Reading a coffee label: process, altitude and variety
What the facts printed on each of our bags mean, and how much each one tells you about the cup.
Every coffee in the shop has a label with the same facts: origin, producer, process, altitude, variety, harvest and roast. Here is what each one tells you.
Process
Coffee is the seed of a fruit. Process is how the fruit is removed and the seed is dried.
- Washed: the fruit is removed before drying. Washed coffees tend to taste clean and bright.
- Natural: the whole cherry dries with the seed inside. Naturals tend to taste fruitier and heavier.
- Wet-hulled: used mostly in Indonesia; the parchment comes off while the seed is still wet, which gives an earthy, heavy cup.
Of all the facts on the label, process changes the taste the most.
Altitude
Higher farms are cooler, so the cherries ripen slowly. Slow ripening usually means denser seeds and more acidity. Altitude is a guide, not a promise: a well-run farm at 1,400 m can beat a careless one at 2,000 m.
Variety
Varieties are like apple varieties: some are prized for flavour, others for yield or disease resistance. Most of our coffees are blends of several varieties grown on the same farms.
Harvest
Green coffee slowly loses flavour after it is dried. We list the harvest months so you can see how fresh the green coffee is, separately from the roast date.
The scales
The roast, body and acidity scales on each product page are our own judgement on a five-point scale, tasted side by side with the rest of the menu. They help you compare our coffees with each other; they are not a standard.