K-Cups are small vacuum packed containers containing an exact portion of coffee to be used with a Keurig Single Cup Coffee Maker. First designed and patented to contain Green Mountain Coffee, now other gourmet blends like Timothy's, Newman's Own, and Caribou Coffee are available in K-Cups. There are over 200 different gourmet coffee blends and roasts, even flavored coffees, teas and cocoa in K-Cups. These are all fine Arabica coffees, known for their quality and complex flavors.
Approximately two-thirds of the world's coffee crop is Arabica beans. They produce better coffee and about 80% are used for commercially produced coffees. Of that 80%, only 10% are selected for specialty gourmet coffees. This is what you buy in coffee stores and from individual coffee roasters. This is the coffee you will brew with a K-Cup.
What you definitely will not find in a K-Cup is a blend of Robusto beans. Considered inferior tasting, you will find Robusto beans in cheaper supermarket coffee. Some brands have a certain proportion of Robusto beans or may consist entirely of Robusto. The beans are often used as a filler and mixed with Arabica beans to make cheaper blends. Then the labels can advertise that the coffee DOES contain Arabica coffee.
Robusto beans make up about one-third of the annual production of coffee. The Robusto coffee plant is hardier and produces a larger crop, making it the bean counter's dream and the darling of the supermarket brands. Since these beans contain twice as much caffeine, they're great at keeping the troops awake and are often in commercial brands popular with pancake houses and all-night truck stops. Robusto is usually the base for instant coffee and is used in some espresso blends to produce crema, the frothy, top layer. Robusto adds a distinct flavor and body to espresso and this distinguishes it in milk drinks. Many Italian roasts have Robusto in their blends.
Robusto coffee was undoubtedly what your grandmother brewed on the stove. It often had a bitter, burnt taste which was partially masked with milk and sugar. Until the late 1960's, most people's idea of a cup of coffee was grandma's or a cup of joe from the diner. People did not think about the type of bean, its origin, how fresh it was, or how it was roasted. Coffee was a generic beverage.
Then things began to change, when Alfred Peet opened his small coffee store in Berkeley, California. He sold high quality Arabica beans roasted the way he'd learned in the Netherlands coffee trade. Working with small batches and controlled roasting techniques, Peet's darker style produced a rich, complex coffee which was a quite a change from the burnt rubber taste of the 'ho-hum coffee' Americans were used to. The coffee took off and Peet's success was the catalyst for the specialty coffee movement. Peet trained three friends in his roasting methods; they moved to Seattle and founded Starbucks in 1971. Today Peet is widely credited with starting the specialty coffee revolution in the US. Coffee historians call him "The Dutchman who taught America how to drink coffee". So while you won't find Peet's coffee, yet in K-Cups, you will enjoy a vast selection of Arabica roasts and blends from Green Mountain and many others.
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