# Costa Coffee beans



## SchnoopyGirl (Sep 28, 2010)

I am trying to recreate the Mocha that you can buy at the Costa Coffee shops UK, and having been told by a Costa barrista that the beans and powder you can buy in store aren't the same







, I can't get hold of the proper stuff









Does anyone know how I can buy it or what the nearest commercial equivalent is please?


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## LeeWardle (Nov 16, 2008)

Welcome to Coffeeforums!

Before we answer the question I suppose the first question is what is your experience with coffee? I don't mean that in a flippant way but knowing what equipment you may have at home (espresso machine/cefetiere/filter/Kettle etc) will help us help you in the best way! There are lots of Costa Lovers/obsessives (*Cough* Sandy) on the forum so help is just around the corner!

Hope to hear from you soon!

Lee

P.S. Don't forget to introduce yourself and let us know how you found us by clicking HERE


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## sandykt (Dec 3, 2009)

Welcome to Coffee Forums. I am a bit of a fan of Costa and I have been told by several baristas at more than one location that the beans they sell are the same ones used in their shop(s).

I have to say that, as far as my taste buds are concerned, the coffee I have at Costa tastes the same as the coffee I have at home.


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## ChiarasDad (Mar 21, 2010)

If I were a regular Costa customer I would know the answer to this, but is it possible that Costa is using chocolate syrup rather than powder in its mochas?

The first thing I would do if trying to replicate a café drink is to watch carefully the method of preparation - what goes in the cup, in what order, and in what quantities. I'd duplicate that as exactly as possible at home, then see what I could do to tweak my methods and possibly my ingredients to get the closest match I could.


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## RolandG (Jul 25, 2010)

I don't know if this is true in all Costas, but I was in one recently and saw a barista making a mocha - they appeared to use chocolate powder/syrup (sorry, I forget which), added it to milk in a pitcher, then steamed the resulting chocolate milk and added it to the espresso (that's different to how I'd go about a mocha - I'd mix chocolate powder with the espresso, add some hot milk and mix, then pour a latte from there). If you're trying their method at home (assuming you have an appropriate espresso machine etc.) be careful - I would expect their method to be not good for your machine's steam wand, so at minimum, thorough cleaning would be required.

As others have pointed out, a big factor for flavour here will be quantities (or proportions at least) - how much milk to coffee, how much chocolate powder/syrup/gloop to milk, etc. This may not even be consistent between different branches? (sorry, out of my Costa knowledge depth there







)


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## DavidS (Apr 8, 2010)

Costa do use the chocolate straight into the pitcher with the milk and steam together for hot chocolate. I know of a couple of cafes which do. A friend who works in a local cafe use this method, have been for years, and said they don't have a problem.

I wouldn't trust it. Most people have a hard time keeping milk of the wand (and then contaminating the boiler) let alone chocolate


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## LeeWardle (Nov 16, 2008)

Agreed. I'm not a big fan of sticking my wand in anything other than milk........

[ed. Why do I get the feeling I'll regret putting that?......]


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## BanishInstant (Oct 12, 2009)

LeeWardle said:


> Agreed. I'm not a big fan of sticking my wand in anything other than milk........
> 
> [ed. Why do I get the feeling I'll regret putting that?......]


Do you bathe in Cravendale too?


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

I think Lee has a new nickname - C*lee*opatra


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## Franzpan (May 11, 2010)

Now I'm pretty new to all this but I cant see any problems in steaming chocolaty milk, with such high amounts of steam coming out how could anything make it up the wand to the boiler? And tbh I cant see chocolaty milk doing anymore harm to anything than plain milk.


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## RolandG (Jul 25, 2010)

I'm not much of a machine expert, so hopefully one of the others will correct this, but broadly - when the steam stops, milk can get pulled back up through the wand. This is a reason for giving the wand a half second blast after you're finished steaming. I believe that amount of use will impact severity here - at peak use in a cafe is very different to one of home use, for example.

As to why I would worry about chocolate more, it's because as it cools it will solidify and gunk up more, unlike the milk.

That'd be my worry anyway - but clearly a few shops do this, so...


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

The vacuum of the steam wand cooling will suck any liquids the tip is in contact with inside

Providing you purge the steam wand, and wipe it down immediately after use (standard good practice) then milk with our without chocolate shouldn't be a problem.

Whatever you do don't steam soup (as I have seen... yuk!)


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## LeeWardle (Nov 16, 2008)

I think my hatred of steaming anything other than milk is from an engineers point of view. As Glenn rightly says, standard practice is to purge the steam wand after use and wipe with a damp cloth after every steam. (also purge before steaming but I'm going of topic here







) I also the "pulling out method" (oh dear it's gone smutty again) whist there is still a ****TINY**** amount of steam still exiting the wand. (we're talking it's last dying breath here, not even enough to make the smallest of bubbles of splatter appear)

The only thing worse than a cheesy steam wand inside and out due to lack of wiping/purging is one combined with the fats and sugar of chocolate.

Pretty nasty stuff!


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## BanishInstant (Oct 12, 2009)

I've just interrupted my work colleagues with great guffaws - thanks Lee.


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## JasonCoffee (Sep 24, 2010)

I need to try some Costa Coffee, everyone seems really passionate about it!


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## BanishInstant (Oct 12, 2009)

Make sure you check out the dates on the tin to get the freshest batch.


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## coffeeman (Mar 20, 2010)

As far as I know the beans in the stores and the beans/ground in the tin are the same but I am in London for a training session on monday at their roastery so I will get some definite clarification.

The parameters for making one like Costa's are: (for a medium)

1. 21 grams of ground coffee extracted for 35 seconds

2. Chocolate mixed and frothed then poured over the espresso

that's it really.

FYI the chocolate mix Costa's should be using is 35g's of powder with 750ml's of milk frothed to 140F - They used to use Cadburys drinking chocolate but recently changed to a no-name brand which apparently tastes the same?


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## HLA91 (Jul 16, 2010)

Just out of interest roughly how fresh are the costa beans?


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## coffeeman (Mar 20, 2010)

at a guess I'd say 2-3 weeks in the UK. Most stores have 5-6 bags and many seem to think it's OK not to rotate them. as far as I know they areroasted in Lambeth, bagged and sent to a distribution depot so could be longer. I'll bring this question up on monday when I'm up there though and post to let you know.


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## coffeeman (Mar 20, 2010)

OK, so was in Head office and roastery today.

The bags of beans are indeed 2-3 weeks though there is no real traceability to them.

The tins are the same beans that are used instore as they are packaged in the Lambeth roastery with all the bags that go to the shops.

Hope this helps


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## HLA91 (Jul 16, 2010)

I am surprised seen as they are that fresh (compared to off the shelf supermarket beans) that they don't have a roast date. I mean 2-3 weeks isnt fresh fresh but its pretty good time.


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## slartybartfast (Dec 27, 2010)

As Costa beans are a mix (•We use the Costa brothers' unique blend of the world's finest Arabica and some Robusta beans to create the perfect pick-me-up.

), when I grind beans, how can I know what the mix proportion happens to be unless I grind the whole packet? It seems to me I'm likely to get an inbalance by just doing about 10grams at time.


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Give the bag a good shake and then start grinding.

There is a chance you will get more of one bean type than another but you're unlikely to get big taste variances from a single bag

When grinding for a double the margins are smaller - and a 14-18g double shot may only be a % or 2 out unless you have been really unlucky and ground all robusta beans


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