最近，當您光顧咖啡店或在超市購物時，或許會發現很多咖啡產品都被冠以極品咖啡的稱號。這一稱號的光環吸引着衆多咖啡迷爭相購買。但是什麼樣的咖啡纔可以稱得上是極品咖啡呢?想要回答這一問題還是比較複雜的。

You may have noticed that the last time you were at a coffee shop or at a supermarket that there is a number of coffee products are labeled as gourmet coffee. Considering the excellent connotations that come with the world gourmet, it's not surprising that many coffee lovers are attracted to gourmet. But what exactly is gourmet coffee? The answer is a little bit complicated.

極品咖啡的涵蓋面很廣，而其相通之處是都能製作出一杯極其美味的咖啡。耕種方式、出產地、種植海拔、土壤情況以及氣候條件都對咖啡豆是否能成爲極品咖啡起到至關重要的作用。正如不同種類的優質葡萄酒，極品咖啡也包括不同的成熟時間、不同的國家、以及不同的區域。然而，極品咖啡有一個統一的特點，即它是由最頂尖的咖啡原產國用最上乘的咖啡豆製成的。它擁有最嚴格的製作過程，已確保其最高的品質。極品咖啡豆在其種植地國家要經過仔細的手工挑選、加工處理並把它們分門別類。之後，咖啡豆要在其出口國進行高質量的烘焙。比如瑞士，雖然那裏並不產咖啡豆，但那裏的咖啡豆烘焙工藝卻是世界頂級的。最後，經過精密的製作過程，咖啡迷就可以品嚐到極品咖啡了。

Gourmet coffee refers to a number of different things that all result in a delicious cup of coffee. Cultivation practices, growing area, altitude, soil, and climate are just some of the factors that will determine whether a coffee bean is a gourmet coffee. Similar to how a wine is judged as a fine wine or not, gourmet coffees will vary from year to year, country to country, region to region. However, there is one uniform characteristic of gourmet coffee: it is made from the best coffee beans that each coffee producing country is able to offer. Gourmet coffee undergoes a vigorous process to ensure that it has the highest quality. Gourmet coffee beans are carefully handpicked, processed, and sorted in the country where it has been grown. It is then roasted to perfection in the country that it is being exported to. For instance, Switzerland is one of the best country for coffee roasting, but it is not a coffee producing country. The final step in the gourmet coffee process is when the coffee lover gets to enjoy an excellent cup of gourmet joe.

極品咖啡經常被冠以專業咖啡的稱號，其中比較普遍的品種包括牙買加藍山、波多黎各、皇家水晶以及哥倫比亞。此外，它還可以添加一些輔料，製成不同的風味的咖啡飲品。值得注意的是添味咖啡是指把調味添加到熱咖啡豆中使其在烘培過後能迅速吸收。極品咖啡源於最好的阿拉比卡咖啡豆。阿拉比卡咖啡樹是全世界種植最普遍的一種咖啡樹。然而，並不是所有的阿拉比卡咖啡都是極品咖啡。而且，阿拉比卡咖啡樹的特殊的生長條件將決定其是否能成爲極品咖啡。因此，選購時應當更多地瞭解、檢驗其各個方面，已確保質量。

Gourmet coffee is often described as specialty coffee and some examples of the most popular types of gourmet coffee include the Jamaica Blue Mountain, Puerto Rico, San Cristobal and the Colombia. Additionally, flavorings can be added to gourmet coffees to create intoxicating new tastes and these flavored gourmet coffees included such favorite flavored coffee drinks. However, the process involved in flavored coffee with gourmet coffee means that flavorings are added to coffee beans while they are still warm and absorbent immediately after roasting. Gourmet coffee comes from the best coffee beans of coffea arabica. This species of coffee plant known as Arabica coffee is the most commonly grown species of coffee grown throughout the world. As a result, all types of Arabica coffee are not gourmet coffee. Rather, the specific growing conditions of Arabica coffee plants will determine whether they are gourmet or not. To learn more about Arabica coffee, check out the section called Arabica.

正如咖啡迷所知道的，阿拉比卡咖啡樹在高海拔地區會長勢良好。通常極品咖啡便來源於生長於海拔900米左右，位於北迴歸線到熱帶或亞熱帶之間的地域。阿拉比卡咖啡樹長得越高，其出產極品咖啡豆的幾率就越高。而咖啡豆的密度越大，其質量也越好。海拔高度與咖啡密度也有直接的關係，海拔越高就意味着密度越高。因此，高海拔地區的阿拉比卡咖啡樹更容易出產極品咖啡。

As most coffee lovers know, Arabica coffee plants thrive in high altitudes. Usually gourmet coffee comes from Arabica coffee plants that grow at altitudes of above 3,000 feet between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn in tropical or subtropical conditions. The higher the Arabica coffee plant is, the higher the chance is that it will produce coffee beans that can be classified as gourmet. Coffee beans are graded in terms of its density, with a higher density being preferred. There is a direct correlation between coffee density and the altitude that the coffee plant is growing at, with a higher altitude equaling a higher density. As a result, gourmet coffee usually encompasses coffee beans grown from Arabica coffee plants that are situated at a high altitude.

雖然特殊的外部條件可以幫助其成爲極品咖啡，但這並非唯一的條件。更重要的是其長勢。隨着咖啡貿易對於很多國家變得越來越重要，咖啡種植的過程發生着極大的改變。咖啡的傳統種植方法是將其種在樹蔭下。而現如今，很多種植者則是把咖啡種在了曠野上。這一改變使咖啡豆的產量提升，成本下降，然而對其質量卻只有負面影響。

Although the specific conditions in which an Arabica coffee plant is growing will help determine whether the coffee beans it produces can be used for gourmet coffee, it is not the only factor. Arguably more important are the growing conditions of these Arabica coffee plants. As the coffee trade has become increasingly important to many country's economies, there has been some drastic changes in the coffee growth process. While coffee has been traditionally grown under shade trees, many coffee growers have been forced to move away from this process and grow coffee plants in full-sun fields. This change allows coffee growers to produce more coffee beans at a cheaper rate, however this has a negative effect on the quality of the coffee beans.

因此，大多數極品咖啡是有機咖啡。有機咖啡採用的是在樹蔭下種植出的咖啡豆。雖然在樹蔭下種植的方法產量不高，但其品質卻可達到極品咖啡的水準。這是由於能遮陰的樹可以減緩咖啡樹的成熟，給予咖啡豆充分的成長，使其含有更多的天然糖份、更上乘的口味與較少的咖啡因。另外，有機咖啡也不使用影響咖啡口味的殺蟲劑或其他化學制品。

As a result, most gourmet coffee are grown in an organic fashion. Organic coffee refers to coffee that has been made using coffee beans that have been shade grown. Although the shade grown method of growing coffee results in less coffee bean growth for the grower, it produces a much better tasting coffee that matches the standards of what constitutes a gourmet coffee. This is because the shade trees slow down the maturation of the coffee plant, which allows for the coffee bean to develop: more natural sugar, better flavor, and less caffeine. Additionally, organic coffee is free of pesticides and other chemicals that affect the taste of the coffee.

然而，特殊的生長條件並非是決定是否是極品咖啡的唯一因素。另一項因素是其精確的混合。當阿拉比卡咖啡豆在極好的環境下有機種植一般就會產出極品咖啡。然而咖啡市場的運作並非如此。這是因爲很多咖啡公司把高質量的阿拉比卡咖啡豆與次等咖啡豆混合，降低咖啡的質量，以謀求高額利潤。一些混合咖啡中羅伯斯特咖啡豆的含量高於阿拉比卡咖啡豆，導致咖啡口感下降，咖啡因濃度增高。也有一些羅伯斯特和阿拉比卡的混合品質量不錯，特別是高質量的意式烘培咖啡。當然極品咖啡一般是純粹的昂貴的阿拉比卡咖啡。

However, it isn't just the specific growing conditions that will determine whether a coffee is gourmet coffee. Rather, another important issue that will determine whether a coffee is gourmet or not is its specific blend. While Arabica coffee beans that have grown in excellent conditions under organic means will generally constitute a gourmet coffee, coffee economics have ensured that this is often not the case. This is because many coffee companies attempt to increase their profit by blending the fine Arabica coffee beans with lesser coffer beans, which dilutes the quality of the coffee. Some coffee blends have more Robusta coffee beans than Arabica coffee beans, which produce a coffee that has less flavor and higher caffeine content. While some Robusta-Arabica coffee blends can be good, particularly high quality Espresso roasted coffee blends; gourmet coffee is usually made up of unblended, high-grown Arabica coffee.

極品咖啡另一個要素就是烘培。烘培過程將影響咖啡的口感，而這一過程並無標準的規則可循。而且，烘培的程度要因咖啡豆的出產國和其特點而定。因此，一種咖啡豆應被烘培成淺棕色以釋放其特有的香味，而如果另一種咖啡豆也如法炮製，則也許就是暴殄天物。 當您購買極品咖啡時，向咖啡專家諮詢咖啡獨特的烘培方式決對是有益無害的。

Another important component of gourmet coffee is its roast. The roasting process will impact the taste of a cup of coffee and there are no standardized rules of coffee roasting. Rather, the degree of roasting needed for a specific coffee bean will depend on the coffee bean's country of origin and its optimal flavor characteristics. As a result, a coffee bean may need to be roasted to a light brown color to release its flavor characteristics that makes it gourmet, while another type of gourmet coffee bean may be ruined by that exact type of roasting. When purchasing gourmet coffee, it never hurts to ask a coffee expert about the specific roasting of that coffee.

最後一項咖啡迷需要留心的是極品咖啡的氣味。當咖啡特有的香氣被烘培出來時，也是其開始氧化的過程。當咖啡豆被烘培過，其中不穩定的油脂將極易被氧化，並損害到咖啡的質量。極力推薦大家去購買裝在抗氧化袋中的極品咖啡，或購買未研磨的極品咖啡豆。

One last thing that gourmet coffee lovers will need to look out for is the freshness of the coffee. While roasting coffee beans is essential to releasing the desired flavor characteristics of the coffee bean, it also begins the stage of oxidizing. Once a coffee bean is roasted, the volatile oils contained within the bean become vulnerable to oxidizing, which will damage the quality of the coffee bean. It is highly recommended that one purchase gourmet coffee in oxygen-proof bags or to try to purchase whole bean gourmet coffee that can be grinded just before being made.

至此您就瞭解到了所有的衡量標準，以及咖啡豆成爲極品咖啡的艱難過程。現在您就可以一邊休息一邊品嚐一杯味道濃郁的極品咖啡。同時您也可以考慮一下到底需要多少勞動才能生產這樣一杯完美的咖啡。

Now that you've learnt all of the various degrees of gourmet coffee, you will realize the difficult process that a coffee bean becomes classified as gourmet. With its rich taste, you can now sit back and enjoy a nice cup of gourmet coffee and ponder how much work has been done to create that perfect cup of coffee.