Organic Colombian arabica, ready ground, from TOTO Organics.
Colombia is the one coffee country with two harvests a year, and the reason is geography. It sits almost on the equator, so there is no single growing season imposed by winter; and it has three separate Andean ranges running north to south, which means different regions have their rainy seasons at different times. The result is a main harvest and a secondary one — the mitaca — in most regions, and fresh Colombian coffee arriving on the market for most of the year. Almost nowhere else can do this.
What it tastes like. Colombian coffee is the reference point for balance: caramel and nut sweetness, a clean citrus acidity, medium body, nothing extreme in any direction. It is the coffee against which people describe other coffees, which is precisely what makes it a good everyday choice — and why it works equally well as filter, in a moka pot, or with milk.
An honest word about buying it ground. Ground coffee stales fast. Grinding multiplies the surface area of the bean enormously, and most of the volatile aromatic compounds — the ones responsible for what you actually smell and taste — escape within fifteen to thirty minutes. A bag of pre-ground coffee a week after opening is genuinely a different drink from the same coffee ground to order. We would rather say that than pretend otherwise.
That said, convenience is a real thing, and a good pre-ground organic coffee that gets drunk is better than whole beans and a grinder that never happens. If you buy ground, the way to get the most from it is to buy smaller quantities more often, keep it genuinely airtight, and use it within two or three weeks of opening rather than two or three months.
Check the grind matches your method. Pre-ground coffee is usually cut for filter. In a moka pot it will be about right; in an espresso machine it will run too fast and taste sour and thin, and in a French press it will over-extract and turn bitter and muddy.
Never the fridge. Coffee absorbs moisture and odours, and condenses whenever it comes out.
Available at Só Verde, an organic concept store in Foz, Porto.
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