Choice of Coffee a Subjective One

When it comes to buying coffee, there are no hard and fast rules. Like the drinking of wine, it is very much a subjective decision. In the old days, most people purchased "estate" coffee, by which I mean they purchased the coffee that was grown nearest to home. Nowadays, the choices are more numerous.

But which coffee to buy? My best advice is to experiment with the various alternatives offered on the market. There are some excellent specialty coffee merchants out there (including the one for whom I work: Destination Cafe) and the chances are equally excellent that you will find something you will like.

And of course there is always the option of creating your own unique blend. The blending of coffee was originally performed in order to help keep the price down. Cheaper robusta coffee was mixed with arabica for this reason. Most people would find the result to be quite acceptable. But for the true connoisseur for whom price is not a consideration, there are many other options. Various blending styles are found throughout the world, ranging from the heavy Sumatran coffees to the more acidic Kenyan varieties.

Finally, there is the advice of coffee roaster and Specialty Coffee Association of Europe president Colin Smith, who states in The Coffee Companion: "A blend of Central American coffees will always produce an ideal, all day coffee as long as they are not roasted too dark. Such a blend might include Santos (Brazilian) for its mildness, Columbian for body, and Costa Rican for its fruity acidity....The addition of robusta will add an earthy flavour and give the blend more body."