BBC News | BUSINESS | Globalisation and me (#)

  „there are two types of coffee: Robusta (which is used in instant coffee and only grows below 1500 meters) and Arabica (which is a finer coffee which only grows above 1500 meters). I was amazed to discover that coffee grows as two green beans inside a bright red cherry, the finest coffee is hand-picked by small poor farmer, subject to weather and market fluctuations and can pass through as many as fifty hands on its way to my cup each making a buck on the way, except the farmers. Frenzied trading All Arabica coffee is traded on the coffee, sugar and cocoa exchange in New York where in frenzied trading pits producers, roasters and scalpers shout at the top of their voices and wave their hands frantically trading future contracts of coffee in units of 38,500 pounds without a coffee bean in sight. Now the coffee price has fallen to an all time low.“

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1505000/ 1505787.stm - Cached

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Some slightly related:

Robusta Coffees for Home Roast Espresso Blends

  „(Also, Robustas such as these are now being used in filter coffee "high caffeine" blend since the caffeine levels are doubled in Robusta over Arabica. But this really isn't something I am going to endorse, or even investigate myself even though such brands as ShockCoffee are doing exactly this...) Also check out Nestle's description of Robusta -interesting!“

http://www.sweetmarias.com/coffee.robusta.html - Cached

Espresso Blending Techniques (INeedCoffee.com)

  „Now small amounts (less than 10%) are rules of thumb, and its got to be good quality robusta (there is some out there. In fact I've tasted robustas better than some arabica beans I've been sent). Don't be a snob, it adds a little caffeine kick to a blend, and it gives you great crema and balances out the cup. I have blends without robusta in them that are great, but none are better than those blends which do contain Robusta.“

http://www.ineedcoffee.com/04/blending/ - Cached

BBC - Get Writing - A Forum Conversation

  „if your feeling down, it means you have been sent a word delivery,Write it down and be prepared to be amazed tomorrow, good, bad, indiferent, thats what the writings for. I absolutely guarantee it, step through the crappy feeling and go to the paper soon as you can with it, I could give you a zillion examples including barnies misunderstandings and mayhem on writer sites, doe'snt matter write it down....writers write here's a piece of cake eat this now and back to work silly billy you....unless someone immediate in the family has died of course....“

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/getwriting/ f1762132?thread=398559 - Cached

Tea & Coffee 12/04 - Gourmet Robustas: The Awakening of Specialty Coffees

  „The answers are simple: diversity, and the fact that a good, well-processed robusta will always be superior to a mediocre Arabica unevenly prepared. Fifteen years ago, the specialty market involved only the very best coffees, carefully picked and processed. As the market grew, it attracted a lot of greed, and many coffees, which would barely pass the exchange or sell without a discount are now offered as “gourmet,” as long as they include the magic word “Arabica.” This makes no sense and it drives the roaster towards using lower qualities. Not every coffee lover looks for acidity and there is nothing wrong or inferior in a zero defect carefully prepared, washed Robusta, which was after all the original basis for Italian espresso.“

http://www.teaandcoffee.net/1204/coffee.htm - Cached

- Coffee Science Information Centre

  „A study of robusta and arabica coffees from six different countries showed that robusta samples contained significantly more reducing substances than arabica samples and that protective activity measured ex vivo was significantly greater in roasted samples than in green coffee (7). Using the ABTS•+ method (the gold standard), it was confirmed that light roast or medium roast coffee has a significantly higher antioxidant activity in vitro than green coffee (8). This difference was observed despite a 19% and 45% decrease in the chlorogenic acid content of light and medium roast coffee respectively implying that other compounds make significant contributions to the total antioxidant activity of roasted coffee. Melanoidins are brown polymers formed by the Maillard reaction during the roasting of coffee beans and account for up to 25% of the dry matter.“

http://www.cosic.org/coffee-and-health/ antioxidants - Cached

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