As I am currently tight on money, can anyone recommend some good UK supermarket beans? I’ve heard that union roasters stock in Sainsburys at round £2.50/100g and I’m likely to find a roast that is maybe 4-8 weeks old which might be acceptable? Thanks

Sham I think you can only really examine all the bags of coffee and see if they have a roasted on date. The other way might be to reach out to union and ask them how many months from roasting is the best before date. Welcome to the forum

So that’s £25/kg? Should be able to find plenty of roasters offering decent coffee at that price point, especially with discount codes. Dark Arts often have coffee around that price without discount codes, also Extract with discount codes can be even less. Others are coffeecompass, Rave and I belive you’ll find coffee from Black Cat, Cartwheel, Crankhouse all around £25/kg too.

This offering from Coffee Compass is always excellent value https://www.coffeecompass.co.uk/collections/roasted-origin-coffee/products/mystery-coffee-mark-14-1kg

Rob1 So that’s £25/kg? Should be able to find plenty of roasters offering decent coffee at that price point In truth Rob I didn’t do the numbers……just saw the big £2.50 He could buy 3 or 4 250g packs of coffee for rave, total £25 and get free postage.

Supermarket beans

Sham

DavecUK

I plan on looking for the roast dates but unsure which supermarket shops store somewhat fresh beans.

Rob1

True, but I plan on only buying the 200g bags as I’m unsure if I’ll like the coffee (and I’m a newbie to espresso so I’m learning too). I recently bought starbucks beans and honestly they taste worse than my year old preground I was using previously (before I got a grinder).

Dumnorix

Waitrose sell Union beans that have a ‘roasted on…’ date. If you rummage around you can often find beans roasted 3 or 4 weeks previously, which isn’t brilliant but not too bad for a supermarket. From memory I think they cost about £5 per 250g bag.

capuchin

@Sham You can get 4 different bags of [250g] coffee for around £25 from quite a few places! I’m not experienced enough on who to reccommend and not reccommend in terms of roasters, but I’m sure somebody could. The seller I did buy from was a great experience and has a similar deal. (Can we mention names @DavecUK ?)

DavecUK

capuchin The seller I did buy from was a great experience and has a similar deal. (Can we mention names @DavecUK ?)

Of course, no commercial concerns or constraints on us here…

Sham

Thanks for the suggestions, Rave does seem pretty good value, but as I only drink 1 espresso a day (and the only one who drinks coffee in the house) if I buy a few bags they would just end up getting old again…

Thanks Dumnorix, I think I’ll start the search off by checking out Union Waitrose and Sainsburys and see if they’re good.

Baldrick

Sham union coffee is ok - especially if you can find a bag that’s been roasted recently.
I don’t know where you are but have you tried Googling local roasters? You might be able to drive to them direct. Gives you a chance to have a chat with them and quite often they’ll have an espresso machine set up so you can try before you buy.
Alternatively go the rave route and just freeze the other bags until you’re ready to use them.

Dusk

It’s not ideal if you want to try a few different beans first but buying a kilo should be much cheaper. I have a local roaster who does £6 for 250g or £19kg, it’s worth checking if you have anyone local

LMSC

You can freeze by splitting into 4 bags. They easily last 5-6 months without going stale for me. The Coffee Compass does the Mystery Coffee for £16.80/KG. It’s very good and the best value.

Esmae

LMSC

what kind of bags do you use to freeze beans. Is normal freezer bags ok? Or d o you but like actual coffee bags like what Rave sell.

Also do you defrost the beans or grind from frozen?

Hotmetal

Modern Standard are OK and also Union, both from Sainsbury IIRC, and they do have dates on. But as others have said, you may as well spend £25 at Rave or Django (Django is great value when bought by the kilo and free postage).

I buy Union from supermarket when I need coffee beans faster than postage allows, but otherwise prefer to order from favourite roasters.

Cuprajake

At 2.50 for 100g its not really cheap,

Theres loads that offer £5 ish for 250g.

Have a look for local roaster you could visit in person, save the shipping cost perhaps

Sham

So for now I bought union beans from sainsburys £4.50/200g, will test tomorrow morning.

Concerning the alternative of buying larger quantities online and sealing, anyone have recommendations on how to freeze beans without a food vac? Can I pop them into a glass jar with the spin on lids? Or should I use food bags and try to get as much air out as possible (and possibly just tape the bags to reduce the chance of air/moisture getting in)?

PortafilterProcrastinator

Sham

I am currently experimenting with 250g in a ziplock bag (easy to squeeze air out of I find) then wrapped in a tied normal freezer bag.

Bit of a faff, but takes little time and low cost (assuming I can re-use the bags several times).

Waitforme

I’ve had beans in the freezer for months in the bag they were supplied in, just make sure it’s sealed properly with an elastic band around it , works for me.
But if I’ve bought a kilo then I’ll decant some into 250g coffee bags that I keep from previous purchases to save opening a large quantity of beans each time. All stored in the freezer.
I also keep a small quantity for aero press etc in one of the jars with a rubber seal on the lid , that has a kinda latch on it - like some fancy continental beers.

LMSC

Esmae A combo is what I use. Because, I always have at least 3 KGs in the freezer.

2.5 KG in the original bag. I punch a hole, take out all air, sticky tape the one-way valve and the punctured area.
5 × 100g in a Jam jar. Freeze them.
Take one bottle out in the night to de-freeze at the room temperature

This works for me. I am planning to use a single dose jar for a daily use.

Others, use a single dose jar, vac pack in 18g pouches, vac bag as 250g, etc. You may also consider Airscape for storing the beans for a daily use.

Thx for asking!

Sham

Ok so I bought the Union beans, they were roasted 22nd December (3 weeks old) and they taste ALOT better than what I’m currently using so I’m very happy. You have to look at the roast dates though, because the medium roast beans were roasted in JUNE!

Hotmetal

Yes, glad it helped, you do have to rummage for the bags with the most recent date. I always get funny looks from the staff in sainsbury when I’m emergency bean shopping.

Dumnorix

Hotmetal
Yes, I have had them out all over the floor in Waitrose before now. Usually I can find some roasted 3 weeks previously after a bit of a rummage.

DavecUK

Hotmetal This is very sad Giphy - Inside Out Reaction GIF

Hotmetal

Haha Dave I did say emergency, I don’t normally run out of the good stuff from Rave, Django, Foundry, Black Cat etc. But for those of us who don’t roast, every so often you forget to order in time, the post goes AWOL, or you get thirsty visitors. I promise you I haven’t started adding beans to my weekly shop 😂😂☕❤️

DavecUK

Hotmetal When I run out…I drink tea! 🤣