If you are a selective coffee drinker like myself, then most likely already know that entire bean coffee is definitely the way to go. Whole bean coffee stays fresh much longer, and if you brew it straight after grinding it you get a flavour you simply can’t get from pre-ground coffee that has been sitting around for a little while.
Even only lackluster full bean coffee brands taste rather good if brewed straight after grinding.
One can find some of the finest whole bean coffee in Costa Rica. As an area well known for its coffee, I was enthusiastic to try some genuine Costa Rican brews during my visit there last year and I was totally blown away when I did. And I brought coffee beans, rather than ground coffee, back with me. When I got home, I quickly put 3 of the 4 bags I had into the freezer, and left the other out for immediate use. Whenever I crushed that entire bean coffee it transported me right back to Costa Rica, and I was in a coffee-drinkers heaven for the following couple of months.
It is a good thing I did not bring back already ground coffee, it might have lost lots of its unique flavour. At the same time the difficulty with full bean coffee is that you must grind it, which implies you need to get a coffee grinder – or, even better, a bean to cup coffee machine, sometimes known as an automatic coffee maker.
If coffee flavour isn’t truly that crucial to you, and / or you are running out of time or patience, entire bean coffee doubtless will not appeal to you that much. But it does to me!
