Updated on 10 November 2026 by Koen van Loon, with input from Debbie, art director and SCA-certified barista at Barista-Essentials. Originally written by José Dorenbos.
The ‘best’ coffee beans are freshly roasted, have a traceable origin and are honest about how they were produced. In this blog, you’ll learn how to recognise specialty coffee, how to test beans at home and how to choose the beans that best suit your taste.
What are the best coffee beans?
You can recognise the best coffee beans by a few key characteristics:
- Freshly roasted: the roast date is on the bag, ideally less than 2 months ago.
- An origin you can trace: the country, the region and ideally the farmer or cooperative.
- Openness about the beans: how they were processed and which variety they are.
- The right roast for your coffee: for espresso, a medium roast is a safe start.
- A quality score: specialty coffee scores at least 80 out of 100 points.
After that, you decide which bean tastes best: the best coffee beans are the ones that suit your taste and your machine.
What is specialty coffee?
Specialty coffee (in the UK often written as ‘speciality coffee’) is the highest quality grade of coffee. After a professional assessment, the coffee scores at least 80 out of 100 points, according to the standards of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA). Flavour, aroma and the absence of defects in the beans all count towards the score.
In the coffee world, this scale is often used:
| Score | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 80 to 85 | Very good |
| 85 to 90 | Excellent |
| 90 to 100 | Outstanding |
This scale isn’t officially fixed, but it gives a good picture. And it’s not just about the number: specialty coffee is also coffee that stands out for its own distinctive character.
But be careful: the term ‘specialty coffee’ isn’t protected, so not everyone uses it with the same care. If the origin, roast date or score is missing, ask the seller.
How to choose good coffee beans: what to look for
You can judge the quality of coffee beans largely by yourself, as long as you know what to look for.
A recent roast date. Good beans always have a roast date on the bag, not just a best-before date. Jasper, one of our founders, recommends using them within 2 months of roasting (and setting a reminder in your calendar to buy new beans, so you never run out).
Information on the bag. Origin, processing (for example washed or natural), variety and an SCA score. The more the roaster tells you, the better informed your choice.
Matt rather than shiny. Don’t be fooled by shine: shiny beans are usually dark roasted or a little older. Freshly roasted light and medium beans are often matt.
A strong aroma. You can smell fresh, good-quality coffee beans straight away. The older the beans, the weaker the aromas.
Testing coffee beans: how to compare them at home
Want to know which beans you like best? Then the best way is to test them yourself, at home with your own machine. Here’s how:
- Keep the recipe the same. For every bean, use 18 grams of ground coffee and 36 grams of espresso out, in 25 to 30 seconds. Weigh your beans on a coffee scale.
- Dial in your grinder for each bean. The first few shots of a new bean are for finding the right grind, not for tasting yet. Unless you hit a 1:2 ratio straight away ;-)
- Taste side by side. Pull under- and over-extracted espressos shortly after each other and taste them neat. Pay attention to sweetness, acidity, bitterness and how full-bodied the coffee feels.
- Taste with milk too. A bean that’s slightly too intense on its own can taste wonderful in a cappuccino.
- Write it down. That way you’ll know exactly what you enjoyed when you place your next order.
Want to compare several beans at once? With our selection box, you can taste different specialty coffee beans side by side.
Which coffee beans suit your espresso?
Roast. For espresso, a medium roast is a safe start: it has enough sweetness and body without becoming too bitter. Light roasts can work too, but they’re harder and need a good standalone grinder. A built-in grinder, such as the one in the Sage Barista Express, often can’t grind very light roasted beans finely enough.
Blend or single origin? You often hear that single origin is for filter coffee and a blend is for espresso. That isn’t always true. A well-chosen, medium roasted single origin makes an espresso with plenty of character. Our Guatemala and Sulawesi are single origins we deliberately recommend for espresso. Our Brazil - Ethiopia is a blend: notes of chocolate and caramel from Brazil, and floral notes from Ethiopia.
With or without milk. Which bean tastes best also depends on how much milk you use:
| You mostly drink… | Choose a bean with | For example |
|---|---|---|
| Espresso on its own (espresso, espresso macchiato) | Character and notes of citrus | Guatemala or Brazil - Ethiopia |
| A little milk (cortado, flat white) | Sweet, rounded notes | Brazil - Ethiopia |
| Plenty of milk (cappuccino, latte) | Body that stands up to milk | Sulawesi or Brazil - Ethiopia |
Also read how to make your own cortado or latte macchiato.
Our specialty coffee beans
At Barista-Essentials, we choose the beans in our range ourselves. To do this, we regularly test new and interesting beans on our own espresso machines. These are the beans we’re absolutely loving right now:
Brazil - Ethiopia
Milk chocolate, caramel and jasmine. A sweet, full body from Brazil, with a fruity, floral finish from the Ethiopian bean. Delicious as an espresso, and strong enough for milk-based drinks. View the Brazil - Ethiopia beans
Guatemala
Milk chocolate, orange and caramel. From Don Pedro Lopez Mendez’s plantation in Huehuetenango, where the beans ferment for around 32 hours. This gives a full, creamy body with sweet notes of orange. View the Guatemala beans
Sulawesi
Bold, earthy and spicy, with dark chocolate. The beans from Indonesia dry in two stages, which gives them their distinctive flavour and almost blue-green colour. A powerhouse as an espresso, and surprisingly well suited to a cappuccino. View the Sulawesi beans
Want to compare all our beans side by side? Browse our specialty coffee or choose the selection box.
Fairtrade, Direct Trade and specialty coffee
These terms are often mixed up, but they mean different things:
- Fairtrade is a certification: farmer cooperatives receive a guaranteed minimum price and an extra premium.
- Direct Trade isn’t a certification but a way of buying: the roaster buys directly from the farmer. The term isn’t protected.
- Specialty coffee says something about the quality of the coffee itself (the score), not about how it was bought.
Specialty coffee does often earn farmers a higher price than ordinary commodity coffee, because quality is better rewarded.
Where do the best coffee beans come from?
On the packaging of good coffee beans, you’ll almost always see the country of origin, and sometimes even the farmer and the plantation. That makes sense: factors such as climate, altitude and soil largely determine the flavour.
Countries that produce a lot of exceptional specialty coffee include Brazil, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Colombia and Kenya. But many more countries grow high-quality coffee, so don’t limit yourself to this list.
The best coffee beans for your machine
Specialty coffee beans are also better for your grinder. Cheaper coffee beans sometimes contain unripe, rotten or overly oily beans, and occasionally even small stones from the harvest. This makes your grinder wear out faster and need cleaning more often.
Store your beans airtight and in the dark, because coffee oxidises quickly and loses its freshness. Read everything about storing coffee beans.
Summary
The best coffee beans are:
- Freshly roasted (roast date less than 2 months ago)
- Traceable, with an origin you can follow
- Assessed for quality, for example as specialty coffee (80+ points)
- Roasted for your brewing method
- To your taste: test them at home with a fixed recipe
Which specialty coffee will you try first?
Frequently asked questions
How do you choose good coffee beans?
Look for a recent roast date (ideally less than 2 months ago), an origin you can trace, information about processing and variety, a roast that suits your brewing method and a quality score such as the SCA score. Then test them at home with a fixed recipe to find out which ones you like best.
What are the best coffee beans for an espresso machine?
Freshly roasted specialty coffee beans with a medium roast are a safe choice. Light roasts can work too, but they need a good standalone grinder. If you mostly drink coffee with milk, choose a bean with chocolate or caramel notes.
How long do coffee beans stay fresh?
Coffee beans taste best within 2 months of the roast date, which a good bag always shows. Once opened, store them airtight and in the dark, and ideally use them within a few weeks. Also read how to store coffee beans properly.
Is specialty coffee always better?
Specialty coffee is the highest quality grade: at least 80 out of 100 points. Whether you prefer it depends on your taste. Keep in mind that the term isn’t protected, so look at the origin, roast date and score.
How do you test coffee beans at home?
Test each type with the same recipe: 18 grams of coffee, 36 grams of espresso, in 25 to 30 seconds. Dial in your grinder for each bean, taste the espressos side by side, on their own and with milk, and write down what you taste.
Are shiny coffee beans better?
No. Shine mainly comes from a dark roast or from beans getting older. Fresh, light and medium roasted specialty coffee beans are often matt. So it’s better to check the roast date on the bag.
What is the difference between Fairtrade and Direct Trade?
Fairtrade is a certification with a guaranteed minimum price and a premium for farmer cooperatives. Direct Trade isn’t a certification; it means a roaster buys directly from the farmer. The term isn’t protected.
Which coffee beans are best for cappuccino?
For cappuccino, beans with body and sweet, rounded notes work best, because they stand up well to milk. Our favourites for this are the Brazil - Ethiopia (milk chocolate, caramel and jasmine) and the Sulawesi (earthy and spicy, with dark chocolate).
About Debbie
Debbie is art director at Barista-Essentials and an SCA-certified barista. She loves experimenting with different beans, brewing methods and recipes. Her favourite coffee? Something different every week, but preferably as a cortado or flat white.
