A Beginner's Guide To Buying Great Coffee 

Nice to hear you hold Union in high regard. It’s my go to coffee when I do the weekly shop for my family at (insert massive supermarket chain). That cardboard base wrap is an interesting thing and wonder if it had been foisted on Union to cover-up their roasted-on date since I’ve never seen a denuded packet until this vid. If only my local (insert massive supermarket chain) did some of their lighter roasts!

Bought a kilo recently of Union from a popular online supermarket, was roasted 4 months ago, so yeah, your advice stands.

I'm always impressed at the lengths to which James goes when he notices a mistake in a video, even something super small. Thanks for upholding such integrity as a content creator.

The Taylors Sky Island bag also has a roasting date at 24:19

Heh - I just looked at my bag of the Yayu Forest from Sainsbury's ("citrus and bourbon biscuits"), and came back here to comment that it also had a roasting date to see the correction already here :) Same is true of a bag of Modern Standard I have which has both a best before, and a roasting date ("jasmine, grapefruit and dark cocoa")

Preferences aren't stupid, and if you've developed a preference that it's at least someone informed. But otherwise I 100% agree.

He is not directing a comment or thinking of you when he says that. Actually no one is thinking of you. You can choose to watch something else at anytime. Relax with the me me me me think, snowflake ❄️

and that's okay

🤣 Same!

Strange that your posting name is Clueless, if you take offence at this phrase.

Have you gotten that $5000 grinder that looks like a spaceship yet?

@@weeksweeks9552 I would but I'm still paying off the $10,000 espresso machine!

Ditto

Lol

Thats cheap, I bought the 500 dollar 16 ounce bag of beans!

Yeah, there isn't "one coffee", if there's something you don't like in a cup, it can probably be fixed. I hate sour coffee

I had a similar realization in a different video of his! I don't hate black coffee, I hate light roasts with acidity.

I like that, too. On some coffee channels, they come across as snobby. I dont get that vibe from him at all.

I'm generally fond of my coffee in the med-dark category, but I've had some great coffee with more acidity than I'd generally prefer, but I've also had some coffee with so much acidity as to taste sour.

@@sindicta5757 Same. Feels strange because from what I've read most people seem to prefer lighter roasts with acidity. Personally I like mine chocolatey and almost burnt tasting haha. I almost can't even stand to drink acidic coffee.

😂😂

Spoiler alert: Tasting the coffee in isolation may not reveal the relative notes and hints derived from a comparative tasting, that adorn the label. And oh by the way... The ability to perceive certain aromas and tastes differs from one indovidual to the next. So if Mr Hoffman writes declares "huge Berry aroma", your sensory aparatus may not agree... welcome to sensory analysis

I'm just an amateur, but I've learned so much from James. At the age of 56, I've been trying to make decent coffee for 4 decades, and I've learned more in the last 6 months than in the preceding 56 years. It's a bit embarrassing, but I can now make far better coffee with a £10 Moka pot and the correct grind of supermarket ground coffee than when I was a bit of a jerk and owned £500 machines and wasted my money buying Jamaican Blue Mountain beans in Fortnum & Mason (and, yes, this is true).

I know! It's sad to see here in Peru, people roasting 90 SCA points coffees in a dark roast because the people aren't used to a good coffee.

I've learnt so much from online resources like James and others. Currently roasting at home with a humble hot air gun. Learning the science and techniques as I improve and invest more into roasting equipment. Who knows, I might end up as a professional coffee roaster, or even have my own coffee shop

A pity has not got through to those who peddle coffee capsules and bombard me with their bullshit every day. I am not sure which is worse, the peddlers of the bullshit or those who post ignorant comments about coffee on their comments section. Though if they think Nespresso is drinkable coffee then should not be surprised.

I just bought my first espresso machine and grinder this morning and feel like I've learnt so much about coffee in the past week! Thanks James and the internet!

Yeah I agree. I was on at fairway yesterday and was shocked there were barrels of open coffee beans. Now that I'm a coffee snob I knew that I would never purchase from then.

I buy smalls bags of freshly roasted coffee that will last 1-2 weeks. Then I go back to my local roasters for more. Same as with fruit or bread.

@@RAJOHN-ke7mc Fairway also loved to have a big coffee roasting machine nearby. But for show. And now they’re mostly out of business. I hated how they’d leave those barrels open all day. I’m sure it’s to get the aroma into the air to entice buyers.

As a drinker, I buy a few bags every few months and expect them to last. I transfer the entire bag contents to a large glass jar as each bag is put to use. So it is certainly not fresh when used. Generally not being a snob about the coffee, it's just something consumed in volume to stay alert.

My grandma buys several packs of ground coffee from a brand she likes when it's on sale (which is generally when it's old) and keeps it until the next sale. She would frequently gift me a pack when I visit her (because that brand is "expensive" and coffee is special, they used to not get coffee in her country). I've been drinking oooold coffee all my life. Fuck.

same here. I went straight from not drinking coffee at all, to buying an espresso machine, a niche grinder, and all the other small gadgets just because of this man and his videos.

LOL. Same here.

I still strain my morning brew through yesterdays socks ...funky af.

What grinder and espresso machine did you buy?

@@prodical666 …, I brought a De’Longhi Dedica ec885 ( with updated steam wand ) and a Sage ( Breville ) Smart Pro grinder which I’m really happy with to be honest ..

"What?!?! I can't hear you, I'm grinding coffee!"

What grinder would you recommend?

@@4u2consider50 Not a hand grinder since your arm will fall off after the 10th time ;)

@@4u2consider50 James has a bunch of videos re: grinders. I’d highly recommend watching those to decide. Good luck!

@@4u2consider50 Electric: Baratza Encore. Hand grinder: 1zpresso JX

This reminds me of my experience on the r/coffee subreddit. There was a ridiculous degree of gatekeeping in there!! I remember someone asked about Puerto Rican coffee recommendations, most people who answered there were blindly advising against it, and I was the only one to actually answer the question. I left the community shortly after, to then be surprised by my first ever Reddit Gold award!

thank you for the golrd kind satrgb🤓

@@LucarioBoricua Do you still remember what Reddit post it is?

Same. I worked at Starbucks many years ago, and when I left I realized I just knew 10% about coffee. The other 90 % was outside and unknown for regular people.

So are you like a ... tea person?

@@juliankochanowicz5626 A simple water person

That's my husband. I love coffee, although very new to espresso making (which is how I stumbled upon James's videos), but even he, who actively dislikes coffee, loves James's videos as much as I do.

@@melf842 -- I think there is a singular pleasure in listening to someone who: a) knows a lot about a topic, and b) knows how to *_communicate that / teach that well._* Many people have lots of knowledge, but only some are good teachers.

Im a tea person, but I've been watching his videos too

couldn't agree more ...

@@AxxLAfriku #ad

@@AxxLAfriku pathetic

He changed the video title, doesn't want to commit to a series? :/

Peet's coffee has roasted on date

I mean your average person likes coffee and doesn't care about the roast date. Like most things coffee is marketed to the average consumer, not the informed consumer or enthusiast.

Yeah, it's called customer segmentation - they're targeting the 80% low-cost market rather than the 20% who are coffee enthusiasts...

@@majorali242 Exactly, and they're making mad bank.

Having watched this video, I went to the bag of Aldi '5' beans which I bought last week, having just come to the end of my first bag of home ground beans (expensive present, since I had then to buy a grinder). Rich and refined, BBE Jan 23, 2018 3 11:56 (so I'm assuming the last part is packing date). Still, they serve a purpose at €3? a bag, and I can see some justification to the pricing from online roasters too.

Please tell me you're from Britain? The chocolate covered peanuts sounds lush

That's OK... *points to the door*

It’s not ok.... leave

@@SypherXIII 🤣

It’s okay to be wrong! :))

hahahah

👍👍👍hopefully James pins your reply.

what is it?

@@christianhansen3292 I think it's at which altitude where the coffee was harvested. Some Coffee companies show the elevation off the coffee farms.

Normally arabica coffee has high altitudes and the flavors are quite unique. On the other hand low altitude often are robusta coffee wich has not so great flavors and often are used for instant coffee or blends with high quality coffee to balance flavors and be afordable, i would like to extend myself but i know u r looking for a summary rather than a long technical explanation. Hope it helps

There's a video called 'Everything you ever wanted to know about coffee' or something like that by Chandler Graf, it's a TedEx thing. From 5 mins to 7:40 there is a great explanation about altitude/elevation.

Hello, roaster from Perú here. We have so many different altitudes coffees and yes, everytime we buy, produce or ask in a specialty coffee café, we check the altitude. We mainly drink Peruvian coffee except from Starbucks and Juan Valdez, American and Colombian big brands. And yes, you can find different experiences depending on the altitude. Furthermore, we also check and ask for the valley where it's produce and EVEN the name of the producer and we know the names of most of them. Their quality has their own name, amazing right? Luckily for us, it's really simple to get good coffee, roast it ourselves and then sell some. It's a good place to get to know coffe. You can go and check everywhere to see how they produce the coffee, they are very welcoming. I just wished my country would invest more here in coffee like Brazil and Colombia that they are also getting some good coffee. This is a good place to be to try and produce coffee.

As a self-proclaimed beer snob, I find this extremely impressive. I very very much struggle to be supportive of someone who just straight up says "I love beer, but I hate IPA's." Thats like saying, I love fruit unless it comes from a tree (in my mind). I find value in all forms of beer. But coffee... nah bruh, acidic is just no bueno for me. And its nice to be validated in feeling that way lol

@@skeetsmcgrew3282 I homebrewed a while and there's a thing I find in a lot of stout grainbills that I cannot stand in coffee. It's like a roasted sweetness I dislike strongly. It's super pronounced to me in dutch bros house beans so I don't like anything from there. I would say 90%+ espresso does NOT have this taste, but somehow DB's does... Ole rasputin, to me, is undrinkable, but stone's RIS is absolutely wonderful. But back to your point, there's at least one specific beer in each style I like. I can't say there's an entire style I don't like. IPA only people are the worst.

@@scottleggejr Yeah, mine is heavily dry-hopped IPAs. I do not understand the appeal of dry-hopping. I dont find them undrinkable by any means, but I just don't get it. Its so much pure bitterness with almost zero character. The group I cant stand is dessert-only beer drinkers. If someone says "I love beer! My favorite is probably this raspberry creme brule double chocolate porter I had over the summer..." Im sorry sir, Im gonna hafta ask you to leave 😂

Exactly. I appreciate Hoffman’s positivity since I hate sour fermented tea-like coffee.

Original comment: “I love the inclusivity of this video” People in comments: “Let me tell you a few groups of people who I hate”

Where do you buy your coffee sir?

​@crooby5077 probably str8 from the source

@@thepotatoofheaven💀

I expierenced this too, I think James should start a weekly coffee podcast, his voice is so soothing.

We are so lucky! We stumbled upon a place just like that too. He roasts his own coffee as needed and my favorite coffee is one that comes from a farm where only 50 bags are made per year. He buys 2 bags of raw beans. After that it's done until the next year. So amazing!

Any reputable brand includes that information. Did you come up with a matrix from this video and a series of trials to establish what you would consider as a "good coffee" (really your version of "good coffee")? If yes, have you gone on testing?

I’m guessing that goes for powdered creamer to?

@@SkrapSF83 just don't

@@SkrapSF83 👀

@@SkrapSF83 Yes, even more sugar in these, best to use milk with high fat content... or small amount of cream

I respectfully disagree. I think the acidity will clash with the sweetness of the milk. I prefer medium-dark roast with milk, and prefer light to medium roast to drink black. The chocolaty flavours go well with milk and the bitterness is balanced with the sweetness of the milk.

Same here and I worked as a barista in the 90s for two years for a coffee shop that sourced and roasted their own beans. However, they treated us front line baristas as little more than a coffee version of burger flippers/fry cooks. They never taught us anything other than how to make the specific drinks and in no way as advanced as I see today.

Try buying a nitro coffee maker.

Going directly to my local roaster, talking to them, and getting an espresso there along with the coffee, that's one of the things I miss the most from pre-covid times.

@@tommihommi1 My roaster stayed open, got a PPP loan, and gave his staff raises. Buying great coffee from a good person feels good. There's always something interesting to try there as well.

@@davidferencz9640 my local roaster mostly sells online anyways, so his business actually increased during the pandemic. But the nice chats are missing.

Coffee and cocktails are the best beverages. Exquisite taste as always, Kevin

It’s the great Kevin Cos! Love your channel sir

dislike / loathe, if I catched that correctly.

You and me both. Based on James's videos I'm not sure I've ever had a proper cup of coffee. Onward to this exciting, albeit expensive journey!

Think of it another way: you’ve got a fun journey of discovery ahead of you. If you’d been doing it the best way all this time, you wouldn’t have that to look forward to :)

A lot of my friends who are coffee drinkers, ended up chosing podded coffee. But luckily, the pandemic and lockdown allows my family to settle for actual coffee machine and a decent grinder. It never occured to me that I would brew a much better coffee than Starbucks, which I tested when the city re-opens. Freshly ground, freshly roasted, carefully chosen coffee beans are clearly different, despite my skill being nowhere close Starbucks' well-trained Baristas. With podded coffee, it is probably very rare or nearly impossible to encounter weird coffees like "Aceh (Indonesia) Gayo wine" - an alcoholic drink descriptor from a strictly Sharia Muslim province. But yes, it is super weird and nearly wine-like, with the coffee's earthiness replacing the typical tannin and oaky depth of actual Cabernet Sauvignon. Definitely not something that you want to ruin with milk. But for a very earthy strong robusta bean from the local volcanic soil, a dollop of foamy milk is like match made in heaven.

You can still use Keurig and drink good coffee. Just put a reusable metal cup in there and put in your own grounds

@@Cower03 I managed to build a full set up for $300 +/-

As an AeroPress user and whole bean burr grinding dark roast lover for decades, I'm thrilled he's catching up! lol!

@@glenncurry3041 my thoughts exactly haha! Which grinder do you use?

Same here! Just got an Aeropress after watching James’ series, and I have no regrets :) as for the coffee exploring, I totally agree on buying online. I just recently subscribed to a service and it’s been such a great learning experience

I think that’s because of lockdown! I did the same

What? I missed the Dark Roast video?

punctual? I mean I'm sure he is but how do you know, and why does that make you cry?

ok

Well… i went straight to DeathWish 😅

I make latte art on nescafe. Quite fun😁

Nooooooooo

Perfect for greek Frappe though.

Amazon probably would be looking....

copy that - but I reckon a fair share of media personnel - avid coffeenuts, most of'm - have already seen this talent, yet he's is still hosting this channel. Perhaps, no wish to become the Jamie Oliver of coffee, but rather stay the James of, well .. Hoffman

@@reuireuiop0 The Hoff, if you will...

I could see him in a slick BBC production.. More Rick Stein than Jamie Oliver

I think he's found the perfect platform. TV would almost certainly try to force him to compromise on his principles

Yea Ive started to think about how coffee flavor seems to be a bunch of sliding scales.

This comment is so weird. Kinda wholesome, kinda puzzling.

I guide others to a treasure I cannot possess

I agree with this. I'm a passionate lover of tea and prefer the tea taste before coffee any day. But grinding coffee beans is somewhat soothing and the scent of it is very nice even if I don't really like the taste.

"who for some reason prefer it to tea" aka every American ever 🇺🇸 lol

Grinding coffee is a pleasure except when you have sleeping babies or toddlers.

Which grinder would you recommend?

@@4u2consider50 crush grind make a good one called the Columbia I think, if you look around you may find it for around £35 as i did. It can grind as fine as Turkish ☺️

I just bought a 1Zpresso JX Pro hand grinder and I'm hoping to build up some new muscles. As it is now, my grinding action just stalls sometimes.

@@Acceleronics I find that with my Comandante C40 too, albeit more rarely than when I started. Darker roasts are usually a breeze to grind though.

@@Acceleronics most hand grinders with the hexagon main shaft can be used with an electric drill bit attachment if you ever get lazy😂, it’s a breeze, however I need my drill elsewhere so i usually just pump through the 12.5g of beans every espresso it’s pretty good say after a week or so.

"James Hoffman's world coffee tour"

Imagine the even bigger shock of seeing him buy lavazza or Starbucks pre ground

You’d literally think he was having a breakdown..... I’d get help 😬

I’m imagining James’s face as a complete stranger starts an ‘intervention’ to save him; “NO James, don’t do it. You’re better than this! Take my hand I’ll get you out of here”.

It would be like watching Tony hawk buying a Kmart skateboard hahaha

@@Hilly092 *then a customer walks up to him* "hey man, check these ones out instead, Tony hawk used to have a board from this brand!" Hawk: visible confusion and unfathomable dissapointment

All I got was a headache because I wasn't wrapped up on caffeine like everybody else is? I don't know maybe it's just too much information.

@@ToddSloanIAAN The thing is, the information is useless until you buy something you like or don't like. It just seems like a lot because you don't really know what you want at this stage.

It's the exact same with whiskey, the notes are supposed to be reminiscent. You probably aren't literally smelling/tasting pear or cherry in a sweet scotch, but that's what you might think of as you explore it.

Sometimes you really do get a big hit of one of those descriptors though. I've got a Chinese coffee right now and one of the descriptors is freeze-dried strawberry, and there have been a few cups where that note has come through so strongly that I would've sworn someone had put a dollop of strawberry jam in my coffee when I wasn't looking

@@krytenfivetwothreep2485 Oh yeah, absolutely! I've had a coffee from Honduras that supposedly has a note of ice-cream and once I made cup that shocked me how vividly it reproduced the flavour of strawberry ice-cream. Even the smell. Coffee is awesome like that. :)

I do belive that James has covered this before. But I do believe this is what he is referring to when he talks about citrus giving an acid feel. It's not like the coffee will taste like an orange. It will only have the aciditiy and brightness of an orange.

I'm happy if it says red.

I'm happy just to have wine

Me too. I have high hopes that the next installment in this series will dive into that. This was a great introduction.

Direct trade implies the roaster purchased directly from a specific farm or union. Usually it means they have created a relationship with them as well, visited the farm, and typically pay above even fair trade prices!

@@acadiamusic514 That's helpful! Thank you, I'll try to look out for that :-)

@@kasperbach9939 no worries!

To really be (more) sure about the source and ethics/traceability of the coffee, I'd suggest buying from a local cafe that roasts or a roastery, or just order straight from them online. The supermarket is a huge gamble a lot of the time, especially with regards to freshness as James mentioned in the video. I'm certainly no expert, but I also know there is a lot of discourse around the real 'fairness' of 'fairtrade', and even 'organic'. With a roaster, often they will try to be open about the origin of the beans, highlighting specific regions or even single farms. Many have direct communication and a relationship with those producing areas/farms - some roasters even visit the farms themselves, etc. It'll usually be on their website. A lot more research can be done on your end as the consumer, and if you're getting whole beans straight from the roaster as James also suggested, it's often cheaper than you'd expect. Look for roasters in your country/area, or ask around at your local cafe! You may be paying a bit more for traceability, but in the long run you're helping not just producers/farmers more directly but also supporting (local) small businesses that also care about traceability - it's all a cycle, and a vote for fairer, more direct trade at the end of the day (and tastier, fresher coffee).

@@averylfong4843 I agree completely, but where I'm based, even the cheapers local roasters are still four to five times more expensive than fairly traceable supermarket coffee... Perks of living in one of the more expensive places in the world... :)

It would be interesting if James has any perspective to offer relating to Fair trade and other eco seals and if they actually make a difference in the coffee world. I feel many local roasteries claim they buy directly from small producers but offer no transparency on that claim...

@@Baunmwolle He would rock a few boats with that topic i'd guess.

@@Baunmwolle I think like most of us in the industry, he would rather buy from roasters that work with the farmers and invest back in them in a traceable way.

@@Adam-vx6to Sure, as would I. But my point is that claiming something without independent verification is an easy thing to do. I would love roasteries taking a strong stance towards more transparency in their supply chain regarding fair shares and working conditions. Basically every local roasterie in my city claims that they know the farmers personally and that they pay fair prices, etc. But as a consumer I have no way of knowing if this is true.

@@Baunmwolle ah see see what you’re saying now. Ya I totally agree

What 😲 - amazing! Treacle toffee as a kid was ace, sadly can’t eat it now.

Don't tell me you've never had a treacle toffee? 🥺 You poor soul

I unwittingly bought decaf once. A couple days later I had no energy and thought I was falling ill. I was considering going to the doctor when I noticed the word “decaf” on coffee I was preparing that morning. 😅

I did scroll through the comments to see, if anyone noticed :-)

I did notice, I'm not as much of a fan of our though, but my whole coffee setup is grey/black

@@chch242 went the same path! Was about to comment the same, but you've already did that too haha) nothing left for just leaving a like for both of you)

@@UserNameNiemand that's the ordeal of a successful channel. Statistics. The more people, the more similar minds :-)

A good quality hand grinder is a bit more money but much easier to grind with in case you are itching for an upgrade without wanting to spend on an electric grinder.

Recovering from RSI.

No need to worry. Better grinders are way more expensive, but your first car isn’t likely to be a Rolls Royce too. It’s nicer to work your way up to understand the differences in quality to learn and get a much more fine tasting palet.

I just look at it like as a good excuse for a workout

same *crying while scrolling through electric burr, cant afford any of them*

Someone probably caught him in the act so he decided to make a video to cover his tracks

The real reason he is making this video now while the mask is still mandatory!

*Picks up bag* "Oh no." *Picks up another bag* "Oh noooo." *Picks up a third bag* "Oh no no no."

But why? He own a roastery.

@@yanuarmustika5816 To do this video?