Our coffee labels explained

Have you ever found yourself stumped looking at a bag of coffee? It’s understandable - there’s a lot of information on there and sometimes you’re left wondering what it all has to do with the final brew that ends up in your cup. 

Some of the label information might seem self explanatory, whilst you might think there are parts you don’t even need to know. We’ve put together a breakdown of the information on our labels, why we include it and what it all means. 

There’s no pressure to memorise this, or even be interested in it all - some of us are just interested in price and origin and that’s totally fine. 

What do you mean by ‘origin’?

Origin basically tells you where the coffee comes from. As well as the country it has been grown in, it can give you a bit more insight into the farmer who’s grown it or the station where the coffee was processed. Coffee is a seasonal product, so that explains why the coffees we have on our shelves change so often. It also explains that, whilst we might have more than one coffee from the same country, they’re not the same. They will have come from different farmers, producers or co-operatives.

What are the flavour notes? Do you add flavour?!

The notes on the bag are there to help give you an idea of what the coffee might taste like when it’s brewed. They’re based on what the coffee reminds us of, but you might pick out something else based on a whole range of factors. Think of it the same way you might think of tasting notes in wine; you might pick up hints of one thing, or find that it smacks you in the mouth with a really obvious, punchy flavour. Sensory analysis is an incredibly complex yet personal thing, so the coffee might unlock a different memory for you than it does for us!

What the heck is a ‘Varietal’?

What we know as a coffee bean is actually the seed of the Coffea plant. You’ll probably be familiar with the term Arabica and maybe Robusta, but these are just two of the most common species of coffee, of which there are over 100!

These species can also be broken down into thousands of distinct varietals and hybrids – you might recognise some familiar faces like caturra, bourbon and catuai.

What do you mean by ‘Process’?

Remember how we just dropped the bomb about coffee being a seed?

Well, those seeds are contained within a delicious, sweet cherry! To get the seeds out of the fruit and closer towards becoming the coffee you’re familiar with, it needs to be processed.

We’ll do a deep dive on processing in a future blog, but for now, we’ll give you a quick run-down on the two big hitters; natural and washed.

When a coffee is processed naturally, the picked fruit is left whole and put out to dry on large patios or sometimes raised beds. The fermentation that happens within the flesh of the fruit tends to produce a coffee that can be more fruity and sweet, or sometimes more funky and boozy.

If a coffee has undergone a washed process, it just means that all the flesh and mucilage has been removed by pulping and washing before the seed is put out to dry. In general, these coffees are known for bright, crisp flavour profiles with less of a lingering aftertaste.

What you talking about ‘Elevation’?

Why have we got all those numbers on the bag and why should you care about them?

Well, those numbers represent the altitude, in metres above sea level (sometimes written as masl), that your coffee was grown at. Arabica coffees need a whole range of specific variables to thrive, one of those being altitude. The coffees we usually sell range anywhere from 800m, which is very much at the lower end of the scale for arabica coffees, right up to a mind blowing 2250m!

Higher grown coffees benefit from cooler temperatures which allows for slower maturation, producing denser beans with a lot more complex and vibrant flavours, so a quick glance at the altitude can give you a rough idea of what to expect in your cup!

Hopefully that gives you a bit of an insight into the information on our labels, and might even give you a bit more knowledge to draw on when choosing your next bag. As always, if you have any questions or you’d like to know more, don’t hesitate to ask us at the Espresso bar or drop us a message on social media.