The Definitive Guide To Whole Bean White Coffee

May 13, 2020|Russell Volz|Beans And Roasting

One of the most misunderstood and deliberately lied about coffee products on the market is whole bean white coffee. With coffee ranking as the number two traded commodity on Earth; right behind oil, the Wall Street marketing machines have worked overtime to sell more of their coffee. That’s why so many people know so little about white coffee.

This blog post is our (Russell & Alisha’s) humble attempt to be the definitive guide to whole bean white coffee. As a professional coffee roaster and of Lake City Coffee, I’m more than qualified to tell you the straight scoop, no BS, truth about white coffee.

What Is Whole Bean White Coffee?

White coffee is nothing more than a very lightly roasted coffee bean. The color of the bean is almost always yellow, but interestingly not white. White coffee doesn’t taste like coffee at all. It tastes more like a very smooth nutty tea. In fact, here’s a Line to a Review from one of our customers regarding our whole bean white coffee, which will give you a better idea why people love our white coffee.

Tarrazu Region of Costa Rica

Lake City Coffee is all about smooth coffee.

My favorite coffee bean is super smooth.
As is my favorite roasts are geared toward smooth coffee.
Lastly, my favorite brewing method is geared entirely toward making smooth coffee.

Regardless of the roast or regardless of the brewing technique, the smoothest, least bitter beans come from Central America. The smoothest Central American beans come from Costa Rica. And the smoothest Costa Rican beans come from the Tarrazu region.

Not only are these beans super smooth, without a hint of bitterness, but they also have a beautifully and sophisticated integration of flavors; primarily chocolate and nut. With a discerning palate, you can also taste citrus and earthy notes. Obviously, you can see that I really love the beans that come from the Tarrazu region of Costa Rica.

Nearly all coffee roasters in the U.S. never taste test the beans that they buy. A few will taste test 2 or 3 beans before buying. Each year, Alisha and I taste test over 20 samples of beans, just from the Tarrazu region of Costa Rica Each year, we taste test at least a dozen different beans from the Tarrazu region of Costa Rica. White coffee is popular because it’s smooth and nutty. Therefore, our Costa Rican Tarrazu Don Roberto is a perfect match for whole bean white coffee.

The Perfect White Coffee Roast

As I stated above, white coffee is just a very light roast. Unfortunately, every white coffee that I’ve ever seen, other than mine, is under roasted. These under roasted “white coffee beans” are yellow in color and taste like straw tea. It’s not nasty, but it sure isn’t inspiring.

When I roast whole bean white coffee, I roast it slightly longer than anyone else until the bean is a “golden” color, which produces a prominent “nutty” flavor. In fact, with a little imagination, it tastes a lot like peanut butter.

We have a lot of customers that drink their white coffee straight. I personally, like mixing 80% dark roast or medium roast, with 20% white roast. This blend smooths out the coffee even more smooth than it already is AND imparts a faint peanut butter taste. Crazy huh? Guess what? I’ll bet I have 100 customers brewing this blend every day.

Freshness Counts Most

Sadly, a vast majority of coffee roasted in the United States has been sitting in warehouses and on store shelves for months if not years. Unfortunately, all coffee starts going stale and thus bitter within days of roasting. Additionally, no amount of space age packaging technology can change that fact.

The only solution to making super smooth and naturally sweet coffee is to have it roasted less than 30 days ago. Here at Lake City Coffee, I roast and ship the same day, thus guaranteeing “From my roaster to your table in 24-72 hours”. The difference between old bitter industrial coffee and fresh roasted coffee is nothing short of amazing.

I roast and ship via USPS Priority Mail early every Tuesday morning from Coeur d’Alene Idaho. If you can’t pronounce “Coeur d’Alene”, you can thank the original French traders. And don’t worry; I lived here for months before I learned how to pronounce it correctly. Anyway, typically your coffee will arrive in 1-2 days anywhere in the US.

Grinding Techniques

First of all, if you want good coffee; never mind great coffee; for even just decent coffee; never, ever, buy pre-ground coffee. All the good stuff inside coffee; like the bioflavonoids, antioxidants, caffeine, and flavor; all of these wonderful things that God put inside the bean, reside in the bean’s oils.

As soon as you grind the bean, the oils start to evaporate, which is not good. Any coffee snob will tell you to grind your whole bean white coffee right before brewing. The issue with white coffee is that it’s hard as a rock. White coffee will burn up a cheap grinder in no time at all.

What you need is a good burr grinder. Burr is a type of grinder, not a brand. If you can see the blades, it’s not a burr. They run about $45 and up. BUT, I’ve been using mine for 5 years, therefore there’s generally a lot of life left in used burr grinders. See my recommendations on this page link, Click Here.

Best Brewing Techniques

Since white coffee is super smooth, you want to use brewing techniques that are also known for producing smooth coffee. Keep in mind that you can use whatever brewer that you have or prefer.

The list below is just my personal favorites, which produce naturally smooth and naturally sweet white coffee. For a more in depth discussion on brewing techniques Click Here.

Cold Brew ($0)
AeroPress ($29)
French Press ($29+)

How To Store Your Beans

If freshness is your goal, then my recommendation is to buy beans that were roasted recently, i.e., days ago, not months ago. At Lake City Coffee, I measure freshness by the hour not the month.

So, here’s the straight scoop. There is no way on earth to perfectly preserve your beans. Fresh will beat old beans any day of the week, regardless of how you preserve them.

That being said, if you must preserve your beans, my recommendation is to put your fresh beans into a 1 gallon sealed Mylar Bag or 1 quart sized Mason Jar. Then drop in a 300cc oxygen absorber packet into the bag. The Mylar Bags and Oxygen absorbers are cheap as dirt on Amazon. Then freeze your bag and beans. You can seal the Mylar Bag with a cloths iron or hair curling iron.

If you intend to freeze your coffee, then grind it first. I know this goes against everything you’ve heard, but I’ve done side by side tests and ground frozen coffee is half as bitter as whole bean frozen coffee. Your preserved Lake City Coffee whole bean white coffee won’t be as good as fresh, but it’ll still be much better than anything else that you can buy anywhere else. No brag, just fact.