Know your coffee:

Ground Zero Coffee education - What's in that cup, anyway? Looking for the ground level of coffee history and little-discussed coffee facts? Hoping for a scoop-full of useful information in your 16-ounce bag of coffee cut-ups?

This is the brain teasing, tortuous path that lead our nation into its richest, most flavorful blend of coffee drinks. This is the kind of detail that will make some people eager for their next cup, and others just wondering, how did they come up with that?

RECIPES - Vietnamese Coffee, Irish Coffee, Cowboy Coffee

FAT MAN & LITTLE BOY - Two potent names for two potent coffees.

What's Artisan Roasted, Anyway?

Ground Zero Coffee is artisan-roasted. Artisan roasted = incredibly fresh, surprisingly flavorful. To fully appreciate the wonders of artistan roasted coffee, imagine the wonderful smelling, tasty, toasty fresh bread from the fancy schmancy deli case of your grocer. Isn't it so much better than the factory packed stuff on the regular shelf? Fresh-made smells great, tastes great -- a real treat! Coffee Artisans are experienced professional roasters who know how to coax the best from the bean. They start with the best beans - Arabica Specialty Grade beans - which are hand picked at high altitude, private coffee growers, not machine harvested, so it's all coffee, no sticks and stuff. (Some coffees, even gourmet coffees, are from rancid beans that have stayed on the shelf for months - not artisan roasted.) Because artisan roasters do their own roasting, pack it fresh, and ship right away, the beans are the freshest they can be. There are a number of roasts. No doubt you've heard of : American, French, Italian, European, Viennese... like to know the difference? READ ON -->

Coffee 101 Coffee is not just a bean. Heck, it isn't even a bean at all. It's a special kind of cherry, grown in a very special place, high, high on a mountain top (or somewhat lower if you know what we mean), and then skinned, sorted, spun around in whirly thingies, spread out to dry, walked on, bagged, shipped, heated, cooled, ground, and brewed, finally to arrive, after all that work, in your morning cup. Good morning! Here's the twist. There are two popular kinds of cherries: Arabica and Robusto. There are others, but these two are what you hear about most often. The reason people go on about the virtues of their Arabica beans is that they're more flavorful and less bitter, because they're grown higher in the mountains. Arriba Arabica! Robusto beans are still coffee, all right, but because they don't have the benefit of being high-born, they're a little bitter. Poor Robusto.

Coffee Harvest Coffee harvesting really is cherry picking. The tree produces its fruit in an ongoing season. Some cherries may be fully ripe, while others are just getting started. You don't simply shake off all the fruit - you don't want the unripe ones before they're out of the shower and dressed for work. Though it's more work for the pickers, it means new coffee beans are becoming ready every day - what an ingenious plan!

Coffee Brewing - Recipes

Every part of the globe has its own way of preparing coffee. A brew is just a recipe. In the United States, our brewing methods have changed with advances in home appliances, the popularity of gourmet cafés, and the realization that it doesn't have to taste like dish rags to be a potent waker-upper. Want a few fun recipes for tasty coffees? READ ON -->

Great coffee always starts with good brewing.
It ends with you drinking it.