How to choose coffee beans

The best coffee for you is the one that matches how you drink it. Start with the drink. If you take your coffee black, try a light or medium roast, as these show fruit and sweetness. If you take it with milk and sugar, a medium dark or dark roast is a good choice, because its chocolate and caramel notes stay clear.

Check the roast date. Coffee tastes best from about one week to a few weeks after roasting, and a bag with no roast date gives you no idea how old it is. KAIVO prints the roast date on every pack. Avoid bags with only a best before date a year away.

Look for a named origin, such as a country, region or farm. This tells you the coffee is traced and not a mystery mix. Also check the species. Arabica is usually sweeter and more aromatic, while Robusta is stronger and has more caffeine.

Choose whole beans if you can. Ground coffee goes stale faster, because it has more surface open to air. If you do not own a grinder, ask the seller to grind it for your brewer, and use it within two to three weeks.

Read the tasting notes, but treat them as a guide. Notes such as chocolate, hazelnut or orange are what trained tasters smell and taste, and not things added to the coffee. If you are unsure, buy a sampler of a few small bags and see which you like.