Colombia: Finca Santa Lucia—Microlot

Coffee is brewed best in the method you have readily available. You don't need a fancy espresso machine with all sorts of gauges twitching and steam flying. You can make a beautiful cup of coffee on a simple pourover funnel that costs a few dollars. At Expedition Coffee Roasters we roast our coffee in two main styles:

• Light Roasts - these are prime for drip / filter style brewing but often are hard to dial in on an espresso machine as you would need to grind quite a bit finer for optimal extraction, which can then cause brew issues.

• Medium Roasts - these roasts will shine in a espresso based beverage, but also brew nicely in any filter brew style as well.

Coffee is a lot like wine, in that the type of bean + the soil + the growing conditions will dictate a lot about what comes down the line as the seed / bean later. Not everyone will be able to discern each of the flavours noted, and adding milk / cream / sugar will either enhance or diminish the flavour profile.

Coffee beans are in their prime to drink about 5-7 days after roasting. This allows them time to rest in the bag. If opened, but kept in a sealed container, away from air and UV light (the two worst things that will make your coffee stale) they will last 4-5 weeks without any noticeable quality difference. If kept in sealed in a high-quality bag from the roastery, they will be good for 4-5 months from roast date (if kept in a cool cupboard).

Yes, and no. The two main things that will affect the coffee quality are air and light, but almost as bad is moisture. If you purchase coffee in such a quantity that you want to freeze a portion for later, make sure you do so in portions that you will go through in a reasonable timeframe of a few days. If you open a bag of frozen beans in a hot, humid kitchen, the beans / grinds will get condensation on them before you put them back in the freezer. These freeze / thaw / moisture cycles will cause a much more rapid loss of quality. But yes, freezing can help make your coffee stay better, for longer.

Well, it could be that the grind is a bit off. Maybe a finer grind will help to get more out of the bean. As for the kick of supermarket coffee - most of the big brands will use Robusta beans in their coffees and these have more caffeine in general. Most specialty coffees will be all / majority Arabica beans which have less caffeine but a less bitter / more favourable flavour profiles.

Coffee is a personal thing... to some it's deeply personal. For example, I will try new coffees black first, and then add some milk if I feel it needs it, or it may enhance the flavour. I don't add sugar, as coffee beans are roughly 30% sugar by mass already (that's what turns them brown during the roasting... the sugars caramelize). How you drink your coffee comes down to your personal preference.