Beans Roasts

The espresso vs filter beans difference is less about a separate type of coffee bean and more about how the roaster expects you to brew it. Espresso-labelled beans are usually…

Coffee processing methods explained simply: washed coffees usually taste cleaner and brighter, natural coffees are fruitier and heavier, and honey process coffees sit somewhere in the middle. If you are…

Decaf coffee is made from normal coffee beans with most of the caffeine removed before roasting. The useful answer to “how is decaf coffee made” is not one single process,…

You are standing in a small UK coffee shop on a wet Saturday morning, looking at two bags on the shelf. One says Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, washed, single origin, tasting notes…

There’s a moment in every coffee drinker’s journey where they try a genuinely good bean and realise what they’ve been missing. The supermarket stuff that tastes like “coffee” gives way…

You drink two cups of coffee every day. That is 730 cups a year. At specialty roaster prices (£28-40/kg), you are spending £500+ annually on beans alone — before the…

You are standing in the coffee aisle at Waitrose and two bags catch your eye. One has a Fairtrade logo and costs £5.50. The other says “direct trade” on the…

You’ve been drinking coffee every day for ten years and you can tell good from bad. But when someone says “I’m getting stone fruit and dark chocolate with a honey…

You’ve just spent £400 on a beautiful espresso machine, dialled in the grind, perfected the tamping pressure — and the espresso tastes like burnt cardboard. Before you blame the machine,…

You’ve just upgraded your grinder, dialled in your espresso, and now your supermarket beans taste like disappointment. Every coffee forum says “buy from a speciality roaster” but there are dozens…