Choosing the right green beans for a quality coffee is equally important as the equipment, barista and milk you use. In fact, sourcing the right ingredients in the first place is essential to making a consistently quality coffee every time. While having freshly roasted coffee delivered to your café or home makes enjoying your favourite cup easy, there are many steps and checkpoints involved that today’s coffee roasters go through to ensure every cup meets the required expectations. There is also substantial consideration happening behind the scenes to ensure every sip you take provides a memorable taste experience. I had the chance to catch up with coffee roaster and founder of Peaberrys, Adrian Rigon, to give you a sneak peek behind the scenes at what goes into choosing the right green beans for your daily cup of Joe.

Where are the green beans sourced from?

Green beans can be sourced worldwide, with the main growing regions being Central and South America (regions like Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica and El Salvador), Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania to name a few) and Asia (India and Indonesia for example). Every origin has a unique flavour, aroma, acidity, body and aftertaste. We’re consistently sampling new harvests from our current origins so we can continue to provide the best in our blends and single origin coffees.

How do you know which green beans to buy for the coffees at Peaberrys?

All green coffee that we sample has been strategically chosen for a particular purpose or individual goal. We set out with a brief and goal for the coffee we are searching for, whether that be to find a new single origin we love or to replace an individual origin in one of our blends. We then talk with our green bean brokers and request samples that meet our criteria. We usually ask for three different samples for each origin we are looking for.

How do you choose the right green bean from the samples?

The samples are roasted through a small sample roster or lab roaster in 100g lots. We then use the process called cupping to determine which beans to use. You may have even noticed us following the cupping process on Fridays with the public. There are always new and exciting taste sensations and discoveries to be made in coffee; cupping follows a set process to allow us to assess the variables of coffee – body, acidity, aroma, flavour, aftertaste and clean cup – so we can determine the bean’s quality. Not all coffee is created equal, so this process allows us to find any faults in the green beans and choose the best option to meet our initial goal. So there you have it folks. Next time you drop into the coffee cellar door in Islington make sure you take a look at the origins and characteristics of the coffee you drink. It might give you a whole new appreciation for your daily cup!

“There are always new and exciting taste sensations and discoveries to be made in coffee; we are constantly trying new green beans so we can offer the best cup of coffee every time” – Adrian.

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