Buying the Best Gourmet Coffee Beans | Top Arabica Coffee
Contrary to popular belief, simply buying gourmet coffee beans doesn’t necessarily guarantee quality or enjoyment. It’s always worth remembering that with so many different types of coffee beans available, quality standards will always vary from one to the next. Not only this, but the manufacturer’s approach to processing and packaging the beans will also have a marked impact on the resulting gourmet coffee.
Not all high-end Arabica coffee is the best Arabica coffee money can buy.
On the plus side, getting it right doesn’t have to be difficult. You don’t even need to be an experienced professional to get to grips with the fine art of selecting and enjoying the very best gourmet coffee beans.
Instead, it’s simply a case of following these five tips every time you set out to buy your favourite types of coffee beans:
1) Buy Gourmet Coffee Direct
First up, if it’s at all possible to buy gourmet coffee beans directly from the roaster, this is exactly what you should be doing. This is because coffee beans begin losing the compounds that give them their unique flavours and aromas the moment they are roasted. As such, the longer the period between roasting and consumption, the greater the extent to which quality will deteriorate. If it’s possible to buy direct, buying direct is exactly what you should be doing!
2) Assess the Packaging of your Arabica Coffee
Once coffee beans have been roasted, it’s important for them to be sealed in an air-tight bag or container, in order to preserve their freshness for as long as possible. If the packaging isn’t up to par, the coffee beans will begin to oxidize or dry out completely while waiting to be purchased. In addition, it should also state on the packaging exactly when the coffee beans were roasted. If not, you’ve absolutely no idea how long they’ve been sitting there!
3) Avoid Oily Beans
If you come across coffee beans that look particularly oily, it typically signifies that they may have been roasted too intensively or for too long. Of course, it may be impossible to assess oiliness before actually opening the packaging, but it’s nonetheless an important mark of quality to be on the lookout for. When coffee beans are over-roasted, they develop a taste that’s charred, bland, bitter and unpleasant.
4) Traceability is Important for All Types of Coffee Beans
One of the best things about sticking with gourmet coffee is the way in which quality beans can be traced all the way back to the farms that produced them in the first place. Nevertheless, far too many different types of coffee beans are sold with no information other than to say they are from Brazil. Not particularly useful, given that Brazil is 2/3 the size of Europe and is home to literally thousands of completely different coffee farms. Always assess traceability where possible.
5) Consider the Roast
Last but not least, it’s always worth considering your own personal preferences, when it comes to the roast itself. These days, buying quality Arabica coffee from an established specialist usually means being able to choose from a wide variety of roasts. Light-roasted coffee tends to have a more complex flavour profile and a higher caffeine content, while darker roasts err more towards smoky richness. There’s no right or wrong roast for any coffee – it’s all up to you!
At Hayman’s online coffee store you will find the best types of coffee beans, such as the world famous Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, best Kona coffee Hawaii, Geisha coffee (a.k.a. Gesha Coffee). All our top Arabica coffee is freshly roasted on the same day it is shipped – click here to order today, we offer free worldwide shipping!
