What is the Zojirushi EC-BD15 Coffee Maker like?

Zojirushi has been in business for more than ninety years, and is credited with designing and marketing the very first glass lined vacuum bottle. This bottle went on to set the standard in the insulated bottle industry and was considered to be revolutionary in vacuum insulation technology. Zojirushi's vacuum insulated bottle quickly caught on and became a staple in just about every household worldwide.

The company's name itself speaks volumes as to the ideas the make the company run and flourish. The name is derived from the word "Zo", which means elephant in Japanese, and symbolizes strength, familiarity, and intelligence. These characteristics are quite evident in all of Zojirushi's products.

Zojirushi's main goal from the very beginning has been to improve their customers' quality of life by creating products to bring a higher level of functionality and convenience. It was this very goal that has led the company to develop and market a variety of household products including: coffee makers, compact water boilers, stainless steel vacuum bottles for outdoor use, beverage dispensers that are so appealing to the eye that they fit into even living room décor, bread makers, humidifiers, air purifiers, and a wide variety of indoor and outdoor products that meets the needs of an active lifestyle. Zojirushi is perhaps best known for their state of the art, easy to use rice cookers.

Zojirushi is completely dedicated to staying one step ahead of the ever evolving needs of its customers. The company continues to improve upon its top-selling cooking and food preservation products that offer exceptional quality and appealing designs. Zojirushi is committed to developing easy to use products that portray a sense of affluence and style in food and beverage preservation, small cooking appliances, and various other appliances for both home and commercial use.

The ideals that continue to propel this company to a higher level and allow it to continually keep and improve upon its market share can best be summed up with the quote found on their own website: "Zojirushi will continue to offer attractive products that cater to modern needs based on its guiding philosophy - to improve customers' quality of life through innovative technology - well into the 21st century and beyond."

Coffee beans are the seed, or pit, found inside Arabica cherries that are grown on evergreen coffee trees. Each cherry typically contains two pits, or coffee beans, although sometimes only a single bean is formed, which is called a "peaberry". Coffee beans are mostly made up of an "endosperm" that contains anywhere from 0.8% to 2.5% caffeine. This is the main attraction of the coffee bean. Since coffee is the most consumed beverage in the world, coffee beans have become a major commodity all over the globe.

There are many different types of species of the coffee plant including: Coffea Arabica, Coffea Excelsa, Coffea Gallienii, Coffea Benghalensis, Coffea Bonnieri , Coffea Canephora, Coffea Congensis, Coffea Liberica, Coffea Mogeneti, and Coffea Stenophylla. The seeds of these different types of species can produce coffee with slightly different characteristics.

That being said, there are actually only two main types of coffee beans consumed. These two beans are called Coffea Arabica, most commonly known as Arabica coffee, and Coffea Canephora, more commonly known as Robusta coffee. Arabica coffee typically is a higher quality bean, while Robusta is more economical and is known for its heartiness. These two types of beans account for more than ninety percent of all coffee beans sold globally.

So, why do you see so many different types of beans at your local grocery store or coffee shop if there are really only two varieties used? This is due to a couple of reasons. First, beans are usually identified by their geographic location of origin, not by their variety. This means that you are going to see Hawaiian coffee, Columbian coffee, Caribbean coffee, etc. Even though these beans are of the same variety, you may find they do not taste the same. Coffee beans are influenced by environmental factors such as rainfall, soil content, other vegetation, and even different types of native animals, which can subtly change their taste.

The second reason for so many coffee bean choices is due to roasting. Some beans are roasted for long periods of time, resulting in very dark coloring to the outer shell, which is known as a "dark roast". Other beans are roasted for shorter periods of time, resulting in light or medium roasts. Some coffee roasters even create custom blends which combine different amounts of dark, medium, or light roasted beans for a unique taste. While these beans again will taste different, they are still just one of the two main types of coffee beans mentioned above.