Gourmet coffee beans. What defines them? What makes a gourmet coffee bean different from your local McDonald's McCafe blend? Where can I find the best gourmet coffee? And is it really worth the extra buck?
Yes! Gourmet coffee beans are the “real deal”. That is, if you grab them from a quality source... True gourmet coffee beans are nothing like your store bought coffee. Few coffee drinkers today have been privileged to know the taste of a cup brewed with true gourmet coffee beans. The average coffee drinker doesn't know this, but coffee degrades VERY quickly. When stored in one of those typical Starbucks bags, one months difference could take you from gourmet to low-grade.
Your Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, and even gourmet coffee bean shops have had their beans sitting around for countless numbers of months on retail shelves. You can never be sure your ingesting the true potential of your favorite blend unless you buy from a 100% trusted and reputable source. So where can you find these “legit gourmet coffee bean sources”? Unless you go to a coffee manufacturing plant in the country growing the bean you desire, there's only one answer.
Online. With hundreds of gourmet coffee bean sources online, you have the opportunity to be persnickety. Take advantage of that ability and sort through the fake/commercial oriented retailers and be confident in your gourmet coffee bean freshness. My rule of thumb is to avoid the companies that look like they spent MILLIONS creating business plans and flashy websites. My theory is; if they have the money for all that, then they have money for warehouses to store truck loads of coffee for unlimited amounts of time. There is quite literally, absolutely no way of knowing for sure what the big guys are doing.
When searching for an online gourmet coffee bean retailer, look for websites with a professional design accompanied by a personal touch. Analyze their background and where they state they get their coffee from. Fair trade means that they gave the coffee crop-workers a set payment price before they grew their coffee. It ensures that the families struggling to survive in the gourmet coffee bean producing countries will get a fair price for their crop. Don't get hung up if they aren't fair trade certified though because a lot of the claims are bullshit anyways. For more information and a list of my personal favorite, trusted online gourmet coffee bean sources, follow this link: Gourmet Coffee Bean Insider
