Top Tips: Buying coffee for home

When you’re buying coffee to have at home, you’re often presented with a whole range of options. If you’re snubbing instant and going for beans or ground, where do you start? Here are some tips on what to look out for.

Freshness

This is super important! Is the bag sealed? Has it got a roast date on it? If it doesn’t who is to say when it was roasted. Coffee begins to stale as soon as it’s ground, if it’s exposed to air for over 5 minutes I would expect the flavour to degrade significantly.
If you do buy pre-ground coffee keep it in an air-tight container (I always use Tuppaware to store coffee in) and store it in a dark, cool place, not the fridge!

Consider your audience

Are you buying coffee for you to serve after a big dinner? If so I would recommend something a little more developed, out BTP Dark Roast Cafetiere blend would be perfect for the post dinner party crowd. If you’re having something with your morning eggs a medium roast would complement that well. Supermarkets tend to grade theirs 1-5 in terms of roast profile, 5 being jet-black “continental” style. I would never go above a 4, and would love it if supermarkets sold 1’s or 2’s, but I have never seen any.

Does the coffee make reference to a farm or cooperative?

Provenance can be a great indicator of quality, it usually implies the seller is proud of how they’ve sourced their coffee. If they call it just “Java” it might just be a name they plaster on a cheap blend, if the variety and farm are listed you should be on to a good thing.

Need more advice?

Our baristas are super-nerds and should you need any advice then they would be chuffed to go through how they brew at home or offer any advice about how you could improve your home brewing. If you’re particularly proud of yours send me a photo on Twitter.