UKH

Obviously there's going to be a lot of variety in responses, but what's your favourite ground/beans for making coffee?

I've had 2kg's of Atkinsons (lancaster) Archetype & Prototype coffee beans delivered every month on an office subscription for about 5 years now.

https://thecoffeehopper.com/shop/

Atkinsons have a great Cafe and shop if you are ever in the area. The price of the subscription has not changed in all the time I've had it.

I have the Sage dual boiler espresso machine and grind the beans with the Sage grinder fresh for every cup made.

Never tasted a better coffee in any cafe.

Im going to get lots of downvotes from the coffeecianados, but I have found very good coffee comes equally from branded supermaket ground e.g. Taylors of Harrogate, brewed in a cafetiere, as does the pricey stuff in a fancy machine.

My bro has the latter and I prefer the stuff I make in my silver pot, or at least I dont see much improvement.

I choose Yallah, mainly because of the sail transport and the link to the actual coffee bean farmers

https://yallahcoffee.co.uk/pages/our-vision

Taylor coffee special edition sipi falls if you're shopping at a supermarket. I have found their last few years' different special editions to be the best coffee I can find in "normal" supermarkets, though this Sipi falls one has particularly stood out. Certainly for me it's miles better than the supermarket coffee, or costa ones or other big name brands.

If you're feeling a bit (a lot!) more flush my go to is North Star coffee from Leeds (delivered from online order), they continuously change what they have, it is pricey but for a treat it always blows my mind.

Edit: and I pretty much always use an Aeropress for both.

Monsoon Malabar

I use aeropress too, will keep an eye out for Sipi ta

But is it any good?

I think coffee is a bit like rock shoes (except that people generally like the smell of coffee) - someone can explain to you all the features of their fancy competition bouldering shoes that make them better and more expensive than a boxy beginner's shoe, but if you're mostly going to be doing long VDiffs on Tryfan and the like then they aren't just a waste of money, they're actively worse.

Similarly if you basically like coffee to taste of coffee - dark, roasty, chocolatey - then following the coffee geek recommendations and forking out for fancy light-roast single estate beans will probably actually get you a less enjoyable cup than yer decent supermarket ground stuff.

I get my fancy light-roast single estate beans from Smith Street in Sheffield, fwiw.

https://www.smithstreetcoffeeroasters.co.uk/

The beans I've had are very good (I've had Jamaican Blue Mountain, and numerous others to compare to)  but I've not tried all their varieties. 

I think any light roast speciality bean that's recently roasted so still fresh will taste better than all the "high strength" dark roast for my taste buds.

The fact that your link says it's seasonal also suggests it's probably fresh. If they offer the same stuff year round then somehting ain't right.

Lavazza Crema e Gusto pre ground coffee is what I use.  Don't have counter space in the kitchen for a proper grinder, and this stuff tastes good enough to me.

I used to get baffled by the way that I'd sometimes be drinking a series of nice single-origin coffees from the same country - Kenya, say - and then at some point I'd just not see any more of them for ages. It was only when someone showed me a calendar of the different coffee harvest (and shipping) seasons around the world that the penny dropped...

But yeah, I've used quite a few of the big-name UK roasters at various times - Has Bean, Dark Arts Square Mile, Kiss the Hippo etc - and Smith Street are as good as any of them for my money.

I love coffee, and drink a lot of it. So serious answer - I really like LIDL Bellarom Italian Blend coffee beans, they give me pretty much exactly what I'm looking for.

They're maybe not my favourite - I've occasionally had a cuppa that I've enjoyed more. But that's circumstantial, depending on my mood and who knows what else, and I don't enjoy most 'posh' coffee as much as, never mind more than, them. I also couldn't tell you what the ones I've enjoyed more actually were.

However - I have almost no sense of smell, with coffee being one of the very few things I can smell at all, and different coffees don't smell different to me; I'm probably only getting a small part of what other people do from it, and missing out in a lot of the experience.

Clipper organic decaf instant. Lovely with about 2 cm of milk in the bottom first, then pour the hot water in slowly while stirring. Optional drop of brandy in it to help sleep.

Honestly, I like Lavassa Rossa beans as much as anything, but if we're trying to impress coffee snobs we bring out the high altitude Ecuadorian beans we brought back from Quito. 

We can be even more pretentious if you're talking drinking chocolate...

Same here, although I do get the beans version and just use a small grinder.

I’ve got one of those small, handheld grinders but I don’t use it as it’s just such a faff to get the exact grind right. Too coarse and the coffee is weak, too fine and it takes hours to make a cup!

Must be noted I am always, always picked for time in the morning!

I'm sure I couldn't taste the difference with hand-ground so use a small, single-setting, electric grinder I've had for years!

I like Uncle Funka from Extract Coffee next to bloc in Bristol, but haven’t been able to get it in a while. It was a very citric brew in my aeropress, lively almost bouncing with additional notes of fruit, almost differing with every press; black cherry one day, raspberry the next. It made me stop and think about it when drinking it. 

I've had a Pact Coffee membership pretty much since they began and can highly recommend them.

Roastworks.

Peak is my personal favourite. The Roastery is a 5 min walk from work. 

Although, I like Colombian, Brazilian and Peruvian. 

Aeropress is my favourite method with these. 

BB

Various options from Peak Bean, roasted down the road in Furness Vale. The owner kindly delivers it to my house because it's cheaper than postage.

This thread is now making me really want a cup of coffee, which would probably be a bad idea if I want to sleep tonight...

I was quite excited when I saw the Yemen stuff from your link but then I saw the price! Clearly I'm not that much of a coffee luvvie.

I order coffee from these folks in Berwick upon Tweed. Very nice coffee and good people to deal with. https://www.northernedgecoffee.co.uk

Edit: Artif: Yallah looks interesting, I'll check it out.

I like the classic Italian style espresso and I usually get my beans from happydonkey. Proper old-school, none of those fancy fruity notes. As I drink espresso, beans and a good grinder are a must. Pre-ground coffee is an absolute no-no.

If I go to a chain, it's Black Sheep. Their 100% Robusta is great.

Fortunately I developed an immunity to caffeine's effects in that respect (if indeed I have ever experienced the stimulant effect - I don't really recall). Just enjoying one now, just because I like the taste.

Lavazza seems to be the only mainstream brand that comes fine ground enough to suit my espresso machine - so I bulk buy the Qualitia Oro whenever it's on special offer 

I don't know much about coffee, but have a good connection for the stuff. My son-in-law is El Salvadorian; so I have brought some back from El Salvador, and Guatemala, and that has continued intermittently with his family coming across about 6 months ago (I drink it occasionally when I fancy some really good stuff). So I have some beans from there, but also some ready ground.

The latter is really pleasant and full flavoured (Topeca, Ayutepeque from Santa Ana, in El Salvador (Altitude 1000-1100m) variety Bourbon produced volcano-side).

This is our local cafe (in skipton). https://www.theclubhousecc.co.uk/shop-2

Really good coffee, all roasted on site. He’s been out to visit the farmers in Peru and spent a lot of time getting the best beans he can. I’m a massive coffee snob and it’s up there with the best I’ve had.

Farrers Westmorland Blend takes some beating IMO, but very local to NW England

Sadly they don’t seem to stock Mexican Maragogype any more.

More widely available are the two blends under the Macchu Pichu label. Both very nice in slight different ways.

This comment just shows how personal coffee is. To me, even before I disappeared into the darkest recesses of my own fundament, Farrers is intolerable ashen swill. Burnt under conditions that would have destroyed the one ring.

I live in the Lakes and would avoid any café selling Farrers or Pembertons - taking it as a sign that they don't care.

On the flip-side Rog would probably thing my favourite stuff is acidic and, on that basi,s could just have easily dissolved the one ring. He may, furthermore, think the aromas of rotten fruit less preferable than eternal enslavement under the yoke of the Dark Lord. Horses for courses.

I really like Django (Manchester), especially since they got a new roaster a couple of years ago. Lots of funky naturals etc at a reasonable cost (for this end of the market). The washed coffees they do are nice and clean when I want a counterpoint.  I mostly drink black filter but there's always something that stands up in espresso-based drinks.

I agree with others that Atkinson's can be very good. North Star is too expensive to be a regular option but, when I want a treat, produce some sublime coffee. Quite like Horsham too.

If you've ever skiid at Glenshee the stuff they serve at the Meall Odhar café....

Spoon it out a big tin and they slosh warm water in...tastes crap but fairly gets you buzzing 

It's interesting and good how local these suggestions are, I hadn't expected that. Some are in my mind overpriced, and some too far away, but all interesting thank you

I need decaf. I haven't found anything better for the price than Lavazza Caffè Decaffeinato beans which I grind in my Sage Grinder. Pretty dark roast so fairly idiot proof when it comes to espresso/latte. I find my drinks better than almost any coffee shop I go to. 

Honestly you can't really do espresso without a grinder. I tried for ages even getting my local roaster to custom set the grind for me, but different beans need different grind settings so you end up with either a blocked up machine (too fine) or fast overextracted shots (too course). Even a cheap burr grinder (I have a Sage Dose Control) lets you customise the grind for the machine so you get the perfect flow rate (not to mention the smell of freshly ground beans!). My espresso machine cost £25 on FB marketplace but the shots are so good. You're better off getting a nice grinder and a crap machine because if the grind setting is wrong even a £2500 espresso machine will make awful espresso. 

I recently set up a subscription with Dog and Hat (https://dogandhat.co.uk/) where they source coffees from different roasters. I'm pretty happy with the coffee they've sent so far and is pretty reasonably priced. 

I currently have a bag of coffee from Wogan Coffee (https://wogancoffee.com/), which I'm quite pleased with and it is fairly cheap for specialty coffee. 

I used to recommend Hasbean but they're about to merge with Ozone coffee plus I think their coffee has gone downhill a bit over the last year.  

I had a trip to St Helena island recently, home of the worlds most expensive coffee

https://imperialteas.co.uk/st-helena-napoleons-valley-coffee-045cof

Its quite an old original bean from Yemen and milder than I'm used too, I’m pretty sure with some better preparation it might have been a nicer roast.

My personal  be preference is a nice subtle strong bean where the flavour isn’t overwhelmed.

agree that getting the grind on an expresso is key, get a good grinder and the morning ritual becomes more pleasant 

Maybe they've got a pressurized portafilter setup? It's not something I'd go for myself, but that's what I'd assume someone's got if they're making espresso without a grinder...

https://kissthehippo.com/ for carbon-negative coffee (through reforestation projects). 

Stove Top:

ManCoCo Manchester Blend - https://mancoco.co.uk/products/mancoco-manchester-blend

Aeropress:

Harwood's Good Morning Sunshine - https://shop.darkwoodscoffee.co.uk/products/good-morning-sunshine?variant=9...

I like "middling coffees", not roasted to a crisps or pale "can you taste the mango" hipster water. It needs to taste like coffee and be velvety chocolatey caramel yummyness. Never add sugar and drink it black half the time.

If you're gonna put milk in it, it's not worth shelling out for the fancy stuff. Another vote for Lavazza Rossa at this point.

At a recent B&B, the landlady provided a tin of free instant coffee with the wonderful name of Lavazza Prontissimo! INTENSO. In a 'can't be arsed with the cafetière' moment, I tried it, and amazingly it was jolly good so much so I now have a tin at home.

Cast Iron Coffee Passaflora.

Nice when using a V60, also great as an espresso. 

for a long time the lavazza red beans (1 kilo bags out of asdsa) but the last few years, the gold/oro beans ! which are much nicer. Cooked up with an ascaso burr grinder and a pavoni lever machine - rebuilt from bits and spares about 20 years ago. 

another vote for pact. good variety, I like not knowing what's turning up next. 

easy to cancel - however, they've lured me back many times - guess I'm a sucker for free coffee stuff. 

some good recommends in this thread!

going to sign up and give atkinsons a try

Thought I'd weigh in on favorite coffee since you asked. For me, I really enjoy ManCoCo's Manchester Blend - it's roasted locally which I like and has a rich flavor I find perfect for mornings. Easy to order online and pickup at their shop too.

I've been using Has Bean since 2009 and - sadly - I have to agree.  I think the merger / takeover by Ozone has been going on for a while (couple of years?) and I don't think Steve has been involved for a good couple of years.  Steve's love for the whole coffee growing and buying process was in the DNA of Has Bean.  I don't feel the same love for coffee from the current owners.