Decision fatigue, how to choose coffee.

As coffee companies continue to evolve, reading through information about coffee can be overwhelming, resulting in choosing beans that don’t meet your taste. In this post, we want to talk about how to approach the process of looking for a new coffee to brew. Keep reading while we discuss the key points of choosing a coffee that matches your taste.

What is the difference between single-origin coffee and blends?

Coffee blending is a practice which has been used for decades as roasters mix various crops to create a unique product with a specific flavor profile. We see similar methods in other specialist beverage industries, like wine, whiskey, chocolate and more.

 Single-origin coffee is not necessarily better than blended, each method has its purpose in specialty coffee. However, with the rising focus on sustainability and traceability within the marketplace, knowing exactly where your coffee comes from can help empower those working on coffee farms and put more money back into farmers pockets. Think of your favorite specialty roaster as a farmers market, where coffee farmers from across the world are being showcased in one place.

At The Ministry of Coffee, we recently released our Dark Matter blend, which pays homage to coffee’s long, rich history. We chose specific beans in the blend to create a profile that tastes great using any method of brewing, will work in milk drinks and hold up to any other additions like syrup or sugar.

What does origin mean for flavor?

Single origin is a term adopted by the coffee industry to help show where coffee beans come from, adding more traceability along the supply chain. The origin is where beans are grown, harvested and processed. You will find coffee bags labelled with origin countries like Colombia, Guatemala, Brazil, Honduras, Ethiopia, Kenya, and India, among many others. 

One of the most significant benefits to learning more about single-origin coffee is that you can start to match specific origins to personal tastes.

If we take Brazil, the world’s largest exporter of coffee, as an example. Brazilian coffee has an easily approachable flavor profile. It is generally low-acidity, with sweet, rich, chocolatey and nutty notes.

In contrast, popular African origins, like Ethiopia or Kenya, generally have much fruitier flavours, which can be a bit shocking to the taste buds if you’re not used to this style of coffee.

In this way, we can approach buying coffee by knowing what flavors are typical of each origin.

What about processing? 

Processing is poorly understood by those outside of the coffee industry, but it can be one of the most important contributing factors to taste. Between harvesting the coffee crop and sending the crop to roasters across the world, coffee goes through a processing and drying stage. There are many different coffee processing methods and more are being explored all the time, however; the most common processing methods are natural, honey and washed.

Coffee is a fruit and the beans that we buy, roast and drink are not beans at all but seeds from the coffee fruit called a cherry. Processing refers to how much of the cherry is left on the seed during the drying stage.
Natural processing means that the coffee is dried with the cherry fully intact, this processing method leads to the most rich, sweet, and fruity flavors in roasted coffee and is commonly used in origins with generally lower water availability and drier climates, such as Ethiopia and Brazil. The sweetness is a result of the sugars in the coffee cherry being ‘infused’ into the seed during drying. Natural coffees are often described as ‘big’, ‘syrupy’ and ‘juicy’.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is washed process coffee. Washed coffee is when 100% of the coffee cherry is removed before drying. This method leads to coffees that are often referred to as ‘clean’, ‘bright’, and sometimes ‘sparkling’. 

These descriptions often refer to the ‘mouthfeel’ or the acidity of coffee rather than their literal attributes. Natural coffees are high in natural sugars which contributes to a syrupy, thick mouthfeel, where washed coffees are lower in sugar allowing their acidity to come through more fully leading to the bright and clean descriptors.

Falling somewhere between natural and washed processes, the honey process has multiple variations such as black, red, gold, white and yellow; these descriptors refer to the percentage of the cherry left on the seed during drying and the length of time the beans are dried under shade.

What even is a roast style?

While each roaster will have their own roasting style, we can generally separate them into three; light, medium and dark. 

Light roasts work with higher temperatures and less time in the roast machine overall. This method helps to preserve more of the natural flavour characteristics held in a bean, resulting in more complexity, higher levels of fruitiness and a lighter body.

Medium roasts often focus more on sweetness and body, lowering the potential for fruity acids to overwhelm the cup. 

Dark roasts are what most people associate with how coffee traditionally tastes and are common in commodity coffee like Starbucks, where the quality of the unroasted coffee product is lower and consistency at high production volumes is the most important factor. Italian, Vienna and French roasts are all varying dark roast levels.

At The Ministry of Coffee, we work with the natural flavors of a coffee crop with the intention of highlighting these unique attributes. We carefully select beans that match the tastes of all coffee lovers, from classic to modern.

So what kind of coffee is best for you?

In short, the best coffee is the coffee you like.

Generally, blends are used for espresso drinks as roasters develop flavor profiles that work best with milk. However, understanding the flavor profiles of individual processes and origins can be a great way to judge whether a single-origin coffee meets your needs.

Single-origin coffee beans continue gaining popularity as home brewers develop their knowledge of the modern industry. The danger to customers is that some coffee beans can take time to get right, requiring finely tuned variables to get the best out of the bean. Over the coming months, we will be uploading in-depth brew guides and access to educational tools, which will help home baristas brew the best possible cup of coffee.

When taking the plunge into unknown origins and processing methods, look for listed flavor notes and recommended brew methods on the coffee bag’s label for a good  starting point. Our range starts with classic flavors and ends with big bright, fruity cups, so take note before investing. The brighter and fruitier coffees can be trickier to get the most out of.

As roasters, we want to help our customers connect with the right coffee, so feel free to ask one of our baristas in-store for a recommendation or check out the online store for what coffees are available and a more in-depth introduction to every bean.