A Guide To Buying The Best Coffee Beans

If you start with higher-quality beans, you’ll be one step closer to delivering the best coffee that can be found anywhere.

What kind of business would provide specialised coffee if it didn’t serve actual, high-quality coffee? On the road to starting a coffee shop, selecting the coffee you will use is likely to be one of the most important choices you will have to make. Keeping this in mind, take your time with the technique! If you want to provide your customers the best possible cup of coffee, it is in your best interest to sample as many different kinds of coffee as you can and do as much research as you can. Don’t settle for less than the best. If you were starting a restaurant, which kind of meat would you choose to serve—the most expensive steaks, or the most economical steaks? Choose the highest possible quality of coffee that you can find, and make sure that your prices reflect it.

If you’re all for espresso shopping for, additionally try:

How to Find the Right Coffee Bean Wholesaler

Coffee has the potential to become your primary revenue generator and the highlight of the event. Don’t bore your potential customers with a basic deed that lacks excitement. Get the next higher grade espresso even if it costs a few more dollars per pound than the one you now have. You may always make up for this price difference by increasing the price of a cup by a nickel or a dime. This is always an option. Coffee of slightly higher quality sold at just slightly higher prices will attract more customers than it would drive away, and this will lead to greater sales.

Before making your choice of coffee roaster, there are a few questions you need to make sure you ask, including the following:

1. Does this roaster provide just the highest possible grade of coffee beans in its selection?
2. Have they a comprehensive understanding of the roasting process?
3. Is the quality of their roast consistent from time to time?
4. What kind of frequency does this roaster use to prepare the coffee that you require?
5. Does the coffee roaster provide a “open date” or date on the package that indicates when the coffee was roasted?

Choosing an Espresso Blend

We have come to the realisation that there are four requirements that need to be met prior to picking the standard espresso blend that will be served in your coffee business:

1. Conduct your taste tests using a commercial espresso machine.

Any apparatus, outside those used in commercial coffee production, will not be able to provide the required amount of pressure and heat for producing a flavour profile that is exclusive to each kind of coffee. At addition, it is quite likely that you will be employing a commercial machine to prepare coffee in your cafe; hence, it is in your best interest to utilise “real world” scenarios.

==> How To Make The Perfect Espresso At Home

2. You need to learn how to correctly prepare espresso in order to give yourself the opportunity to choose the best combination of ingredients.

Every aspect requires careful planning and preparation! If it is prepared improperly, even a good cup of coffee might taste terrible. It’s possible that you’re perceiving an off flavour in the coffee when, in reality, it’s just that the preparation wasn’t done correctly. Make sure you have complete faith in the person who is operating the camera.

3. Ensure that the coffee you are using has been roasted and blended specifically for espresso.

We are of the opinion that some of the very best coffee is created from a combination of a number of different beans as opposed to a selection of just one kind of bean. Here is where the roaster you choose is going to make all the difference! They are interested in learning which beans should be combined in order to produce the best blend that is tailored specifically to espresso. Ask a lot of questions, and if you need further justification, don’t be hesitant to ask for it. A good roaster should have no problem explaining their thinking process and what they want to achieve with a particular roast or blend of coffee to their customers.

Does a Darker Roast Mean More Caffeine? Read To Find Out 

4. Obtain a respectable quantity of espresso to make the brew.

Before settling on one option, you need to ensure that you’ve considered all of the others available to you first. Get in touch with the local roasters in your area, ask for recommendations from proprietors of other coffee shops, or call the specialists working in the coffee industry to learn more about this option.

When making this decision, some of the many factors that you should consider include your market and the available space. The tastes of your potential customers may vary widely, depending on the region of the globe in which you operate your business. The age of your target audience will decide the kind of alcoholic beverages that will be most successful and those that will be in most demand. For instance, lighter roasts are often more popular with younger consumers, whereas darker roasts traditionally appeal to older market segments. However, there is never a moment when there aren’t any exceptions. Options are by no means a bad thing to have, so long as you’ll be able to afford them, and you might even want to think about employing different brands or mixes in your espresso firm.

Taste Testing Your Espresso Blends

The evaluation of the coffee’s flavour is something of an art form. When it comes to carrying out these tastings, we believe it is essential to keep in mind a number of additional aspects, despite the fact that some of it depends on your own tastes as the taster.

Who ought to be judging the espresso?

We believe that it is very important for you, as the owner, to participate in these tastings to the greatest extent that is feasible so that you may play a significant role in the decision that is ultimately made. However, taking on the characteristics of other people is not always a negative practise. They also have the potential to assist function as a diverse variety of consumer preferences that may be coming into your business. Additionally, it is essential to pay attention to the recommendations made by your roaster on blends that offer the traits you are looking for. Asking others who have a range of preferences and perspectives on a subject is something you should think about doing, particularly as you narrow down your decision. This may also help you identify who your potential customers are, or it may give assistance in selecting the appropriate coffee for your customers.

How do I truly do these style assessments?

When it comes to carrying out the actual examination itself, there are a few things that should be kept in mind:

• Employing a commercial espresso machine will allow you to pull your espresso photos from the grounds as closely together as is physically possible.
• Utilize samples that have the same level of freshness.
• Don’t plan on tasting more than five different coffees in a single sitting since you don’t want to tyre out your taste.
• Carry out an experiment using the blind style method to eliminate any preconceived notions you could have had about the manufacturers or mixtures.
• Make sure to keep track of all of the coffees you try by taking notes and jotting down the positives and negatives of each.
• Try the coffees in three different preparations: a straight shot, an Americano, and a latte or cappuccino. This is done so that you are familiar with the flavour of the espresso on its own as well as when blended with water or milk.
• If you style espresso at three completely different temperatures—warm, hot, and at room temperature—you’ll be able to higher perceive any defects that may be present in the beverage.

Choosing Drip Coffee 

While you’ll have your espresso aficionados, you’ll also have your die-hard drip drinkers. Your drip coffee roast should have the same high standard of quality as your espresso blend; this will ensure that your customers are always served a high-quality beverage, despite the fact that they may choose to order something different on any given day. It is also very uncommon to acquire your coffee blend from one roaster and your drip from a different roaster. Because different roasters put more of an emphasis on different types of coffee, you should do some research to find out where in your area you can get the best coffee to be roasted.

The following are some things to keep in mind while tasting espresso blends, which are almost similar to the things you should keep in mind when tasting drip coffee:

• Make use of a coffee maker designed for commercial use.
• Utilize espresso that has the same level of freshness.
• You may sample up to five different coffees all at once.
• Perform an examination in the dark without any light.
• Invite some friends who have a variety of taste preferences.
• Examine the coffees at their different temperatures, making mental notes as you go along.

Taste each cup of coffee at intervals of ten minutes to determine how quickly the flavour will change in each cup. Another goal is to establish how quickly the flavour will degrade. Maintain the temperature of your coffees while you wait to style them by using a thermal pot. This recreates the atmosphere of a typical day at the coffee shop, complete with your drip brew sitting in the container that it would really be kept in. Because brewed espresso is likely to be left out for far longer than espresso shots, it is essential to have an understanding of how it evolves over time.

Also Read: Keuring vs. Drip Coffee

Choosing Whole Bulk Beans

It is not uncommon to go into a coffee shop and have a good selection of bulk full beans for sale to choose from when you make your purchase. Although it is beneficial to provide a variety for your customers, we recommend keeping the number of varietals you provide to between four to eight. While customers have more options to pick from, they are more likely to actually feel overwhelmed when attempting to make a choice regarding the acquisition of a bag, which may result in decreased sales. You don’t want to throw away a bunch of espresso beans, do you? When exhibiting these beans, you should choose wisely so that your cabinets give the impression that they are full, but you should also avoid putting out an excessive number of bags, as this would result in waste.

When making your selection, do your best to provide a variety of options that are reasonably well rounded. After some investigation, we found that the vast majority of these bulk beans support the perfect:

• Espresso Blend
• Drip Blend
• French Roast
• Decaf
• Origin Coffees: Guatemalan, Costa Rican, Colombian, Kenyan, Ethiopian, Hawaiian, and Sumatran.

Choose the customer favourite to serve as your “house blend,” and then offer a new drip brew variety on a daily or weekly basis. This way, you’ll be able to offer your customers both a standard combination and something new for them to experiment with. Customers will have a reason to return to your establishment often if you make even little adjustments to the items on your menu.

Take Your Time

Take your time when choosing both your coffee and your roaster. Don’t be in a hurry. Take the time to get to know your product and roaster very well since they are going to be the foundation of the success of your coffee business. Developing a positive connection with the person who roasts your coffee is also not a negative thing to do. If you choose your coffee carefully and take your time with the process, you’ll be able to provide expert recommendations to your customers and deliver products of a better quality. These are the kinds of things that potential customers look for before committing to becoming regulars.

Liked This? See More From Our Coffee-Buying Guides!

• Illy or Lavazza? A Guide to Italian Coffee Brands
• Best Supermarket Turkish Coffees
• All About Norwegian Coffee
• Best Coffee Brands of 2023
• Private Coffee Labels
• Best Chicory Coffee
• Best Grocery Store Coffee