My journey into the coffee business sent me to New Guinea!

My first introduction to the coffee industry was when I was asked to run Café D’Vine in Vancouver Washington. I had never made an espresso drink but I did know that a mocha was pretty tasty. I had to start from scratch to learn everything that I could about making a good coffee drink for our customers. I learned how to “pull a shot” and steam milk and after a few weeks of practice I felt that I could make a pretty mean Latte. Then I had to take what I had learned and train my staff. I had to explain why we did things a certain way.
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Coffee Brewing

There are many methods of brewing coffee and I will describe the most popular and best methods here, but first, if you want a great cup of coffee, you need to start with high quality, freshly roasted coffee beans. Last month I talked about buying whole bean coffee in small amounts and the proper storage to maintain freshness. The next step is to grind the coffee as close to when you will brew it as possible.
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Keeping Coffee Fresh

Coffee is best when it is made with fresh beans. Here is most important thing you need to know to get a great cup of coffee:

Use whole bean coffee and grind it just before you brew it.
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It ain’t as easy as it used to be

Remember when ordering a coffee was simple – no choices and no fancy names? Times have changed and now there is a whole new vocabulary when it comes to coffee. I have people come up to me and have no idea what to order and even less of an idea of what it will taste like. So I will dedicate this first article to defining some terms. I hope to take the mystery out of it for you.
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