Chances are that you have never tasted a truly great cup of gourmet coffee.

Have you been drinking commercial blends of coffee? If so, like so many others, you've been missing out on one of life's greatest pleasures, the clean pure taste of fresh roasted gourmet coffee from Odyssey.

Odyssey Coffee is a mail-order company located in Slidell, Louisiana. We sell gourmet and specialty coffees by the pound, available in Whole Bean or Ground.

Simply put: Fresh coffee tastes best. Did you know that coffee loses over half of its flavor in the ten days after roasting...and even faster once the beans have been ground? According to both the Coffee Specialty Association of America and Consumer Reports Inc., coffee loses over half of its freshness within the first week of roasting, regardless of packaging. Both magazines also reported that most coffees available to the public are between 1 and 3 months old, stale coffee that has lost over 85% of its flavor and freshness. To insure that you get the freshest coffee possible.....

WE DO NOT ROAST UNTIL YOU ORDER.

At Odyssey, coffee is considered to be a perishable product. Our customers enjoy their coffee within a few days after roasting. Following this strict standard and attention to detail has paid off, especially for our loyal customers.

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Here at Odyssey we want you whether a new or an existing customer to have some basic knowledge about coffee. We have compiled a little information about coffee below, so you will have a better understanding of some of the basic facts involved in selecting coffee. Select the subject you wish to know more about. More topics will be added on a regular basis as we come across items we feel would interest you.

Our Gourmet Coffee's come from around the world. That's because certain climates are better for certain beans. We only want you to have the very best cup of coffee.

We use Arabica coffee beans for our Gourmet Coffee. Arabica coffee is the seed from the fruit of the Arabica botanical species of coffee tree. Arabica trees produce a fine quality coffee and require rich, fertile soil; high altitudes (2,500 - 6,000 feet); and the right balance of warmth, rainfall and humidity. These coffees grow in the highest and steepest portions of the country of origin. The Robusta coffees are typically found in lower altitudes (below 2,000 feet) and are more resilient to heat and severe conditions. Hence, a Robusta coffee tree yields many times more coffee than the Arabica trees. Like anything in life, quality and quantity do not necessarily go hand-on-hand. A large Nation-wide coffee manufacturer does not have the luxury of being out of coffee supplies; therefore a high reliance is placed on the availability of the Robusta coffees. Blending several Robusta coffees further insures consistency in the taste. The small specialty coffee industry places a higher reliance on quality, demanding exclusively the Arabica coffee type. We have the luxury to tell the customer that a certain coffee is not available, and recommend other coffees (perhaps from a different country), which may be just as good or better.

Because Arabica trees are susceptible to disease, frost and drought, they require careful labor-intensive cultivation and produce only 1 to 1.5 pounds of green coffee per year. Arabica coffee beans are selected as gourmet coffee because, when brewed, they have a delicate flavor and aroma. Their caffeine content is much lower than those found in Robusta coffees; caffeine is the major contributor to bitterness in the coffee.

Coffee in its raw form (green beans) is a dry stable product. Coffee is the seed of the coffee fruit and it is processed to a dormant product before it is shipped out of the coffee plantations. Raw coffee's life expectancy is considered to be indefinite.

We will explain the effects of roasting on coffee freshness, by withholding the complex chemistry jargon. Coffee starts loosing its freshness as soon as it is roasted. Roasting of coffee starts a chemical reaction in coffee which generates volatile compounds. Some of these volatile compounds begin to leave the coffee during the roasting process and others are delayed, trapped within the coffee bean. These compounds serve as the transport for the coffee aroma. In other words, the smell of the fresh coffee aroma is attributed to these volatile compounds leaving the coffee. With this migration starts the deterioration or loss of freshness in the coffee. Smelling the fresh coffee aroma, is actually perceiving the past freshness of the coffee. What we smell is some freshness that just left the coffee.

Extended exposure to air seems to accelerate the loss of freshness. Oxidation plays a role in coffee getting stale. It is really not proper to leave roasted coffees exposed in burlap bags or barrels, as seen in many gourmet stores. These coffees are being deteriorated at a faster rate, providing the customer with a coffee of a lesser life span.

It is also known that whole beans stay fresher for a longer period of time than ground coffee. This is because grounding the coffee exposes additional coffee surface to contact with air, allowing for additional volatile compounds to leave the coffee. The inner trapped freshness in the coffee bean, now has an opportunity to migrate. Whole bean coffees will retain their freshness for 4-6 weeks from the time of roast. Ground coffees will retain their freshness for approximately a week, if stored properly. There are a few steps that can be taken to preserve freshness. Some steps most be implemented by the coffee roaster, some by the retailer and also by the customer.

The coffee roaster has the widest latitude with preserving freshness. By controlling how much coffee is roasted and retaining as much coffee in its raw form, a coffee roaster can extend the life of its coffees indefinitely. Retailers that roast their own coffee have the biggest advantage of all. They can roast very small amounts of coffee at a time, only what sells in a few days or at most in a week's time frame. The wholesaler usually has to predict in advance how much coffee will be required by its retail accounts, sometimes leading to excessive roasting. The extra roasted coffee most then is stored in its facility. The retailer buying from wholesalers has practically no control over the roasting process. Further, a retailer may purchase too much coffee from the wholesaler, leading to additional storage time. Excessive purchases by retailers will tend to increase the wholesalers roasting plans, the next time around. But will decrease the retailers purchase, at that same time. A vicious circle is created conducive to warehousing and storage of roasted coffees by wholesalers as well as by retailers. Proper planning is almost impossible in the wholesaler-retailer arrangement. That is why; retailers that roast their own coffee have the biggest advantage of all in controlling the coffee freshness.

The roasted coffee should be stored in air tight containers to preserve its freshness. Air exposed beans will deteriorate at a faster rate than protected beans. A retailer that exposes the coffee beans on the floor of its store (mostly for esthetic purposes), is really doing a disservice to its customers. The consumer should try to purchase coffee in whole beans rather than pre-ground, hence extending the life of the coffee. However, a proper grinder must be used for a quality coffee cup. Please, do not massacre the coffee beans with those inexpensive blade grinders sold in department and some specialty stores. Spending a premium for high grade coffees and then mutilating the coffee bean with a blade grinder is just a waste of money. Consumers without a quality burr grinder should just get the coffee ground at the retail store and limit their purchase to a week's worth of coffee, each time.

Coffee once ground deteriorates very quickly, as explained above. Ground coffee must be stored in air tight containers to retard its staleness and consumed within a few days to a week from purchase. Customers are sometimes left with the option of buying a low quality Robusta in a fresh vacuum package or a high quality Arabica which has been staled at the retail store. Not much of a choice. Also, beware of those vacuum packages equipped with freshness valves. This valves are meant to release coffee gassing from the bag to the outside, releasing coffee freshness, also.

As a final freshness note, please do NOT store your coffee in the refrigerator. The practice of storing coffee in the refrigerator is unfortunately suggested by people in our coffee industry. As explained above, coffee deteriorates with air contact. Well, refrigeration causes condensation in the coffee, which means water molecules travel through your entire coffee content. As we all know water is one part oxygen, hence accelerating your coffee's deterioration? Actually, deterioration occurs throughout the entire coffee, not just on its surface as it would be with air contact. If for any reason, you have purchased too much coffee to consume immediately, then break-up your coffee in single portions into zip lock bags and store them in the freezer. Avoid freezing a full pound; taking a bag of coffee in and out of the freezer causes condensation, as well. The frozen coffee can be used in your coffee maker without thawing.

We all have been subject to those TV advertisement campaigns which claim "Mountain Grown" or "100% Colombian". Coffee manufacturers print these slogans in their cans, too. These are only two of many sample slogans. Some of the other slogans are even more subliminal, than these two.

The message being conveyed is that their coffee is better than any others because it is "Mountain Grown" or it is "100% Colombian" or some other reason. Well, all coffee grown in the World is mountain grown; the distinction is at what altitude of the mountain is it grown. A 100% Colombian coffee is not necessarily a good coffee, either. Each country produces a wide variety of coffees, some excellent and some just plainly put, awful coffees. A 100% Arabica, Supremo Colombian coffee is the best coffee that Colombia can produce. A 100% Robusta, Colombian coffee may be the cheapest, lowest grade coffee this country will sell and with the consequence in quality degradation. What type of 100% Colombian is in the package? To that matter, what type of 100% Guatemalan or any other country's coffee is in the can or bag. This is the question at hand.

The coffee companies’ claims, of their coffees being the best, are not explicitly made. They just let the consumer interpret their slogans. If it is 100% Colombian, then we believe that it must be the best coffee available. Their is no violations to the "Truth in Advertisement" act or any deception. The coffee in their package is definitely what they claim it to be (e.g. a 100% Colombian coffee). The consumer's mind is doing the rest. Our purpose here is to provide some informational facts, so the consumer can be better equipped when making a purchasing decision.

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