Which coffee should I buy?
The coffee landscape has drastically changed in the last ten to twenty years. Options abound and it’s not just about which roaster’s logo fits your aesthetic. Specialty roasters in effort to convince the populace of their vast coffee knowledge flood their consumers with a deluge of data. We’re left swimming through tasting notes and exotic farm names.
The truth is, advancements in coffee processing techniques have indeed served to expand the range of flavor profiles available to the modern coffee drinker! The spectrum is quite beyond what many thought was possible. Gone are the days when we could simply choose between Colombia or Guatemala. So whether or not the aforementioned metadata is meaningful to you, or leaves you quite drowned, we all can’t help but feel that our next coffee purchase is going to be a bit of a crapshoot.
Well I want to help you with that. Here are some quick tips to buying coffee you’ll love.
- The most sure-fire way to get a coffee you love every time is to know what color you like! West Oak Coffee is color coded to a variety of flavor profiles. If you can’t get enough of a coffee with a green label (exotic flavor profile), chances are you will like other coffees with a green label! Our color code is printed on the bottom of every bag to help get you acquainted.
- When you find a coffee you like, remember it! Scour the packaging for meaningful information. The most helpful bit to me is process. There are three main coffee processes:
- Washed – processed with very little coffee pulp intact which results in crisp, clean coffees, with distinct acidity (clarity) and caramel/honey sweetness. Sometimes more nutty and earthy.
- Natural (or Dry) – processed with all coffee pulp intact which results in notes of ripe fruit and a rounded chocolate sweetness, lingering in the finish.
- Honey (or Pulped Natural) – processed with some coffee pulp intact (no honey is used) which leads to a balance of sweetness and clarity.
- The second most helpful is country of origin. Each country having different laws or traditional farming practices contribute something unique to coffee. Perhaps what you love so much has to do with the unique soil or practices of certain country. If you can’t find a coffee with your favorite origin, expand your scope to include other countries from the same continent.
- Go to a coffee shop and buy a cup! If you like what you’re drinking, ask where you can get it. This is a low cost way to find out what you enjoy.
- Stick with a roaster/brand you like! Another large contributing factor is the specific style of roasting. Some roast all coffees very light; others have light roasts darker than PayDirt! We provide a wide variety of flavor profiles with our product lineup so you may need an expert opinion to for your first purchase, but we’re always excited to talk coffee and make a recommendation. Contact us (link below in the footer), or email us at wholesale@westoakcoffee.com!
Check out our full line-up here: https://westoakcoffee.com/shop
Smell the roses. Drink upstream.
