Hot Gourmet Coffee is a sensual delight that coffee lovers would give their beans for!

Today we find more and more delightful coffees around – but could we say they are all gourmet coffees? What makes a coffee to be that special delight?

To quote Rachel Medlock, "how do you tell the difference between truly gourmet coffee and overpriced coffee barely above the store brand standard?"

A dictionary definition of "Gourmet" is: "a connoisseur of fine food and drink, an epicure." Another says "a person devoted to refined sensuous enjoyment (especially good food and drink). The words high quality and exotic as well as skilled preparation seem to be used in many definitions.....

.....to me that indicates that it is when:

• The beans are exotic and of high quality
• Skillfully and freshly roasted to perfection
• Ground to exactly the right consistency for the type of preparation
• Brewed with the correct balance of water to coffee
• Served in an alluring and enticing manner
• Enjoyed by someone who appreciates all of the above

In short, when it is not your regular off-the-shelf supermarket coffee, it can probably be called gourmet coffee, as long as the factors mentioned are part of the whole deal.

.... and yes! We are going to have a look at each of those factors individually.