That’s what we’ve done – in our club you will get 3/12 oz. bags of coffee from 3 of the top US roasters every month.

Who are the best roasters? A: The ones who win the awards, get the great coffee reviews, develop relationships with the farmers, travel to origin, etc.

Find out more at RoastersClub.com.

Fetco is an equipment sponser for this year’s SCAA convention.

Was that going overboard and an act of coffee snobbery, or was he correct?

Tough questions are tough to answer. The simple answer is that green (raw) beans last at least 2 years, whole roasted beans last 2 to 4 weeks if properly stored, and ground beans immediately start losing flavor once they are ground.

If you can buy green coffee beans and roast them yourself, you can ensure that you will always have fresh coffee. Most beans you buy, though, have no roast date on them, and expiration date are only so helpful, since they are made at the whimsy of the roaster.

The best you can do to ensure fresh coffee taste, short of roasting your own beans, is to buy whole bean coffee – preferably direct from a local roaster – and use it within a couple of weeks. If you buy ground coffee, consider getting a grinder, or just get used to the fact that your coffee will be lacking flavor.

Aside from all of that, though, I think the correct answer is that you can consider your beans no longer fresh when you can no longer deal with the taste – or lack thereof – of the coffee that they make. If you don’t mind drinking coffee that you bought ground 2 months ago, then consider yourself the better for your easy-going nature. If you think coffee you ground 2 minutes ago is now old and unusable, then go ahead and grind some more.

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• 500-600 AD – The first coffee houses are introduced in Cairo and Mecca. A vessel called the Ibrik is used to brew a weak coffee using unroasted coffee cherries.

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• 1400′s – The first extensive planting of coffee trees takes place in the Yemen region of Arabia. Arabians become the first to roast and grind coffee before brewing it. The use of coffee beans spreads throughout the Arabian peninsula and later via the Ottoman Empire to Turkey, where the first coffee shop, Kiva Han, allegedly opened in Constantinople in 1475.

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• 1500′s – Coffee drinking continues to spread in Egypt, Syria, Persia and Turkey. Cafes flourished in cities like Baghdad, Constantinople and Cairo.

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• 1600′s – Coffee brought to Europe by Venetian traders. Coffee houses open in Europe – in 1608 the first one opens in Vienna, Austria; the first one allegedly opens in England in 1652. Many women in England band together to try to ban coffee drinking because their husbands are spending too much time in coffee houses. It becomes common to roast and grind beans before brewing. Coffee comes to America in 1607 with Captain John Smith. In 1690, the Dutch become the first to transport and cultivate coffee in Ceylon and the East Indies.

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• 1700′s – Before the time when filters were used, coffee is prepared by boiling coffee grounds with water. Many coffee pots are designed, all with the purpose of trying to trap the coffee grounds before the coffee is poured. Typical designs feature a pot with a flat expanded bottom to catch sinking grounds and a sharp pour spout that traps the floating grinds. Other designs feature a wide bulge in the middle of the pot to catch grounds when coffee is poured. In France, in about 1710, the Infusion brewing process is introduced, which involves submersing the ground coffee, usually enclosed in a linen bag, in hot water and letting it steep or “infuse” until the desired strength brew is achieved.

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• 1723 – Gabriel Mathieu do Clieu, French naval officer, transplants a stolen coffee seedling on the island of Martinique – the first planting in the western hemisphere.

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• 1773 – The Stamp Act of 1776 places a tax on tea, which was then the U.S.’s national drink, thus making tea more expensive and nudging people over to drinking coffee. Continental Congress declares that coffee is the new national beverage.

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• 1780′s – The first coffee brewers to feature a place for a filter, called Mr. Biggin coffee pots, began to surface and become very popular. Coffee is made by placing a cloth sock across the mouth of the brewer, putting coffee grounds into the sock, and then pouring hot water over the grounds. Coffee was then dispensed from a spout on the side of the pot. The quality of the brewed coffee depends on the size of the grounds – too course and the coffee is weak; too fine and the water doesn’t go through the filter. A major problem with this brewer was that the taste of the cloth filter – whether cotton, burlap or an old sock – transfers to the taste of the coffee.

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• 1790-1810 – There are lots of innovations from France. With help from Jean Baptiste de Belloy, the Archbishop of Paris, the idea that coffee should not be boiled gains acceptance. The French Drip Pot is developed. In this method of brewing coffee, two chambers are stacked one upon the other, with a cloth filter placed in between. Finely ground coffee is packed into the upper chamber and boiling water is poured over it. The coffee slowly drips into the lower chamber, from which it is served. The process is slow and the resulting coffee not very hot. Count Rumford, an eccentric American scientist residing in Paris, develops a French Drip Pot with an insulating water jacket to keep the coffee hot. The first metal filter is developed and patented by French inventor.

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• 1818 – Americans make Cowboy coffee by pouring ground beans into a pot with water, then heating the water until it boils. The coffee is then strained before it is consumed. Some people place the grounds in an old sock before placing them into the water.

A Parisian metal smith named Laurens invents the first coffee percolator.

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• 1820-1850 – Louis Bernard Babaut creates the first known espresso machine. The machine works by using steam pressure to push steam through a chamber containing coffee grounds in a special filter. In 1843, the machine is commercialized by Edward Loysel de Santais and then exhibited at the Paris Exposition in 1855, where it is able to produce 1000 cups of coffee per hour. Although a great advancement, the machine is subject to blowing up and also produces a bitter coffee when it overheats or is not operated correctly.

Many inventions are introduced in Europe for various steam-powered coffee makers, plus grinders and roasters. Madame Vassieux of Lyons develops the first vacuum pot, where water is heated and the steam rises to an upper compartment where it saturates the coffee grounds. When the heat source is removed, and the steam condenses in the lower compartment and creates a vacuum which draws the coffee back through the filter into the lower compartment. Many of the early vacuum pots are made of glass, which sometimes blows up from the pressure.

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• 1859 – The Raparlier vacuum coffee pot is invented, which can simultaneously heat water and brew coffee. It has a glass upper bowl with graduated lines, which display how many cups of coffee have been brewed. The Raparlier pot features a hemp filter, which fits between the two compartments and is disposed of after each use. The filters are cheap and do not impart any unpleasant tastes in the coffee.

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• 1889 – Illinois farmer named Hanson Goodrich patents an American percolator coffee pot. (Other sources claim American James Mason patented the first coffee percolator in 1865.) Similar in principle to the vacuum pot, the percolator works by heating the water near the bottom of the portion of the percolator and forcing it through a tube into the top potion of the percolator. The water then percolators down through the coffee grounds back into the bottom portion. The percolator is removed from the heat source when the desired strength is reached. The significant difference between a vacuum pot and a percolator is that the desired temperature is maintained in a vacuum pot, whereas the coffee in a percolator is brewed with boiling water, which makes the coffee bitter.

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• 1890′s – The plunger filter, now known as the French Press coffee brewer, is invented. It works by having the coffee grounds in a filter compartment that is lowered into the hot water and then pulled up with a rod when brewing is complete. The idea behind the plunger filter is that the grounds could be removed before the coffee becomes bitter. French press brewers are still very popular today. Other sources claim an Italian named Calimani invents the French Press brewer in 1933.

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• 1903 – Decaffeinated coffee is invented. The brand name is Sanka, from the French phrase “Sans Caffeine”.

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• 1905 – An Italian, Desiderio Pavoni, buys a patent from Luigi Bezzera and forms the first company (La Pavoni) to market a commercial espresso machine. Pavoni incorporates the talents of famous designers in the design of his machines.

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• 1909 – After being invented by Japanese American chemist Satori Kato of Chicago, an English chemist named George Constant Washington introduces the first mass produced instant coffee. The coffee, known by the name “George”, becomes popular with the American soldiers during World War 1.

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• 1912 – Germans housewife Melitta Benz invents the Melitta coffee filter paper using blotting paper borrowed from her son’s school supplies. The filters eliminate the need for linen or cloth filters and create an efficient disposal method for coffee.

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• 1926 – A Trademark is registered for “Maxwell House Good to the last drop”.

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• 1935 – Italian Francesco Illy invents a machine called the Illetta, which makes espresso by using compressed air for pushing the steam through coffee grounds. His machine was a vast improvement on earlier machines, which only used steam for creating the pressure and frequently blew up.

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• 1938 – Freeze-dried coffee invented and marketed under the name Nescafe.

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• 1947 – Achille Gaggia designs the first espresso machine to use a spring-loaded lever to force water through the coffee grounds. By using a lever, the pressure applied to the coffee by a spring was independent of the pressure in the boiler. At the same time, the water temperature used became independent of the temperature in the boiler so that a stronger, quicker and controllable filtration was possible. Gaggia machines were the first to produce crema on top of the espresso -’Caffe crema di caffe naturale’ – coffee cream from natural coffee.

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• 1950 – Ernest Valente develops the first espresso machine that uses a rotating pump driven by an electric motor to create the pressure needed to produce espresso. The pump provides steady water pressure and allows for a more continuous delivery of water. The first espresso machine with a pump is marketed under the brand name Faema.

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• 1962 – The International Coffee Agreement regulates coffee export quotas on a worldwide basis. When the cartel collapses in the 1980\’s, prices become volatile, creating uncertainty for coffee traders and diminished prices for coffee farmers.

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• 1963 – The Bunn Corporation introduces the automatic drip coffeemaker. Designed for use in restaurants, coffee maker heats water, brews the water with the coffee, and keeps the coffee warm on a heated plate.

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• 1971 – Starbucks opens its first location in Seattle’s Pike Place Market.

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• 1972 – Vincent Marotta invents the Mr. Coffee – the first automatic drip coffee maker for home use.

For the record, Ludwig improved on his process and went on to sell his discovery under the Sanka brand name. Benzene is no longer used, as it is not considered safe for human consumption.

Today there are 3 commonly used methods available for removing caffeine from coffee, with dozens of variations of those methods. Two common variations are Direct and Indirect Method.

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• European or Traditional Process – Direct Method:
The direct process involves softening the beans by steam first, then washing them for about 10 hours with either a methylene chloride or ethyl acetate solution to absorb the caffeine from the bean. The solution is discarded, the beans are re-steamed to remove any remaining solvent (methylene chloride boils away at 114°; ethyl acetate at 104°), then the beans are dried to their original moisture content.

• European or Traditional Process – Indirect Method:
Instead of being steamed, the coffee beans are soaked in very hot water, which extracts the caffeine along with many of the oils. This solution is then treated with either methylene chloride or ethyl acetate, which bonds with the caffeine. Then the solution is heated to the temperature at which the caffeine and either methylene chloride or ethyl acetate compounds evaporate. The oils are then reintroduced to the beans, and the beans are then dried.

About 80% of decaf coffees are processed by the Traditional, or European Process, and many serious coffee drinkers believe this method makes for the best-tasting coffee. Others worry about the chemicals involved. Methylene chloride is considered a superior solvent since it can evaporate at a lower temperature and leaves virtually no trace in the beans, but it is an environmental hazard to workers at decaffeination plants, and it is known to harm the ozone layer. Ethyl acetate can be extracted from various fruits and vegetables and so it is considered a “naturally-found” chemical, but most ethyl acetate used for decaffeinating is synthethically produced.

• The Water or Swiss Water Process:
Also known as the water process, this process uses no chemicals, but rather hot water, steam and osmosis to remove the caffeine from the coffee in two steps. In the first step, which is similar to the Traditional, Indirect Method, the beans are soaked in a hot water solution to remove the caffeine and the flavor oils. The beans used in this step are then discarded. The solution is run through activated charcoal filters to remove the caffeine, but leave the flavor oils. A new batch of beans is then soaked in the solution. According to the laws of osmosis, the caffeine leaves the beans to go to the uncaffeinated solution, but the flavor in both the solution and the beans is equal, so no flavor leaves the beans.

The beans are then dried and shipped to the roasters. The disadvantage is that the water processing removes more than just the caffeine. Some of the oils from the coffee bean are removed as well, making it less flavorful.

• The Hypercritical Carbon Dioxide Method:
In this method, which is not as popular as the other methods, the beans are soaked in a solution of liquid carbon dioxide to remove the caffeine. The get to a liquid state, the carbon dioxide must be highly pressurized (73 to 300 atmospheres), which makes the logistic cost of this method a bit higher than the other methods. After the caffeine is absorbed by the carbon dioxide, either the pressure is reduced and carbon dioxide is allowed to evaporate, or the solution is run through a carbon filter to remove the caffeine. Although more expensive, the advantage of the Carbon Dioxide Method is that since carbon dioxide is not a harmful gas, the method is not harmful to health or the environment.

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• Other Methods:
Since there’s no consensus best-way to remove caffeine from coffee beans, there are still new methods being developed.
One new method is the Triglyceride Process. In this method, green coffee beans are soaked in a solution or hot water and coffee to draw the caffeine to the surface of the beans. Then, the beans are transferred to another container and immersed in coffee flavor oils that were obtained from spent coffee grounds. The flavor oils contain triglycerides are a naturally-occurring combination of fatty acids and glycerol, and , after several hours at high temperatures, they are able to remove the caffeine from the beans while not affecting the flavor.
Another new method, and possibly the future of decaffeinated coffee, is the cultivation of Naturally Caffeine-Free Coffee from trees that have recently discovered in that produce coffee with no caffeine. Depending on the variety of coffee, the caffeine content already varies significantly, from about 75 mg to 250 mg per 6 oz. cup. Arabica coffee varieties normally contain about half the caffeine of robusta varieties, and dark roast coffee usually has less caffeine than lighter roasts since the roasting process reduces caffeine content of the bean. An arabica bean containing a tenth as much caffeine as a normal bean has been found, so the possibility of developing or finding a bean with no caffeine is probably a matter of time.

Interested in buying some coffee? We have decaffeinated coffee available here.