Seeking out the best coffee beans can be a labour of love
and what you look for is very much dependant on your own personal
taste.
If the only coffee you ever buy is from your local supermarket,
you probably don’t realise the great variety of wonderful tasting
coffees that are out there waiting to tickle your taste buds - if
you can find them.
One thing is certain – once you have experienced the aroma,
flavour and satisfaction of a properly brewed, high quality cup of
freshly roasted and ground coffee - you will be well and truly
hooked.
So how do we go about choosing good coffee beans?
Very few high quality coffee beans find there way into
supermarkets unless they are a trusted and well-packaged brand
name, and even then freshness of the bean may well be an issue.
Most quality beans will be found at speciality or gourmet stores or
delivered direct from reputable coffee suppliers such as Cafe
Bar.
There are various levels of roasting the beans and they are
commonly known as cinnamon (light), American (medium), continental
(dark) and French (very dark). The roast you choose is very much a
matter of personal taste.
Cafebar have a large range of freshly roasted coffee beans and ground fresh filter coffees ready for immediate
delivery. They even develop and produce bespoke blends and
packaging for their larger clients.
Keep away from air
Roasted coffee’s worst enemy is air. When coffee is exposed to
it, oxidation rapidly breaks down the aromatics into dull,
unpleasantly woody flavours. Fresh coffee should be consumed
within 5 to 7 days from exposure to the air, as the quality goes
rapidly downhill afterwards. Ground coffee will lose the vast
majority of its aromatics within 24 hours. If you must store your
coffee longer, keep it in an airtight container in the freezer as
this will slow, (but not eliminate), the aging process.
When buying branded packaged coffee beans, make sure the
bag has a valve, which has the dual purpose of letting the carbon
dioxide escape whilst stopping the air from getting in. Another
important part of good coffee buying is to ensure that the beans
are uniform and whole – without any splintered or broken ones.
You may prefer to buy your coffee beans whole and grind them
yourself at the moment you wish to brew your coffee. There are many
different ways of brewing your cup of coffee and some of them
require different coarseness of grind (see popular coffee brewing
methods). Both hand grinders and electric grinders are relatively
inexpensive and the coffee gourmet will have one readily
available.