How to Choose Coffee Beans That Taste Good and Mean Something

Shelves and online shops overflow with packets labelled „coffee beans“ — and yet individual coffees differ from one another more than boxed plonk does from wine straight off the vine. You’ll taste the difference in the cup, but it’s made long before that: on the plantation, during processing and at the roastery. Here’s a guide to choosing whole-bean coffee you’ll look forward to every morning.

1. Arabica or robusta?

The first fork in the road. Arabica grows at higher altitudes, ripens more slowly and offers a finer, more complex flavour with fruity and chocolatey notes. Robusta is hardier, cheaper, higher in caffeine and coarser, earthier in profile. Blends that contain robusta aren’t automatically bad — but if you want a coffee you can savour even without milk or sugar, reach for 100% arabica.

2. Origin: altitude shows up in the cup

The higher coffee grows, the more slowly the beans ripen — and the more sweetness and flavour they have time to develop. This single-origin coffee comes from the Colombian mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, from the sacred place of Nabusimake at 1,800 metres above sea level. In the language of the local Arhuaco people, Nabusimake means „the place where the sun was born“ — and that’s exactly how it tastes: dark chocolate, dried apricots and a caramel finish.

3. Roast: light, medium, dark

• A light roast preserves fruity acidity and delicate notes — ideal for filter.
• A medium roast is the most versatile: balanced sweetness and body, and it works in a filter, a French press and a moka pot alike.
• A dark roast brings bitterness and an „espresso bar“ flavour — but it masks the subtle nuances of origin.

If you’re not sure, a medium-light roast is the safest choice — which is exactly why we use it too.

4. Freshness: buy beans, grind at home

Ground coffee loses its aroma within days; whole beans hold onto it for weeks. So always buy whole-bean coffee and grind it just before brewing — an inexpensive hand grinder will do. Store the beans in an airtight container, somewhere dry and dark.

5. Organic certification and how it’s grown

Organic coffee means it’s grown without synthetic sprays or fertilisers — gentler on the soil, the water and the people who harvest it. Our beans carry organic (BIO) certification and grow chemical-free from the very first seed: the Arhuaco people farm the way their ancestors taught them, harvesting by hand just once a year, picking only perfectly ripe cherries.

6. And finally: who are you buying from?

There are real people behind every pack of coffee. We’ve chosen the path of buying directly from growers, with no middlemen — we source the coffee straight from Arhuaco grower families, and with every pack sold we contribute to buying back their ancestors’ land. So your morning coffee can taste good twice over: in the cup and on your conscience. Read the full story.

A quick cheat sheet

• ✔ 100% arabica, ideally single origin
• ✔ Higher altitude = more complex flavour
• ✔ A medium-light roast as the all-rounder
• ✔ Always whole bean, ground at home
• ✔ Organic certification and fair, ideally direct trade