Anyone taking a stroll down their neighborhood grocery store coffee aisle will be overwhelmed with roughly 20 different coffee brands.

Starbucks, Maxwell House, Folgers, whole beans, ground coffee — with so many choices, what does it take to make the best cup?

The good news is, brewing a cup of joe isn’t difficult, but it’s the harvesting and roasting that can get complex, said St. Ive’s Coffee Roasters CEO Lewis Coker.

"Coffee’s got four things in it besides water: taste, aroma, acidity and body," Coker said. "And filtered water’s important because you can destroy the best coffee in the world by having water that has too much calcium. You don’t want distilled water, but you do want good, clean water."

Gus Gonzalez, owner of Cafe and Crepes on the Gainesville square and a native of Colombia, said coffee is often brewed too strongly, and coffees such as espresso should be brewed to a light brown color.

Coker said there are two main types of coffee. Robusta coffee beans are generally cultivated by machines in flatlands and are typically sold by commercial, name-brand companies as dark-roasted coffee. Robusta coffee beans are often burnt, or roasted heavily, to mask their bitter taste.

Arabica coffee beans are often used in higher quality coffee products, Coker said, because they are grown and harvested by hand in 1,000 to 6,000-foot elevations.

"The higher the elevation, the better it is," he said.

Coker said the ideal coffee, which has the four components of a good cup, is a medium-roast arabica coffee. He said most coffee companies that use arabica beans have labels on their packaged products that advertise their use of arabica beans.

Coker said St. Ive’s locally roasts about 60 arabica coffee flavors from 35 countries, including Colombia, Peru, Sumatra, Ethiopia and Costa Rica. Nearly 100 third-world countries grow coffee, he added, making it the No. 2 traded commodity in the world, second only to oil.

Coker said coffee beans are actually a fruit, much like a cherry on an evergreen plant. When harvested, coffee growers pick ripe red beans, and rush them to roasters before their bright red color expires.

"Coffee cracks twice when you’re roasting the beans," he said. "The first time it pops is when all the liquid is gone, and usually it starts turning a golden brown, making what’s called a city roast. On the second pop, the oil starts coming out of it, and in the meantime it’s turning dark. That’s when it becomes an Italian roast or a French roast."

Acidity and caffeine levels are often the factors influencing consumers’ purchases on the grocery store coffee isle, Coker said.

"Some people don’t like high acidity because of digestion problems," he said.

Coffee’s acidity is generally influenced by geographic location. Coker said low acidity coffees are typically grown in Africa, while high acidity coffees are grown in South America. In regard to caffeine levels, Coker said that light and medium-roasted coffees generally contain more caffeine than dark roasted coffees.

"And robusta has way more caffeine (than arabica coffee beans)," he added.

Gonzalez said it’s important to store coffee at about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. While there are numerous options for ground coffee at the grocery store, Gonzalez suggested purchasing whole coffee beans.

"You can go to the store and find brands from all over," he said. "But it’s preferable to buy coffee beans and grind (them) finely at home. It’s fresher."