There's a dirty little secret going on for many of us who drink coffee.  Some of the major coffee manufacturers have been messing with how they blend their coffee.

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[/caption]According to a recent article by Reuters, some of the major coffee brands are substituting more expensive arabica coffee beans with cheaper robusta beans.

Robusta beans are a lot cheaper to produce and are often used as a filler in lower grade blends.  Robusta is often used for instant coffee.  There may be one advantage for this bean.  It has about twice the amount of caffeine as arabica.

Massimo Zanetti is the company that roasts beans for the Chock full o'Nuts and Hills Brothers brands.  They've admitted increasing the use of robusta beans by 25 percent.  Last year there was a shortage of arabica beans, so that increased the price of the bean by almost 30 percent.

So, take the poll and tell us if your coffee tastes a bit strange.

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