Once of the most popular brewing methods is with a bean-to-cup machine, which provides users with an automated process and delicious coffees at the simple press of a button, but there are many more great brewing methods used to create wonderful coffees.
Espresso Maker
Perhaps the most popular method of brewing coffee, and certainly one of the oldest. Creating a pure, powerful shot of espresso using an espresso maker is a daily process adored by coffee lovers around the world, who favour this method for its time-honoured tradition and, of course, the resulting beautiful cup of coffee.
To brew using an espresso maker, ground coffee is placed into a basket, which contains tiny holes that allow the hot liquid to pass through, but prevents any pieces of ground coffee from making it into the cup (other than the tiniest particles). The handle containing the basket is locked into the espresso machine and the pump is activated, which sends near-boiling water through the ground coffee. The liquid then drips into the waiting cup below, often with a natural head of foam, known as the crema.
Cafetiere
A cafetiere, or French Press, is an infusion brewer that consists of three main components - a carafe/pot, plunger and lid. Unlike filter brewers or Moka pots (where water passes through the grounds), cafetiere coffee is created by allowing the coffee grounds and the water to steep together in the pot. The plunger then drives a mesh filter through the brewing water, pushing small insoluble particles to the bottom of the pot.
There are lots of benefits of opting for cafetiere brews: steeping coffee helps produce a more uniform extraction, and the process allows a little oil and small particles to flow through, creating a vibrant body and texture; you have a higher level of control over how strong or weak you prepare your coffee; in terms of ease and affordability, there is no need for additional equipment, such as paper filters or cloths.
Filter Machine
Filter coffee is produced by pouring boiled water over ground coffee beans, then passing the liquid through a membrane (often paper) to filter out the larger grounds, leaving the brewed coffee to collect.
Preparing good filter coffee is somewhat of an art. From blooming to extraction, attention must be paid at each stage of the coffee-making process to create a great-tasting brew, but the results are well worth your time and effort!
Aeropress
An Aeropress is an inexpensive and easy to use device for making a perfectly brewed, clean cup of coffee. It first made an appearance in 2005, and is a lightweight, compact and portable piece of equipment, making it ideal for travelling, overnight stays and camping trips. It's also simple to clean and eco-friendly.
The components of an Aeropress consist of two durable polypropylene cylinders, one with an airtight seal, that form a brewing chamber with a plunger, and a filter cap to fit on one end. A coffee scoop, funnel and stirring paddle are also included when purchased. The filters used are disposable, biodegradable paper ones, but a reusable disc-shaped metal filter can also be bought separately if preferred.
A coffee subscription, providing you with regular orders of your favourite beans on a personalised schedule, is a wonderful way to take the hassle out of buying coffee (and avoiding the prospect of running out before your first cup of the day!). What’s more, you will often find that subscription plans allow you to save on your everyday essentials, with some big savings available.
With a coffee subscription plan from Coffee-Direct, you will save a massive 15% on every item on your plan, for every order!
You can amend your subscription at any time and change the recurrence of your regular, automatically processed orders, or change the coffee variety, bag size and quantity. No matter how often you choose to receive your coffee, you will always be saving against the usual RRP of our range, with 15% off every item, every order.
Reasons to Subscribe with Coffee-Direct
• Save 15% on every subscription order - you will benefit from a permanent 15% discount across all of our coffees - no codes to add!
• Freshly roasted to order - all of our coffees are roasted to order, ensuring your coffee is as fresh as it possibly can be
• Choose from more than 100 coffee varieties - from single origins to seasonal flavours, we’ve got something for everyone
• Cancel or change at any time - you are free to amend, skip or cancel your subscription at any time without penalty via your account, and we're always on hand to help if you need us.
• No cancellation fees - we never charge cancellation fees and you can cancel or amend your preferences at any time without penalty.
• Schedule repeat delivers - we'll automatically send you the freshly roasted coffee you choose as often as you require.
Start Your Coffee-Direct Gift Subscription Today!
Our Coffee Subscription Plans
Along with our coffee subscription plans, we offer three fantastic subscriptions that each offer something different to satisfy your coffee needs.
Gift Subscription
The perfect gift for the coffee lover in your life - freshly roasted speciality coffee delivered direct to their door each month!
Choose from a 3, 6 or 12 month subscription package, which is activated at the recipient’s convenience. The recipient can choose their perfect grind, and you can choose to send the gift subscription to them directly or give it to them yourself.
Coffee of the Month - 50% off your first order!
Subscribe to our Coffee of the Month, and we'll send you a different carefully selected coffee throughout the year.
Each coffee is expertly roasted to showcase our origin and blended coffees, and all varieties are suitable for all popular brewing methods, so you can sample different tastes from all around the world and find your new favourite brew.
Discovery Club - 50% off your first order!
Join the Discovery Club and we'll send you a different freshly roasted coffee each week.
Perfect for coffee connoisseurs, our Discovery Club packs each contain enough coffee for at least 14 cups, so you can experience a new taste a week from all corners of the world!
]]>If you are a coffee lover who likes to get their caffeine fix on the go, you are likely to have noticed some rather large increases in the cost of your favourite High Street coffees recently.
With the cost of living crisis continuing to take a toll on the average prices of a range of commodities, and other external factors influencing High Street prices, it looks like the rising costs across our everyday treats and essentials will be around for some time.
One way we can combat these price increases is to switch from buying our coffees from High Street coffee shops to preparing them at home, to take with us when out and on the go. With a bit of quality equipment and some freshly roasted coffee, it’s easy to create wonderfully flavoursome and aromatic drinks at home every day, while saving money.
The average cost of a medium latte, purchased from a High Street coffee chain, reached £3.25 in 2023, with plenty of variation and even higher prices being common. In fact, it was previously reported that, between August 2021 and July 2022, the price of popular coffees had increased by as much as 22%.
Now let’s look at how this would compare to creating a coffee at home, using beans or pre-ground coffee from Coffee-Direct: with one bag of our 908g espresso grind Italian Coffee, available at £22.99, you can expect to pour somewhere around 128 shots of espresso, or 64 double-shot lattes. That’s 64 double-shot lattes for just £22.99, around 36p per drink, or less than £11 for a latte a day for 30 days!
Compare this to 30 lattes bought from a High Street coffee shop, where you would be looking to have spent perhaps £97.50 in total, and you’ll agree that it’s quite the saving!
While it might seem like a fairly costly purchase at the time, a coffee machine is actually a great investment; with the big savings that can be made when you switch from High Street coffees to homemade coffees, you can expect to break even on the cost of a new espresso maker or bean-to-cup machine in no time!
For example, if we take out very popular Gaggia Espresso Deluxe machine as an example, available at just £189 from Coffee-Direct. If we say that you can save around £2.89 on every homemade latte when compared to the same from a High Street shop, it will mean you will have paid off the cost of your espresso maker in just 66 coffees! At five coffees per week, that’s you breaking even in just thirteen weeks.
And if you don’t want to go for a coffee machine, you can still create delicious, freshly brewed coffee through a number of popular brewing methods, such as using a cafetiere, a filter machine or a percolator. Our Stovetop Espresso Maker, Moka Coffee Pot and Coffee Drippers are great alternatives to coffee machines, and you can even purchase your freshly roasted coffees pre-ground from Coffee-Direct, to suit your chosen method.
On top of the big savings that you can enjoy by making your coffee at home, you can save an extra 15% on every order at Coffee-Direct when you create an ongoing subscription plan.
Our coffee subscriptions are easy to set up, and once in place we will automatically send you your freshly roasted coffee as often as you like.
Cafetieres require a coarser grind of coffee than is used for espresso makers, coffee filters and percolators. The coffee is brewed directly in hot water before the plunger is used to hold the grinds at the bottom of the container, and the strength of your brew can be easily adjusted by using more or less ground coffee to taste.
The most recognisable version of the cafetiere was invented by Atilio Calimani in 1929. Being an infusion brewer, a cafetiere works by steeping water and coffee together, before filtering the brewing grounds from the brewing liquid using a metal mesh. This process creates a very uniform extraction and, due to the relatively large holes in the mesh, more non-soluble material from the coffee finds its way into the cup, including a little of the coffee oil and some tiny pieces of coffee, giving the resulting brew a richer body and texture.
Three Excellent Cafetiere Coffees
Monsoon Malabar – From £12.99
One of India’s most sought-after coffees, Monsoon Malabar is a heavy-bodied brew that makes a wonderfully mellow and smooth cup of coffee, with deep, rich flavours and aromas. The roast is often described as bold, earthy and sweet, having tobacco and wood notes, as well as intense aromas of dark chocolate and nuts.
Arabica Supremo – From £18.99
An extraordinary, complex blend of 100% Arabica beans, sourced from five different coffee-growing locations across the world. Deep, rich and smooth, with an exotic, spicy aroma, the recipe for this ingenious mix of high quality, expertly roasted beans is a well-kept secret, but once tried, you’ll be left in no doubt as to how amazing it tastes!
Swiss Water Decaffeinated – From £15.99
This medium roast Arabica from Brazil is 99.9% caffeine-free and 100% chemical-free; it is decaffeinated using the Swiss Water method, an environmentally friendly process that is 100% natural and involves no added chemicals such as ethyl acetate.
Perfect for when you are in the mood for a delicious coffee, but you don’t want the buzz of a caffeine hit, our Swiss Water Decaffeinated coffee is rich and full-bodied, with low acidity and minimal bitterness.
The Arabica coffee plant is thought to be the first species of coffee to be cultivated, dating as far back as 12th century Yemen, and it remains the most commonly used coffee bean variety, leading the way ahead of the Robusta bean in second place.
Produced in dozens of countries between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer, Arabica, or coffea arabica, now represents around 60% of global production. Usually grown at elevations of around 1,300-1,500m and predominantly in subtropical climates such as in Brazil, Colombia and Central America, Arabica coffee beans offer a wonderful diversity of flavours, complex characteristics and beautiful aromas, with coffees that are fruity and earthy, nutty or woody, sweet, chocolatey or smoky.
Our wide selection of excellent, quality Arabica coffee beans are all freshly roasted to order, ensuring that you can experience the most intense flavours and freshest aromas of these truly remarkable beans.
Our Popular Arabica Bean Coffees
Monsoon Malabar – From £12.99
One of India’s most sought-after coffees, Monsoon Malabar is a heavy-bodied brew that makes a wonderfully mellow and smooth cup of coffee, with deep, rich flavours and aromas. The roast is often described as bold, earthy and sweet, having tobacco and wood notes, as well as intense aromas of dark chocolate and nuts.
Malabar, located in a mountainous region of southern India, provides ideal coffee-growing conditions, with coffee plants grown at high altitudes, surrounded by lush vegetation and nutrient-rich humus soil. Once picked, a bean from this region undergoes a unique ‘monsooning’ process to bring out its flavours.
Kenya Blue Mountain – From £14.99
Our Kenya Blue Mountain is grown from seeds originally from Jamaica, which produce a coffee that has the natural sweetness of a Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, with the rich aromatic flavours and intensity that is typical of Kenyan coffee.
Kenya's acidic soils provide excellent conditions for the growth of quality coffee, especially the renowned Arabica bean, which is known to take on fantastic cocoa notes in Kenyan coffees. Full bodied, with a good acidity, hints of nut and citrus and a lovely caramel aftertaste, our Kenya Blue Mountain is perfect in strong filter coffees or from the cafetiere.
Arabica Supremo – From £18.99
An extraordinary, complex blend of 100% Arabica beans, sourced from five different coffee-growing locations across the world. Deep, rich and smooth, with an exotic, spicy aroma, the recipe for this ingenious mix of high quality, expertly roasted beans is a well-kept secret, but once tried, you’ll be left in no doubt as to how amazing it tastes!
Swiss Water Decaffeinated – From £15.99
This medium roast Arabica from Brazil is 99.9% caffeine-free and 100% chemical-free; it is decaffeinated using the Swiss Water method, an environmentally friendly process that is 100% natural and involves no added chemicals such as ethyl acetate.
Perfect for when you are in the mood for a delicious coffee, but you don’t want the buzz of a caffeine hit, our Swiss Water Decaffeinated coffee is rich and full-bodied, with low acidity and minimal bitterness.
Blue Sumatra – From £13.99
This strong Indonesian coffee comes from Sumatra, the second largest of the Indonesian islands, and is considered among the finest examples from the region. Smooth and aromatic, with a well-balanced spiciness that is typical of Sumatran coffees, our Blue Sumatra coffee reveals a full body and a little acidity for a delightful hint of intensity, making this a pleasure to drink from a cafetiere, filter or as an espresso.
Types of Arabica Coffee
Typica – Considered to be the original variety from which all other varieties have mutated, which first spread around the world for commercial production by the Dutch. The fruit is usually red and produces an excellent cup of coffee.
Bourbon – a natural mutation of the Typica variety, which occurred on the island of Réunion (known as Bourbon at the time). The fruit comes in various colours, red, yellow and occasionally orange, and many believe that it has a distinctive sweetness, making it highly prized.
Maragogype – another mutation of Typica that was first discovered in Brazil. This variety is highly desired due to the unusually large size of the beans, causing this coffee to often be referred to as “Elephant” beans. Check out our own Dark Maragogype here.
Mundo Novo – a natural hybrid of Typica and Bourbon varieties, named after the place in Brazil where it was discovered in the 1940s. Mundo Novo grows at altitudes of around 1,000-1,200m and is known for its high yield and strength.
Caturra – a mutation of Bourbon, discovered in Brazil in 1937 and particularly popular in Colombia and Central America.
]]>This lovely gift pack features twelve of our finest coffees from around the world, all beautifully packaged in an attractive box, giving your Valentine the chance to delve into a wealth of diverse flavours, aromas and characteristics.
Available as whole beans or pre-ground for favourite brewing methods, this also comes with our brilliant Coffee Guide, which provides useful information about each of these exquisite coffees.
Our gift subscriptions are simple to use and give your recipient a different variety of freshly roasted, speciality coffee beans delivered direct to their door each month. Each delicious coffee is selected by our team of expert roasters, and your recipient will never receive the same bean twice.
You can choose from 3, 6 or 12 month subscriptions, and we will either send a pre-paid coffee gift subscription for the recipient to activate at their convenience, or email the subscription to you, so that you can print it from home.
What’s more, your recipient can choose to receive their coffee either as whole beans, or pre-ground to suit their preferred brewing method, whether that is cafetière or espresso maker, percolator or filter, or as a Turkish coffee.
Coffee-Direct Gift Subscription – From £31.99
With a different coffee suitable for all brewing methods sent each month, our coffee gift subscription is sure to be a hit with coffee novices and connoisseurs alike.
As tiramisu traditionally carries bold notes of espresso coffee, flipping the original recipe on its head and making a coffee with notes of tiramisu works brilliantly.
Delicately balancing the sweetness of the amaretto or amaretto syrup with the darker tones of your choice of coffee, this tiramisu coffee recipe is a tantalising option when you’re in need of a hit of tiramisu dessert with fewer steps and ingredients.
Tia Maria is an ideal alcohol to pair with coffee, and this recipe makes sure to combine the best of both Tia Maria and your favourite coffee ground to create a deliciously sweet and luxurious coffee experience.
As a dark liqueur, typically made using Jamaican coffee beans, Tia Maria is a natural choice to add to a mug of well-brewed coffee as the flavours are organically similar and will sit alongside one another beautifully.
This wonderful buttered coffee is rich with your favourite spices and gains its mouth-watering smoothness from your choice of dark rum. Make sure to whip out this rum coffee recipe as an after-dinner dessert, served best hot in the darker months for a boost of warmth and seasonal feel.
Cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, vanilla and allspice are spices most typically found in any spiced rum, and their addition to this recipe is useful for drawing out the dominant notes found in both your choice of rum and your favourite coffee bean.
Brandy and coffee are a match made in heaven; with their complimentary flavours and deep, rich notes this alcoholic coffee recipe is a delicious coffee experience that packs a heavy punch.
The natural bitter flavours of the coffee perfectly complement the fruity, sweet flavours of the brandy, and if you decide to top your brandy coffee with whipped cream and chocolate shavings, this recipe can also serve as a dessert all of its own.
]]>If you’ve been looking for a full-flavoured coffee bean but want to try a decaffeinated variety, or if you are planning on reducing your caffeine intake for January, then we have a wonderful range of delicious, freshly roasted decaffeinated coffees for you to choose from, as well as an excellent half-caffeinated bean in our 50/50 Decaf Colombian coffee.
Our decaffeinated range includes our very popular Swiss Water Decaffeinated coffee – a 100% naturally decaf bean that uses a clever process involving water and no chemicals, resulting in 99.9% of the caffeine being removed from the coffee bean.
Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee – From £15.99
Dark Decaffeinated Colombian Coffee – From £12.99
If you're looking for a quality decaffeinated coffee that doesn't sacrifice on strength and intense flavours, then our Dark Decaffeinated Colombian is for you.
Ideal for deep, aromatic espressos, these beans offer the rich and luxurious flavour of chocolate and produce wonderfully full-bodied coffees that won't be keeping you up all night.
50/50 Decaf Colombian Coffee – From £12.99
Our 50/50 Decaf Colombian is a lovely blend of Colombian coffee and Swiss Water Decaffeinated coffee, giving you a mellow, lighter caffeine hit with all of the delicious, rich flavours.
This blend is ideal if you are looking to reduce your caffeine intake or are looking for a more mellow caffeine hit.
]]>All of our Gaggia machines are stocked in the UK and come with a 2-year UK warranty included in the price, as well as dedicated technical support direct from Gaggia, should you ever require it.
Our Gaggia Picks
Send the coffee lover in your life the perfect gift - a Coffee-Direct.co.uk gift voucher!
Choose from the values available and send a voucher on to the lucky recipient to spend at their convenience. Gift vouchers are emailed immediately to your own address, and can be printed or emailed on to the recipient
Our gift vouchers are available in five values: £10, £15, £25, £50 and £100.
12 Days of Christmas Gift Pack - £34.99
This fabulous box of delights will surely bring great joy this Christmas season to the coffee connoisseur and novice alike!
Featuring twelve remarkable coffee varieties from across the globe, this gift pack enables the recipient to try a different coffee variety for each day of Christmas, and experience the wealth of diverse flavours and characteristics contained in some of the finest coffees available.
Neatly packaged in a festive presentation box, the twelve 60g bags can contain whole beans or pre-ground coffee for popular brewing methods, and included in the box is our beautiful Coffee Guide, providing useful information about these exquisite coffees.
Coffee-Direct Gift Subscription – From £31.99
With a different coffee suitable for all brewing methods sent each month, our coffee gift subscription is sure to be a hit with coffee novices and connoisseurs alike.
Gaggia Classic Brushed Steel Espresso Machine - £499
The Gaggia Classic is the winner of the Expert Review 2023 award for the Best Manual Espresso Machine Under £500.
The Gaggia Classic 2023 (Classic Evo) is the culmination of 80 years of tradition, history, and experience. With the Gaggia Classic you can pay attention to every detail and brew real, Italian espresso with the utmost precision. This is a machine in the finest tradition of Achille Gaggia, brewing an espresso with exquisite crema.
]]>For us coffee lovers, we know that enjoying a freshly brewed cup is about more than just the flavour – it’s a full sensory experience that incorporates tastes, aromas and a range of complex, intertwined characteristics including bitterness, acidity, body and sweetness. We also know that to fully enjoy this wonderful interplay, it is crucial to have the freshest coffee beans and ground coffee available when it comes the time to make our favourite drinks.
That is why Coffee-Direct puts the utmost emphasis on freshness throughout the entire process of roasting, packing and delivering our coffees direct to you.
Our Coffees Are Roasted to Order
Coffees that are bought at the supermarket, even whole beans or those that are described as being ‘fresh’, are generally roasted in large batches weeks, if not months, before making it to the shelves. Unsurprisingly, this large-scale roasting and long holding period can result in coffees that are not fresh and are often lacking in the complexity of flavour and the richness of aromas that should be expected from a bag of roasted coffee beans.
At Coffee-Direct, all of our coffees are roasted to order and in small batches, before being immediately packed for a quick delivery. This means that only the freshest coffee beans and ground coffee make it to our customers, guaranteeing that your drinks are always at their most flavourful and aromatic. We aim to deliver our coffee orders within 24-72 hours after being roasted and pack our freshly roasted coffee beans and ground coffee in foil-fresh bags. These clever bags feature one-way valves that are designed to let carbon dioxide out, but nothing in, ensuring freshness and preserving the wonderful aromas of our coffees. You can even see the roasting date on the bag!
Catering to All Brewing Methods
Whatever your preferred method of brewing your coffee is, Coffee-Direct has you covered. If you like to prepare your drinks using an espresso maker, a percolator, a cafetiere, as a filter coffee or as a Turkish coffee, we can provide you with a coffee that has been pre-ground to the perfect coarseness for your favourite method. Or, if you like to make your drinks with a bean-to-cup machine, our freshly roasted whole beans will arrive to you bursting with flavour and delightful aromas. We even provide guidance and suggestions on the best coffee beans to use for your chosen brewing method, and many of our varieties are suitable for all popular methods.
Expert Coffee Knowledge
Our team of expert roasters bring more than 30 years of knowledge and experience in sourcing, importing and roasting coffee from around the world. With this experience, we are able to provide detailed information on the flavour profiles of all our coffees, the origin and growing conditions of the coffee cherries, suggest the best preparation methods for each variety, and keep a close eye on every stage of production - from sourcing the unroasted green beans and perfectly roasting them, to packing and delivering your order.
A Broad Range of Delicious Coffees
At Coffee-Direct, we not only stock a beautiful range of single-origin coffees from some of the most renowned regions in the world, but also a fantastic selection of coffee blends that have been carefully prepared to bring you a truly unique experience. We source coffees from Africa, Asia, South and Central America and Australasia, from popular coffee-growing regions such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Brazil, Papua New Guinea and Peru, Zimbabwe, Colombia, Uganda, Costa Rica and Sumatra. You will also find a delightful range of flavoured coffees, rare and exclusive varieties, and speciality bean types such as longberry, peaberry, and elephant beans, alongside the more common arabica, robusta and decaffeinated coffee beans.
Never Run Out with our Coffee Subscription
It’s every coffee lover’s worst nightmare – you go to the kitchen, looking forward to your first brew of the day, only to realise that you have run out of your favourite coffee! With a subscription plan at Coffee-Direct, you’ll never run the risk of being caught short on your coffee hit.
With a Coffee-Direct subscription, you can create a bespoke plan to receive your favourite coffees as often as you like, on the days that suit you. What’s more, you will receive 15% off every subscription item, on every recurring order!
Simply choose as many coffees as you like from our range and select your preferred recurrence. You can opt to have multiple coffees delivered on the same day or spread out your choices to receive different varieties at different times, and you can cancel, with no charge, at any time. As for roasting, our subscriptions work in exactly the same way as our one-off orders – we freshly roast our subscription orders the day of packing, so you can always expect to receive the freshest, most aromatic and flavourful coffees.
We’ve got three wonderful new coffees available now at Coffee-Direct - a sweet and mildly citrusy bean from Guatemala, a delicious smooth and chocolatey variety from Papua New Guinea, and a very versatile, sweet and nutty coffee from Brazil.
There’s also still time to buy our beautiful 12 Days of Christmas Gift Pack for delivery before the big day, so you can surprise the coffee-lover in your life with a truly special treat.
Guatemala Huehuetenango – From £14.99
Brazil Fazenda Paraiso – From £12.99
Brazil Fazenda Paraiso is sourced from a farm located in the traditional coffee-growing district of Cabo Verde, where an ideal climate, low humidity and favourable temperatures create perfect growing conditions.
Harvested between May and August, these coffee cherries are picked and taken to drying patios to be sorted, dried and processed under the sun.
We have our ever-popular 12 Days of Christmas gift pack, our handy Coffee-Direct.co.uk vouchers and gift subscriptions, our excellent Gaggia espresso machines and bean-to-cup machines, as well as a lovely selection of selection packs and equipment that are sure to please any coffee fanatic.
You can now save £35 across our range of Gaggia bean-to-cup machines and espresso machines, priced £400 and up, when you sign up to our newsletter. This fantastic saving will automatically be applied to your order at the checkout page once you have signed up.
All of our bean-to-cup machines and espresso makers are brand new and delivered boxed, with orders despatched within 2 to 3 working days, and come with a 3-year UK warranty included in the price, as well as dedicated technical support direct from Gaggia, should you ever require it.
Gaggia Brera - £425
The Gaggia Brera is a compact bean-to-cup espresso machine in a stylish, modern design, which is simple to use and allows easy access to the water tank and coffee ground waste.
The Brera allows for customisation of your preferred drink, with easy-to-use controls that provide control over the grind of the coffee, the amount of coffee used in each espresso shot and the length of each shot.
Gaggia Magenta Prestige - £649
The Gaggia Magenta Prestige comes with an integrated milk carafe, which froths milk twice and removes all bubbles, while ensuring the milk hits the right temperature. The removable brew group doses and tamps the right amount of ground coffee for all your espressos, while a wide user interface with full colour display ensures more control and visibility when preparing your favourite beverages.
Gaggia Cadorna Prestige - £829
The Gaggia Cadorna Prestige is designed to ensure a perfect espresso every time, with an impeccable crema layer and no splashes. The integrated milk carafe froths milk twice and removes all bubbles, while ensuring the milk hits the right temperature, and the removable brew group doses and tamps the right amount of ground coffee for all your espressos.
The 100% ceramic grinders extract the purest essence from coffee beans to prevent overheating and burning, while the Optiaroma gives you the unique option to adjust the aroma intensity and create tailored coffee-based drinks by choosing the quantity of ground coffee per cup, among five selections.
Gaggia Classic 2023 - £499
The Gaggia Classic is the winner of the Expert Review 2023 award for the Best Manual Espresso Machine Under £500.
With the Gaggia Classic 2023 you can pay attention to every detail and brew real, Italian espresso with the utmost precision.
Designed to professional standards, the brew head is made of lead-free brass and the outside of the brew group is covered with a stainless steel cover, giving the best in espresso quality and machine longevity. The heavy stainless steel filter-holder ensures a consistent and stable brewing temperature throughout the entire brewing process.
]]>Get that festive feeling with our wonderful range of blended coffees this Christmas!
Our selection of wintery, full-bodied coffees reveal delicious sweet and spicy flavours and warming aromas that are sure to bring some festive cheer each morning.
And take a look at our range of delicious flavoured coffees, our ever-popular 12 Days of Christmas gift pack, and our range of perfect Christmas gifts for the coffee-lover in your life.
Santa’s Blend – From £12.99
Treat yourself and the family this Christmas to a luxurious, comforting mug of our Santa's Blend, which has been carefully and lovingly created to capture the festive magic of Christmas.
With its warm fruitiness and hints of spice, this smooth, rich, medium strength coffee will warm anyone up on those frosty December mornings.
Rudolph’s Blend – From £12.99
This medium strength blend is sure to warm you up through those Winter days and nights, with a bold, full bodied taste that will make the stresses of the Christmas shop melt away, leaving you full of festive cheer.
The blend works best when brewed in a cafetiere or in fabulous filter coffees, bringing a welcome richness to lattes, cappuccinos and milky Americanos.
Christmas Pudding Flavoured Coffee – From £13.99
The perfect treat this festive season, our Christmas Pudding flavoured coffee offers traditional Christmas fruit and spice flavours that work wonders when enjoyed through the chilly Winter evenings.
12 Days of Christmas Gift Pack – From £34.99
This fabulous box of delights will surely bring great joy this Christmas season to the coffee connoisseur and novice alike.
Featuring twelve remarkable coffee varieties from across the globe, this gift pack enables the recipient to try a different coffee variety for each day of Christmas, and experience the wealth of diverse flavours and characteristics contained in some of the finest coffees available.
Our 12 Days of Christmas Gift Pack contains:
We’re thrilled to bring three fantastic new Gaggia models to our range – the Espresso Style and Espresso Deluxe machines, and the fantastic MD15 coffee grinder.
With the Espresso Style and Deluxe espresso makers, you can prepare exquisite, barista-style drinks from the comfort of your home and enjoy delicious espresso shots using both ground coffee and paper pods.
The expertise and passion of Gaggia are on show in these Italian-made, sleek manual espresso machines, which make excellent choices for anyone who is starting out in the world of coffee.
Gaggia Espresso Style - £179
Featuring two stainless-steel filters, the Espresso Style allows you to create delicious espresso shots using both ground coffee and paper pods, thanks to the Pod System. The automatic pre-brewing allows you to experience a wonderful body and an intense taste for every espresso, while the clever Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) allows for precise control of the boiler temperature during the brewing process.
The articulated panarello offers a wider range of motion that makes it easier to froth milk, while the ergonomic handle ensures an even tamping.
Available in two colours: Lava Red and Stone Black.
Gaggia Espresso Deluxe - £189
The Gaggia Espresso Deluxe differs slightly from the Espresso Style, with a stainless steel body as well as a stainless steel cup plate and a stainless steel drip tray grid, and offers excellent performance and durability, ensuring that you will enjoy the finest espressos and filter drinks for many years to come.
Experience a wonderful body and an intense taste for every espresso thanks to the pre-brewing, which implies a few seconds of pause between the first shower of hot water and the actual brewing, and create delicious espresso shots using both ground coffee and paper pods.
Available in two colours: Black/Green and Black/Grey.
Gaggia MD15 Coffee Grinder - £99
Create the perfect coarseness for your ground coffee beans with this 15-setting grinder, in a lovely brushed chrome finish.
The MD15 comes in a sleek conical shape and features a 300g bean hopper capacity, stainless steel conical burrs and a digital timer to grind pre-set quantities of coffee.
Practical and easy to use, the MD15 is ideal when using pressurised and “crema perfetta” filters. The removable ground coffee container has a capacity of 150g and allows space for the filter-holder to be placed directly under the coffee dispenser.
We are sometimes asked by our customers whether our coffee beans are freshly roasted when purchased, or if they have been roasted previously and simply picked from a shelf when an order is placed.
We are very proud of the fact that all of our coffees, both whole bean and pre-ground, are always freshly roasted to order, immediately packaged and sent out to you the same day.
Some coffee suppliers and supermarkets will offer coffee beans that have been roasted as much as several months prior, which means that you won’t be enjoying the freshest possible flavours and aromas when you open your bag and make your first drink.
At Coffee-Direct, we hand roast all of our coffees to order, ensuring that our customers receive the freshest possible beans and ground coffee, the fullest flavours and the richest aromas.
Our Process
At Coffee-Direct, we hand roast all of our coffees to order and immediately package them and post them out to you after roasting, ensuring that you receive the freshest possible beans and ground coffee, the fullest flavours and the richest aromas.
We never sell coffee that has been previously roasted, so you can rest assured that you will always receive beans or pre-ground coffees that have been roasted specifically for you!
Our Packaging
After roasting, our fresh coffee is packed into out specially designed bags.
These foil-fresh bags feature resealable zips and one-way valves, which are designed to let carbon dioxide out, but nothing in, sealing in all of those delicious flavours and wonderful aromas.
Thanks to our clever packaging and roasting process, our coffees will remain fresh, unopened, for up to nine months after roasting.
How to Keep Your Beans Fresh After Opening
There are a number of ways to keep your coffee beans fresh after opening the bag; the most effective is good storage.
Storing Coffee
Coffee beans are best stored in a cool, dark environment, where they won’t be exposed to heat, moisture, light and air.
While our bags do come with resealable zips to prolong freshness, you might want to invest in a durable and air-tight storage solution.
The best way to store your beans is in an air-tight container kept at room temperature. Store the beans in an opaque container, as exposure to light can degrade their freshness more quickly. The best place for your container of coffee beans is in a dark, cool location.
Grinding Beans
Another simple way to keep your coffee fresh is to grind your beans only when necessary, ideally each time you are preparing a drink.
By investing in a grinder, whether manual or automatic, you can keep your coffee beans sealed tight in a storage container, or in our resealable bags, and only take out the beans required for each drink, thereby maintaining freshness.
Ensure the Freshest Coffees with Our Handy Accessories
Airtight Coffee Storage Container – From £15.99
This durable, stainless steel tin is perfect for storing your coffee once it has been taken out of its packaging, allowing you to enjoy the rich aromas and vibrant flavours of fresh coffee every day.
The sealable lid and firm clip ensure that your beans remain fresh and aromatic for even longer. The airtight lid and seal mean you won’t need to worry about air leakage and moisture penetration, while a one-way valve prevents oxygen getting in.
Gaggia MD15 Coffee Grinder – £99
Create the perfect coarseness for your ground coffee beans with this 15-setting grinder, in a lovely brushed chrome finish.
The MD15 comes in a sleek conical shape and features a 300g bean hopper capacity, stainless steel conical burrs and a digital timer to grind pre-set quantities of coffee.
Practical and easy to use, the MD15 is ideal when using pressurised and “crema perfetta” filters. The removable ground coffee container has a capacity of 150g and allows space for the filter-holder to be placed directly under the coffee dispenser.
]]>Our range of quality Gaggia espresso machines make the perfect gift for the coffee-lover in your life or a wonderful treat for yourself, allowing you to make delicious barista-style coffee from the comfort of home.
All of our Gaggia machines are stocked in the UK and come with a 2-year UK warranty included in the price, as well as dedicated technical support direct from Gaggia, should you ever require it.
You will also receive a Coffee-Direct.co.uk gift voucher and a free bag of our Arabica Supremo beans (RRP £33.99)
Gaggia Classic 2023 - £499
The Gaggia Classic is the winner of the Expert Review 2023 award for the Best Manual Espresso Machine Under £500.
The Gaggia Classic 2023 (Classic Evo) is the culmination of 80 years of tradition, history, and experience. With the Gaggia Classic you can pay attention to every detail and brew real, Italian espresso with the utmost precision. This is a machine in the finest tradition of Achille Gaggia, brewing an espresso with exquisite crema.
Designed to professional standards, the brew head is made of lead-free brass and the outside of the brew group is covered with a stainless steel cover, giving the best in espresso quality and machine longevity. The heavy stainless steel filter-holder ensures a consistent and stable brewing temperature throughout the entire brewing process.
Available in the following colours: Lobster Red, Thunder Black, Stainless Steel, Sunshine Yellow, Midnight Blue, Jungle Green, Cherry Red, Polar White and Grey.
Gaggia Carezza Deluxe - £279
Combining the tactile benefits of a manual espresso machine with many of the digital innovations of an automatic machine, the Gaggia Carezza Deluxe features a pre-infusion function for espresso, allowing for maximum flavour to be extracted from the coffee, as well as an auto-clean function that gives the machine a short rinse every time it is turned on.
The Carezza’s boiler is a thermoblock boiler, so that steam and hot water are generated quickly and on demand, reducing the overall power consumption of the machine for an energy efficient operation.
The temperature of the boiler can be monitored on the inbuilt thermometer, while the pressurised filter holder makes it easy to get perfect espresso every time.
Gaggia Classic 2019 - £429
Designed to professional standards, the group head and filter holder are made of chromed brass to ensure high quality and machine longevity, while the three-way solenoid valve relieves the pressure in the filter holder immediately after pulling a shot.
The boiler is designed for unparalleled temperature stability, and the 15 bar pump pushes the hot water through the ground coffee at high pressure to ensure better tasting, crema topped, espresso.
The machine also comes with three filters: a “perfect crema” basket to help you create the perfect espresso, as well as single (7g) and double (14g) traditional baskets that allow you to perfect your home barista skills.
]]>Enjoy a different coffee each month, carefully selected by our expert roasters, with our Coffee of the Month subscription.
Our expertly roasted coffees are chosen to showcase our extensive range of quality origin and blended coffees from around the world, and each variety or blend is available as whole beans or pre-ground for your favourite brewing method.
You can tailor your plan to choose your preferred bag size and quantity, as well as brewing method, and you can amend or cancel your plan at any time.
What’s more, you can enjoy a massive 50% off your first order when you use the code WELCOME50 at checkout!
Our Coffee of the Month Subscription – From £12.99
Whether you are looking for a beautiful gift for the coffee-lover in your life, or a special treat for yourself, our bean-to-cup coffee machines are the perfect solution.
Our range of quality Gaggia bean-to-cup coffee machines feature a variety of fantastic design features and innovations to suit all your needs and create beautiful, barista-style coffees from the comfort of your home.
All of our Gaggia machines are stocked in the UK and come with a 3-year UK warranty included in the price, as well as dedicated technical support direct from Gaggia, should you ever require it.
You’ll also receive a Coffee-Direct.co.uk gift voucher and a free bag of our Arabica Supremo beans (RRP £33.99)
Our Gaggia Bean-to-Cup Machines
Take a closer look at some of our top-rated Gaggia bean-to-cup machine models.
Gaggia Brera - £425
The Gaggia Brera Black is a compact bean-to-cup espresso machine in a stylish, modern design, which is simple to use and allows easy access to the water tank and coffee ground waste. The Brera allows for customisation of your preferred drink, with easy-to-use controls that provide control over the grind of the coffee, the amount of coffee used in each espresso shot and the length of each shot.
Gaggia Cadorna Prestige - £829
The Gaggia Cadorna Prestige is designed to ensure a perfect espresso every time, with an impeccable crema layer and no splashes. The integrated milk carafe froths milk twice and removes all bubbles, while ensuring the milk hits the right temperature, and the removable brew group doses and tamps the right amount of ground coffee for all your espressos.
The 100% ceramic grinders extract the purest essence from coffee beans to prevent overheating and burning, while the Optiaroma gives you the unique option to adjust the aroma intensity and create tailored coffee-based drinks by choosing the quantity of ground coffee per cup, among five selections.
Gaggia Magenta Plus - £589
The Gaggia Magenta Plus features a beautifully made stainless steel steam wand, designed from the Gaggia tradition. The steam wand is shaped in such a way that you can use different kinds of milk jugs and always enjoy perfect results.
The stainless steel espresso tray is designed to ensure a perfect espresso every time, with an impeccable crema layer and no splashes, while the removable brew group doses and tamps the right amount of ground coffee for all your espressos.
Gaggia Anima Prestige - £599
The Gaggia Anima is the Independent’s Indy/Best 2023 top pick, described as a “sleek-looking machine” that “serves up espresso that will please the palette of even the most discerning coffee drinker.”
Ideal for luxurious and convenient lattes and cappuccinos, the Gaggia Anima Prestige incorporates a milk carafe and offers precise control over the coffee dosage on every espresso shot, with a range from 7 to 11.5 grams, while temperatures can be controlled through the digital interface to ensure the perfect cup. The model also includes a removable water tank, a large cup height and LED display.
Our Popular Gift Packs
12 Days of Christmas Gift Pack - £34.99
Featuring twelve remarkable coffee varieties from across the globe, this gift pack enables the recipient to try a different coffee variety for each day of Christmas, and experience the wealth of diverse flavours and characteristics contained in some of the finest coffees available.
Neatly packaged in a festive presentation box, the twelve 60g bags can contain whole beans or pre-ground coffee for popular brewing methods, and included in the box is our beautiful Coffee Guide.
Exclusive Coffee Gift Pack - £88.99
A wonderful selection of our highly sought-after exclusive coffees, all hand-picked by our expert roasters. These rare, very special coffees represent the best of our range, offering a truly unique experience for coffee-lovers and novices alike.
Our Exclusive gift pack includes six 125g packs of the following coffees: Kopi Luwak, Blue Mountain Jamaica, Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, Colombian San Agustin, Dark Maragogype and Barahona Paraiso.
Flavoured Coffee Gift Pack - £51.99
Our Flavoured gift pack includes a delicious selection of our very own flavoured coffees in 227g packs, which will be a treat for any adventurous coffee lover. The gift pack contains: Amaretto, Caramel, Cinnamon, Hazelnut, Irish Cream and Rum.
Beautifully presented in their own gift box, our gift packs can be delivered directly to the recipient, and you can add a gift message at the cart to really personalise it.
Cafetiere Coffee Starter Pack - £71.99
Featuring a 6-cup Grunwerg Belmont cafetiere, along with eight 227g bags of coffee specifically chosen for cafetiere use, this makes for the perfect starter kit for enjoying cafetiere style coffee.The Grunwerg Belmont cafetiere is both stylish and functional, suited to traditional kitchen settings as well as more modern surroundings, with a double wall construction that helps keep your brewed coffee hot for up to three times longer than conventional glass cafetieres.
]]>Our Coffee-Direct gift subscriptions can now be printed at home, so you can give the gift of delicious, freshly roasted coffee at any time.
Our Coffee-Direct Gift Subscriptions
The perfect Christmas gift for the coffee lover in your life, our gift subscriptions allow the recipient to receive freshly roasted speciality coffee delivered direct to their door each month.
You can choose from 3-, 6- or 12-month plans, and we'll email you the gift subscription, so that you may print it and gift it to the lucky recipient, who can then activate their plan at their convenience.
The gift subscription contains all information for your recipient to activate their plan, and you can choose to include a gift message that will be included on the printable subscription.
Not sure whether they use whole beans or pre-ground coffee? No problem! The recipient chooses their options themselves and can even opt to have their coffee delivered to them at work or any other address.
With a different coffee suitable for all brewing methods sent each month, our coffee gift subscription is sure to be a hit with coffee novices and connoisseurs alike!
Give the gift of delicious, aromatic coffee with our 12 Days of Christmas gift pack, a fabulous box of delights that will surely bring great joy this Christmas season to the coffee connoisseur and novice alike.
Featuring twelve remarkable coffee varieties from across the globe, this gift pack enables the recipient to try a different coffee variety for each day of Christmas, and experience the wealth of diverse flavours and characteristics contained in some of the finest coffees available.
Neatly packaged in a festive presentation box, the twelve 60g bags can contain whole beans or pre-ground coffee for popular brewing methods. Included in the box is our beautiful Coffee Guide, providing useful information about these exquisite coffees.
12 Days of Christmas Gift Pack - £34.99
Our 12 Days of Christmas gift pack contains 60g bags of the following delicious coffees:
Monsoon Malabar
Monsoon Malabar, a wonderful variety from our Asian coffee range, is picked in the Malabar region of India, one of the wettest regions of southern India, undergoes an especially unique process to bring out the beans' fullest flavours. Straight after being harvested the Malabar beans are transported to open warehouses along the Malabar Coast, where they will be exposed to the harsh, moist winds of the area's monsoons for around three to four months.
Golden Crema
This is the crème de la crème of coffee blends, a robust, rich and bold coffee of the highest quality to spoil yourself with at any time of day. The strong blend makes an exquisite espresso that could be just the thing to give yourself a midday pick-me-up, but if you want to enjoy this treat to its fullest then use it as a base for all your favourite filter coffees: the luxurious texture is brought to the forefront when you add steamed milk, creating creamy, silky lattes and cappuccinos that are the height of comfort.
Italian
The same blend as our Continental coffee, but roasted slightly lighter so that the same great flavour is produced without the oily characteristics, making it ideal for smooth and intense espressos. While our Italian is classed as a strong coffee and is best enjoyed as an espresso, you don't need to feel restricted to that single drink.
Old Brown Java
Ideal for espresso, our strong Old Brown Java beans are aged as green beans for at least two years before being roasted, giving the coffee a heavier body and a powerful flavour, but very little acidity. The process of ageing beans is popular among many Javanese coffee producers and can last for as long as three years, during which green beans may be 'monsooned' by being exposed to the warm, moist air of the rainy seasons.
Blue Sumatra
This strong Indonesian coffee comes from Sumatra, the second largest of the Indonesian islands, and is considered among the finest examples from the region. Indonesia itself is the fourth largest coffee producer in the world, and the longitude and latitude of the country make for particularly well suited micro-climates in producing a diverse, flavoursome variety of beans.
Barista Reserve
This sweet and mellow blend is an excellent all-round coffee that is highly recommended for business meetings, professional events and other situations where you want a flexible coffee that will suit everyone's tastes. The blend offers subtle flavours that are delicious, yet unimposing, and without much bitterness or acidity, making a smooth, very enjoyable coffee.
Director's
With an intense, spicy taste and a wonderfully full body, this Sumatran-based blend is ideal for espressos, packing a strong punch that's not often encountered in blends, yet retaining a complexity of flavours that's not always easy to find in stronger coffees. The big, powerful flavours of Director's linger superbly on the tongue, but aren't so oppressive that you can't enjoy this blend filtered or prepared with a cafetiere.
Continental
This strong coffee is full of character and perfect for those who enjoy powerful, dark roasts that pack a punch. Our Continental is the darkest roasted coffee we offer and, while perhaps not for the faint hearted, offers a divine combination of heady aromas and rich, oily, well-balanced flavours.
Java Santos
This blend of Indonesian Java and Brazilian Santos creates a wonderfully strong coffee that's full of flavour, but without any bitterness. Java, or Kopi Jawa as Indonesians refer to it, is typically a strong, slightly sweet coffee, and it works wonders here with the light body and low acidity of Santos.
Dark Colombian
Our Dark Colombian is a slightly stronger coffee than our Colombian Medium Roast, which makes it more versatile as it is suitable for cafetiere use, filter coffees and intense espressos. Again using Medellin Excelso, from Colombia's Cordillera Central in the Andes, this excellent coffee really does display some of the finer qualities of the renowned Colombian coffee bean: a rich aroma, luxurious depth and sweet flavours of fruit and chocolate.
Arabica Supremo
An extraordinary, complex blend of 100% Arabica beans from five different coffee-growing locations across the world, puts Arabica Supremo high on the list of the finest blends to be created. Deep, rich and smooth, with an exotic, spicy aroma, the recipe for this ingenious mix of high quality, expertly roasted beans is a well-kept secret, but once tried, you’ll be left in no doubt as to how amazing it tastes.
Caffè Marcos
Our premier blend of expertly roasted coffees from the very finest plantations in Central and South America, mixed with complex tones from African and Indian speciality beans for a deep, rich and full-bodied coffee. A slight hint of acidity is balanced beautifully with a mellow flavour in what we consider to be one of our greatest ever blends. Perfectly suitable for an exquisite espresso, Caffè Marcos forms the ideal base for all manner of coffee drinks.
Our Gaggia Classic 2023 espresso machine makes the perfect gift for the coffee lover in your life, or a wonderful treat for any at-home barista.
The culmination of 80 years of tradition, history and experience, the Gaggia Classic allows you, or that special coffee-lover, to brew real, Italian espresso with the utmost precision.
Order today and we'll also send a freshly roasted large 908g bag of our exceptional Arabica Supremo coffee (worth £33.99 ) absolutely free!
Representing a true passion for the art of espresso making and inspired by Italian design and craftsmanship, the Gaggia Classic 2023 showcases Gaggia’s dedication to premium quality.
Professional Filter Holder
Designed to professional standards, the brew head is made of lead-free brass and the outside of the brew group is covered with a stainless steel cover, giving the best in espresso quality and machine longevity.
15 Bar Pump
The 15 bar pump pushes the hot water through the ground coffee at high pressure to ensure better tasting, crema topped espresso.
Professional Steam Wand
The perfect way to steam the milk and make exquisitely silky, bar-quality microfoam.
Three Filters
The machine comes with three filters: a “perfect crema” basket to help you have the perfect espresso from the first use; a single (7g) and a double (14g) traditional basket that allow you to perfect your home barista skills.
Ideal Accessories for Espresso Makers
Complete your at-home set-up with these must-have accessories for any budding barista.
Coffee Mill
Take your barista skills to the next level with this stylish coffee mill. Simply pour your whole beans into the durable container and use the attached handle to grind, resulting in aromatic ground coffee that’s bursting with fresh flavour.
Coffee Tamper
An essential for making perfect espressos and the perfect piece of kit for coffee lovers, this durable silver tamper allows for ground coffee to be tightly and evenly compressed, resulting in more flavour in espressos.
Airtight Coffee Storage Container
This durable, stainless steel tin is perfect for storing coffee once it has been taken out of its packaging. The sealable lid and firm clip ensure that your beans remain fresh and aromatic for even longer, while a one-way valve prevents oxygen getting in.
Arabica, or coffea arabica, is the most widely grown species of the coffee plant, and generally considered to be superior to other common varieties such as robusta.
Produced in dozens of countries between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer, Arabica now represents around 60% of global production. It is usually grown at elevations of around 1,300-1,500m, sometimes higher, and predominantly grows in subtropical climates with high altitudes, such as in Brazil, Colombia and Central America.
The range of characteristics that are revealed in Arabica coffees is vast, complex and exciting, offering a great diversity of flavour profiles, with coffees that are fruity and earthy, nutty or woody, sweet, chocolatey or smoky.
Types of Arabica Coffee
Believed to be the first coffee species cultivated, dating back to 12th century Yemen, Arabica coffee is grown in a wide range of varieties, including both natural mutations and the results of cross-breeding, which has led to an exciting diversity of taste characteristics based on factors such as the terroir in which the coffees are grown, the way they are cultivated and how they are processed after harvest.
Typica – Considered to be the original variety from which all other varieties have mutated, Typica was first spread around the world for commercial production by the Dutch. The fruit is usually red and produces an excellent cup of coffee.
Bourbon – a natural mutation of the Typica variety, which occurred on the island of Réunion (known as Bourbon at the time). The fruit comes in various colours, red, yellow and occasionally orange, and many believe that it has a distinctive sweetness, making it highly prized.
Maragogype – another mutation of Typica and first discovered in Brazil, this variety is highly desired due to the unusually large size of the beans, causing this coffee to often be referred to as “Elephant” beans.
Mundo Novo – a natural hybrid of Typica and Bourbon varieties, this was named after the place in Brazil where it was discovered in the 1940s. Mundo Novo grows at altitudes of around 1,000-1,200m and is known for its high yield and strength.
Caturra – a mutation of Bourbon, this was discovered in Brazil in 1937 and has been particularly popular in Colombia and Central America.
Popular Arabica Coffees at Coffee-Direct
Arabica Supremo – From £18.99
We’re really proud of this one! An extraordinary, complex blend of 100% Arabica beans from five different coffee-growing locations across the world, puts Arabica Supremo high on the list of the finest blends to be created. Deep, rich and smooth, with an exotic, spicy aroma, the recipe for this ingenious mix of high quality, expertly roasted beans is a well-kept secret, but once tried, you’ll be left in no doubt as to how amazing it tastes. Arabica Supremo is roasted dark, with a strength level of 8/10, and flavour and aroma level of 6/10, making it ideal for espresso and bean-to-cup use.
Monsoon Malabar – From £12.99
A real favourite at Coffee-Direct, Monsoon Malabar is a wonderful variety from our Asian coffee range, is picked in the Malabar region of India, one of the wettest regions of southern India, undergoes an especially unique process to bring out the beans' fullest flavours. Straight after being harvested the Malabar beans are transported to open warehouses along the Malabar Coast, where they will be exposed to the harsh, moist winds of the area's monsoons for around three to four months.
Kenya Blue Mountain – From £14.99
Our Kenya Blue Mountain is grown from seeds originally from Jamaica, which produce a coffee that has the natural sweetness of Blue Mountain Jamaica, but has also taken on the rich aromatic flavours and intensity that is typical of Kenyan coffee. Full bodied, with a good acidity, hints of nut and citrus and a lovely caramel aftertaste, Kenya Blue Mountain is perfect in strong filter coffees or brews straight from the cafetiere.
Swiss Water Decaffeinated – From £15.99
For the times you’re in the mood for a delicious coffee, but you don’t want the buzz of a caffeine hit, our Swiss Water Decaffeinated coffee is a medium roast Arabica from Brazil that is 99.9% caffeine-free and 100% chemical-free. This rich coffee is a full-bodied brew with low acidity and minimal bitterness, and most people who try it can’t tell that it’s decaffeinated!
Old Brown Java – From £12.99
Ideal for espresso, our strong Old Brown Java beans are aged as green beans for at least two years before being roasted, giving the coffee a heavier body and a powerful flavour, but very little acidity. The process of ageing beans is popular among many Javanese coffee producers and can last for as long as three years, during which green beans may be 'monsooned' by being exposed to the warm, moist air of the rainy seasons.
There is much to be said about the famous espresso, and rightly so, but the wonderful world of coffee does not stop here – by simply adding steamed or foamed milk to a properly prepared espresso shot, we can create a delightful range of delicious full-bodied and luxurious frothy coffees!
If you’re looking at ways to create your own frothy coffees at home, we have a few tips that can help you to create perfect drinks every time, from silky lattes and rich, luxurious cappuccinos, to short and powerful macchiatos or cortados.
How to Steam and Froth Milk
Steaming milk does require a bit of practice, but it’s a great skill to have once you have got your technique down and are creating perfect lattes and cappuccinos.
With a quality milk jug and a milk thermometer at hand, you will soon be preparing silky smooth foamed milk.
Frothy Coffee Recipes
Cappuccino
Using a ratio of around 1/3 espresso, 1/3 hot milk and 1/3 foam, allow enough room in the jug to hold both the hot milk and foam, and only add enough milk to fill about 1/4 of the jug.
To make the foam, place the steaming arm just under the surface of the milk and begin to steam, angling the jug at a 45-degree angle. Keep the arm submerged under the surface until the jug begins to become too hot to touch, at which point move the steam arm to the base of the jug for a few seconds, resulting in an equal measure of hot milk and foam. Into your cup, add your espresso and hot milk, then carefully add the foam.
Latte
Use the same amount of coffee as in a cappuccino but add mostly hot milk and only a small amount of foam. As little foam is needed, you can place the steaming arm straight to the bottom of the jug to focus on creating the hot milk. Keep the arm submerged until the jug begins to become too hot to touch, then raise it to the surface for a few seconds to develop a small amount of foam. Into your cup, add your espresso and hot milk almost to the top, followed by a touch of foam.
Macchiato
Taking its name from the idea of ‘marking’ or ‘staining’ an espresso with milk foam, the macchiato was created to identify an espresso that contains a small drop of milk; as this milk will disappear under the crema, the foam was originally used to identify the espresso with added milk. Since its creation, the macchiato has slightly changed into an espresso topped with foam milk.
Steam your milk using the same method as a cappuccino, keeping the steaming arm close to the surface to introduce enough air to create the foam. Then simply add your espresso to your cup and top with the foam.
Cortado
Created in Spain, a cortado consists of espresso combined with an equal amount of steamed milk, which acts to reduce the acidity of the espresso shot (the word cortado comes from the Spanish verb cortar, to cut).
To make a cortado, pour your espresso into your cup, then pour over the steamed milk and finish with a little bit of foam on top.
]]>Choosing the best coffee to match your tastes can sometimes take a bit of time and experimentation; the diversity of flavours and characteristics in the world of coffee can mean that, while there is plenty of varieties to choose from, there is almost certainly the right bean for anyone.
When choosing the ideal coffee, there are a few key areas that we can pay attention to in order to get the most from the coffee experience.
Getting the Grind Right
Not only is the grind size of your coffee important for matching your favourite brewing method, but it can also be used to tailor your coffees according to your personal taste.
At Coffee-Direct, we sell whole beans, as well as pre-ground coffees that are precisely ground to specific sizes in order to work best with a range of popular brewing methods: cafetiere, filter, espresso maker, percolator and Turkish coffee. Accordingly, our ‘cafetiere’ pre-ground options are ground to a coarser size, with our ‘espresso’ and ‘Turkish’ options being the finest grinds.
However, if you prefer to grind your whole beans at home, you can tailor your grind to match your tastes; getting an ideal grind for your espresso maker or other brewing equipment will result in a more flavourful and aromatic coffee.
For this reason, it’s good to consider your brewing method when selecting your bean.
Choosing the Right Roast
When a green coffee cherry is roasted, it is transformed into the magical coffee bean that we know and love. The roast level of a coffee bean dictates three key aspects of how the coffee will taste: acidity, sweetness and bitterness. By taking the roast level of a coffee variety into consideration, you will have a better chance of finding the perfect bean to match your tastes.
At Coffee-Direct, we categorise our coffees into four roast levels: Medium, Dark, Espresso and Continental:
Finding the Ideal Flavours
Many factors go into determining how a bean will taste once it has been brewed and made into a delicious cup of coffee: growing regions, climate, altitude, rainfall and soil all contribute to the final flavour profile and aromas, with specific tasting notes that are unique to each variety.
There are a number of more common flavours that might be present in a particular coffee: some beans reveal sweet flavours of chocolate or caramel; delicious nutty or fruity notes are common, as well as earthy, smoky or even woody aspects; a coffee might be mellow and creamy, or sharp and citrusy.
With such a diverse world of flavours available, it might seem tricky to make a choice. That’s why we include the option to search our wide range of coffees by particular flavours, as well as by roast, acidity level, strength, region and more – simply browse our range of coffees and use the handy selections to filter down our range and find your perfect bean!
]]>The term “strength” gets used often when talking about the wonderful world of coffee, but for such a regularly used reference to the coffee drinking experience, the term can actually be a bit unclear.
It is perfectly understandable, and very common, to think of a strong coffee as being high in caffeine content, but this is rarely correct; many coffee sellers instead define coffee strength in terms of flavours and aroma.
At Coffee Direct, we place a coffee bean variety in our “strong coffee” range, based on the perceived strength of a brewed cup of coffee. If one of our roasts gives you robust, intense flavours and rich aromas, we will describe it as a strong coffee. These “strong” characteristics do tend to result from darker roasts, as these types of beans have lower acidity, are heavy-bodied and give you deep, dark flavours.
Shop from our “Strong Coffee” range here
There are three important factors that you can experiment with to create your perfect strong coffee:
Coffee Bean Variety
By picking a dark roast, your coffee is more likely to have a stronger flavour. Generally, the longer beans are roasted, the deeper and richer the flavour gets.
At Coffee Direct, we roast to four levels: Medium, Dark, Espresso and Continental (with Continental being our darkest roast)
Grind Size
Use the right grind for your preferred brewing method. Grinding extracts flavour from the bean, but if done incorrectly for your chosen brewing method, you’ll compromise the taste of your coffee. For example, if you don’t dissolve enough coffee particles, you could end up with a drink that is weak, sour or astringent instead of strong and flavoursome.
Learn more about choosing the right coffee grind with our helpful guide.
Ratio
Strong coffees can easily be brewed by using a lower coffee-to-water ratio. For regular brewed coffee, the suggested ratio is two scoops (2 tablespoons) of grounds to one cup of water. To make your coffee taste stronger, simply add more grounds to get a higher percentage of coffee molecules in your cup.
Our Strong Coffee Picks
Monsoon Malabar – From £12.99
Monsoon Malabar, a wonderful variety from our Asian coffee range, is picked in the Malabar region of India, one of the wettest regions of southern India, undergoes an especially unique process to bring out the beans' fullest flavours. Straight after being harvested the Malabar beans are transported to open warehouses along the Malabar Coast, where they will be exposed to the harsh, moist winds of the area's monsoons for around three to four months.
Golden Crema – From £12.99
This is the crème de la crème of coffee blends, a robust, rich and bold coffee of the highest quality to spoil yourself with at any time of day. The strong blend makes an exquisite espresso that could be just the thing to give yourself a midday pick-me-up, but if you want to enjoy this treat to its fullest then use it as a base for all your favourite filter coffees: the luxurious texture is brought to the forefront when you add steamed milk, creating creamy, silky lattes and cappuccinos that are the height of comfort.
Italian – From £11.99
The same blend as our Continental coffee, but roasted slightly lighter so that the same great flavour is produced without the oily characteristics, making it ideal for smooth and intense espressos. While our Italian is classed as a strong coffee and is best enjoyed as an espresso, you don't need to feel restricted to that single drink. Why not start the day with Italian coffee beans as a base for your favourite filter coffees, and enjoy a powerful, full-flavoured experience.
Arabica Supremo – From £18.99
An extraordinary, complex blend of 100% Arabica beans from five different coffee-growing locations across the world, puts Arabica Supremo high on the list of the finest blends to be created. Deep, rich and smooth, with an exotic, spicy aroma, the recipe for this ingenious mix of high quality, expertly roasted beans is a well-kept secret, but once tried, you’ll be left in no doubt as to how amazing it tastes.
Dark Decaffeinated Colombian – From £12.99
If you're looking for a quality decaf coffee that doesn't sacrifice on strength and intense flavours, then our Dark Decaffeinated Colombian is for you. Ideal for deep, aromatic espressos, these beans offer the rich and luxurious flavour of chocolate and produce wonderfully full-bodied coffees that won't be keeping you up all night.
At Coffee-Direct, we offer a choice of whole beans or pre-ground coffee, so that you can find the perfect grind, for your favourite brewing method.
You might not know what grind will work best for your brewing method, or which coffee maker is for you, so we’ve put together a short guide on our selection of grind types and the various brewing methods that are covered by our range of delicious, freshly roasted coffees.
For each of the below brewing methods, you can view our range of recommended coffee bean varieties that are best suited to the particular method and grind size.
Whole Bean
Brewing Methods: Bean-to-Cup Machines
Bean-to-Cup Machines
Offering speed and convenience, Bean-to-Cup coffee machines take on the entire brewing process, allowing users to make delicious coffees at the touch of a button. As Bean-to-Cup machines take care of the grinding of beans, users will want to buy our whole beans to make their favourite coffees.
Espresso Grind
Brewing Methods: Espresso Machines, AeroPress, Moka Pots
Espresso Machine
When using an espresso machine, ground coffee is placed into a small metal basket that is held in a handle. Containing tiny holes, the basket allows liquid to pass through into the cup, while preventing any of the ground coffee pieces to pass. Once the handle is locked into the machine, near-boiling water is pumped through the coffee before dripping into the cup, creating a rich and complex espresso.
AeroPress
Invented in 2005 by Alan Adler, the AeroPress is a portable, very durable coffee brewer that is favoured by travelling coffee-lovers and combines two different brewing methods: water and coffee are steeped together in a tubular container, similar to the French Press/cafetière method; to complete the process, a piston is used to push the water through the coffee grounds and a paper filter, similar to an espresso maker or a filter coffee maker.
Moka Pot
This stove-top coffee maker, invented in 1933 by Alfonso Bialetti, brews coffee by passing pressurised boiling water through ground coffee. The water is pressurised through a build-up of steam in the lower chamber of the pot. Once this steam pressure becomes high enough, the water is forced up the funnel through the coffee grinds, and brewed coffee will pour into the upper chamber.
Cafetière Grind
Brewing Methods: Cafetière / French Press
Cafetière or French Press
This very popular brewing method was perhaps surprisingly invented and patented by an Italian inventor, Attilio Calimani, in 1929, although a similar design was patented in 1852. The French Press, or cafetière, is an infusion brewer; where most brewing methods involve water passing through ground coffee, here water and coffee steep together to produce a more uniform extraction.
Percolator Grind
Brewing Methods: Percolator
Percolator
Consisting of a pot with a small chamber at the bottom that is placed close to a heat source, and a top chamber containing ground coffee, percolators are a variety of stove-top brewing equipment that brew coffee via a cyclical process.
As the bottom chamber is heated the water begins to boil, creating bubbles that move towards a vertical tube inside the percolator, pushing water up the tube into the top chamber. The water then covers the ground coffee in the top chamber and drips the extracted coffee back into the bottom chamber. This cycle continues until the liquid reaches boiling point and the coffee is ready to drink.
Filter Grind
Brewing Methods: Filter / Pour-Over Brewers
This method involves passing water over a bed of ground coffee to extract flavour, often using some sort of material to filter grounds from the finished drink. This filter may be made from metal or cloth, but paper filters are likely the most popular choice as they tend to produce the cleanest cup of coffee.
Turkish Grind
Brewing Methods: Turkish Method
The Turkish method of brewing requires a very fine grind, one even finer than an espresso grind, which is powdery in texture. The method involves brewing this ground coffee with water in a container known as an ibrik. Once brewed, the whole of the ibrik contents, including the powdery coffee grinds, is poured into the cup to drink.
Vacuum or Siphon Grind
Brewing Methods: Vacuum Pot / Siphon Brewers
The vacuum pot, or siphon brewer, first appeared in Germany in the 1830s, with a patent issued to Jeanne Richard in 1838. The pot comprises of two chambers: the lower chamber is filled with water that is heated to boiling point; the upper chamber contains ground coffee.
When the upper chamber is placed on top of the heated lower chamber, a seal is created that allows steam to build up in the lower chamber, which in turn pushes water upwards through a tube into the upper chamber and ground coffee, at which point the brew is left to steep.
Once brewed, the pot is removed from the heat, cooling and condensing the steam into water and creating a vacuum, which sucks the coffee back from the upper chamber, through a filter, into the bottom chamber, from where it can then be poured.
Take a look at our Coffee Finder Tool to find the perfect grind or whole bean variety for your chosen brewing method.