Buying Gourmet Coffee Online

January 27, 2012, By Nayab Naseer 0 comments

Technology has made choosing among flavors and brands of coffee beans easier than it's ever been before. Multiple websites now offer coffee lovers the convenience of buying coffee beans online and having the beans delivered to their homes, without the hassles of searching local roasters or shops in search of that favorite flavor or blend.

On the internet you can source and track the beans right from the point of origin, allowing for better quality at lesser prices. Here's how to navigate the world of online coffee beans.

How to Order

Coffee beans are expensive, and returning the delivered coffee beans for exchange or refund is cumbersome, costly and very often not even possible.

Ordering on a hunch and ending up with the wrong—or a disagreeable—flavor is a mistake made by many coffee lovers who order online. Tasting the flavor before ordering is not possible online, of course, but coffee lovers would do well to follow these tips instead.

1. Understand the unique flavor or special characteristics generally associated with coffee types. For instance, beans such as Ethiopian Sidamo, Jamaican Blue Mountain and Kona have a special body and flavor that not everyone will enjoy. Similarly, slight variations in names can mean a big difference. For instance, Kona blend is not the same as pure Kona coffee and may only contain the minimum required 10 percent Kona coffee and 90 percent cheaper imported beans.

2. Look at the beans in blends. Many websites cut prices by diluting blends. For instance, a discounted product might actually be a blend of ten percent of the featured bean and 90 percent of lower-end coffee.

3. The two normal considerations of grind and roast also hold when buying coffee beans online. The grind options include fine (normally used with espresso machines), medium (normally used with electric drip machines) and coarse (normally used with percolators). The roast options include dark, medium and light, with dark being the most bitter. The more adventurous among you might consider roasting your own coffee beans. 

4. Save yourself money and aggravation by tasting a sample from a local café (if available) or order a small sample before buying in bulk.

Best Beans

The best quality beans are those packed right and sealed immediately after production to maintain the flavor. Oxygen reduces the flavor drastically. Opting for ground shipment ensures safe delivery, since pressure in an aircraft can break the seal of the coffee beans and expose them to oxygen.

Coffee beans eventually lose their flavor, whether exposed to oxygen or not. Order from a popular vendor with fast-moving stock to secure a fresh batch—and don't order more than you can use in a few months.

Some ways to identify popular sellers include checking statistics offered by e-commerce websites as well as checking visibility and reviews. When in doubt, buying from established companies is always a safer option than buying from unknown independent sellers.

Despite the concerns, ordering online gives you access to a wide variety of great coffees, and if you're fan of the bean you'll want to take a little time and find out what great flavors you can be enjoying right at home.