Find Your Monday Coffee

Monday morning is a good time to keep coffee simple. Start with one question: what kind of cup do you enjoy?

Maybe you like something fruity and lively. Maybe you reach for a familiar, chocolatey cup, or a coffee with a fuller feel. Roast level and flavor notes give you a starting point. Your own taste gets the final say.

Light roast: a place to explore fruitier flavors

A lighter roast can make a coffee's fruit-like character and brightness easier to notice. In coffee tasting, brightness describes that lively impression you might associate with fruit. The origin, processing, and brewing all help shape what ends up in the cup.

In our current selection, Papua New Guinea light roast and Ethiopia light roast are the fruity options to explore. They make a useful starting point if you want to try a different direction from your usual coffee.

Medium roast: choose the flavor you enjoy

Medium roast sits between light and dark, but two medium-roast coffees can taste quite different. Look at the flavor description alongside the roast label.

• Honduras medium: chocolatey, with a full-bodied feel.
• Papua New Guinea medium: a nutty flavor direction.
• Guatemala medium: a familiar, classic coffee taste.
• Ethiopia medium: chocolatey, smooth, and complex.

If you're unsure where to start, comparing two medium roasts is a simple way to learn which flavor direction you prefer.

Dark roast: a deeper roasted character

As a roast becomes darker, roasted flavors generally become more prominent and fruit-like brightness may be less noticeable. The result still depends on the coffee and how it is roasted and brewed.

Our Honduras dark roast falls in the full-bodied, smooth-and-complex part of the selection. It is a starting point for someone drawn to that style of cup.

Where does espresso fit?

Espresso is a brewing method that uses pressure to move water through finely ground coffee. An espresso label on a bag points you toward a roaster's intended style for that preparation. It does not set a universal roast level across every roaster.

Our Honduras espresso is full-bodied, smooth, and complex. Our Guatemala espresso has the classic coffee flavor direction. Choose the one that sounds closer to what you enjoy, then adjust your grind and recipe for your equipment.

A bold taste or an espresso label is not a reliable caffeine guide. The amount of coffee used, the beans, the brewing method, and the size of the drink all matter.

What do those flavor words mean?

Chocolatey, nutty, and fruity describe the coffee's natural flavor profile. They give you familiar words for aromas and tastes you may notice in the cup. You do not need to identify a particular fruit or nut to enjoy your coffee.

Body describes how the coffee feels in your mouth. A full-bodied coffee has a more substantial feel. Your brewing method can change that experience, too.

Try a small comparison this week

Choose two coffees and brew them with the same method, using the same amount of coffee and water. Let each cup cool a little, then ask yourself: which one would I want again tomorrow?

To explore roast differences, compare the light and medium versions of Papua New Guinea or Ethiopia. To explore different origins, try two medium roasts. Keep a short note about what you liked. That's enough to make your next choice easier.

Our four- and six-pack sample boxes let you mix origins, roasts, and grinds in 100g bags. Build your coffee sample box and find a cup you look forward to.

Further reading: SCA research on roast and flavor; SCA on espresso preparation; research on caffeine in brewed coffee.