Photography: Shaved black truffle by Allerina & Glen MacLarty

Truffles are sort of the Holy Grail of ingredients. Extremely rare, expensive, and flavorful. Prized by chefs from all over the World, Truffles are a delicacy no matter where you are. Let’s learn a little about these fungi.

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So I tried some Coconut Water the other day, it’s a Brazilian thing I guess. I actually sampled 5 different brands. They all tasted like back sweat. There was one that was somewhat edible.

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When Escoffier began to catalog his culinary expertise into books in a sense he created many standards for recipes and methods to prepare food in the French tradition. By doing so he modernized the culinary arts and made it possible for the common man to prepare dishes like he could.

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I like Coffee. The thing is, once you have had great coffee it gets hard to drink that St#rb#cks stuff again. I recently was in Jamaica and had their Blue Mountain Coffee. Probably the best coffee I had ever had. It could be because it might have been the freshest coffee I ever drank, none-the-less, it was great and I want more. I was wondering to myself, where else does coffee flourish?

The 2 Main Types of Cultivated Coffee Beans

• Coffea Canephora
• Coffea Arabica

Look at This Map to View Types by Geography

Top 10 Coffee Producing Countries

1. Brazil
2. Colombia
3. Indonesia
4. Vietnam
5. Mexico
6. Ethiopia
7. India
8. Guatemala
9. Côte d’Ivoire
10. Uganda

Famous Coffees

• Ethiopian Harrar Coffee
• Hawaiian Kona Coffee
• Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee
• Kopi Luwak Coffee

Most Expensive Coffees

1. Starting off the list at $160 per pound is Kopi Luwak
2. Hacienda La Esmeralda (Panama, $104/lb)
3. Island of St. Helena Coffee Company ($79/lb)
4. El Injerto (Guatemala, $25-50/lb)
5. Fazenda Santa Ines (Brazil, $50/lb)
6. Jamaica Blue Mountain ($49/lb)
7. Los Planes (El Salvador, $40/lb)
8. Kona ($34/lb)
9. Starbucks Rwanda Blue Bourbon ($24/lb)
10. Yauco Selecto AA (Puerto Rico, $22/lb)
11. Fazenda Sao Benedito (Brazil, $21/lb)

Additional Resources

Coffee Geek

Coffee Review

Coffee - National Geographic

Fair Trade Coffee

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee - Amazon.com

Estate Hawaiian Kona Coffee - Amazon.com

Ethiopian Harrar Coffee - Amazon.com