The Blue Mountains of Jamaica are covered in an almost perpetual fog that appears to stand guard over the most prized and sought after coffee grown. The region has an ideal climate for producing this world most renowned coffee. Because of the extraordinary demand and limited production, roasters from North America, Japan, Europe, and Australia constantly battle each other for enough top-grade Jamaican Coffee to make it through the year. We have been very fortunate to have secured a significant quantity of the highest grade available. This extra supply has provided our Roastmaster with a luxury that other roasters do not have. True to his title he has created a masterful combination of varietals that produce a delicate spiciness, a mild body, and a silky finish.

Handpicked, hand washed, and small batch roasted the day you order, are a few reasons why this Jamaican Blue Mountain Reserve is so exceptional and so smooth it was chosen time and time again in blind cuppings over other Jamaican Blue Mountain coffees.

Founded in 1993, CoffeeAM.com is the world’s largest online gourmet coffee & tea company. We roast, blend, and flavor all of our own coffees as well as blend and create our own line of gourmet teas. To ensure outstanding quality, all of this is done under one roof, right here in our home office warehouse. CoffeeAM.com fresh roasts our coffees daily in small batches, so your coffee is roasted the same day it ships. We are known for offering the highest quality of coffees and we think that when you experience CoffeeAM.com coffee, you’ll see the difference that hand-selected coffees, roasted to perfection, and delivered promptly can make.

If you are already a Jamaica Blue Mountain lover, than you know there is no other bean like it in the world. Enjoy our exclusive JBM Reserve and see just how talented our Roastmaster is, that he can actually improve… on perfection!

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Did you know that coffee beans from around the world are graded in various ways? Kenya coffees are graded as A, B and C. Kenya AA is the best coffee from that region.

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.  You would find Costa Rica Reserve to be an excellent choice of Costa Rican coffees.

Coffee beans from Colombia are labeled as “Supremo,” such as our La Valle Verde, “Excelso”, “Extra” with the lowest grade being “Pasilla”.

How do you take your coffee? The Italians drink their espresso with sugar, the Germans and Swiss enjoy it with equal parts of hot chocolate, the Mexicans add a nit of cinnamon and the Belgians stir in some chocolate. Moroccans drink their coffee with peppercorns and the Ethiopians with a pinch of salt throw in. Coffee drinkers in the Middle East will sometimes add cardamom and spices and whipped cream topping is the favorite among Austrian coffee drinkers.

Visit Egypt and you will find they are extremely fond of pure and strong coffee. On a daily basis they drink it straight with no sugar, milk or cream.  It is custom to serve unsweetened coffee to mourners and sweetened coffee at weddings.  In Africa they don’t even necessarily always take the time to brew coffee… they eat raw coffee beans, soaked in water and spices which are then chewed like candy as an on the go snack!

Japan is now the third largest consumer of coffee. For thousands of years they have been using coffee grounds to improve their skin, and reduce wrinkles, by bathing in grounds that were fermented with pineapple pulp.

In Greece and Turkey, it is the custom that out of respect, the eldest is served coffee first. The Turks have promised to serve their wives coffee every morning in their wedding vows.  If they were to not serve their wife coffee in the morning, it is grounds for divorce!

Who invented the espresso machine? The French were the first to innovate a crude espresso machine. The Italians then perfected this machine by combining the beauty of gourmet espresso with the beauty of technology and became the first to manufacture it. Today’s Italians do not drink espresso during meal times as it is considered to be a separate event and is given its own honored and respected time.

So, who drinks the most coffee you wonder? In the last three centuries, 90% of all people living in the Western world have switched from tea to coffee. The three biggest coffee drinkers in the world are the Americans, the French and the Germans. They consume some 65% of the total world’s consumption of coffee!  Although coffee has been around for over 11 centuries and is currently the most widely consumed beverage in the world, Cappuccino has become the popular choice of exotic coffee lovers everywhere.

So now we have some insight as to how coffee is enjoyed throughout the world, which makes me wonder…how do you like your coffee?

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CoffeeAM takes pride in educating their customers so that they may better find coffees that best suit their taste.  It is our sincerest hope that these gourmet coffee “cupping” terms help you better understand the descriptions of each gourmet coffee, enabling you to make purchases that will please your palate and thrill your taste buds!

Aromas-

Burnt/smoky-usually found in dark roasted or oven-roasted coffee, this aroma is associated with the smell of burning wood and is indicative of a dark roasted coffee gourmet coffee. Check out our coffee characteristics profile to find a perfect coffee for you!

Chocolate like-this aroma is sweet and would make you recall either a dark or milk chocolate or cocoa powder.  Sumatra Black satin is a best selling gourmet coffee with a chocolate like aroma.

Caramel-This aroma and flavor is reminiscent of caramelized sugar, without burning it.  A great example is our Italian roast blend coffee.

Earthy-Noted in coffees like Bali Paradise valley, this coffee has the aroma of fresh, wet soil or earth.  Like radish or raw potato, the coffee would taste of the earth it was cultivated from.

Floral- Similar to the fragrance of a bouquet of flowers, you might smell the aroma of Jasmine, honeysuckle or dandelion as you sip your coffee.

Fruity/citrus- Most high acidity coffees are going to be correlated with citrus characteristics. The aroma of berries is most commonly associated with coffee having a citrus attribute. Enjoy delicate floral berry and citrus aromas in our Ethiopian Longberry gourmet coffee.

Grass/herbal-This aroma may remind you of a freshly mowed lawn, green grassy herbs, unripe fruit or green foliage.

Nutty- The nutty aroma will be reminiscent of fresh roasted nuts.  A fabulous example of a nutty aromatic coffee is our Hawaiian Kona Volcanic estate.

Spicy-This term is not used for savory spices, but instead for sweet spices such as cloves, cinnamon and allspice.  A coffee such as our Guatemala Antigua is a spicy gourmet coffee.

Tobacco- This aroma can be depicted by the faint whiff of tobacco rising from your cup. You will notice an odor and slight flavoring of tobacco within the coffee.

Winey- breathe in the smell of dry wood, an oak barrel or cardboard paper with winey aromatic coffees such as Costa Rica Reserve or Organic Peru Andes gold.

Taste-

Acidity- Acidic coffee has a desirable sharp, vibrant yet pleasing taste, which can be delightfully strong. It will place a dry sensation on the edges and back of your palate, much like a dry wine. Our bestselling acidic coffees are Tanzania Peaberry, Kenya AA and our Ethiopian Yirgacheffe.

Bitterness- Affected by the degree of roasting, bitterness is desirable up until a certain point. Characterized by the solution of caffeine and other alkaloids, a Roastmaster experience really shines through when perfecting bitterness in a gourmet coffee.  We suggest Sumatra Black Satin to taste a smoky coffee done right!

Sweetness- Free from other flavors, this coffee is one that will usually have the aroma of chocolate, caramel or fruit.  It will be reminiscent of fructose or sucrose like in our India Mysore or Organic Galapagos coffees.

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Organic coffee has been propagated, grown, processed, transported, stored and roasted without coming in contact with any potentially harmful chemicals.  When grown organically, there are no pesticides or herbicides on the plants, in the air or in the soil anywhere near the coffee plantation.  This protects the health of not only the consumer, but the health of the farmer, the workers and the environment.

As consumers, we have to remember that the outer shell called the fruit, the bean is is tucked safely inside, is thrown away. Still after that, we dry, grind and cook the bean at very high temperatures, but do not actually eat the bean itself meaning that very little, if any at all, chemical residual has made it into our coffee mug.

Farmers who could not afford pesticides and found ways around using them originally grew what we now call organic coffees. Their quality was often spotty, but their idea sparked a revolution. Today we have progressive international organizations that teach coffee growing communities how to grow amazingly delicious organic coffee as they monitor the process very closely. The farmers in turn receive more money, better resources and the community and environment is protected from potentially harmful chemicals.

Anyone can sell organic coffee, but only Certified Organic Coffee Handlers and Processors can legally roast organic coffees in house. Why do you want to buy from certified handlers and processors? If your source for organic coffee is not a legally certified handler, they are purchasing their beans pre-roasted and pre-packaged from another source, meaning they spent days maybe even weeks roasted and prepared before they were shipped out, losing their fresh flavor and aroma.

Your coffee handler should buy organic beans in the raw state. They should then be roasted and packaged on site in the warehouse, prior to shipping to monitor quality control. CoffeeAM is a certified Organic Coffee Handler and Processor by the Georgia Crop Improvement Association Organic Certification Program (GCIAOCP) and we abide by the standards established by the National Organic Program, and have many incredible organic coffees to choose from.

The year 2009 brings two thoughts to mind, going green and recession. Combining those two things Americans have become more resourceful in recycling everyday items to save money and reduce their carbon footprint.  Being that more than 330 million cups of coffee are consumed daily…take that number in for a moment, 330 million…CoffeeAM thought it was best we discover all the ways we can recycle coffee grounds!

Brewing beauty tips

Coffee grounds make an excellent body scrub because they are abrasive and because they contain caffeine, which increases circulation and facilitates the breakdown of fat under your skin.  You got it…cellulite! Try a recipes of 2 cups ground coffee, ½ cup brown sugar and 3 tablespoons olive oil.  Rub vigorously especially in fatty areas and leave on while you shower.  Rinse, pat dry and make sure to drink lots of water the rest of the day.

Brunettes, you’re in luck! Between shampoo and conditioner, add coffee grounds to your hair and rub in well to bring softness, shine and gorgeous natural brown highlights to your hair! Think how much money that will save you at the salon!

Don’t forget the pooch!  Rub coffee grounds into fur after shampoo, but before the final rinse to add shine and help repel fleas.

In the yard

Sprinkle coffee grounds throughout the yard to repel ants, slugs, snails and cutworms.  Mixed with hot water, coffee grounds poured on anthills should have them packing real quick!

Enrich your acidic loving indoor-outdoor plants and gardens by adding coffee grounds to the soil. Carrots and radishes will do especially well.  Mix coffee grounds and orange peels to naturally and organically keep pesky cats out of your garden. Add coffee grounds to compost, worm farms or bait.

Get crafty!

Coffee grounds make a great dye for paper, to give it that old-world look, to Easter eggs or use it for tie-dye! Simply rub petroleum jelly on areas you do not want dyed and soak the rest in a coffee ground bath.  Let dry and wash separate for the first 2 washings.

Touch up scratches on furniture with coffee grounds (remember it can/will dye fabric!) or use as an organic abrasive cleaner on stubborn stains on your kitchen pots.

Clean it up!

Flush coffee grounds down the drain to naturally yet abrasively clean your pipes.

Pour ½ cup grounds and 5 cups of very hot water into the sink to kill orders.

Place a bowl of your morning coffee grounds in the fridge or freezer to deodorize while you are at work all day.

Sprinkle wet grounds onto fireplace ashes to keep the ashes from creating dust when you try to remove them.

Dry grounds and fill old nylons with them to act as an odor absorber in the closets.

Hopefully our gourmet coffee company has given you some new ideas on ways to reuse your coffee grounds instead of just throwing them away. With a few changes here and there we can all save money and make the world a latte better!

Everything tastes better fresh.  Some canned or frozen foods don’t even resemble the real deal, and it is no different with your everyday  coffee.  Let me tell you what you didn’t know about fresh roasting, and why it matters!

Unroasted green coffee beans carry all of the components needed for coffee, but lack taste. Much like a kernel or a bean, aromas and flavors are only released after roasting. Roasting the raw beans dries up moisture, and the bean begins to expand and change in color. As the beans transform, they begin to change not only in color, but also in taste and they become physically lighter.  The roasting process brings forth the gift of oils from inside the protective shell.  Those precious oils are what carry the aroma, the characteristics and the flavor of that particular bean. CoffeeAM not only knows this, but respects this.

Obviously the longer a coffee can sit on a shelf, the better that would be for commercial sellers, but certainly not for you.  Mass market companies have tried everything to extend the shelf life and nothing works better then the CoffeeAM way of bringing it back to basics by simply shipping fresh.  Take for example that brick of coffee you find in the stores, the ones that look like they sucked all the air out of it to keep it fresh, well part of that statement is true at least, but the other part is pretty surprising!  When coffee beans are freshly roasted, they omit carbon dioxide.  If they had been immediately vacuumed packed into a bag, or placed into a can and sealed with a metal lid for “freshness,” like we are sort of lead to believe… they would have created a high pressure time bomb strong enough to have distorted the metal can and possibly even blown it up.  So how did they do it?  After roasting, they allowed the beans to sit and de-gas for several days before they were sealed!  Sure, maybe they were still reasonably fresh when they were sealed, but remember they haven’t even been shipped to the grocery or sat on the shelves yet!

At CoffeeAM, we are hoping that after several days post-roasting you are half way through the gourmet coffee bag we have already delivered our to you.  Now that is fresh!

How do we do it?  CoffeeAM takes the green, or raw, bean and roasts it to perfection. We do not fill our bags with gases to try to extend the freshness, we do not freeze dry, and we do not let them hang out for days and de-gas.  Immediately after cooling, the beans are placed into a foil-lined bag with a one-way pressure release valve. Because green beans are more stable than roasted beans, we really move quickly once the beans are roasted.  We know, and you should too, that peak freshness is 1 day after roasting…one day!

We can be straight-forward with you.  There is no other way to get coffee this fresh from a grocer that has their coffee brought in on a truck.  It could be days, weeks, even months past it’s roasting date by the time you take it home.  CoffeeAM would like you to experience coffee the way it is supposed to be.  Don’t sell yourself short…freshly roasted, shipped to you and in your cup …quick! Mmm, now that is good coffee!

You love coffee, but maybe you feel a bit overwhelmed with the whole espresso, latte, cappuccino lingo?  Come with me for a walk through Espresso elementary and learn everything there is to know to get you in and out of that coffee shop without feeling like your going to embarrassing yourself and learn how to make delicious espresso drinks at home! 

Espresso (pronounced eSpresso, never eXpresso) is a coffee, so the question isn’t “what” as much as it is “how.”  How is espresso made?  Well, expertly, I might say.  The quality of espresso severely depends on the way it is made.  Start out with a coffee that is medium to dark roasted and push near boiling water through about 7 grams of compressed very fine coffee grounds.  Using an espresso machine of course.  You pull the shot (meaning remove the espresso) in less than 30 seconds and then proceed to study the espresso you just made.  Yes… actually look into the coffee and take note, because this is going to tell you whether or not you actually want to drink it!  What you are looking at on top of the espresso is called crema.  Crema is the tell all of the quality of the cup.  Here is what you need to look for (even when it is made by an expert in a coffeehouse) to ensure an outstanding quality espresso. 

• Tiny speckles
• A golden red color
• An overwhelmingly fragrant aroma. 

Before we get into the nitty gritty of the different espresso beverages you will enjoy, lets clear up some misconceptions.  Espresso has the same caffeine as an 8oz cup of regular.  It is a more concentrated volume, so you have to drink less if you are looking for that quick pick-me-up.  Espresso beans and coffee beans come from the same plant.  Though some beans from certain regions or variants make better espresso, they all come from coffee plants.  Baristas and coffee houses each choose which beans they prefer for their espresso so you may like it at one coffee house, but not at another down the street.  Aside from saving money, this is another reason you should start making espresso at home! 

Espresso is enjoyed across the globe all by itself, but it’s popularity also has a lot to do with it’s usefulness as a base in countless other coffee beverages.  Espresso can be an acquired taste and a lot of what is offered on the menu at your local coffee is a variation of espresso to please those who are looking for more milk, sweetener, chocolate, spices, etc.  Let’s take a look at how espresso plays a part in the menu at your coffee house. 

Americano- is an espresso shot (remember that is about 1 1/4oz espresso) diluted with water.  Perfect if you are new to espresso.

 Cappuccino-  1/3 espresso, 1/3 milk, 1/3 milk foam.  Cappuccino cuts the acidity of espresso and adds creamy velvet like mouthfeel to it.

 Latte- Shots of espresso added to steamed milk.  Latte is cousin to the Café au Lait which is ½ espresso, ½ steamed milk. 

The list of options goes on and on.  If adding chocolate, you want to throw in the word Mocha, add the word Frappe and you just made your drink cold, latte and you’ve now added milk or a milk substitute.  It is easy as that!  Once you have cracked the lingo code, you are well on your way to ordering an espresso beverage at your local coffee house or making a signature espresso beverage right in your own kitchen.

 I sure hope this helps you understand the world of espresso better, and I can’t wait for you to start to making some of these great drinks at home.  Quick and easy, you’ll be amazed at how enjoyable it is to start you day with such an exciting beverage!

 Make sure to hit the comment button and share your favorite espresso recipes with the rest of us!

White chocolate mousse, double-dutch chocolate, and wild raspberry make for a delicious Baked Alaska. The juicy, sweet citrus taste of orange essence and nutty coconut flavoring are found in the exotic Orange coconut, and… An exotic blend of Hazelnut, Vanilla, Almond and Macadamia Nut give Rainforest crunch its charm.  What am I talking about?  CoffeeAM Flavored gourmet coffee of course!

The Arabs in Yemen, who would drop spices into their coffee as it was brewing to add flavor, were actually the first to flavor coffee.  Today, we make it much more simple by adding natural and natural identical flavorings to freshly roasted premium Arabica beans to create undeniably delicious gourmet flavored coffee.We take great measures to produce flavored coffee that represents our pride and passion of creating the perfect brew.

From silky pies that evoke memories of the aroma at Grandma’s house, to tantalizing dessert flavors that you can savor without all the calories, to festive delights that put you into the holiday mood.  Nuts, berries, candies, desserts and the essence of liquor, we have a gourmet flavored coffee flavor for everyone!

At the present time we have an enormous assortment of 118 prized flavors…which one is your favorite and why?  What delicious flavor would you like to see added to the list? We are listening!  Go ahead and leave a comment, we just may add your flavored coffee next!

You may not have given where your coffee came from much thought, but after you read this you will!  I don’t mean are you drinking a Colombian or a Kona origin coffee…I mean whose plantation did your coffee come from?  What is their life, and the life of their employees, their children and their community like?   Did you know that you could make a difference in each of their lives by the coffee you chose?  Well, You can!

CoffeeAM has several certifications and affiliations so that Your coffeeAM purchase can help make the world a better place… simple as that!  Everyone knows that you can buy organic coffee, and yes we sell that, but did you also know that we belong to The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Commission?  This center encourages the production of shade grown coffee and the conservation of migratory birds.  We are also Fair-Trade certified.  This empowers the farmers and workers to lift themselves out of poverty by investing in their communities.  CoffeeAM is Rainforest alliance certified.  RFA invites farmers to meet rigorous social and environmental standards and they provide the farmers with incentives that make improvements on the farms and encourage sustainability.

Our newest addition is the Coffee Kids, Grounds for Hope program.  This incredible program allows us to improve the lives of coffee plantation farmers and their community.  Through generous donations, Coffee Kids partners with local organizations to create micro enterprises, healthcare and education programs for communities in poverty struck areas…where there are no such programs! 

These awesome programs are  just the tip of the iceberg.  You need to know… you should know… that where you purchase your coffee matters!  CoffeeAM.com  wants to partner with you in our efforts to make the world a better place. When you purchase from us, you give something back to a farming community that desperately needs your support, and we are incredibly proud of that.  Now, before you go to www.coffeeam.com and start shopping,  tell me your thoughts about this valuable information I just shared with you!

We all know that gourmet coffee from www.CoffeeAM.com is exceptional because of the freshness, but did you know that you could be saving money by drinking gourmet coffee?  Do the math…we did!  Remember that coffeeAM bags are one FULL pound, not like the 12oz bags you find in the grocery store.  Also, take into consideration the fact that we almost always offer a free 1/2lb at checkout.  Right out of the gate you are almost always getting 24oz of coffee instead of 12oz so you would think you’d be paying twice as much, right?  Guess again.  Buy a 5lb bag of your favorite gourmet coffee and save even more!  Luxurious coffee without the luxury price!

Let’s not forget that we are talking freshly roasted here, not some name brand that has been sitting on the shelf for possibly months after being roasted…months?  If you love coffee, that is simply not an option.  Would you drink a soda left open for days?  It is no different. 

You tell me…What is it that CoffeeAM does that keeps you coming back for more?  Hit the comment button, we want to know!