Friday, May 6, 2011

Arabica Coffee, The Best Coffee Beans

For caffeine addicts, nothing beats having the aromatic cup of hot and delicious coffee whether it is to start a new day or eliminate the worries of a day gone by. Although some people tend to make do with the ordinary one, there are those who choose the best coffee beans to make their daily cup heavenly. Being more knowledgeable about the beans and how they are made into coffee becomes very useful at this point.

Basically, coffee beans come in cluster of two or three contained in a ripe cherry. There are two kinds of beans used for creating the caffeine fix for everyone these days. These are the Arabica beans and Robusta beans. They come from different parts of the world including the Caribbean and Central America, South America, Asia and even Africa.

Robusta coffee beans are mostly found in lower heights. They are quite easy to grow, and one can find a significant amount of them in some parts of Brazil as well as in Southeast Asia and Central Africa. Generally, they have a high resistance to diseases and pests, so farmers find them to be cheaper to produce.

Arabica beans, on the other hand, are considered to be the best coffee beans. Believed to have been initially grown in Yemen, the plant bearing these beans have been in Southwest Arabia for at least a thousand years already, and it continues to thrive wildly in Ethiopia. Topping the line of the bests, however, are those that are cultivated in more elevated areas in the world.

The plant that bears the Arabica beans is called Coffee Arabica. This is a wild plant that stands at least 10 feet and is adorned with glossy leaves and white flowers, where the fruit bearing the coffee beans are produced. This plant is quite vulnerable to pests, diseases and frosts. As a result, these coffee beans are more expensive in the market.

It takes two to four years for the Arabica plant to produce the white flowers and their fruits, which are the coffee beans as we know them. The thing about this plant is the fact that it may produce only pound of coffee every year. This is the main reason why typical coffee plantations are really large.

There is a need for more evidence regarding the healthy effects of Arabica coffee. However, a noticeable difference in the development of cancers among coffee drinkers has been observed with the Arabica coffee drinkers having less incidents of the disease. More so, this type of coffee beans has a higher level of antioxidants.

Despite the general judgment that the best coffee beans are Arabica beans, there is actually nothing wrong with Robusta coffee. It might be harsher in terms of the flavor and more caffeinated, but it is still as delightful to the senses. Not everyone can really tell the difference.

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