Category: Blog

How to store green coffee beans

Posted on by Sara Walker

Green coffee beansIf you’ve decided to start roasting your own green coffee beans, whether at home or commercially, you can be confident you’re getting the freshest possible flavours when you brew a cup of coffee.

There’s no point roasting and grinding your own coffee, though, if the green coffee beans you’re using aren’t in tip top shape.

Always buy good quality beans, and never store them in the fridge or freezer, even in sealed containers, as raw coffee beans are less robust than roasted and don’t cope well with excess moisture.

Raw coffee beans prefer moderate humidity, mild temperatures, and breathable storage conditions. Storing them in ventilated containers in a room that’s not subject to large shifts of temperature, such as a utility room or cool, windowless store room, works best. Try not to store them in a kitchen, particularly a commercial kitchen, as the heat and moisture will cause them to deteriorate.

Store your green coffee beans out of direct sunlight, which can cause condensation, and prefably keep them in hessian sacks or other bags made from natural, open weave fabric. If you’re planning to keep the beans for a long time before using them, sealed containers may be better, but store them somewhere cool and dry and check them regularly for any telltale signs of damage.

Properly stored in this way, the green coffee beans should last well for up to a year, although it’s better to buy them in smaller quantities and roast and use them quickly to make sure you retain the fullest amount of flavour. If you need to buy beans in large, commercial quantities, why not take a look at our Tunki green coffee beans, which come individually sealed in 1kg bags to keep them fresh and full of flavour? Visit our coffee beans page for more information.

Roasting green coffee beans commercially

Posted on by Sara Walker
Green, unroasted coffee beans
Green, unroasted coffee beans

If you’re a coffee connoisseur, you’ll know that the best way to get the freshest tasting cup of coffee is to buy green or raw beans, and roast them yourself in small quantities before grinding and using them quickly. This also means you can control the depth of roast and flavour according to your personal taste.

If you’re roasting your beans for a commerical business such as a restaurant, cafe or coffee retailer, you’ll need to achieve a consistant roast so your customers always know what they’re getting. To do this, you’ll need a commerical coffee roaster. Modern technology means than you can now buy compact machines suitable for ‘light commerical use’, which run from a 13 amp plug and roast around 300g of green coffee beans at a time.

Things to consider when roasting your own green coffee beans

You’ll need to position your coffee roaster in a well ventilated area in your shop or cafe, or install a ventilation duct. The roaster operates at very high temperatures, and also produces hot gases which will need to disperse. You should always stay with the machine during the roasting period, which can be anything up to 18 minutes depending on the depth of roast required, the quantity and the origins of the green coffee beans. Most commercial roasts have a clear chamber for the beans, so that you can see how the roast is progressing and alter the timings if necessary.

Advantages of a commerical roasterYour machine should allow you to set dials for length of roasting time and depth of roast, giving you a consistant result every time and roasting in small quantities means the freshest coffee.

Disadvantages

The machine will require a thorough cleaning every time it’s used, to remove any coffee debris which could otherwise build up and cause problems.

Ready to get started? Visit our coffee beans page for great quality green coffee beans.

Cappuccino Coffee Cake

Posted on by Sara Walker

We do everything online these days don’t we? Like buying coffee online… (no, really?!) Thanks to the internet you can now find out about pretty much anything within seconds. Do you remember back in the day when you had to go to the library to look up information? And had a big dictionary and an encyclopedia on your desk?  How did we survive without Wikipedia and Google?

For us the internet is obviously our bread and butter – we are responsible for you buying coffee online. Correction: for you buying very good coffee online. Once you’ve bought the coffee from us you might want to put it to good use – buying coffee online is only half the fun. The other half is going online to find out what you want to use it for. Today we have a suggestion for you: use it for the below cake.

 Cappuccino Coffee Cake

Serves 8

225g (8oz) very soft butter, plus more for the tins

225g (8oz) light muscovado sugar or caster sugar

225g (8oz) self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

4 large eggs

4 level tsp instant coffee, dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water

For the coffee icing

175g (6oz) soft butter

350g (12oz) icing sugar

4 level tsp instant coffee, dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/350F/315F fan/Gas 4. Butter and line the base of two deep 20cm (8in) sandwich cake tins.

Measure all the cake ingredients, except the coffee, into a large mixing bowl and beat together until smooth. Stir in the dissolved coffee until thoroughly blended. Divide the mixture evenly between the two prepared tins and level the tops.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 25–30 minutes until golden brown, shrinking away from the sides of the tin and the sponge springs back when lightly pressed.

To make the icing, mix the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl and beat together until smooth. Beat in the dissolved coffee and divide into four. When they are cold, slice each cake horizontally in half, giving four layers of cake. Sit one base on a cake stand and spread with a quarter of the mixture. Continue layering up with cake and icing so you finish with icing on top and swirl to give an attractive finish.

The cake can be made and iced up to two days ahead, kept covered in the fridge. Iced or un-iced, it freezes well.

AGA COOKING

Two-oven Aga: bake on the grid shelf on the floor of the roasting oven, with the cold sheet on the second set of runners, for about 25 minutes, until golden brown. Three and four-oven Aga: bake on the grid shelf on the floor of the baking oven for about 25 minutes. If getting too brown, slide the cold sheet on to the second set of runners.

From ‘One Step Ahead’ by Mary Berry (Quadrille, £9.99)

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Great coffee on a budget

Posted on by Sara Walker

EspressoThe ability to produce a great-tasting espresso is at the heart of every coffee business. As well as a drink in its own right, espresso forms the base of many other coffee drinks, such as cappucino, mocha, latte, americano and even coffee cocktails and iced coffee. To produce the perfect espresso, you need a grinder, capable of producing the finer grounds needed for good espresso, a good coffee brewing machine and the right espresso beans.

Although it sounds strange, beans used for espresso tend not to be roasted very darkly, as roasting brings the natural oils of the beans to the surface, which they can start to deteriorate. An expert coffee bean roaster will be able to catch the beans at the optimum moment, so that they produce a stronger flavour and retain enough of their natural oils and sugars to produce a good crema (the frothy, creamy head on the top of a good cup of espresso coffee).

If you want to brew a full flavoured espresso with a good crema it’s important not to scrimp on the quality of the beans. With the growth in popularity of buying coffee beans online, it’s become much easier to buy beans blended specifically for producing espressos, and many people favour the Lavazza Super Crema brand for a consistent taste and crema. Although Lavazza is a great brand, there’s now a new product on the market which gives the same benefits of flavour and crema at a lower price.

Suprema Coffee Beans are an expert blend of Arabica and Robusta coffee, blended specifically for espressos and able to produce an excellent crema. They’re supplied in individual 1kg bags to keep them fresh, and produce the perfect espresso for use as a base, or for drinking by itself. If you’re looking to get good value for money in your coffee shop, but don’t want to compromise on flavour, why not take a look at Suprema Coffee Beans on our coffee beans page.

 

UHT milk for coffee – convenience in a pot

Posted on by Sara Walker

UHT milk coffeeHotels and transport companies often supply customers with individual pots of UHT milk to accompany their coffee, but just what is it and why is it so popular?

UHT stands for ultra heat temperate processed, or ultra heat treated. It refers to fresh milk that’s been heated for only one or two seconds at a temperature exceeding 135 degrees celcius, to kill off any bacteria. Although we associate the process, which has been commercially available since the 1970s, with milk, many other products are also processed in this way including fruit juice and cream.

Advantages

The major benefit of UHT milk is that the shelf life is enormously extended – most treated milk has a shelf life of six to nine months in an unopened carton, compared to only a day or two for fresh milk. This makes it suitable for areas where there’s no refrigeration, as it can be stored at an ambient temperature. It’s also very popular in countries with hotter climates, which refrigeration is less efficient, and is more environmentally friendly than fresh milk, as the heat treating process requires less energy than the constant refridgeration required for the fresh product.

Disadvantages

Although the milk retains a similar calorie content once heat treated, it does lose some nutrients, and the process causes the taste and smell of the milk to change. Once opened, UHT milk needs to be refrigerated and used as fresh milk.

UHT milk and coffee

For areas where there’s no or limited refrigeration available, such as offices or aeroplanes, UHT milk portions are the obvious choice. The individual pots reduce wastage through spillage or spoiling, and there are no hygiene issues.

Our UHT milk pots are a great value option for offices or caterers, and can be used anywhere. For more information or to see our range of other milk products, please visit our coffee ingredients page.

 

 

Chocolate and Coffee Pairing

Posted on by Sara Walker

Everyone knows that a good glass of wine can be paired excellently with many types of food, but do you also know that you can pair different kinds of fresh roasted coffee beans with food? There are many different types of beans and roasts and different foods will bring out different flavours in the coffee, just as different beans will bring out different flavours in the food. There is one particular food that goes great with coffee and that’s chocolate.

Many people believe chocolate and coffee are a great pair because the caffeine, theobromine, and other feel good substances come together to make you feel great. However, there are instances when a good cup of fresh roasted coffee and a great piece of chocolate also enhance each other flavour wise.

When it comes to determining what kind of coffee goes with what kind of chocolate it is sometimes difficult to give recommendations because where you are they may not have the same beans and chocolates available as where we are and hence the advice ends up generalized. Some people argue that the lighter tasting blends work well with milk chocolates as the notes of honey ad vanilla resonate, others use milk chocolate with strong beans so that the tastes won’t become to strong. One thing is for sure though: your experience will greatly depend on how good the coffee and chocolate you use are.

If you read this blog chances are you are one of our clients, you may even own your own coffee shop and work for one. As you know we sell fresh roasted coffee beans. This means that if you buy it and grind it yourself, or just open a bag of our ground coffees, you will have one ingredient right: the coffee. The best way then to pair our coffee is to get hold of some really high quality chocolate, preferably from two different companies so that you can check how different kinds of cacao beans can bring out different tones of the coffee. Buy milk chocolate, dark chocolate and two kinds of pralines, or white chocolate, from each company. Try to get the same kinds of chocolate from the different companies so that for example you get a 35% milk chocolate from each company and 75% dark chocolate from each.

As for the coffee: get two or three different kinds of beans, potentially a light, medium and dark roast and brew some regular coffee. Make sure, as mentioned previously, that it’s fresh roasted coffee beans that you are using.

The best way to go about a tasting is to break the chocolate into small pieces and putting them in one small bowl each. Keep the pralines in one piece or divide them in half. Serve the different coffee in different cups, or keep the coffee in different coffee pots if you want to use just the one cup per person. Make sure to have pen and paper at hand. Then simply smell a bowl of chocolate, take a small piece and taste it – let it cover your tongue and then have a sip of coffee and note how the taste changes. Use the same kind of chocolate from the other company and do the same. Afterwards sip just the coffee and notice the difference in taste. As you go along keep taking notes

This is a great thing to do with a bunch of people to find out how different taste buds experience different things and, of course, to find your own perfect chocolate and coffee pairing! Enjoy!

chocolate_and_coffee_wallpaper_fce8c

What Every To Be Coffee Shop Owner Must Know

Posted on by Sara Walker

We did a previous blog on the basics of starting a coffee shop talking about the “coffee ingredients” that go into a successful venture.  There was one important coffee ingredient we left out though: ambiance.

There is a saying that goes: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” This has been attributed to Maya Angelou and we believe the lady had a point.

Everything in life comes with a feeling, even coffee. If you serve good coffee people will remember how it made them feel. They may remember the taste of the coffee also, but especially how that taste made them feel.

In a coffee shop it isn’t all about coffee though. People won’t remember your coffee shop fondly because of just the coffee. Hard to believe but there are more “coffee ingredients” that go into the perfect cup.

The perfect cup of coffee, the one that makes people feel amazing is delivered with great service. Service is really, really important when running a coffee shop, because how clients feel when they walk into a coffee shop is greatly dependent on the service they get. If they are met by someone who greets them with a big smile, chats to them, and hopefully remember their name and some little things about them if they are regulars, they will feel welcome and at ease – they may even start feeling at home.

There is a coffee shop in the town where one of us crazy Wholesale Coffee Co. workers live (namely me) and when I first came to town I had to ask why people loved this coffee shop, because no one seemed to be very enthusiastic about neither the coffee, nor the food, nor the décor. It was explained to me then that people came there because of the owner. He knows the whole town and when you walk in he remembers you and chats to you. He might even introduce you to other people there. It feels like you walk straight into a family. And he pours everyone a glass of free grappa every Friday morning.

The other thing that affects people’s feeling is the actual place. If you walk into a place that makes you feel at home, it’s stunningly beautiful, or it excites your senses in some other way, then you are likely to come back. This isn’t just about the furniture, layout and wall paint, it’s also about the light, the temperature and the freshness in the air. Not to mention the toilets. Unwelcoming and dirty toilets can actually scare off clients, believe it or not!

So that’s it: one of the most important coffee ingredients is how you make people feel at your coffee shop!

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The perfect cup of coffee – a lot more than just coffee!

Powdered milk for coffee

Posted on by Sara Walker

Milk_glassAlthough powdered milk in coffee isn’t everyone’s first choice, there are some situations when it’s the only practical solution. For automatic coffee machines in shops and workplaces, powdered milk is hygenic, long lasting and doesn’t require refrigeration or the constant cleaning of the machine, making it a sensible choice when refilling needs to be kept to a minimum.

What is powdered milk?

Powdered milk starts life as standard milk, either full fat or skimmed, which goes through an evaopration process to remove the liquid and leave a dry residue. A lot of powdered milk is using in catering or baby products, and the latter often has extra vitamins and minerals added prior to sale.

How’s it made?

On arrival at the processing plant from the farm, the milk goes through a quality control process before passing into an evaporator which has been specially adapted to allow the liquid to boil at a lower temperature. This means that the liquid is extracted without any damage to the milk, which could otherwise scorch. It’s also pasturised at this stage. Once around half the liquid’s gone, the remaining fluid goes through a separator, to split it out into cream (which is removed for later use) and skimmed milk. The skimmed milk is standardised to make sure the product always has a consistant nutritional profile, then it goes to a drying tower where it’s swirled rapidly through the air until the remaining liquid evaporates.

Finally, the dry powder is packaged appropriately, and some is sent out for use in coffee machines, or to be stirred directly into cups of coffee.

There are various grades and brands of powdered milk available, some of which are formulated specifically for machine use. If you’re looking for powdered milk to restock a machine, please visit our coffee ingredients page to browse our range.

 

Alternative hot drinks for coffee shops

Posted on by Sara Walker

KakaopulverWith coffee now the most popular hot drink in the world, and a wealth of coffee shops, cafés and other retailers set up to service the growing demand, non coffee drinkers could be in danger of feeling left out.

While some people can’t tolerate caffeine for medical reasons, others might not like the taste or simply fancy a change, and most retailers now cater for customers who, for whatever reason, would rather not drink coffee.

Athough most retailers already have a range of alternatives available, such as tea, herbal infusions and decaffeinated coffee, customers will often choose a ‘treat’ drink, such as speciality hot chocolate.

Although traditionally a ‘winter warmer’ drink, hot chocolate’s popular with children all year round, and with many sweet-toothed adults as well. If it’s a miserable, drizzly day outside, few people can resist a tall glass of frothy hot chocolate, with its overtones of cashmere blankets and log fires. It’s also a drink that few people would think of making for themselves at home, which makes it an appealing choice in a coffee shop.

If you’re thinking about offering hot chocolate in your business, there’s now a wide range of powder on the market to suit all tastes, from high chocolate content powder for adults, right through to everyone’s childhood favourite, Cadburys. You could even think about introducing a hot chocolate menu, with house specialities or ‘hot chocolate cocktails’ incorporating extra ingredients such as marshmallows, chocolate sprinkles, cream, cream, orange or mint liqueur or spices such as nutmeg or cinnamon.

Whatever you decide to add, make sure that your hot chocolate’s as a poor substitute for coffee – don’t forget to invest in some glasses or tall mugs specifically for the chocolate, to make the drink look attractive. For a wide range of hot chocolate powders for every occasion, as well as other coffee ingredients, visit our ingredients page.

 

What makes a premium coffee blend?

Posted on by Sara Walker

tunki-blendYou’ve probably noticed packets of coffee in your local supermarket labelled ‘premium blend’, and may have wondered just how these luxury blends differ from standard coffee beans, and what you’re getting for your money.

What is a blend?

A bag of coffee with the word ‘blend’ on the side means that the contents are a mixture of different roasts, origins or tastes of coffee, blended together for a balanced taste. As a natural product, coffee varies season by season, depending on the weather and growing conditions. An experienced blender can produce a consistent blend year after year by adjusting the beans slightly, to reduce or increase any acidity.

How are blends made?

Of the two types of commercial coffee bean, Robustica are grown at lower altitudes and have a stronger, less subtle flavour, while Arabica are considered to be higher quality. The most straightforward blends use a mixture of the two types in various proportions to achieve the right taste and quality for their brew.

What is a premium blend?

Although the term ‘premium’ isn’t a standard, a blend marketed as ‘luxury’ or ‘premium’ should contain a high proportion of of Arabica, or even be 100% Arabica. Using pure Robustica produces a lower quality drink, which is mostly used for cheaper instant coffee, and most standard blends are a mixture of both.

Tunki coffee beans

With all this in mind, we’re very excited about our new product, Tunki coffee beans. Made from 100% Arabica, organic coffee beans, this is a single origin, true gourmet coffee, which is grown 1300-1800 metres above sea level in the Peruvian Andes. A full-bodied coffee with a floral aroma and undertones of chocolate and treacle, if you’ve never tried a premium blend before you won’t believe the difference. Visit our website for a sample bag, and to buy your coffee beans online.