[Closed] Which coffee beans?

Ethiopian ia always good - been to Addis a few times and they know a thing or two about coffee. Colombian is another we enjoy. Sometimes you can improve a mediocre coffee just by re-roasting it in a very hot frying pan. Open the window first as the smoke lingers everywhere.

Hasbean:

https://www.hasbean.co.uk/collections/starter-packs

If it’s as a gift maybe an ‘in my cup’ sub from Hasbean

We buy from our local coffee shop https://www.rosieandjava.com/ got some good beans to keep us going over the next month or so.

Ok so just looking at those Hasbean Packs

What’s the difference between an Expresso / Filter pack. I don’t have a clue 🤷‍♂️

She has a bean grinder that she then puts in to her Sage Bambino machine. Produces normal sized cup of coffee with frothed milk

If you’re using a machine you’re making espresso

It could just be how finely ground the coffee is, fine for espresso, coarse for filter. Drop them an email, I'm sure they'd be happy to advise if you told them what your machine was.

It could just be how finely ground the coffee is

Both packs can be bought as whole beans. Different beans though. They tell you what’s in each pack if you click on their links.

What’s nice about Hasbean if you’re a bit of a novice coffee snob is their blurb on the pack is very consistent - if there’s  a coffee in a pack or subscription you like it’s easier to gauge what you like about it and see others they sell that you’d like too

Ok I might just drop them an email saying what she likes etc.

Completely out of my depth on this one !

I use this lot

https://www.stewartscoffees.co.uk/

My local coffee roasters, they have a "coffee of the month" subscription which I've used for a few years (after my Mum got me 6 months for Christmas), I've never had a bad one. They're not cheap, but I figured it was a price worth paying for decent local coffee.

I like Ethiopia Yirgacheffe and get from my LCS https://www.macbeans.com/store/c17/All_Coffee.html

https://hormozi.co.uk/shop/origin-coffee/guatemala-origin-coffee-bean/

Used this firm for years: reliable, serious coffee and about half the price of some. Visited Guatemala few times and this coffee is as good as what you'd find there in specialist outlets.

Have a look in the sticky (services) at the top of the forum, someone on there is offering coffee so might be worth a chat with them.

The Bean Shop Perth, decent price and a kilo of beans through your letterbox for £3 postage. Maybe not as "artisan" as some of the places but I got mine in just over 24hrs

Get it from here ^ at the Singletrack shop.

OK, to try and answer some of your questions/comments.

A lot of places will sell pre-ground, this would be a different size depending on method, so finer for espresso etc. You don't want this, you'll always want whole bean. Smaller bags are better, you want it freshly roasted and to drink 2-8 weeks of roasting date. So if she's only drinking a few coffees a week the subscription works better than 3-4 bags.

My preference is for darker roasts for espresso and cold brew, lighter for filter. Darker roasts *tend* to be about sweet, richer flavours so you'll see chocolate, caramel and nuts mentioned a lot in the tasting notes. Lighter roasts ime are fruity, for some reason I don't like this when making espresso.

The roaster in the STW Skills thread is this one:

STW Special Coffee
Not had their coffee yet but planning to give it a go in a month when I run out. Definitely well priced and there's a few options for you.

I use Rave Coffee, found them to be good quality, relatively cheap and they have some different tasting packs and subscription models on offer.

BillMc just ordered a kilo of that.
Very slick website took 2 clicks and my face.
£14 which I thought was good.
I like the fact you can choose the darkness of the roast.

Rave Coffee do some nice stuff..
https://ravecoffee.co.uk/

Have been using Rave also. For lockdown ordered 2kg of their cheapest beans; being 1kg of 'Italian Job' (a blend) and 1kg of 'Brazil Zona de Varginha' (single origin). Really enjoying!
Might have to give that 'Guatemala Huehuetenango' (linked to above) a go too.

Have used both rave and hasbean very happily. The Bean Shop in Perth is local to me though so I use them.

The hasbean espresso/filter packs are chosen to have beans that they feel are better for the respective brewing methods. If you're using a bean -> cup machine then choosing some 'espresso' beans will likely work well.

IMO there aren't really 'good' beans or 'bad' beans, just beans for different tastes.

I use Happy Donkey At £3.50 for 250g as my go to, with a once in a while order from Pact. Happy Donkeys Costa Rica Arabica and Sumatra Moca are pretty smooth and good, the Italian and Brazilian blends I find a bit earthy but good if you like a dark and dirty brew in the morning.

That Hasbean 4 pack looks good to try out though.