The Best Whole Bean Coffees of 2020
Sooner or later, the palate of every good coffee grower becomes demanding. If you have already reached this point, I can understand that you no longer settle for just any supermarket coffee and you have decided to find the best coffee beans on the market , right? If so, read on, you are in the right place.
Having a good coffee machine is decisive, but the greatest impact on the taste and aroma of the drink falls on the raw material. Therefore, choosing a good grain is crucial to obtain the desired result.
- The Best Whole Bean Coffees of 2020 and Burr Coffee Grinders Product
To find a quality grain, key points such as flavor, aroma, roast, variety and origin, among others, must be taken into account . In this article I present the best coffee beans that I have found and tell you where you can buy them.
Before continuing, I recommend that you consult my guide to buying the best coffee maker with a grinder on the market.
The 5 best whole bean coffees you can buy
Let's get to the point, never better. After testing dozens of brands, I present a list of the 5 best brands of coffee beans that I have found.
1. Guilis from farm Mocatán, Colombia
I begin by talking about a single-origin specialty coffee, from Finca Mocatán, in the state of Belén de Umbría, Colombia. Of course, it is a 100% Arabica bean and naturally roasted.
The exceptionality of the Guilis brand is that it imports raw material from the best coffee regions in the world and is roasted in Alcorcón, Madrid (Spain). This guarantees a fresh coffee, with all its essence, aroma and flavor, while preserving all its properties. Consumers highlight the freshness and aroma of the bean from finca Guilis premium coffee beans, resulting in a coffee with a long-lasting aftertaste of fruit and floral notes.
The price is quite tight , so we can treat ourselves and prepare an exclusive cup of premium Colombian coffee whenever we feel like it. They indicate that it is suitable for all types of coffee machines, being ideal for espresso machines, but that depends to a greater extent on the type of grinding we carry out.
2. Lavazza Qualità Oro
The Lavazza Qualità Oro is a blend with a selection of 100% Arabica coffee mainly from Central America and Brazil. The Lavazza brand is one of the best Italian coffee brands and, among all its varieties, the experts stick with the Qualitá Oro designation.
Be careful, it is a soft and aromatic coffee. With an intensity of 5 out of 10 and a medium roast, it results in a coffee with body, and with a flavor that claims to be unmistakable, with fruity and floral notes (chocolate, nuts, spices, caramel, malt, honey and wood).
Its price and excellent quality have made this coffee one of the best sellers and best valued on Amazon. A 1 kilo packet of coffee beans does not exceed 20 euros, which is not bad for this quality. They indicate that it works for automatic coffee machines, but you can use it with any depending on the thickness of the grind you do.
3. Café Saula Premium Original
The Gran Espresso Premium Original is a coffee made from a selection of 3 varieties of 100% Arabica beans from small mountainous plantations in places as different as Peru, Indonesia and Central America.
Saula is a Catalan company that mixes this selection according to an old family recipe, resulting in one of the best coffees in Spain. It is a very special coffee, with the aroma of vanilla, hazelnut and toasted bread. You will get an aromatic cup, with an intense flavor, full body and fine acidity.
It does not stand out for being a very expensive coffee . A plus point is that it is sold in a pack of 2 cans of 500 grams each, with which maximum conservation is guaranteed. In their packaging process they use nitrogen so that the coffee does not oxidize and conserves its original freshness.
4. Lucifer's Roast Espresso by KIQO
Finally, I bring you a different coffee, the Italian Lucifer's Roast Espresso from the KIQO brand, and which is one of the strongest sold in Europe. It is not an industrial coffee, its 100% Robusta variety beans are hand-harvested and roasted in small drums. This guarantees an even roast, a strong body and an unmistakable aroma.
It stands out for its strong and full-bodied coffee flavor, with a fruity touch and its fine cream. The absence of Arabica beans produces a coffee with low acid content and at the same time invigorating due to its high caffeine content. Be careful, it is a powerful coffee and that is why I recommend it only if you enjoy these types of flavors. It sounds like a joke, but it has an intensity level of 6 out of 5.
Share price range with your ranking peers. Personally, I have tried it with a super-automatic coffee machine and with Italian and the result has been good in both cases.
5. Coffee Masters Triple Certification
I continue with a coffee from the Coffee Masters brand, which harmoniously blends 100% Arabica beans from the best coffee regions of Ethiopia, Honduras, Peru and Sumatra. Each origin has something to contribute to the mix, and its correct combination results in its distinctive flavor.
The Triple Certification Coffee Masters has a very pleasant but smooth taste and aroma, with sweet notes of caramel and chocolate. With a fine final bitterness and a pleasant acid touch, something typical in this type of coffee. If you like mild coffee, this is probably to your liking.
Its price is moderate for a coffee of this quality. Not only I say it, and it is that it has quite a few positive ratings from consumers who have already tried it and also recommend it. Especially recommended for espresso machines and for preparing cold brew coffee.
Best quality-price coffee beans: Guilis de Finca Mocatán, Colombia
Each of the coffees that I have presented in this article would be a good option, but if I had to opt for one in particular, I would choose the premium coffee beans from finca Guilis , a premium pure Arabica coffee from Colombia.
Beyond its flavor and aroma, which is excellent, what I like the most is that it is roasted in Alcorcón and distributed directly, ensuring a roasting date very close to consumption , and that shows in the quality.
Every good coffee grower knows that good coffee is bought in bean form. This is because much of the flavor in a cup comes from the oils in the bean, which are very volatile and will start to degrade when the coffee is exposed to oxygen, and Guilis knows this very well.
Its price is not exaggerated and you pay for what you get. You can enjoy a specialty coffee comparable to other much more expensive options. Consumer reviews back it up too, and for all of this, it's my go-to choice.
What are the prices of coffee beans in the market?
The price range of this type of specialty coffee is very varied and there are many factors that can make a difference. In this article I have focused on coffee beans with a good value for money, and that is why the price range is between 18 and 25 euros per kilo.
It is true that you have cheaper options, including supermarket coffee, but many fail in some of the characteristics that I consider fundamental, such as the roast profile, the roast date, the flavor or the aroma.
You can also find much more expensive grains but, in some cases, the justification for its high price derives more from its low production or processing methods and not so much from its quality.
Where to buy the best coffee beans?
Buy in local stores
If you have the possibility, always buy in a local store, where you know that they roast their own beans. If they are also the ones who import the green fruit much better, since you will be able to explore new flavors and mixtures based on their recommendations.
By local store we do not mean any grocery store or supermarket.
In some specialty grocery stores you can find delicious coffee beans, ask because they may have a good deal with a local roaster.
How do I find a good coffee roaster? It is not always easy and it depends on where you live. I recommend that you ask in a small cafeteria of a lifetime. If they don't sell the beans themselves, they may be able to point you to a local roaster they trust.
Another great advantage of buying at a local store is that you can secure the roast date. Coffee beans start to lose their flavor from the moment they come out of the roaster.
If you ask the roaster about his roast schedule and buy the beans as close to that date as possible, you will get a fresher product.
To buy online
If you are not lucky enough to live near a good coffee roaster, or you prefer to buy online, you also have good options. I recommend you look for a company that delivers to your area . Today there are many roasters that accept orders online and you would have the same advantages as buying in a local store.
A good example of an online store is Guilis , which are imported from the best coffee regions in the world and sold on their website.
In Amazon Spain you will also find a wide variety of coffee brands, and there are many good options if you know how to search, like the ones I have presented in this article. The advantage, good prices and with high confidence of its authenticity.
How to choose, buy and prepare the best coffee beans?
How much coffee beans should I buy?
The coffee bean is a very delicate product and, once roasted, it loses aroma and flavor as the days go by. It will not expire, nor will it cease to be fit for consumption, but it will lose organoleptic properties.
Buy the coffee as fresh as possible, as soon as it has been roasted, and consume it in less than three weeks. The optimal point in terms of flavor is usually between 7 and 14 days from the date of roasting.
My recommendation is that you do not buy more coffee than you can consume in that time. Calculate how much coffee you consume in a normal week and adjust your purchase so as not to accumulate the coffee for more than three weeks.
Coffee is usually sold in packages of 250g, 500gr and 1kg, so you will have no problem finding the right size.
For example, at home we consume around 200 grams of coffee a week (we are both very coffee growers) and we usually buy packages of 500gr so that it can last for two to three weeks. If you don't drink so much coffee, 250gr packages are ideal.
Where is it better to store coffee beans?
Once you have bought the right amount of the best coffee beans, you have to pay attention to the storage location. This is important to preserve the freshness of the product for longer.
Roasted coffee beans are very sensitive to humidity, heat, sunlight, strong odors and sudden changes in temperature. In addition, they can absorb external aromas from other foods with which they come in contact.
The refrigerator is often thought of as a good place to store coffee , but it is generally not a good idea. The refrigerator has a high degree of humidity and the coffee beans could absorb aromas from other foods.
Trick
An alternative, if we are going to take time to consume it, is to vacuum pack the grains and if we could refrigerate or freeze them.
In the end the answer is easy. Store your coffee in a cool, dry, dark place. The best place to store coffee is in a cupboard or pantry, as far away from heat and humidity as possible.
It goes without saying that in kitchens there are usually places more exposed to the heat produced by appliances or stoves.
How to preserve the coffee beans once opened?
We already know that grains are very sensitive to heat, humidity and odors. For this reason, it is important to choose well the container where to keep it to avoid losing aroma and flavor over the days.
If your coffee beans come in a vacuum-sealed aluminum foil container, you can keep it in the original container if you are going to consume it in a week or two. These bags are designed to keep all the aroma of fresh coffee during this time, so you will have enough margin.
However, if your beans come in a paper bag, change them to an airtight container as soon as you get home. Choose a completely clean container, without odors, of some resistant material and preferably opaque.
The best materials are ceramic, metal, or glass. If you can buy a container specifically designed for storing coffee, even better.
An advice! You can also use the typical transparent glass jars as long as you store them in a completely dark, dry and cool cupboard or drawer, away from heat sources in the kitchen, as we explained in the previous question.
What is the best brand of coffee for espresso machine?
This is a very repeated question but one that has an easy answer: the coffee grind has to be fine. It will not depend so much on the type of coffee you use. Of course, I will always recommend a good 100% arabic natural roast bean .
Why should it be fine ground? The thickness of the grind will affect both the quality of the drink obtained and the correct operation of the coffee machine and its possible breakdowns. Espresso machines work by injecting water at very high pressure through a filter with the coffee.
If the coffee is coarsely ground, the water does not soak the mixture in the same way and the full flavor of the coffee is not extracted.
In short, to make an espresso you need a fine ground coffee, even finer than those commonly used for other types of coffee makers.
But be careful, do not over-grind it to the point of obtaining a floury texture because you could have problems removing it from the filter.
Is it better to buy coffee beans or already ground?
It is true that buying coffee already ground has its advantages, we will not deny it. However, if you are reading this page it is because you appreciate the quality of the coffee, so I am going to reveal the two main reasons why you have to buy coffee beans.
- - The coffee begins to release its aromas and flavors, which are very volatile, immediately after it has been ground. The ground grain is more exposed to air and light, and its properties begin to greatly degrade. It would be a shame to buy good coffee and that after a few days it has lost some of its aromas because it is ground before its time.
- - Each type of coffee maker requires a different type of grinding that adapts to its characteristics. An espresso machine does not require the same degree of grinding as a plunger coffee maker, for example. Therefore, an advantage of buying coffee beans is that you can adapt your grind to your coffee machine by grinding it yourself.
Therefore, if you want to have a coffee with all the aroma and flavor, choose a coffee bean and grind it at home just before going to drink it, either with a coffee grinder or with a coffee maker with a grinder.
How to grind coffee yourself?
If you have come this far, I have probably convinced you that you have to buy coffee beans and grind it yourself, but how do I do it? Coffee grinding has to be done correctly, it is not complicated, but you have to take into account two basic tips.
- - It is essential to grind the grains just before extracting the infusion. Once ground, the coffee loses properties quickly. Grind the right amount that you are going to consume, and do not make the mistake of grinding a large amount of coffee to store it and use it little by little.
- - The size of the grind matters, a lot. Do not forget that the grind of the grains will have to be different for each preparation method. Each coffee maker requires a different grind thickness to extract all the qualities of the coffee.
As a general rule, the longer the coffee extraction time lasts, the coarser the grind should be.
This should be the type of grinding depending on the coffee maker you use.
- Express or professional coffee machines: fine grinding.
- The mocha or Italian coffee makers: between fine and medium.
- Filter, Chemex or Plunger Coffee Makers: Medium Grind .
- For stewed or squid coffee: coarser grind.
One last tip, don't be obsessed with the result, the important thing is that you enjoy preparing the coffee and that you learn about the nature of the beans and the different processes involved.
After all, it's not that difficult to make good coffee at home either, is it? And you, do you already know which is the best quality coffee beans on the market?
