Today. Yesterday. A Week Ago. A Month Ago.

The standard best practice is to let just roasted coffee beans sit for a week before making coffee with them, to let them degas. That is a great piece of advice and a great place to start. That being said, some of the absolute best cups of coffee I’ve made at home were using beans that I roasted just one day prior, so I encourage you to experiment and see what you like best. After the first week though, beans start to go stale very quickly, therefore it is best to find a good way to store them, or use them up quickly and start on a new batch.

Single Origin. Blend.

Just in case its name wasn’t descriptive enough, single origin coffee means all of the beans in the package come from the same country and the same producer and you’ll see the names of both on the package as well. Single origin coffees can have wildly different flavors from each other since the region, climate and environment the beans are harvested in and the method used to process them can all change the experience entirely. Trying single origin beans from coffee producing countries all over is one of my favorite things about coffee.

Blends combine beans from many different lots and origins to target a very specific flavor profile and are used for the majority of espresso around the world.

Both single origins and blends have their uses and either can be used no matter how you brew your coffee, so experiment and see what excites your taste buds.

Light. Medium. Dark. Extra Dark.

Coffee shops typically use dark or extra dark roasts to make espresso drinks since they provide a consistent base to layer with water, milk, foam or what have you. The darker the roast, the more the “roast” flavor overtakes the bean’s inherent flavor, which is perfect when you want to provide the same taste experience to your customers day in and day out and know that the shot you pull is guaranteed to satisfy. Dark roasts are also great for cold brew since the slow extraction removes much of the “boldness” and bitterness.

Light roasts and medium roasts are the gold standard for most non-espresso coffee brewing methods (but they’re great for a unique espresso too) because the bean’s flavor profile is brought out much more vibrantly than in a dark roast and allows for plenty of nuance and tasting notes akin to wine. Whether you prefer pour overs, immersion methods, or just about any other type of coffee brew method, I urge you to give light and medium roasts a try. You might just surprise yourself.