Selecting a bag of coffee from a sea of unknowns can be a challenging business. Though coffeeisa fruit, squeezing and sniffing all the bags on your local café shelves just isn't quite as helpful as you'd think (and will definitely trigger some puzzled glances from the barista). So what's the best way to narrow in on the best beans? Use the clues scattered on the bag and label.
First you'll want to examine what kind of bag a coffee is packaged in. Is it in a vacuum-sealed bag that you'll need to cut open, or is it in kraft paper that's merely folded shut? As pretty as paper bags are, they're poor at keeping coffee fresher, longer. A one-way valve—that plastic disc with the tiny center hole—is also a sign that the bag's sealed properly and built to last. It allows CO2 from the roasting process to slowly release over time: if enough gas hasn't been released, your coffee won't extract well, and will taste unpleasantly bright and fresh.
Part of coffee's magic is that it's grown all over the world, so it's always coffee seasonsomewhere.And though there's plenty of flavor variation within each country's coffees, you can make some good guesses about the flavor based on where the beans come from. Colombia, which has a year-round growing season, is known to produce "coffee"-flavored coffees, with that iconic combo of chocolate and fruit flavors. Brazilian beans are known for their gentle sweetness, while coffees from Ethiopia can be more delicate and fruit-forward. East African countries like Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi have been heralded for juicy, citrusy, and sometimes savory flavors, from dark berry to tomato leaf, but they're not all wildly unusual—just some of them. For extra credit, identify which regions in these countries—Huehuetenango in Guatemala, say, or Minas Gerais in Brazil—you like best, so you can zero in even more accurately on your favorite flavor profile.
Part of what's special about the so-called Third Wave coffee movement is a commitment to highlighting the root of coffee's supply chain: the farm itself. When it comes to coffees from a single origin (rather than blends), many roasters will be as specific as possible, down to the name of the person who owns the farm. Is this essential info for making your purchasing decisions? Probably not. But the fact that the farm name is listed at all is generally a good sign of quality. (Note: Coffees from Ethiopia are managed by a government-run exchange, so specific traceability is no longer easy.)
For Arabica beans (the most common variety of quality coffee bean), high altitude growing generally means better beans: Hills or mountainous slopes have the ideal mix of sun, shade, and temperature variation for a great coffee plant to mature. Specialty-grade coffees can be found from around 2,000 to as high as 6,000 feet high.
虽然“过程”可以包含许多不同的concepts, what you'll see here will typically be a choice between "Washed", "Semi-Washed" (also known as "Pulp Natural") and "Natural Process". Coffee is harvested with a bright red exterior "fruit" surrounding the inner bean, and in "natural process" coffees, the beans are dried with the fruit still clinging to them. That sugary fruit enhances the fermentation of the beans, giving them plenty of funky, full-fruit flavors. In washed and semi-washed coffees, more of the fruit coating is removed, creating a crisper coffee flavor, with less risk of those funky fermented flavors. There are quality coffees made in each of these styles, so it's just a matter of finding the flavor you like most.
This refers to the plant variety of coffee bean in the bag. Most quality-focused roasters will be using the Arabica species of coffee, within which there are many varieties, such as Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, SL-28, the prized Gesha, and new, disease-resistant hybrid varieties, like Catimor. It's hard to generalize about how variety affects flavor, but if it's listed, the variety is at the very least an indication of quality.
Many roasters will showcase the time of year your coffee was picked, but be warned: Coffee can sometimes take months to travel from a farm to, say, North American or European shores via boat. You'll see waves of coffees—from Central America or East Africa, for instance—coming onto shelves from multiple roasters around the same time of year each year, which is a good way of gauging whether your coffee is now "in season," and can offer the most exciting flavors from that region right now. But overall, since green unroasted beans can be stored for far longer than roasted beans, the roasting date (see below) is a far more useful indicator of freshness.
Though many coffee aficionados have been trained that any coffee more than 10 days past roast is "old", this isn't always a fair milepost. By selecting a well-packaged coffee (i.e. not in paper with no valve), you'll be able to enjoy it fresh out of the bag for at least one month, if not more—and most everyday coffee palates likely won't notice the difference between coffee that was opened 20 days ago versus 30 days ago. That said, you'll have the best flavor experience closer to a coffee's roast (or immediately after opening a well-packaged bag), so aim for buying smaller batches of beans more often to experience the most dynamic flavor and acidity a coffee has to offer. Note that all coffee begins to stale once you open a bag, or grind it, and that bags that only list expiration dates (like, a year from now) should be avoided.
Tasting notes on coffee bags can read as imaginary and ostentatious as those on wine bottles. But though they may be the well-earned butt of food-snob jokes, they're also a good cheat-sheet for selecting a coffee off the shelf. Don't like lemony, bright flavors in your coffee? Stick to notes that echo caramel, baker's chocolate, and red cherries. Want something more unusual? Go for the lime zest and green bell pepper. Like dark smoky notes? Go for leather.
Though the roasting company's name is likely the first thing you'll see on the bag, the best roasters would prefer you think of them last. A great coffee roaster thinks of him or herself as a mere delivery service for what's beautiful in the bean, with the least interference imparted by roasting—honoring the agriculture and processing that took place on the farm. But odds are, if you've gravitated to the beans from one roaster, it's because their taste in coffee mirrors your own. And once you've found that match, you're golden.
