1.  Grind The Coffee
2.  Pour Near-Boiling Water Onto The Coffee
3.  Allow the Gourmet Coffee To Steep For 4 Minutes
4.  Break the Crust
5.  Remove the Grinds or Allow the Grinds to Sink to the Bottom
6.  Slurp the Gourmet Coffee and Evaluate The Flavors
7.  Evaluate the Finish
8.  Describe the Many Taste Sensations
9.  Rinse Out Your Mouth
10. The Cupping Environment

1. In cocktail conversation you constantly bring up exotic places like Tanzania and the highlands of Ethiopia.  What?
2. Your snack of choice is chocolate-covered coffee beans.  How’s that?
3. When people get a gift from you in a 12 oz. package, they pretty much know what it is.  Hey Now!
4. Your Facebook page shows your favorite coffee mugs and tells the story behind each one.  Stop it!
5. You thoroughly enjoy the daily grind.  Naaah!
6. You have your own signature blend.  Quit It!
7. You once made all your friends wait a half-hour while you drove ten miles to get a cup of coffee.  Doh!
8. When a host asks you if you would like a cup of coffee, you ask about its country of origin.  Nuff said!
9. Your kids are named Joe and Juan Valdez, and your poodle is named Cappuccino.  Believe it!
10. Once you cried just because you spilled your perfectly brewed cup of coffee. Whoa now!

If you think you are a true Gourmet Coffee Lover then perhaps you would like to brush up on your skills using the Barista Training Guide.

For many people, the ritual of savoring a morning cup of coffee is one of life’s simple yet wonderful pleasures.

You sit down to a fresh brewed cup of premium gourmet coffee and your senses are stimulated by the aroma and full-bodied flavors that excite your palette and lure you out of your dreamy state, helping you awaken to the new day.

The morning cup of coffee has an exhilaration about it which the cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot be expected to reproduce.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Connoisseurs of the coffee elixir savor these morning moments, caressing their cup as they dream of a time long ago when the treasured coffee beans were carried over land and sea by traders following their ancient spice routes.

The rich and hearty beverage seems to extend to us an invitation to those far away places, perhaps even taking us there for a moment in our mind.

We wrap our hands around the steaming mug and bask in the heady aura, inhaling the redolence of the aromatic vapors as our mind drifts to bygone days.

With great anticipation we raise the cup to our lips and immerse our face in the steamy aroma, then sip gently, tasting the rich flavors and allowing the essence of the hot bean to breathe life into our very soul.

The gourmet coffee lover takes in the whole range of tastes as they swirl through our mouth and slide down our throat—perhaps we sense the slight dryness at the back of the mouth, the pleasant acidity of the gourmet coffee—and then enjoy the parade of subtle tastes, reminisces really, from fruits and nuts to chocolate and spices and earthy tones.

To fully partake in the premium gourmet coffee experience you may wish to brew our freshly-roasted, whole beans shipped fast and fresh to you from exotic locales.

His most frequent ailment was the headache which he used to relieve by inhaling the steam of coffee.
Dr. Johnson, The Life of Pope

Animal Droppings Contain Gourmet Coffee BeansCivet coffee beans are retrieved from the poop of an animal called the Civet, then washed, sun-dried, lightly roasted, and sold as one of the world’s most sought after and most expensive coffees.

Yes, you read it correctly. The coffee beans have been eaten – and then vacated! – by the Civet, which has been compared to animals in the cat family and also the weasel family, though it is not related to either.

The coffee beans pass through the Civet’s digestive tract where the outer fruit is mostly digested, and then the beans are then defacated onto the ground.

Coffee farmers then collect the coffee beans to process and sell them either on the gourmet coffee market or locally in some coffe houses by the cup. In Vietnam it is popular in coffeehouses, and Trung Nguyen and other producers even produce simulated Civet Coffee.

Selling for up to $600 per pound, Civet Coffee is one of the world’s rarest coffees, as well as the most expensive. Only about 1,000 pounds of Civet Coffee are available for sale each year worldwide.Flavor Profile of Civet Coffee

Why is Civet Coffee so desired by coffee gourmets? There are several theories regarding its unique tastes and other desirable properties.

One very important factor is that Civets tend to pick the sweetest and ripest red coffee cherries (fruits) to feed upon. This natural selection process for the best quality coffee beans is one of the reasons why wild-collected civet coffee has such a smooth profile and aroma. This isn’t necessarily true for farm-raised Civets which may be fed beans picked by farmers.

When the Civet eats the coffee cherry, the fruit is mostly digested in the Civet’s stomach, but the inner coffee bean is not, and eventually emerges out the other end of the Civet no worse for the wear. In fact, the taste of Civet Coffee bean is thought to be much improved due to its journey through the Civet’s stomach!

Civets are classified as Paradoxorus Philippinensis (an endangered species) in the Philippines, but in Sumatra they are in the family Viverridae.

Research has shown that enzymes in the Civet’s digestive tract cause certain chemical processes to occur on the coffee beans’ surface and also within the porous coffee beans. Specific proteins that normally give coffee a bitter taste are broken down by the enzymes, resulting in a less bitter coffee and allowing the coffee’s notable highlights to shine through.

Processing

Processing of the Civet Coffee beans by coffee farmers includes washing the beans, drying them in the sun, and then just lightly roasting them to preserve the rare coffee’s naturally complex flavors.

A main purpose of roasting coffee beans is to remove undesirable bitterness, and since a distinct lack of bitterness is one of Civet Coffees most pronounced characteristics, a very light roast is desirable.

While some people are concerned about Civet Coffee’s potential bacterial contaminants (e.g., E Coli), others claim that Civet Coffee is perfectly safe due to the enzymes in the Civet’s stomach that help to eliminate the bacteria, as does the washing, sun-drying, and the high temperature of the roasting.

Bean Types of Civet Coffee

One Civet Coffee found in the Philippines and other locations is called Cafe Alamid (Tagalog translation of Civet Coffee) and is produced using Arabica as well as Liberica and Excelsa beans. While this coffee does have the typical characteristics of Civet Coffee – high aroma, smooth taste, low acidity – it also has other distinct characteristics that create a unique flavor profile.

Civet coffee is grown and gathered in various locations including the Indonesian islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali, and Sulawesi as well as [Kafé-laku], East Timor. Civet coffee is also produced in the Philippines where it is known as Kape Alamid (in Tagalog regions) and Motit Coffee (in the Cordillera).

The largest regional producer of Civet Coffee is Sumatra, where the plants are mostly Arabica. Some Sumatra farms produce wild Civet Coffee while others produce farmed Civet Coffee by constraining the Civets within defined boundaries.

Several different Civet species produce Civet Coffee. One of the most numerous types of Civets on Civet Coffee farms is the Asian palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus).

Civets aren’t the only animals that are utilized for their coffee bean processing abilities. Defacated coffee beans are also gathered up from the feces of wild Muntjac (barking deer) in Indonesia and Malaysia – this coffee is known as Kopi Muncak (or Kopi Muntjak).

The high-priced Kopi Luwak (Civet Coffee) is sold by weight mostly inArabica is the most common type of Civet Coffee bean but Robusta and Liberica Civet Coffees are also produced. The Liberica species is considered endangered in the Philippines, as is the Philippine Civet (Paradoxorus Philippinensis), so the government and private foundations have encouraged initiatives that preserve both the plant and the animal in the region.

Japan and the United States and is also sold by the cup in many coffeehouses in Southeast Asia.