Even the most expensive coffee machine can make bad coffee.
The coffee beans you use have a big impact on how the coffee tastes, therefore, it pays to choose coffee beans carefully.
But how do you choose the best coffee beans and how to navigate the large selection?
In this article, you will find the answer.
This is a comprehensive guide about the things you should be aware of when buying beans for your coffee.
How Do You Choose?
The six things that you should remember as a starting point when choosing your coffee are its origin, roasting process, brewing method, price, freshness, and packaging.
They give you a good basis for choosing the best coffee beans for your coffee.
First of all, not everyone likes the taste of coffee, but for those of us who do, it’s worth it to invest in some good coffee beans.
Taste is individual and is built on a wide range of parameters. The sense of taste is one of the most complex senses man has.
It is primarily defined by one’s taste buds that sit on the tongue, and which then send impulses to the taste center in the brain.
Overall, you can divide the sense of taste into 5 parts.
It is also these 5 definitions we often use when we have to try to define a taste experience.
This is especially true when we talk about coffee beans. They include:
- Sweet
- Salt
- Sour
- Bitter
- Umami
Umami was added recently in 2001. Since the definition is relatively new, very few people know about it.
Overall, umami means good taste in Japanese.
We primarily know the umami taste from tomatoes, especially sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, seaweed, and several others.
When it comes to tasting a coffee, it is therefore important that you have all 5 senses of taste in the back of your mind.
Most of us have often heard how coffee can taste bitter, but in reality, the flavor nuance of a coffee made from some of the best coffee beans is far more complex.
Different Types of Coffee Beans
When it comes to coffee beans, there is a whole terminology with different concepts around coffee.
Coffee beans are primarily divided into 2 categories:
- Arabica coffee beans
- Robusta coffee beans
Arabica coffee beans are often considered to have a higher quality in taste.
They grow in higher terrain and allow the beans to develop the taste over a longer period of time as the plant grows a little slower in higher air layers.
About 70% of all coffee beans sold in supermarkets are of the Arabica type.
The taste of Arabica coffee beans is often a little sweeter than Robusta and has a softer and rounded taste.
Robusta coffee beans contain more caffeine than Arabica.
They are more resistant and can therefore be produced more easily in large quantities.
This is also because they grow faster than Arabica coffee plants.
This is why this type of coffee bean is mostly used to make instant coffee.
The robusta coffee taste is mostly more bitter and sharp in taste.
Origin of Coffee
The original look of the beans has a big impact on how they taste.
If you look around the world, there is a big difference in how the coffee is grown, harvested, and roasted.
Local conditions such as soil and climate also leave their mark on the taste of the coffee.
Below I give you a brief introduction to the flavors that characterize the coffee from 7 of the largest producers in the world.
So there is no single answer as to where the best coffee beans come from, but when you get a good cup of coffee, it pays to check which bean it is.
Is it Robusta or Arabica? Is it from South or Central America, fro Africa, or a blend?
Incidentally, the ready-mixed bags of coffee often contain a mixture of coffee beans from different parts of the world.
Harvesting
The conditions coffee is harvested in matter a lot as well.
From sowing the plant, to actually growing it then cultivating it all has an impact.
It can be picked by hand which is time-consuming but worth it to get good quality coffee. A machine can also do this job which isn’t as selective but the processes, later on, can solve that.
Roasting
After harvesting, the beans must be roasted, but the way that is done varies from place to place. This has a big impact on how the coffee tastes.
You can roughly distinguish between light, medium, and dark roasted beans – below you can read about the different roasts:
Light-Roast
Light roasted coffee beans traditionally have a dry, light brown surface.
They are sour and have a fruity aroma. Their caffeine content is usually high.
If you want a coffee that provides extra energy for mornings or late hours, then the light-roasted version is possibly a good option for you.
Medium-Roast
Medium roasted coffee beans have a darker and fuller taste than the lightly roasted version.
On the other hand, this type of bean contains a little less caffeine than the light kind.
Also, note that medium roasted beans have a slightly darker surface than the light roasted.
Dark-Roast
Dark roasted coffees have been turned black. But good dark roasts do not taste like burned coffee.
In fact, they give a much more robust and fuller flavor than the other varieties if roasted well.
Green Coffee Beans
Another variety of beans that isn’t really a part of roasting includes green coffee beans. They are for those who want to control the roasting yourself.
People find that the best-roasted coffee is the one they roast themselves.
Green coffee beans are exactly like the beans you buy in bags – they just have not been roasted yet.
If you want to be in control of the roasting yourself, then this is a good opportunity to control the process.
And it’s actually quite simple to roast coffee beans.
You can check out our article here if you want to learn how to roast green coffee beans.
Brewing Method
The best coffee beans also suit the brewing method used.
In most cafes today, light-roasted single-origin beans are used as espresso beans.
The lightly roasted coffee beans give the espresso just the right taste, whereas a darker roasting can easily result in a too bitter or sweet espresso.
In the same way, one can advantageously avoid coffee blends and instead go for bags of whole beans from the same place in the world.
Note that if you go out to buy espresso beans, you will most likely go in vain.
Espresso beans are just a common term for the coffee beans that are suitable for espresso, but the popular coffee shot is actually brewed on ordinary beans.
When you make filter or plunger coffee, the coffee beans you use are not so important.
Here you can easily experiment with different blends and roasts in search of the best coffee beans – according to your taste.
If you choose to buy pre-ground coffee then make sure the grind is suited to your brewing method.
Price
There is no doubt that there is a connection between price and quality, but cheap coffee beans can easily be good – and they are available in many different varieties.
If the budget for coffee is limited, try some relatively cheap coffee beans for a start.
There is a sea of blends so there might be some that you like a lot. Then you can choose a higher quality version of coffee beans with those flavors.
If you want to have an exceptionally good cup of coffee every day, then it is worth it to invest in slightly more expensive beans.
Freshness and Durability
Coffee beans begin to lose flavor 14 days after roasting.
For a tasty coffee experience, it is, therefore, crucial to use freshly roasted beans.
And if you include the time of transport and storage before the beans reach where the coffee is brewed, then the coffee beans must be used relatively quickly to give the best taste experience.
However, coffee beans – like tea leaves – rarely get decidedly bad as long as they are stored properly.
They should be stored in an airtight, dark, and not too hot or humid environment.
The expiration date and roasting date should be on the coffee bean packaging.
Whole coffee beans have a longer shelf life than ground coffee, and if the coffee beans are stored properly, both before and after the packaging is broken, they can last a long time. In unbroken packaging, typically half to a whole year.
Storage and packaging is important because most companies have a small coffee store where the coffee beans are stored for some time before they are used.
Packaging
Due to coffee’s relatively rapid taste reduction after roasting and the importance of the environment in which the beans are stored, the packaging plays an important role in relation to the coffee’s taste and quality.
Most coffee beans come in a non-transparent bag, which ensures that they are stored in the dark. But also remember to keep them cool.
As mentioned, the beans hold on to the flavors and aromas best if they are not in contact with air.
Therefore, look for beans that are packed in an airtight bag with a one-way valve – this means that carbon dioxide from the beans can escape, but that no oxygen can enter.
This helps to ensure that the beans do not become degassed and tasteless after roasting.
Roasted Coffees
As mentioned above, one should preferably not have coffee beans where more than a month has passed since they were roasted.
In most supermarkets, you will unfortunately not find whole coffee beans where the roasting date is stated.
Instead, it typically states a “least durable” date.
However, it is mostly up to 2 years out in the future, so it still does not tell you when the coffee was roasted.
It is therefore recommended that you go to a specialty store or even better a store that has its own roastery.
On the back of any bag of good whole coffee beans, you can always read what date they were roasted.
As mentioned earlier, both the flavor and the aroma are better in freshly roasted coffee beans, so it is worth looking out for.
The Best Coffee Beans in the World
The above information provides a good background knowledge regarding what types of coffee beans are available and how to handle them in the best possible way.
There is no point in buying expensive beans if you can’t store them properly. If you make sure to store them in the right way, as well as keep track of the date they were roasted, then you will get the best taste experience.
Choosing the best coffee beans from a wide variety can still be difficult even if you know what you’re looking for. So, here are a few options:
Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Coffee
At the top of the list, I have one of the award-winning coffee beans.
It is no coincidence that it is number 1 on our list of the best coffee beans.
It creates a taste experience not found anywhere else when it comes to coffee.
The coffee plant has grown wild for thousands of years in Ethiopia, and this is where the tradition of coffee originated.
The story goes that a shepherd discovered the properties of coffee around the year 500.
He had observed his sheep and how they sometimes became extra “fresh” when they were in certain areas.
He quickly linked that to some of the berries the sheep ate, namely the berries from the coffee plant.
After this, the shepherd, together with a monk, managed to boil the berries for what would later turn out to be coffee.
We now have come to a coffee that is “wet” processed. This is unlike most other coffee beans that are “dry” processed.
The processing takes place by washing the green coffee beans immediately after they have been picked.
That way, you remove the peel, and finally, you get the coffee bean.
It produces a more moist bean with a moisture content of just over 10%.
It gives the coffee a cleaner taste and a particularly sour taste that you do not achieve by drying.
Yirga coffee is considered by many to be the best coffee in the world.
Therefore, it also ended up at the top coffee on CoffeeSamurai’s list of some of the best coffee beans in the world.
Wife Coffee Beans from Hawaii
Our second coffee on the list of the best coffee beans comes from a place not normally associated with coffee, namely Hawaii.
But before we start reviewing why the coffee is exceptionally good, we must first point out that you can risk getting coffee from Kona that is far from high enough quality.
According to Hawaii law, coffee from Kona must be certified if it contains a minimum of 10% beans from Kona. The remaining 90% can therefore be cheaper beans and, you get far from the quality you would expect if the coffee contained 100% Kona coffee beans.
Once you have found a coffee producer where it is clear they only use 100% coffee beans from Kona, then you can then dive into the quality.
Coffee from Hawaii is divided into 8 quality categories, starting from “Mixed Natural Prime” and all the way up to “Extra Fancy.
It is light and fruity in taste and with an aftertaste of passion fruit.
The coffee plant achieves its rich flavor through the volcanic soil of Hawaii, which is a unique microclimate.
Most coffee beans you buy from Kona will only be roasted when you buy them.
This achieves the full taste experience and prevents the taste and aroma from disappearing too quickly.
Coffee beans from Nicaragua
The next on our list of best coffee beans are a little more general.
Nicaragua is one of the smaller coffee-producing countries, and therefore we have also chosen to include the whole country, although of course there can also be large quality differences between the coffee beans that are exported from the country.
Nicaragua is number 12 on the list of countries that produce the most coffee.
In total, 132,000 tonnes of coffee are exported each year.
The coffee was introduced by Catholic missionaries back in the 1700s and has today become one of the most important products exported from the country.
In the country, you will also find some of the largest coffee beans called “Elephant” beans.
In addition, about 95% of all coffee in the country is produced as “Shade-grown”.
This means that the plants are in their natural environment and grow in the shade of larger trees.
They don’t cut down trees and thus do not destroy the habitat around the coffee plantations.
It should reportedly also give a better taste to the coffee.
The taste of coffee is a bit sour and with elements of chocolate.
If you enjoy a slightly more sour cup of coffee then this is a must-have.
Coffee Beans in Huila Province, Columbia
When talking about coffee-producing countries, Columbia will often be one of the countries you first think of.
Besides Brazil and Vietnam. it is also the country that produces the most coffee worldwide.
In total, about 800,000 tons of coffee are exported from Columbia each year.
Therefore, of course, there are also some of the best coffee beans right from here.
Huila Province is the region that produces the most coffee in Columbia. In 2013, the province achieved a status of “Denomination of Origin”.
This is the same status you know in particular at Champagne which can only be called champagne if it comes from the Champagne region in France.
A large number of cheeses have the same status e.g. camembert cheese.
Coffee beans from Huila province have gained a reputation for making particularly good coffee.
The aroma is sweet and generally, the coffee has a fruity taste with a sweetness that is characteristic of the coffee beans from the province.
Harrar Coffee Beans from Ethiopia
Ethiopia is considered by many to be one of the countries that produce the best coffee beans.
Therefore, the country also appears several times on this list.
The first coffee beans we would like to mention are therefore the Ethiopian Harrar coffee.
Coffee production from Harrar is one of the oldest sites still in operation.
All handling is done by hand and it has a reputation for being spicy and with small nuances of wine.
Like most other good coffee beans, the coffee plant grows at an altitude of 1500-2000 meters in the Oromia region of southern Ethiopia.
Unlike some of the other coffee beans on the list, Harrar is dry-processed.
This is done by picking the fruits from the coffee plants and then laying them out to dry in the sun.
When they have dried long enough, you can peel the covering off and thus find the coffee bean.
Guatemalan Antigua Coffee Beans
Guatemalan Antigua coffee beans naturally come from Guatemala.
Guatemala is located just south of Mexico and is home to a large number of rainforests, Mayan temples, and a number of volcanoes.
The latter plays a role in the coffee beans that come from the country.
The region is located in a valley with 3 volcanoes all around.
The beans come from coffee plants that grow about 1500 meters above the surface of the water, which is an ideal environment for the plant.
The earth is rich in mineral areas thanks to volcanoes and the climate is at the same time stable.
Both parts help to make conditions relatively optimal for the coffee plant.
This is why it has made its way into our list of the best coffee beans.
Finishing Thoughts
Now you know how to choose the best coffee beans, how to store them, and which ones would be a good buying decision.
All that’s left to do is spend a little extra cash and decide which coffee is the best for you.
Good luck with your new coffee adventure!
