How to Pick Coffee Beans: A Pro Guide
How to Pick Coffee Beans - Narrowing the Options
“There are way too many coffee bean options to pick from,” you're probably saying to yourself when browsing for a bag of coffee. You don't want to waste your time searching for the right one. Or, you don’t want to waste your money trying so many to find out what you like.
We get it.
We also know there are a bunch of companies out there that claim to have "the best coffee." Or the zillions of articles listing the "top 10 coffees." Let us break through the marketing facade a bit for you.
If their bags don't include the details listed in this article, they aren't even in the category of good coffee, especially not the best.
We're going to walk you through how to choose coffee beans. At Refuge, these details are listed on each of our bags as they are all important factors that affect taste and help in your decision-making.
You know what, we'll make it even easier for you. If you don't see any of these 4 steps on a bag of coffee, treat it like you would a stale loaf of bread on the shelf at the store. (By that we mean ignore it)
Whether you're searching online or walking into your local coffee roastery, after reading this article, you'll know exactly what to look for when you're buying your next bag of coffee.
Single Origin? Blend? What does it all mean?
Single-origin means the beans are sourced from a single region of a country. Occasionally, the single origin may even feature the specific farm that the coffee is from (because believe it or not, even though a coffee is from the same country, it does not mean it will taste the same).
A Blend is a combination of beans from different regions. It is curated by the roaster, which makes it unique! The idea is to understand the taste profile from each region and intentionally mix them to get the desired taste. It truly is a work of art.
For example, our owner and Head Roaster Jim crafted our Defender espresso blend. Inspired by his time in Italy, this blend is intended to "defend" the roots of traditional Italian espresso. We have to fight (pun intended) to keep up with how fast this blend flies off the shelves as it's our house espresso and best-seller.
Trust the Process
The way that a coffee is processed can change the taste literally night and day.
Check out this list to give you an idea of each process and the general – let me emphasize, general – taste that each process can create. Because we all know there's much more to making a great cup of coffee.
Natural: The beans are dried in the sun, preserving natural flavors. Generally chocolatey or fruity.
Washed: The beans are pulped and fermented, resulting in a cleaner taste. Generally citrusy or tea-like.
Honey: A combination of natural and washed processes, offering a balance of flavors.
Pulped Natural: The beans are pulped but not fermented, creating a sweet and fruity taste.
A Can Do Altitude
Coffee can't be grown just anywhere; the climate has to be just right along with the altitude at which it is grown. The plants are grown between 2,500 and 6,000 feet. Believe it or not, even the altitude can affect the taste of your coffee and should be a consideration when choosing a bag.
Typically at high altitudes, you get a brighter, more acidic flavor. But at low altitudes, you get a richer, more full-bodied flavor.
Do You Like Stale Bread? - Roast Profile and Date
If a bag says "light," "medium," or "dark" roast, run from it. Walk out of the store. Click off of the page. This is a clear indication that the roaster took more consideration into roasting to a general color instead of roasting to the unique flavor profile each coffee carries. Unfortunately this happens often with roasting and is something to really watch out for.
The same goes for if there is no roast date on the bag. Generally, coffee begins to go stale — flavor starts to rapidly decline — after about 4 weeks of being roasted. How would you be able to know when your coffee was going stale if you had no idea when it was roasted?
To recap, coffee goes stale and can be over or undercooked just like any other consumable delicacy. These are HUGE factors in taste and the overall quality of your bag of coffee, do not ignore them.
Also see: The Best Roast For Black Coffee
Fair Trade / Direct to Farm
While this has nothing to do with the actual taste of the coffee, Fair Trade or Direct to Farm means you are supporting independent farmers. Essentially, bigger companies like to pay farmers extremely low compensation for their coffee and buy in very high bulk so the farmers are left with little to nothing. Fair Trade and/or Direct to Farm works with the farmers and pays them properly for the beans.
At Refuge, we use a middle-man company called Genuine Origin that works directly with farmers — they’ve even trained more than 45,000 of them — and offers their coffee as a product. As a result, farmers get the respect, training, and compensation that they deserve, which is why we love sourcing our green coffee from them.
Conclusion - You're an Expert
Now you know how to choose coffee beans.
And, technically speaking, we at Refuge Coffee Roasters have already cupped and given flavor notes on each bag we offer so if you didn't want to look into all of these minute details, you can just read the pre-provided notes...
But hey, now you're an expert!
So what kind of coffee drinker do you think you are? Single origin or blend? Fruity and light, or chocolatey and earthy? Natural or Washed?
Let us know, contact us on the website or send us a DM on Instagram @refugefairhope if this article helped you.