourmet coffee bean. Arabica coffee has been grown in southwest Arabia for over 1,000 years. In 1699, Arabica coffee production began in Indonesia.