GOOD coffee beans

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Anyonre recommend some good coffee beans for my new Delongi ESAM4200

I got some Lavazza Qualita Rossa Beans but wanting a good expresso bean

for latte and cappuccinos

Thanks
 
http://www.hands-on-coffee.co.uk/

lusty glaze or black chough are great espresso blends (very forgiving for a beginner) and they'll grind for you, but as ever grinding fresh is best.

http://www.squaremilecoffee.com

Their espresso blends and single origin are great, although they only sell whole bean so you would need a grinder.

http://www.hasbean.com

Steve has a great range of espresso blends and single origins and will grind the beans for you if necessary.

You couldn't go wrong with any of the above from my experience.
 
Thanks for the info

is it better to get whole bean and let my machine grind them or get them grinded first
 
Thanks for the info

is it better to get whole bean and let my machine grind them or get them grinded first

There are two factors at play that make it a bit difficult to know how to answer that tbh.

1) Generally speaking you want to grind the beans just before you use them as this will allow for the best flavour/etc.

2) A low quality grinder will not give you the best grind and hence not the best results.

I'm not 100% sure but I think that it is likely that the grinder built into your machine isn't the best one ever. I imagine that a pack of pre-ground beans will give you better results for the first day or so but after that you'll get much better results by using beans. Perhaps it depends on how much coffee you drink :)
 
£35 - Porlex Ceramic Burr Grinder (manual but much better than anything else at this price)
£75 - Dualit 75002 good, but generally not good enough for really decent espresso
£100 - Iberital MC2 - the best espresso grinder you'll find below £250 (Rancilio Rocky) but not good if you want to do both espresso and any other brew methods
£150 - Baratza Virtuoso - not as good as the MC2 but much easier to adjust if you do both espresso and say aeropress.

I'd use the one built into the machine for now - it'll be about the right quality for the machine. A better grinder is likely to be lost on the machine to be honest.

Just get some decent fresh coffee and enjoy :) I'd highly recommend Squaremile's RedBrick or any of Hasbean's blends to start with!
 
The OP has a bean to cup machine, there's no point in them buying a new grinder.

It may not be the best grinder, but it's not a serious espresso machine either and I'm sure the parts will be matched to work together.

Get some good coffee from Hasbean and see how you enjoy the results. if you find you want to take espresso stupidly seriously, then look into a new grinder AND espresso machine.
 
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The OP has a bean to cup machine, there's no point in them buying a new grinder.

It may not be the best grinder, but it's not a serious espresso machine either and I'm sure the parts will be matched to work together.

Get some good coffee from Hasbean and see how you enjoy the results. if you find you want to take espresso stupidly seriously, then look into a new grinder AND espresso machine.

Thanks all,

Ive been spending a fortune on these Dolce gusto pods at £3.79 for 8 cappuccino,s so Im starting on this Delongi ESAM 4200 on amazon for a very good price,

Once i get the knack of making a good cup I will go for something that plugs into the grid :)
 
Fortnum and Mason have a good stock of coffee. You are looking at £40/kg though. I have a bag of Java from there for Christmas.
 
Can anyone recommend any good beans from Hasbean to try in a grinder i had brought for me.

I'd just look through the beans available and then choose some based on the description of the flavours. I like chocolatey coffee so I chose something based on that. Others might prefer sharpness or bitterness/etc.
 
Can anyone recommend any good beans from Hasbean to try in a grinder i had brought for me.

Do as FrenchTart suggested, take a punt by the descriptions. You'll find coffee types you enjoy and go from there. My palate is nowhere near refined enough to recognise all of those flavours which are described, probably because I'm still on the fags!!

For best results buy directly from the roaster like Hasbean as you were intending to, or from an independent coffee shop that sells beans only a few days from roast. A lot of decent shops sell Hasbean or Squaremile but be aware that some shops buy in very large quantities from roasters and the beans can be more than a couple of weeks old, so do make a point of asking when they were roasted. I got quite excited (sad, I know) when I saw huge red Hasbean bags at a cafe not too far away. They took beans from that bag to sell and the roast date printed on there was 2 week past.
 
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Whilst I love grinding beans for fresh coffee at the weekends, I find I just use too much to make a pot of coffee (I have one of those hotplate machines so usually make 2+ cups).
 
http://www.e-coffee.co.uk/

They are very good friends of mine & I have worked on and off for them for around 7 years. It is a very small independent company, with 4 full time members of staff, where all beans are bought in green and then hand roasted in small batches to colour by eye (no timers, sensors or anything) in a very old roaster that is one of the only ones of it's kind left in the world. They do whole sale so you could order 30kg's if you really wanted. Their stock is constantly changing so it's good to keep an eye on the website for new coffees coming & going.

If you drink tea or want to get in to drinking tea they also currently stock around 25 different loose teas.

I highly recommend them as they do the best coffee I have ever had, they are nice people and you are supporting a small business :)
 
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http://www.e-coffee.co.uk/

They are very good friends of mine & I have worked on and off for them for around 7 years. It is a very small independent company, with 4 full time members of staff, where all beans are bought in green and then hand roasted in small batches to colour by eye (no timers, sensors or anything) in a very old roaster that is one of the only ones of it's kind left in the world. They do whole sale so you could order 30kg's if you really wanted. Their stock is constantly changing so it's good to keep an eye on the website for new coffees coming & going.

If you drink tea or want to get in to drinking tea they also currently stock around 25 different loose teas.

I highly recommend them as they do the best coffee I have ever had, they are nice people and you are supporting a small business :)

Just ordered a Kilo for our salon, so we'll see how it goes down. Thanks for pointing it out.
 
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