When someone doesn’t know the many benefits of using coffee beans they often don’t understand why someone would buy coffee beans when they could just purchase a bag of regular coffee. Regular coffee is just as good, they say. But is it just as good?

The fact of the matter is that there are over twenty different types of coffee beans. However, they are primarily divided into two broad types. Regular coffee drinkers might already be familiar with the various types of coffee beans available and their various flavors.

Coffea Arabica is the scientific name of a type of coffee bean that makes up between sixty to seventy percent of the world’s consumption. This is also the type that most people like out of the many other types. This type of coffee bean is also very expensive largely because of the strict growing conditions required to grow this type of coffee.

In order to grow these plants they have to be at least 3000 feet above the sea level and the temperature cannot go higher then the low 70’s Fahrenheit. If these conditions are not meet the Coffea Aribica plant cannot thrive.

The less popular type of coffee beans make up around thirty-forty percent of the world’s coffee consumption. Scientists call this type of coffee ‘Coffea Canephora’ and is commonly called Robusta. This type of coffee bean is considered inferior quality as compared to the much loved coffea Arabica and is hardly sold separately. This type of coffee bean can be grown at temperatures of around 85 degrees Fahrenheit and almost anywhere. However this type of coffee bean is a bit bitter and most people don’t like the bitter taste associated with this type of bean.

This lower quality, somewhat bitter coffee Robusta is often used as filler coffee beans with coffee Arabica to reduce the overall cost of the better tasting and more expensive Arabica coffee. A majority of times when you do purchase coffea Arabica it is mixed with Robusta.

Whether you prefer Arabica based coffees or go for the Robusta varieties, the freshest and best tasting cup of coffee will always be made from freshly ground coffee beans. You can certainly buy a large can of supermarket coffee that is already ground up, or you may actually buy coffee beans from the same supermarket and grind it right there using their coffee grinder. But within a week or so, your ground-up coffee beans are going start tasting stale.

The best way to get a fresh cup of coffee is to purchase coffee beans in small quantities and grind them up at home as you go. Coffee grinders are available just about anywhere and they are for the most part inexpensive, so it is worth the money to be able to buy coffee beans and grind them yourself.

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