Because there are so many type of coffee, here's a simple guide for you next time you are choosing instore, also how you can keep your coffee fresh.
What is Coffee?
Coffee is a berry grown on a bush, usually growing at high altitude in equatorial areas principally Latin America, Africa, Indonesia & India. The red coffee ‘cherries’ are harvested when ripe with the outer husk and pulp removed and the inner seed/bean dried and sorted according to size and quality. The raw ‘green’ coffee beans are then shipped to coffee wholesalers and traders who then sell on to coffee packer’s who then blend, roast and grind the coffee.
Much like wine, coffee characteristics are determined by the level of sunshine, rain and nutrients in the soil. Generally speaking coffees from the America’s tend to be well suited to all day drinking as they are lighter and smoother in character, while those from India and Indonesia tend to suit a darker, richer roast. However the best guide to selecting a coffee is to decide what strength you enjoy.
Strength Guides
Sainsbury’s Roast & Ground Coffee has a strength guide on pack to help you choose the right coffee for you.
1 - Light
2 - Medium Light
3 - Medium
4 - Medium Dark
5 - Strong
Sainsbury’s Original Blend is a strength guide 3, suitable for all day drinking and likely to be enjoyed by most people, whereas Sainsbury’s Continental Blend at strength guide 5 is full, rich & dark which may not appeal to everyone but is good as an after dinner coffee with rich deserts and sweet wine.
What about Grind size?
Roast & Ground coffee is available in a number of different formats:
- Espresso
- Filter
- All purpose
- Cafetiere
Espresso grind is the finest grade as Espresso machines ideally apply 9mb of water pressure for around 24 seconds through a 7gm dosing head. So if you used cafetiere grind coffee which has much coarser grains, the water would flow right through the coffee without properly extracting all the goodness and flavour of the coffee. Equally if you used Espresso grind coffee in a cafetiere the result would be a somewhat sludgy coffee with lots of fine grounds in the bottom of the cup.
All purpose grinds work well in both cafetieres and filter machines but for best results, the grind should fit the machine. That’s why Sainsbury are one of the few retailer’s to still offer customers both filter and cafetiere grind on our best selling blends, Original and Premium.
What about Coffee Beans?
If you have a good quality coffee grinder then buying coffee beans and grinding your own coffee will give you a wonderfully fresh cup of coffee. However using a cheap coffee grinder is unlikely to give you the results you want, especially if you
need a Filter or Espresso grind. We have the widest choice of coffee beans available: Original, Premium, Espresso, Italian style,Continental, Kenyan, Colombian, Decaff.
How should I store my coffee?
If you don’t know the answer to this question, you are probably drinking stale coffee! Once a pack of ground coffee has been opened it will naturally start to stale as the wonderful coffee aromas (known as volatiles) start to oxidise they are exposed to the air. That’s why every Sainsbury’s pack has a special re-seal tab designed to expel air in the pack as the pack is rolled down for storage. The best place to store coffee is the fridge. The freezer is better but when was the last time you looked in your freezer! Ideally, once opened a bag of fresh coffee needs to be used within 2 weeks otherwise it will start to stale.
