Looking for the STW advice on coffee. I enjoy a filter brew in the morning & evening with the wife. Currently spend is about £15/kg and have tried various beans from amazon like coffee masters, pelican rouge before settling on current Taylor favourites of Italian & Java Lava

So, what do the collective suggest as happy to branch out. I saw Lidl beans on another thread so will give that a go. We’re unlikely to go down the £40/kg route or very dark roasts but open to a good pitch & suggestions…

What kind of grinder do you use?

I am really enjoying this at the moment. Light roast that is bright, fruity, and not too acidic. They post it out as soon as they roast it so it hasn’t been sat around for ages…

https://unionroasted.com/products/campus-3-limited-edition-microlot

Re: grinder, electric but manual. So grind by eye but basically medium to fine

Thanks Marp. Good to go with different flavours too!

Also happy not to support amazon, it’s just breaking from the convenience of it

Home

Very good quality (I get single origin Guatemalan), well priced, roast to your taste, prompt delivery. I occasionally try alternatives but always return to this one. I think I pay £13 per kg delivered.

I saw Lidl beans on another thread so will give that a go.

they’re currently selling 1kg bag espresso magnifico beans for about £8. Seem pretty good for the money nice flavour and a good crema.

I use Hasbean.co.uk, and without exception all have been way better than anything I’ve bought in a supermarket.
Maybe start with one of their blends and then go from there. Lots to choose from, all small batch roasted so generally roasted a couple of days before they arrive.

I like the Aldi Ethiopian and I’ve got some darkwoods under milk wood on the go. Just keep trying stuff, that’s part of the enjoyment!

Spiller & Tait Signature Blend. About £16/kg.

Lovely stuff.

When Lidl do the 1kg bags, they tend to be fantastic. The little bags vary in quality and taste a lot, and are sometimes very poor.

All of the only coffee suppliers seems to make a good blend at very similar prices. Rave and Hasbean have been my go to.

My issue is the cost. £17.50 seems to be about the going rate for a kilo of a quality blend – 30% more maybe if you go is a single source. That is under the £25 that generally triggers free delivery. So you order another 250g pack to get free delivery and that is enough coffee to get me through about 3 weeks if I use it for everything (my cafetiere and espresso at home, my contribution to the bean to cup machine in the office at work and the aeropress out on the road. Thing is the coffermaster amazon stuff works out about half that and if I’m honest the fancy stuff does not make a great deal of difference in the cafetiere or the machine at work (which is also full of other peoples rubbish) so feels a bit of a waste. If the better stuff gets a few weeks old the difference is reduced further. But a mixed economy of good and average beans and emptying out the hopper is just too much of a ball ache. So for the last 6 months or so I’ve only had the coffeemaster all day blend in and it’s been fine.

A genuine first world problem.

I buy online from Frazers in Sheffield. Usually buy the Full Monty espresso blend for daily coffee as it’s a good all-rounder for espresso, long black and milky drinks.
Plus the guy is nice and deals direct with growers.

https://www.frazerscoffeeroasters.co.uk/

Re: grinder, electric but manual. So grind by eye but basically medium to fine

I suspect the question probably meant blade or burr grinder. From you answer sounds like blade.

The Lidl coffee (Bellarom?) in the gold pack works in Rider Towers. Switched from Lavazza red for economy but it’s good

Try one of the independent coffee roasters that does a subscription. I have bought them for other people and they have always been popular and I have had one bought for me as a Christmas present last year. Each month you get different coffee so you don’t get bored, it gave me chance to try coffee from countries I probably wouldn’t have looked at. The two I can recommend are:

https://thecoffeehopper.com/coffee-subscription/

and

https://www.carvetiicoffee.co.uk/collections/subscriptions

The subscriptions alone won’t give you enough to see you through a month but as an alternative to your normal beans it is a bit different.

Both do mail order of their regular ranges so if you find a coffee you like on the subscription you could also take a 1kg bag.

Thanks everyone. Appreciate the input. I think the best approach is to go subscription & get the variety but will also check out those mentioned on the thread 🙂

Re: nixie. Yes, blade thank you

[Threadjack] I have a stove top coffee pot – will switching to grinding my own beans improve my brew? [/threadjack]

[Threadjack] I have a stove top coffee pot – will switching to grinding my own beans improve my brew? [/threadjack]

Grinding your own will make a massive difference to flavour; coffee oxidises very quickly after grinding (the surface area exposed to the air is much greater when ground into thousands of tiny pieces.)

However, grind quality varies enormously between grinders, and this is where further improvements can be made. Go for a burr grinder – a hand powered one if you want to not spend too much money.

JP

We do subscriptions too. I’ve got a really nice natural from Colonna Coffee in stock now – DM me if interested and I’ll do you a deal.

JP

Tidy, noted – cheers! 🙂

Do the experts subscribe to the theory as once expounded to me that (assuming you like the bean variety and roast) the three main aspects in order are how fresh the grind is, how you do the grind, and then how you brew.

So as above, if you grind and store ground coffee then it’ll oxidise and degrade so better to buy beans and grind before use, and how you grind is secondary to how fresh the grind is (other words, preground in the best burr grinder in the world will still oxidise and taste worse than fresh blade ground)

And then whatever you do to get your ground, a posh espresso machine won’t rescue oxidised coffee whereas (good) fresh ground coffee in an aeropress still tastes pretty good.

Another vote for Union coffee here

(Until I find another roaster that I like).

I’m just starting to work through these

https://peakbean.co.uk/

Do the experts subscribe to the theory as once expounded to me that (assuming you like the bean variety and roast) the three main aspects in order are how fresh the grind is, how you do the grind, and then how you brew.

So as above, if you grind and store ground coffee then it’ll oxidise and degrade so better to buy beans and grind before use, and how you grind is secondary to how fresh the grind is (other words, preground in the best burr grinder in the world will still oxidise and taste worse than fresh blade ground)

And then whatever you do to get your ground, a posh espresso machine won’t rescue oxidised coffee whereas (good) fresh ground coffee in an aeropress still tastes pretty good.

Yeah – that’s pretty accurate. Having said that, I do pre-grind coffee on the EK for camping trips and it often tastes better than expected.

JP

Having said that, I do pre-grind coffee on the EK for camping trips and it often tastes better than expected.

I have a similar experience – I reckon the flavour stays pretty good for a few days after grinding.

As for @Pondo’s question: I think stovetop benefits from a really fine grind – if you’re currently using the usual supermarket stuff that’s ground for cafetieres you’ll probably find a huge difference grinding yourself.

OP – the Hasbean Filter starter pack is £20 for a kilo of coffee

Filter Starter Pack

I’ve bought a few things from them and always been delighted.

Another grinder convert here. Fresh ground beans on an old stovetop Bialetti.

I use an Aergrind which I picked up half price as a trade show demo one. I reckon it makes more difference to the brew than anything. I’m not too fussed on the bean, I haven’t tried anything terrible tbh.
Favourite though is from a great coffeshop local to me, Slaughterhouse in Cromarty.

I was all set to spunk a fortune on a Sage machine a while back, but have decided not to bother. Simple stovetop does me.