Coffee is the most favored drink in the world. It ranks as one of the top 3 beverages that people drink on a daily basis. However, different people will have different preferences over the choice of their daily coffee. This is the reason why coffee manufacturers have blends or flavors to meet the demands and tastes of such a diverse group of coffee lovers. These different blends and mixture is called gourmet coffee.

The History Of Coffee

Coffee was discovered in Ethiopia during the tenth century. Story had it that a shepherd tending to his herd of goats noticed that his goat had more energy after consuming some berries. The shepherd took some of the berries home, roasted and eat it and experience the same boost of energy. When the Turks received these roasted coffee beans, they smashed the beans and mixed them in water and that's how coffee was discovered.

Eventually coffee reaches the shores of Europe through the Dutch. Many who drank it loved the strong taste and flavor. Soon coffeehouses began to mushroom all over Europe and people started developing many new roasting process and various ways to brew coffee.

Famous Gourmet Coffee

Gourmet coffee and specialty coffee is used interchangeably. It is also sometimes referred to as premium coffee. What exactly is gourmet coffee? It is coffee made from finest coffee beans of exceptional quality, grown in ideal climate and soil. It has very distinct flavor which it gets from the soil.

It is believed that the best gourmet coffee comes from plantations located on the slopes of volcanic mountains. The moist high altitude combined with rich volcanic soil produces coffee with an exceptional flavor that cannot be matched by others. The three well known gourmet coffee is:

• Blue Mountain Coffee from Jamaica
• Kona Coffee from Hawaii
• Costa Rican Coffee from Tarrazu

Blue Mountain coffee is regarded as the best gourmet coffee in the world. It has a strong intense aroma with a balanced, full fruity flavor to satisfy true coffee connoisseur. It is a connoisseur's delight and is highly prized and sought after.

Another favorite among the gourmet coffee is Hawaiian Kona Coffee. It has a rich and very flavorful, delicious taste which is low in acid. There are many that try to impersonate the original due to its popularity. These impersonators are actually Kona flavored coffee – meaning, only a small percentage of the content is Kona while the rest is made up of cheaper filler beans.

The Costa Rican Coffee is also a highly regarded gourmet coffee. It is light with a very clean flavor and aroma with just the right amount of acidity.

Conclusion

Gourmet coffee does not require additional additives to enhance or boost their flavor. It derives its flavor from the soil and climate it is cultivated. When additional flavor is added to the coffee grounds, it becomes flavored coffee and not gourmet coffee. With the proliferation of cafes around the world, gourmet coffee has become the fastest growing market in the world.

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