Here are a few tips on making great coffee

Aloha kakahiaka!  (Good morning in Hawai’ian)  Here in Ruidoso, New Mexico we just say “howdy.”  Happy Tuesday morning and greetings to all you coffee fiends.   That’s fiends not friends.  I know how you really feel about coffee!  The purpose of this blog is to unite coffee lovers, especially lovers of Kona coffee, and perhaps learn a little about coffee and all the benefits of coffee at the same time.  Originally, African tribes used to eat coffee berries (Yes, they are actual berries containing two coffee beans) with fats. Think about it — fats with coffee beans — basically an energy bomb.

Here are a few tips on making great coffee.  Start with great beans.  The best coffee in the world is 100% Kona.  We suggest, of course, our PANIOLA 100% Kona Cowboy Coffee.  Try a lighter roast.  Most coffee fiends like dark roasts but we also offer a medium roast Kona.  The medium roast maximizes the nuances and flavors of Kona coffee beans.  Drink your coffee fresh.  After you open the package, drink it all in a week or two.  That’s why we package all of our coffees in half-pound packages.  Store it wisely, too.  Once you open your coffee, keep it in an airtight container in a cool, dark place.  Never put it in the fridge or freezer.  That ruins the oils.  We provide our PANIOLA 100% Kona Cowboy Coffee in air- and light-proof bags with a zip lock seal.  Spend some money on a good grinder.  You could spend $100 but how you grind your coffee affects how it tastes.  Get a conical burr grinder.  Use good water.  I use bottled drinking water at trade shows.  Not distilled water.  If your water is good at home, use cold tap water, not hot tap water because you might get extra minerals from your hot water heater. Keep your coffee-maker clean.  Minerals build up in a coffee maker from the repeated water heatings. So clean out your coffee-maker every couple of months to prevent scaling.  And then experiment.  Start by varying the simple things like your coffee-to-water ratio, brewing time, and grind size. Then keep going!

Do you want FREE coffee?  The first member of the Kona Coffee Fiends group who comes to the Kona Cowboy Coffee Company's Cowboy Coffee Saloon at upcoming events will get a free, that's FREE bag of CAFE PINON de Nuevo Mexico...our newest fusion coffee made with a proprietary blend of central American coffees and real New Mexico pine nuts! 

The purpose of this blog is to unite Kona coffee lovers and perhaps learn a little about coffee and all the benefits of coffee at the same time.  You can find the Kona Coffee Fiends group on Facebook and we’d appreciate it if Facebook users would “LIKE” the Kona Cowboy Coffee Company page at www.facebook.com/pages/Kona-Cowboy-Coffee-Company/222070817858553.  Just copy and paste to your browser.  You can also find us on Twitter at @jackshuster. 

The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company wishes you and yours a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.  We also want to thank all our direct customers and our retailers for making 2011 such a successful year, and as always, we really enjoy working with you all – we see you as part of our extended family. 

You know you’re a coffee fiend when you're named the employee of the month at the local coffeehouse and you don't even work there!  So enjoy your coffee, make it Kona, and remember, Kona is the home of the Hawaiian cowboy…and we had cowboys in Kona before there were cowboys in Texas!