[Closed] Recommend me a coffee

You might be a bit restricted in choice - almost all pre-ground stuff I’ve had from supermarket has been ground for filter/cafetière.

Your best bet might be to find whatever your supermarket has ground for espresso and go from there. You’re likely to find lighter roasts (usually labelled with a lower ‘strength’ rating) has more of the flavours you’re after.

Failing that, there’s loads of roasters online with a big choice of beans who’ll grind to your preference. I’ve used hasbean and rave coffee quite a lot.

Booths have in-store grinders if you're from the right area! 👍

Union roasters signature blend.

20 quid a kilo delivered - will grind to your taste.

It worked out the same price or less than most supermarket coffees. Almost always ground the day or day before dispatch.

there’s loads of roasters online

Never a truer word spoken.

Have a look at Pact Coffee 40% off first order, and oddly your 3rd order as well Coffeeeeeeee

I use these online folks:

https://shop.lostsheepcoffee.com/
https://unionroasted.com/
https://mancoco.co.uk/

In the cupboard currently are Maraba and Yayu Wild Forest, both from Union. I'm pretty rubbish at telling the difference to be honest, just tend to go for medium roast and something not chocolatey. I use a filter machine. They're all pretty decent, will grind to order and brew method, and delivery is fast.

Pact coffee and low acidity will never be used in the same sentence. Some of their coffees are like sucking lemons

These guys have plenty of different coffees and will grind it to your preference

https://monsoonestates.co.uk/

Seems to be a bit of a consensus that the supermarket isn't gonna come up with much. This is what is suspected hence the question. Damn.

Booths have in-store grinders if you’re from the right area! 👍

Ohhhh i'll give that a go then as my daughter lives close to one. And if that doesnt work out i'll go and poke around on line. I've tried hasbeen before and it was pretty good,

Might be worth trying Lavazza Crema y Gusto, it's a bit more rounded than Red, available in supermarkets and deffo ground for Espresso.

We noticed a big improvement in flavour from freshly grinding beans (and also having fresh beans in the first place). There's a reason they do it that way in all the good coffee shops.

Oooh - you're going to have some fun, I hope. There are loads of people offering coffee subs online, so have some fun trying out different roasts and beans until you find your favourite. It'll be an adventure!

I've got a grinder, but the local place I get mine has an espresso grind option. What you're describing sounds a lot like the Essential House Espresso roast I have a subscription for from Chimney Fire Coffee - it's a Peruvian bean, from memory. They're up the hill from me and are a really lovely bunch:

https://chimneyfirecoffee.com/

Their coffee bags are also biodegradable - when I run out of a bag, I use it as a liner in our fod waste caddy.

If you are willing to spend a bit of time trying different companies, there is an absolute horde of companies that will do coffee by post at reasonable prices. I've enjoyed subscriptions from Rave and Clifton Coffee. My advice: give a few places a try and see what's out there. most places will do a variety pack of different coffees to try, by the way. Chimney Fire does a 'Discovery' coffee that's different each month. I buy by the kilo, so don't want to have to slog through a coffee I don't get on with for some reason, but I happily give it a go for 250g once in a while - some really are smashing.

Union is about the best you will get from a supermarket imo and it's not bad. Don't think I've ever seen it ground for espresso though.

Guessing you have a pressurised basket in your machine (one tiny hole) which can work quite well with preground lavazza etc but if you wanna get really nice coffee you need a decent grinder, an unpressurised basket, some precise scales and some geeking. It's a biiiiig rabbit hole to go down but it's pretty fun.

You’re likely to find lighter roasts (usually labelled with a lower ‘strength’ rating)

They are not lower strength...

there’s loads of roasters online

Never a truer word spoken.

*Reports post*

I would have a look at Rave coffee (thats who we currently use for beans), but there are loads of artisan companies out there that will give you much nicer coffee than you can get off the shelf of a supermarket.

Edit - Ive only been drinking coffee a year or so. I started getting single blend/origin roasts, but now tend to buy blends as they tend to taste smoother/more rounded

https://www.liminicoffee.co.uk/shop/blends#kata is the coffee I liked most when trying a few online ones in the first lockdown as our local roasters were closed. It's well worth a try.

Adding to @Johndoh 's post: a lot of stuff in shops is sold as espresso roast or dark roast - often that just means it's had the bejeesus cooked out of it, and as a result it tastes bitter. Grind, roast and strength are all different things, and all of them can be affected by how you make a coffee with it. There is a massive geeky rabbithole to go down, but I've been running the same Gaggia Baby for about ten years now and I'm happy making coffee that tastes better than most of the stuff you can get on the high street. You can do a hell of a lot better than that if you set your mind and wallet to it, of course...

Lidl Colombian coffee beans, 100% pure arabica, £1.72 for 200g and get yourself a grinder?

I use a mocha pot and use the pre ground, which might be a bit coarse for your machine.

I switched from Lavazza gold and honestly think the Lidl one is better and about a third of the price!

Their ground espresso (also 100% pire arabica is about £1.29 for 200g and is a finer grind for espresso machines. Gives Lavazza black a good run for its money and is better than Lavazza red, (which is 100% robusta, the cheaper bean)

there’s loads of roasters online

Never a truer word spoken.

Nice job.

I used to use lavazza red in a stove top, switched to cheaper brand about 30% less, much better.

In uk I treat myself to local roaster, far better but 5x the price. It's a bit of a luxury.

Tried booths but returned it, it was so bland.

Lavazza red isn't 100% Robusta

Tried booths but returned it, it was so bland.

They do more than 1 coffee

"These guys have plenty of different coffees and will grind it to your preference"

https://monsoonestates.co.uk/And you can have a chat to them about the style you like

Yallah!

Good coffee and ethics

I had some lovely coffee from New Quay Coffee Co in mid Wales last year in the shop.

I ordered some for home afterwards - great coffee but crap comms when ordering. They will grind it to your preference or just get beans

https://www.newquay.coffee/coffee/matagalpa-pjgxy

i’d try some of these and see what you prefer.
https://yellowbourbon.net/collections/shop

+1 Rave. We really like the No. 1.

Not the one that comes as part of the STW subs 🙁 it’s not great coffee. Be nice if they changed things up a bit..

All the online roasters will grind it however you want. Few of the ones I like are:

https://jamesgourmetcoffee.com/
https://extractcoffee.co.uk/
https://www.origincoffee.co.uk/
https://hard-lines.co.uk/

James Gourmet is really good value and decent, Extract really quick, Hard Lines really good. Origin generally good and reliable.

In the grand scheme of things posh coffee isn't too expensive, especially if you enjoy a couple a day rather than mainlining it. Quite possible you'll never go down the supermarket coffee aisle again once you've tried a decent one.

Before we got a grinder and then a bean to cup machine, I’ll suggest in typical STW fashion what we used to use in the Gaggia Classic, Illy black which is a strong dark roast blend.

Next best would be to get yourself a grinder and go that route.

Tried booths but returned it, it was so bland.

They do more than 1 coffee

Exactly. I like the Kenyan and Ethiopian myself. They're definitely not as exciting as some single origin stuff from independent roasters, however it's £3.50 a bag as opposed to >£8 from elsewhere. Could be important if you're quaffing a lot!

We love the Ethiopian Mocha Limu Extra Special stuff out of Asda, lovely and chocolatey ☺️

Seeing as coffee people are here: Extract are doing 30% off a kilo on their Rocket blend which is a really nice medium-dark coffee. They do some of the best blends imo.

£21ish delivered.

Extract are doing 30% off a kilo on their Rocket blend

@grum Oooh, but I'm not seeing this on their site. Is there a code?

@branes Oh yeah sorry I forgot, I had an email - it's ROCKET30 at checkout.

BTW from your list I noticed Hard Lines also sell Jackpot peanut butter which is the best peanut butter out there IMO. 🙂

Cafeology from Sheffield are decent as well. Orders over £15 are shipped for free.
I even bought my Rancilio Silvia from them.
https://store.cafeology.com/

@grum Bingo, ordered. I do like a peanut butter sandwich too as it happens, I may have to drop some of that Jackpot in my next Hard Lines basket.

Thanks for everyones help. Ive gone down the road of an online roaster but who's quite local to me and so does free delivery within 5 miles (or i can collect). Fingers crossed

These people https://www.creationcoffee.co.uk/