Finding the best coffee beans isn’t necessarily about choosing the most expensive bag on the shelf. The coffee you enjoy most will depend on your taste, how you make it and whether you prefer something smooth and familiar or a cup with more distinctive flavours. With so many coffees available in South Africa, knowing a few basics can make choosing your next bag much easier.
At Coffee The Bible, we think good coffee should be something you look forward to drinking. Our Bible Blend was created as an approachable everyday coffee that works across different brewing methods, while also connecting your daily cup to a much bigger purpose.
What makes the best coffee beans?
Good coffee starts with the beans, but origin is only part of the story. How the coffee is roasted, how fresh it is and how well it suits your preferred brewing method can all change what you taste in the cup.
When comparing the best coffee beans, think about the type of coffee you normally order. If you enjoy cappuccinos and flat whites, you may prefer a balanced coffee with enough body and flavour to work well with milk. If you drink espresso or black coffee, you may notice more of the individual characteristics of the beans.
You will also come across both single-origin coffees and blends. Single-origin coffee comes from a particular country, region, farm or lot and is often chosen for its distinctive flavour profile. A blend brings different coffees together to create a particular balance and consistency. Neither is automatically better. It comes down to the kind of coffee you enjoy and how you plan to brew it.
If you’d like to learn more about coffee quality and brewing, the Specialty Coffee Association has useful educational resources covering everything from coffee standards to brewing.
Choosing coffee beans for the way you drink coffee
Before buying a bag, consider what happens to those beans when you get home. Someone using an espresso machine may be looking for something very different from someone making a French press or filter coffee every morning.
This is one reason a versatile blend can be such a practical choice for everyday use. Coffee The Bible’s Bible Blend brings together coffees from Colombia, Brazil, Nicaragua, Tanzania and Ethiopia. It can be prepared as espresso or filter coffee, so you don’t need to be a coffee expert to enjoy it.
If you don’t grind your coffee at home, you can also select a grind when ordering. Choosing the right grind for your brewing method is important because the size of the coffee grounds affects how quickly the water extracts flavour from the coffee.
Freshness is another consideration when looking for the best coffee beans in South Africa. Coffee changes after roasting and even more quickly once it has been ground. Store your coffee properly, keep the bag well sealed and avoid buying far more than you can reasonably use while it is fresh.
Good coffee can have a bigger purpose
Taste will always matter when choosing coffee. But what you buy can also represent something you care about.
Coffee The Bible was built around the idea of connecting something people already do every day with the mission of Bible translation. We drink coffee at home, at work, with friends and after church. Instead of asking people to add something completely new to their lives, Coffee The Bible gives an existing habit a greater purpose.
That is the story behind Bible Blend.
Choosing Coffee The Bible means your morning cup becomes connected to a movement working towards making God’s Word available to people in the language they understand best.
If you’d like to know more about why this work matters, read What is Bible translation and how can you be part of the movement?
Where to buy the best coffee beans
Buying coffee online makes it much easier to explore different options without being limited to what happens to be available at your local supermarket. You can choose your coffee, select the appropriate grind and have it delivered directly to you.
We’ve put together a separate guide on buying coffee online in South Africa →
Coffee The Bible is also available at a growing number of physical locations around South Africa. If you prefer buying in person, you can find your closest Coffee The Bible location and discover where to enjoy or purchase the coffee near you.
Ultimately, the best coffee beans are the ones you genuinely enjoy making and drinking. Whether that’s a morning espresso, a cappuccino after lunch or a pot of filter coffee shared around a table, choose coffee that suits the way you drink it.
And if that coffee can support something meaningful at the same time, even better.
