When selecting a source online to get your coffee bean direct, be sure that they are located near you. My favorite online source for coffee beans is located only a day away via UPS. That means if I place an order for my favorite coffee on Monday, I will receive it on Tuesday. Nothing beats fast service, and if you love your coffee as much as I do, you’ll do pretty much anything to get those coffee beans in your coffee cup as soon as possible. It is not a good idea to choose a coffee roaster that is located far from you unless you like paying high of overnight shipping charges. There are exceptions to this rule of course. I usually get peaberry coffee from Hawaii each month and it is worth every penny to have it shipped overnight to me.

Obviously, buying coffee online has many advantages. The primary advantage is having your coffee freshly roasted for you and getting it at a discount. You can expect to pay about half of what you do at the supermarket unless you are buying coffee that tastes more like saw dust than gourmet coffee beans. Another distinct advantage of buying coffee directly from a coffee roaster is the far greater selection. You can get regular coffee, gourmet coffee, Costa Rican coffee, Brazillian coffee, dark Sumatran coffee, there is a plethora to choose from. So, as you can obviously see, you really can’t go wrong when you get your coffee bean direct from a reputable coffee roaster.

If you are going to go through the expense of having Kona coffee delivered to you, you might as well do it right. First off, buy the beans, don’t buy the coffee already ground. Grind only as much coffee as you will consume in a day. I have measured how much it takes to fill my coffee press and I only grind one press full at a time. Oh, by the way, I don’t use a coffee maker. I use a coffee press. Basically, a coffee press is a glass jar with a top piece that is attached to a plunger with a screen attached to it. You put the coffee in the bottom, pour hot water into the jar, let it brew for at least 4 minutes and then push down on the plunger which strains the coffee and keeps the coffee grounds on the bottom. This method of making coffee blows away my $200 Capresso coffee maker. Really, this $30 device makes the best coffee I’ve ever tasted.

Enough with the coffee brewing lesson already. If you buy Kona coffee, make sure it is 100% Kona coffee. Do not buy a blend. Usually blends will have as much as 90% cheap coffee mixed in and you should not pay a premium for that. I would recommend you try the smallest size available, usually an 8oz. bag of coffee to start. If you like it, by all means, save money by ordering several pounds of coffee beans at a time. Personally, I like to buy my coffee beans fresh every month despite the higher cost. For me, freshness is the top consideration.

As anyone will tell you, organic products can be found more and more on your supermarket shelves, and in other places. Organic milk products, organic meats and eggs, etc. should all be a part of your diet. Anything you can do to lower your intake of chemicals and pesticides should be considered. Organic coffee beans should also play a part in your organic lifestyle. If you think that going organic will be expensive, guess what, you would be wrong. There are many places online that sell organic coffee for about the same price as coffee grown with pesticides and other chemicals. Some growers go the extra mile and their coffees are grown under rain forest-preserving shade trees and are hosts to diverse bird life.

Even if you don’t care about rain forests, endangered birds, fragile ecosystems, etc., you should still consider buying organic coffee beans because they are good for you and taste great. After all, most companies don’t charge a premium and the coffee is not overly expensive anyway. There are plenty of exotic coffees which are much more expensive. Contamination of the planet and destruction of our fragile ecosystems is something that we should discourage. The fact that it won’t cost us an arm and a leg is only one more reason to do so. Make sure that the company you get the coffee from is certified organic by a third party certification company.