I used to be mostly into teas, but my wife has always been into coffee. I work night shift so I figured it would be nice if I brewed her a cup in the mornings and save her the time getting ready. I’ve learned a lot about brewing coffee and found a brand that I like but she isn’t as into it and doesn’t really have a brand she likes. She used to just get a random bag of pre-ground from the grocery store and add sweetener and creamer or almond milk until it was palatable but she’s trying to cut down on that stuff.

Does anyone know of a good sampler of whole beans that is somewhat representative of the varieties, origins, and roasts to hopefully narrow down someone’s preference?

  • will_a113English
    3·
    1 year ago

    There are so many variables to consider (depending on how deep into the rabbit hole you care go go) that you sort of have to pick a place to start and work on your “sampler sets” from there. The easiest ones to lock down are roast darkness and grind size. This is what I did recently-ish (after lockdown was over, but while we were all doing fun lockdown hobby-projects):

    • Find a fancy supermarket with its own coffee grinder and whole bean selection near you – by me both Whole Foods and Fresh Market have them, as does the specialty Italian market.
    • Ask what the minimum amount of coffee is that they’re willing to sell (in places that grind for you sometimes there is like a 1/8 lb minimum). Go with enough beans to brew yourself and your wife a cup or two each. 1/8 lb (2oz) is actually a good amount.
    • Try 3 or 4 varieties at once. I’d say start with roasting depth first. The market will usually have at least a light, a medium a dark and a French or extra dark roast option. Buy a small amount of each one using the same grind setting for each.
    • Try them all in a small period of time, always brewing them the same way. I’m not saying go home and drink 4 cups of coffee back to back (though I’m also not saying that), but do it in a day or two. When you’re buying 12oz bags from the store it might take a few days to get through, which could make it a long time before you find what you like.

    If your market is like mine they have a “house bean” that they sell at each of these darknesses, but even if that’s not the case roasting has such a significant effect on coffee flavor it’s still a good variable to knock out first.

    Once you have that dialed in, you can go back to the store and get 3-4 samples of your favorite pick now at different grind sizes, or (if you’re lucky) find 3-4 different bean options in your preferred darkness. The key is being able to buy in small quantities so you can try a bunch of options while keeping costs under control and not drinking weeks worth of coffees that you don’t really like.