It’s vital to know how to pick great coffee beans to ensure quality and flavorful coffee. With new brands coming into the market every day, choosing the best coffee bean can be confusing.

When investigating how to pick great coffee beans, you must know the flavour and amount of caffeine you prefer. You should also know the roast type, brewing method, and origin of the coffee beans you like. The coffee beans which match all your criteria will be the best ones for you.

While some coffee lovers like to stick to a particular taste, others love to experiment with different methods and beans. Finding the perfect cup of coffee that matches your palate might take some time. But it's important to start trying various coffee beans to figure out what you prefer.

Here are a few points you should consider when determining how to pick great coffee beans for yourself.

1. Find Your Taste Preference

When it comes to choosing the perfect coffee, we all have different preferences. It usually depends upon your palate and the taste you prefer.

For instance, if you prefer mild, slightly acidic coffee, you would enjoy Arabica coffee beans. Arabica beans are one of the best quality coffee beans on the market. These popular beans are known for their smooth taste.

However, if you prefer a more robust tasting coffee, you should try Robusta coffee beans. It has a slightly bitter and earthy taste, has much more caffeine, and is loved by seasoned coffee drinkers.

2. Select Your Favorite Brewing Method

It is essential to know which coffee variety goes best with your brewing method. Most people prefer buying Arabica varieties of beans while preparing a fresh cup of Turkish coffee. Whereas, for a French press, dark roasted beans would give you the best flavour.

The grind on your coffee beans plays a crucial role in perfecting the taste of your coffee. Whether you should buy whole coffee beans or pre-grounded ones depends upon your brewing practice.

We always prefer buying whole coffee beans and grinding them at my home. Grinding the coffee beans yourself brings out the natural flavour of the coffee. The fresher your grind is, the better your coffee will taste.

3. Choose the Roast You Prefer

The roast of your coffee beans can have a significant impact on the flavour of your coffee. The darker the roast, the more flavour is induced in the coffee giving it a richer taste. When exploring how to pick great coffee beans, you should first select the type of roast you want.

The pale brown coloured coffee beans have a very light roast to them. This type of roast preserves the regional flavours of the bean. A lightly roasted coffee bean gives a subtle aroma to your coffee. It has a well-balanced sweet and acidic taste.

Slightly darker brown coffee beans with an oily surface have a medium roast to them. These beans lose a little of their regional flavour but have a balanced taste. Medium roast coffee beans are the most widely preferred because of their sweet caramel-like flavour.

Dark roast coffee beans are a dark brown colour and have a shiny surface. These beans have a robust roasted flavour, and the regional flavours are less prominent. Dark roasted coffee beans are bold, rich, and full-bodied.

4. Know the Origin of Your Coffee Beans

The perfect cup of coffee depends upon a variety of factors. The origin of your coffee beans is one of the factors to consider when exploring how to pick great coffee beans. If you have tasted different coffee beans, you might have noticed that each region has a specific flavour profile.

The coffee beans that grow in Central America have a subtle nutty and fruity flavour to them. They are lightly toasted, giving them a smooth and acidic taste.
In South America, the coffee beans have a mellow and sweet essence to them. Their most popular Colombian coffee beans have hints of caramel and honey in their flavour.

The coffee beans that are grown in Asia have a woody and earthy taste to them. These coffee beans are usually organic, giving them a less acidic flavour.

Nusa Coffee Company imports premium coffee beans from Indonesia. These beans are packed with distinct tastes and a regional flavour profile.

5. Processing Your Coffee Beans

How your beans have been processed is an important consideration when learning how to pick great coffee beans.

Unwashed coffee processing is the traditional and natural way of extracting the bean. The cherry is laid out to dry in the sun to reduce the moisture content. These coffee beans have a slightly fruity flavour to them.

On the other hand, washed coffee processing is a recent method, where the cherry is pulped out and fermented in water. These coffee beans are much more expensive and of better quality. The beans have a more consistent flavour with acidic notes.

No method is better than the other. It all depends upon your personal choice. While some people enjoy the consistent flavour in their coffee, we prefer the natural method. It delivers a more authentic taste and aroma to my coffee.

6. Know the Amount of Caffeine You Prefer

Choosing the amount of caffeine in your beans is another critical factor when determining how to pick great coffee beans. The amount of caffeine in the beans will affect the taste of your coffee.

For instance, Robusta coffee beans have a much higher caffeine concentration as compared to Arabica beans.

The roast on your beans also affects its caffeine content. Roasting the beans burns off the caffeine. So light roasted beans have the most caffeine, and dark roasted beans have the least.

So, if you love a richly flavoured coffee with high caffeine content, you will likely prefer Robusta beans with a light roast on them. Figuring out how much caffeine you desire in your coffee will help you understand how to pick great coffee beans.

7. Buy Your Coffee Beans from a Respected Importer

Buying your coffee beans from a respected importer is essential when defining how to pick great coffee beans. As is ensuring that your beans come in a vacuum-sealed packet. Beans in a barrel have been exposed to oxygen and UV light, thus giving you a poor and dull taste.

You should always choose a company willing to provide you with as much information about their product as possible. They're probably a reputable brand if they include comprehensive information regarding the origin, processing method, and roasting of the beans.

The beans from Nusa Coffee Company are 100% organic and are handpicked by farmers. We give out complete information about our coffee beans, including their origin, roasting profile, and flavour notes.

8. Pick Freshly Roasted Coffee Beans

When figuring out how to pick great coffee beans, you should know that freshly roasted beans offer the best taste.

As the days pass by, your coffee tends to lose its freshness and original taste. You should always check the roast date and buy only those beans that specify the most recent date.

Most coffee fanatics prefer brewing their coffee one week after it has been roasted. After a week's rest, the coffee tastes much better and has more complexity and dimension to its flavour.

Although coffee beans do not expire, they lose their flavour and taste bland after brewing. It would be best if you did not buy coffee beans that have been sitting on the shelf for more than two months.

9. Try Choosing Organic Coffee Beans

Organic coffee beans not only taste smoother than conventional beans but are far more environmentally sustainable. They also leave a much smaller carbon footprint.

Even though people think there is only a slight taste difference between them, we would select organic coffee beans over conventional ones every time.

Nusa Coffee Company sells 100% organic coffee beans handpicked by farmers. These high-quality beans are exported directly from Indonesia.

10. Avoid Beans That Are Labelled as “100% Coffee”

When you visit a supermarket, you’ll notice various brands selling coffee beans with “100% coffee” or “100% Arabica”. This is just a marketing tactic that companies that ordinarily source their beans from local farmers or intermediaries use.

Instead, you should choose a brand that's transparent with their customers and details all the information about their product. If you find an information chart at the back of the package, then the brand is likely a decent one.

Nusa Coffee Company

Nusa Coffee’s organic coffee is amongst the best coffee beans in the world.
At Nusa Coffee Company, we source premium, organic coffee beans directly from Indonesia. Therefore, our coffees deliver the tantalizing tastes of Indonesian flavours.

We offer certified Arabica coffee beans grown by the coffee farmers of the Gayonese tribe. This tribe produces high-quality beans in unique flavours and aromas such as cherry, walnut, vanilla, chocolate, fresh flowers, and white grape.

Arabica Toraja Coffee is amongst the finest Arabica coffees globally and is available through our online store. Its sweet flavour and fragrance of flowering aroma is the perfect kickstart to anyone’s morning.

Unlike most brands, Nusa Coffee Company provides all pertinent information regarding its coffees on the packaging. From the origin country to the flavour notes, you’ll have a good idea of what kind of coffee you’re buying.

But we specialize in Indonesian coffee. Working directly with Indonesian coffee producers, we offer varieties of Arabica and Robusta coffee beans to our customers directly from the Indonesian islands.

Conclusion on How to Pick Great Coffee Beans

Brewing that perfect cup of coffee might seem a little challenging in the beginning. If you’ve just started taking an interest in coffee, you’d probably need to test a few different beans at the start.

But the guide above should give you a good idea of where to begin your search for the perfect bean. Once you get your flavour profile right, you’ll know exactly how to pick great coffee beans.