Coffee Beans for Beginners
So you want to start brewing coffee beans from home
We don’t blame you! After all, at Gordon St Coffee we’re not just here to serve coffee when you visit – We roast our coffee beans in house, bagging our blends and making them available for you to pick up in store or order online to enjoy at home. We have our own grinder in the store so if you need your bag of whole bean ground just let us know.
Anybody can achieve a delicious brew of an excellent standard from their own kitchen and of course, it all starts with choosing the right coffee beans.
We’ve got a wide variety available on offer at Gordon St Coffee – Although, we understand it can be a bit overwhelming trying to decide which one is coming home! To make things easier, let’s start by breaking down a couple basic industry terms which, when understood, will help you decide which blend is the right blend for you.
It’s a good to start to know the difference between the Robusta bean and the Arabica bean!
ROBUSTA
Robusta coffee beans are what you’ll find in most instant coffees as they contain twice the amount of caffeine as arabica. With a low acidity and high bitterness, robusta is often added to blends to crank the caffeine content up.
ARABICA
Arabica coffee beans grow at a high elevation. They contain half of the caffeine as robusta however Arabica coffee does tend to be the more sought after variety in terms of flavour as it contains more sugar, giving the coffee a sweet taste without the bitterness.
Some other coffee terms you might come across on our coffee bean bags are;
Acidity – this describes the bright and dry taste that adds life to coffee
Mouthfeel – this physical sensations in the mouth caused by the coffee
Body – the coffees physical properties
In store we have House Blend and
Glasgow Roast available on espresso every day.
Guatemalan, Brazil Santos and Ethiopian Djimmah make up our House Blend, coming together to create lively coffee with medium body. Our Glasgow Roast is made with Guatemalan, Kenyan, Brazil Santos and Indian Red Cherry (a robusta blend, which gives Glasgow Roast that oomph!).
If you’re a fan of our House Blend then you should look out for other medium body blends such as;
Brazil Santos – Santos beans are dried inside their coffee cherries and carry that sweetness to the cup! Full bodied, smooth with notes of chocolate.
Indian Monsoon Malabar – Low acidity but with a wonderful mellow flavour. Aromas of chocolate, spice and nuts. Good body and rich sweetness.
Burundi Rubanda Gomvyi – A lively and citrusy acidity. Flavours of creamed caramel, sweet toffee and cherry flow through to create complex flavours of black current cherry and forest fruits.
Colombia Finca Albania – These fine arabicas provide an aroma of milk chocolate with a refined sweetness. Coupled with notes of orange, chocolate and melon this is a well-balanced coffee with a medium body.
Or if you’re prefer the stronger, darker Glasgow Roast
then you should look out for;
Guatemalan Rich Roast – A favourite amongst staff here! Good body, honey/toffee undertones with light fruit/apricot like notes and a chocolate finish.
Ethiopian Djimmah – A medium roast with rich, earthy, with notes of dark cocoa, walnut. Full of flavour, low acidity and good chocolate aftertaste.
As well as having our staple House Blend and Glasgow Roast available as espresso we have batched brew filter coffee. We switch up our filters every day with a couple of our blends so it’s a great way to discover your new favourite coffee beans which you can buy in store!
If you’re lacking inspiration and looking for some coffee wisdom, a member of the team in store will be more than happy to help you find your perfect match. Curious about the roasting process itself? You can always pop upstairs and see if you can find our roaster, Kai. If you’re lucky enough to catch him whilst he’s got a roast you’ll be able to see how the magic happens!
So that’s our introduction to buying Gordon St Coffee beans. We hope you enjoy every brew along the way when finding your favourite blends!