How to choose the right coffee for you

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by

Roasting House
in ,

We want you to have the best cup of coffee possible, and that can be subjective. Even within our small team of two we have completely different definitions of a good cup of coffee. Adam likes darker and smoother coffees like the Brazilian whereas I like the wild flavours of Ethiopian coffee. We both agree on Guatemalan coffee though which combines smoothness and fruitiness. Here’s our guide to helping you find the right coffee for your taste.

Strength

Supermarket coffee often has a strength guide, although this tends to refer to how ‘strong’ tasting the coffee is rather than strength of caffeine. A strong coffee will be a darker roast which gives more of those rich, toasty, smoky flavours whereas a light coffee will be a lighter roast with more of a milder biscuit or fruity taste. Medium will be smooth and fruity. 

If you like a strong coffee look for flavour notes described as rich, smokey, liquorice, tobacco, leather, spicy. 

For medium coffees, look for flavour notes described as smooth, chocolate, caramel, vanilla, plum, cherry

For lighter coffees look for flavour notes described as biscuit, apple, blueberry, citrus fruits, floral

Flavour

Each of our coffee includes tasting notes. These aren’t literally what the flavour is, a coffee that is described as having notes of chocolate won’t literally taste like chocolate, but a way of describing the flavours that you can expect from the coffee. A coffee with notes of chocolate will be smooth and sweet whereas a coffee with notes of blueberry will be juicy and fruity while notes of apple will indicate a light, crisp and slightly sweet coffee, and tobacco indicates spiciness and smokiness. 

Think about what kind of flavours you enjoy and look out for tasting notes similar to that. 

Brewing style

Your brewing style massively affects the taste of the coffee, and some flavours do better with some brewing styles than others. 

Espresso and mokapot

Espresso emphasises richer, darker flavours and brings out the best in coffees with notes of chocolate, smokiness, spiciness, and stone fruits. These coffees also tend to do well in a stovetop mokapot brewer 

Cafetiere

A cafetiere, aka French Press or plunger, is an immersion brewer and the long contact time between the water and the coffee grinds means it brings out the body in all coffees. It can be used with any coffee, although it does particularly well with full-bodied and fruity flavours. Coffees that taste good in a cafetiere also tend to work well in an Aeropress. 

Filter

Filter is really good at bringing out the nuanced fruity flavours of the coffee, so look out for tasting notes of soft and stone fruits, eg cherry, blueberry, strawberry, and also for coffees described as sweet. 

If you still can’t decide, we have a multi-pack which contains 4 x 250g of our current coffees or our Coffee Club allows you to try all of our coffees on a two or four weekly subscription.

If you have any questions or would some coffee advice, please contact us on coffee@roastinghouse.co.uk or tweet us @roastinghouseUK