Many people are searching for the best coffee online. Their hope is to find high quality fresh roasted coffee beans. Did you know that Americans consume over 400 million cups of coffee every day? So, if you’re like 86% of American coffee drinkers who makes coffee at home, you might be in the market to buy coffee online.
Best Online Coffee
So, if you’re going to buy coffee online, the question to ask is what considerations are important? This article will help with that decision.
The first and most important factor in making good coffee is determining how long it has been since the coffee bean was roasted. The difference between fresh roasted and stale is like the difference between day and night.
Experts tell us that coffee reaches its peak flavor in 3-7 days after roasting and quickly degrades from there. And, all the space age technology in the world can’t preserve roasted coffee one little bit. So, 14 days after roasting the coffee begins to go “stale”. Yet, a vast majority of coffee on the grocery, specialty, and coffee store shelves is months if not years old! In other words, most coffee consumed in the US is “stale”.
Fresh Roasted Coffee
With nearly everyone drinking stale coffee, it’s amazing that anyone drinks coffee at all. Yet they do. So, the first thing you need to find is roasted coffee that’s less than a week old.
The next question to consider is “whole bean” or “pre-ground”? The caffeine and flavor that you get from coffee is within the bean’s oils. So, the minute the bean is ground, those oils begin to evaporate. If you grind the bean and then consume the coffee a few days later, most of the flavor is long gone. So, your best bet is to grind the bean just before brewing.
Real Coffee Beans
What kind of beans should you buy? Low quality cheap beans, like you find in a can on the grocery store shelf, are called Robusta beans. Stay away from Robusta beans. On the other hand, nearly all “specialty” beans are “Arabica” beans, which are very high quality beans.
From what country should the beans originate? At the risk of over simplifying, here’s a rule of thumb. Central American beans are smooth and sweet. African and Asian beans are bold and acidic. One is not better than the other, just different.
Next you want beans that come from the same growers, “Single Origin”. Stay away from blends. Most of the large coffee roasters blend their beans from a wide variety of regions. They do this to maximize their profit not to maximize the taste of the coffee.
Bad Organic Coffee
Organic or not is a big question for many consumers today. So, in this regard follow your “organic” beliefs. I can tell you this. In side by side tests, we have found that organic coffee beans taste better.
Lastly, let’s talk about the roast. Historically speaking, to make the best possible profit, companies like Pete’s Coffee and Starbucks, purchased the cheapest beans they could find. In order to make these beans even remotely palatable, they had to roast the snot out of them. And in so doing, their coffees today are over roasted and produce a bitter and burnt taste.
What you’re looking for is a light, medium, or even dark roast that has not been over roasted.
Overall Best Coffee
In summary, here’s what you’re looking for when purchasing roasted coffee online:
1. Coffee roaster to your table in 48-72 hours
2. Whole bean
3. Arabica bean
4. Single origin
5. Organic
6. For smooth-n-sweet buy from Central America and for bold flavored buy from Asia or Africa.
For the best coffee that you’re likely to find anywhere, check out Our Products
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