What Is Artisan Coffee?

Here at Two Chimps Coffee, we source and hand roast artisan coffee. But what makes a coffee artisan? Let’s take a look.

Let’s Start With The Coffee

The first and probably most important part of artisan coffee is sourcing coffee that is of an extremely high standard. The coffees we source are known as speciality coffee. Speciality coffee is the equivalent of a Rolls Royce in the coffee world. The care and attention that goes into farming these coffees result in some incredible flavours just waiting to be discovered.

More often than not, speciality coffee is handpicked. With only the ripest coffee cherries selected, the overall quality of the coffee will be higher. Once picked, these cherries are processed and dried to reveal the seed of the coffee cherry or coffee bean as we know it.

There are various processing and drying methods used which vary from farm to farm. The methods used will affect the notes found within a coffee too. For example, a naturally processed coffee will often have much sweeter and fruitier flavours than a washed coffee. Find out more about processing and drying methods here.

What’s the Score?

Every speciality coffee in the world is given a quality score. Each coffee is a scored out of 100 and is graded by qualified coffee cuppers, known as Q Graders. Each coffee will be cupped, (LINK) allowing each coffee to be graded fairly and equally. The Q Graders will score each of the coffees based on elements such as taste, aroma and mouthfeel,  alongside the number of defects. If a coffee obtains a score of 80 or above, then it is given the speciality title. Anything below 80 is commodity graded coffee. Find out more about coffee scoring here.

What Happens When We Receive The Coffee

We hand roast all of our artisan coffees in small batches at our on-site roastery in Ashwell, Rutland. Our head roaster Andy and his team put an incredible amount of care and attention into every roast. Before they start production roasting, the team will plan out the 1st roast by using the tasting notes obtained previously, alongside information such as the density and moisture content of the bean and the altitude it was grown. By hand roasting, Andy can make changes to the roast as and when things happen.

This recipe that is created makes a note of all the steps taken to create the roast. This is known as the roast profile. This process will be repeated until the team have nailed the roast.  Once happy, this final roast profile becomes the recipe card for all roasts of the same coffee going forward.

The roasting process allows the flavours found within a coffee to be livened and shown off or to be masked. With lower graded coffees, the beans will often be roasted for longer which masks any unpleasant flavours found within the bean. However, if the beans are roasted too dark, bitter and burnt flavours are produced.

As a result of the high-quality coffee we source, we use the roasting process to enhance the coffee’s flavours. Depending on the coffee and what we wish to showcase, some of our coffees are roasted lighter which often brings out fruitier flavours while others may be roasted slightly darker to bring out more chocolatey flavours. With this in mind, we never roast too dark that our coffees become burnt or bitter.

Artisan Coffee Goes Further Than Roasting

Although roasting artisan coffee is a very important part of the process, brewing is just as important.

Our website is full of brew guides which show you how to get the most out of your coffee when brewing at home. Don’t worry; our brew guides are easy to follow.

You will also find tips and tricks on every label so you can make artisan coffee easily and effortlessly at home.

Let Us Do The Hard Work

Buying coffee should never be a stressful task; that’s why we have made our website super easy to navigate. From our homepage, artisan coffee in your basket is just six clicks away.

Buying a one off bag? All you need to do is let us know the coffee you would like, the grind size and the amount, then pop your feet up and leave the rest to us. We will roast, then grind your coffee to suit your brewing device perfectly before sending it to you with FREE 1st class tracked delivery on orders over £25.

Looking to start an artisan coffee subscription? Awesome! You will need to select the same options as a one off bag; however, we will also need to know how often you would like to receive a delivery. You can choose a weekly, fortnightly or monthly. There are no contracts; so you are not tied into anything should the time come when you want to leave. We will miss you however.

In addition to being able to choose the coffee, weight and frequency, we’ve taken it a step further by offering you full control of your coffee subscription in your account.  Very useful if you planning a holiday but worried about missing your subscription for instance. Well, by logging into your account you can pause your subscription until you return. Alternatively, if you’re going away in the UK, have your coffee delivered to you at your holiday destination instead.  Just change your shipping address to suit. You can now enjoy Two Chimps Coffee on holiday. Does it get any better?!

Mystery Subscription

Are you someone who likes to try new things? Let me introduce you to our mystery subscription! Each time your subscription is due you will receive a different coffee – oooh! You are in charge of everything just like a regular subscription except we choose the coffee.

If there is a particular coffee that you don’t want to see as part of your mystery subscription just let us know and we will skip it and head to the next.

Now you know a bit more about artisan coffee, visit our shop today to grab a bag and try it for yourself!

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