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Fine food and drink may be considered gourmet; however, this can also be applied to coffee too, as in gourmet coffees. These types of coffee have been made from coffee beans picked at the precisely the right time, roasted to perfection and then ground into a variety of flavors and blends. This is not something that you would normally find in your neighborhood grocery store, but perhaps in that Starbucks coffee bar downtown.

After the beans have been washed and processed, they usually get roasted at a very high temperature and then cooled rapidly according to individual practices. Generally, darker beans will produce the more full bodied and stronger gourmet coffees.

As well, the darker that the ground coffee looks the longer the original roasting process took, which usually means a better taste. If you need more information on how to choose the beans, then you can go online where there is quite a bit of information available.

Perhaps the secret to a perfect cup of coffee begins with the coffee beans; there are two major types of beans, the Arabica and the Robusta. The Arabica produces a very fine quality coffee that is usually sold to the retailers that carry gourmet coffees.

The Robusta is hardier, more resistant to diseases and produces more coffee cherries; however, it is normally used by retailers that use commercial blends rather than the more elite gourmet retailers.

To read more Delicious Gourmet Coffees For The Perfectionist

For Mother’s Day this year, skip the cliché Mothers Day card and flowers in favor of a more hand-picked arrangement of goodies. Mothers Day gift baskets are exciting packages that show your thoughtfulness and generosity, without necessarily breaking the bank.

Sure you could pay over $100 for some designer concoction online, but why bother? It’ll take a few errands and perhaps some price comparison shopping, but in the end, you’ll be glad you shopped for and created the perfect Mother Day gift yourself.

The “Wine and Cheese Gift Basket” is a popular selection for Mother’s Day and includes wine, cheese and crackers. Many wine shops will help you select a good wine that isn’t too pricey or too pungent to go with the accompanying food. Light, fruity wines are usually the best choices for this Mothers Day gift basket.

When you’re selecting cheese, skip over the usual selections and visit the specialty section. Brie, Gouda, goat cheese and Camembert are nicer choices to pair with your wine. Look for the fancy variety of crackers to top off this simple basket. Other foods you may consider adding are strawberries or grapes, olives, pate, pepperoni and nuts.

Perhaps the idea of making your own gift basket for Mother’s Day doesn’t appeal to you. “Can’t I just get an online Mothers Day gift basket,” you might ask? After all, the best Mothers Day present isn’t always handmade! Try www.igourmet.com, where you can make your own custom gift basket chosen from a worldwide selection of gourmet foods for $20+, or choose from a variety of cheeses, wines, fruits, chocolates, coffee blends, meats and high-end cooking items.

Another cool site is www.deananddeluca.com, where you can select themed gift baskets like the “Film Fest” basket ($35), the Trattoria Italian basket ($70) or the North African basket ($150). Lastly, check out www.harryanddavid.com, where you can discover a number of Mothers Day gift baskets for under $50, not to mention frequent promotions, sales and discounts on baskets mixed with fresh fruit, chocolate and other goodies. You’ll be happy to know there are healthy options as well!

To read more Surprising Gift Food Baskets For Mother

For the large variety of cheeses available these days, one cannot go past cheese platters as a crowd pleaser. You should include low fat cheese, to cater for those guests on a diet. You can place the platters among the variety of foods you have on the main table, or even on small tables in different parts of the main party room.

To maintain the party atmosphere, you can supply cocktails and other drinks, along with non-alcoholic beverages including juices and soft drinks.

You can place your cheeses on crackers and wafer biscuits, to give that bread taste many people seem to enjoy with cheese. To increase the variety of tastes available to your guests, you can add tomato and dips with your cheese.

Once all the cheese platters are empty, you can surprise your guests by replenishing the platters with freshly baked cookies and chocolate brownies.

To read more Pleasing Your Party Guests With Cheese Platters

In 2007, the gourmet foods industry recorded $47.9 billion in sales, which went up 23% over a two-year period. The National Association of the Specialty Food Trade says that even when times are tough, restaurateurs and consumers alike still love to go gourmet. Whether it is soup, nuts, meat cuts or food snacks, people enjoy foods of the best quality, prepared and arranged in pleasing ways even. Often, these ingredients come from thousands of miles away.

This year, there will also be alcohol trends from abroad. For instance, Mexican tequila, Italian grappa, ouzo from Greece, rakia from Serbia and sake from Japan are hitting the United States as new spirits.

While scouring the planet for upper crust wines and champagnes has become commonplace, the basic spirits haven’t been too inventive for the most part. That is all due to change, gourmet foods experts speculate. French Burgundy has picked up more popularity this year so far, as have rye-based cocktails.
 
A healthy diet is an exotic diet. A recent episode of The Early Show featured Bon Appetit magazine editor Andrew Knowlton who talked about 2008-2009 trends in gourmet foods. He said that new spices like Balinese long pepper, Saigon cinnamon, fennel pollen (Tuscan), French Basque pepper (”the new paprika”), grains of paradise and ras el hanout (Moroccan) will be spicing up our taste buds this year.

Oysters offer sustainable protein, heirloom beans are freshening up side dishes and slow, low cooking is back in fashion. He added that reusable grocery bags are an important trend too.

To read more Healthy Trends In Gourmet Foods