Need help choosing a speciality coffee?

Here’s the lowdown on the best coffee for your brew

We realise that not everyone wants to be a coffee aficionado, and we’re not just catering for the hipsters of Shoreditch! We want everyone who visits our website to come away having chosen the best coffee to suit their tastes and brew method.

When we were first introduced to speciality coffee ten years ago it felt overwhelming, and the choice of coffee seems to have grown since then. So here are a few pointers to help you choose.

I like my coffee...strong and robust

For people who really want their coffee to give them a wake up call, we recommend a coffee from Brazil or Colombia, or a blend of both. Our Explorer Blend is a mix of Brazil and Colombia. It packs a punch as an espresso based drink, and really cuts through the milk as a flat white. For a strong-tasting cafetiere or filter, we recommend El Dorado - Colombia. It has the bold notes of chocolate and a touch of sweet acidity for a more rounded taste.

I like my coffee...full of flavour

We have some really amazing coffees that are perfect for someone who’s craving a more flavourful brew. We can’t get enough of our Guatemalan Maya. This coffee makes a really smooth but tasty flat white, or a really well balanced cafetiere. My parents have been using this as their go-to cafetiere coffee for the last few years, and it never disappoints. For a chocolate rich espresso with a hint of fruit, we’d recommend the much coveted Adventurer Blend. This is our House Blend in our High Street shop, and much drunk by the people of Oxford!

I like my coffee...light and fruity

The way we got into coffee properly was by trying an African filter coffee, using a V60 brew method. To start with I couldn't believe that a coffee could have so many complex flavours! It was almost like drinking fruit tea, and I loved it! We quite often have a Kenyan coffee on, which literally tastes like tomato and lemon. Sounds weird, but it really worked. Sadly we don’t have the Kenyan at the moment - it only comes in now and then, so you've got to grab it when you can - but we do have a couple of light fruity numbers that work best in a V60, Aeropress or chemex.

Since starting our roasting journey, we have always had a coffee from either Rwanda or Burundi. We call this coffee Mwami, which means King. Our current one is from Rwanda, and is my absolute favourite coffee of all time. It works as an espresso or as a cafetiere, but for us it makes for a vibrant filter coffee bursting with strawberries and blackberries, and with a sugary sweetness.

For a more floral vibe, we recommend the small batch Worka Wuri from Ethiopia. I tend to drink this through an aeropress for a more clean cut taste - and you can really get jasmine at the end. We love Ethiopian coffee so much that we always try to have a washed and a natural at the same time.

A natural coffee is when they don’t take the cherry off the beans when they process them. They leave the cherries to “crust off” the bean in the sun, creating a juicy fermented taste when brewed. Bursting with blueberries and blackberries, this coffee works so well as a V60, aeropress or chemex. We’ve even snuck some into our adventurer blend to make it taste more funky!

I like my coffee...surprise me!

We also offer Discovery coffee packs so you can try a few of our coffees at a time. You can buy packs of three eighty gram bags, or go large and try all eight.