Some of these blends may have been a tradition in a coffee-roasting family for a couple of generations, but most are standard blends well known in the coffee business. Organic Coffees Narrowly defined, organic coffees are those coffees certified by various international monitoring agencies as having been grown without the use of harmful chemicals. Organic coffees should be identified by origin and roast, just like any other straight or varietal coffee. Brand Names Certain canned or packaged coffees walk the line between specialty and commercial coffees. They are delivered to the roaster green, like any other coffee.
Most roasters offer a variety of straight coffees, roasts, and blends in decaffeinated form.
Every step of transforming green coffee into hot brewed coffee makes the flavor essence of the bean more vulnerable to destruction. Green coffees keep for years, roasted coffees begin to lose flavor after a week, ground coffee an hour after grinding, and brewed coffee in minutes. Once roasted, coffee beans still keep fairly well. But once the coffee is ground, it begins to go stale in a few hours. Canning or otherwise packaging ground coffee simply replaces the natural coffee package, the bean, with an inefficient artificial package.