Coffee Care

Making the grade

Mike, Hannah and now Rick from our coffee buying team are among the very first internationally recognised professional coffee tasters in the country. They’ve passed the UK’s first ‘Q Grader’ Certification Course, a rigorous three-day exam. This involved different tests covering all aspects of the job, from green grading (analysing a sample of green beans) to roast identification, coffee cupping and ‘sensory triangulation’ – picking the odd one out from three cups of coffee!

There are currently fewer than 30 ‘Licensed Q Graders’ in the whole of Europe, so this really demonstrates the expertise behind our coffee.

A fresh approach

A cup of stale coffee is a sad thing indeed. That’s why we do everything we can to ensure our coffees reach you at the peak of freshness. We blend and roast the beans ourselves, then grind them straight into the bag, flushing the air out to keep it fresh. We do all this for one simple reason: oxygen is the enemy of good coffee.

Once you open a bag of ground coffee, the natural oils that contain its precious flavour start reacting with the air. Eventually, those bright flavours and that lovely vibrant character will give way to something dull and lifeless. But don’t despair – you can guard against this by following our golden rules for coffee care:

• After opening the pack, store your coffee in an airtight container.
• Keep this container in the fridge to make it even more effective – but keep it sealed or it can quickly absorb any other smells!
• To preserve coffee for longer, pop it in the freezer in a tightly sealed container, where it will hold onto its flavour for up to three months.
  Ultimately, the joy of coffee is that it’s a natural product.
• To enjoy it at its best, use it up within two weeks.