The number one FAQ we receive at The Roastery is ‘how should I buy my coffee beans?’. Surprisingly there is an easy answer. 

Some of you might be thinking, ‘I can get my coffee ground?’  The answer is yes, if you purchase coffee in any of our cafes or online there is an option for your coffee beans to be pre-ground. We offer two variants, coarse ground or fine ground. Coarse ground is for you if you have a cafetiere, manual home brewing apparatus or if you use a filter drip machine (a classic American filter coffee machine). Fine ground is if you have an espresso machine at home or use a Moka Stovetop.

Now this sounds great right? We do all the laborious grinding for you and save you bucket loads of time during that mad morning rush! This is correct, I would recommend our grinding option for anyone who needs to save time in the morning or isn’t confident on using a manual or electric grinder themselves. If this is you then I’ve got some tips to get the best out of your ground coffee:

1) Buy your ground coffee weekly to insure you’ll get the most flavours out of your ground coffee. When selecting your blend of coffee opt for a weekly subscription and we will make sure you get our freshly roasted coffee delivered to your door.

2) Correctly store your coffee grounds. This is a classic mistake people make and admittedly I did this myself before working for Trading Post! Keep your coffee out of the light and out of the fridge (yes people do this). Pour it out of our bag and into an airtight sealed container, I use the Fellow Stag Atmos container coming soon to our store, its opaque and ensures no air gets to the coffee grounds. If this doesn’t work for you then make sure the container you get is opaque and airtight. The air is the issue here as it leads to oxidation and once this process begins the coffee loses its freshness and bold flavours.

Now after all that you are probably asking yourself ‘why would I ever buy whole beans again?’ Am I right? Apart from the loss of freshness (which can be solved by getting the correct container), what else am I losing out on? Well, the obvious answer is over time you are missing out on a whole lot of flavour. Grinding is a crucial yet overlooked part of the brewing process. It is not as simple as chucking the beans into a grinder and grinding till you see no speck of whole bean left, an even grind is a perfect grind. Normal blade grinders don’t provide an even grind. Why does this matter? When you are pouring hot water onto the grounds its passing over an uneven surface. We recommend a bur or mill grinder, they help to grind the coffee more evenly and as a result you will get a more consistent and flavoursome cup of coffee.

Our favourite home grinder is back in stock! Check out the Wilfa Svart Coffee Grinder.

I started off saying there was an easy answer to what you should do. You could be thinking ‘Ryan, you have only gone and confused me more!’. That I may have, however the simple answer is it’s up to you. If you are willing to invest the time to get the most out of out of your equipment and coffee beans, then go grab a grinder and get practising! If you live a hectic life and need that extra help to save time, then ground coffee is your option. Regardless of your decision, when it comes to purchasing coffee from Trading Post Coffee Roasters, we’ll make sure you get the best coffee beans possible!