# What bean for Cappuccino



## dwalsh1 (Mar 3, 2010)

I could be talking a load of b"!^*"s here but I have a question regarding the beans used in the preparation of making cappuccinos. I'm not understanding the need to buy expensive beans costing say £20 a kilo when you can buy these. http://www.bellabarista.co.uk/coffeebeans/proddetail.asp?prod=ItalianBlend1kgRoastedCoffee&cat=32. Now I know I'm going to get slaughtered for buying cheap beans but when you are adding milk to espresso is there a need for more expensive beans. I have brought from the likes of Hasbean and Monmouth coffee but found that the beans I brought from them wasn't dark enough and lost their flavour when masked with milk. Perhaps MikeHag can help out here (Does he run or own a coffee shop?) and maybe explain the need to buy cheap or expensive for Cappuccino?

Cheers

dennis


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## Spazbarista (Dec 6, 2011)

May I pop in and proffer an opinion?

I like smooth sweet espressos, but they tend to get a bit lost in milk as they are, in effect diluted. I don't like the current fashion for tart, fruity coffees in espresso as they have a front end tang that I find too much. However, I find these coffees great in milk, as they are being diluted and softened, and is much the same reason why they are great as filter coffee. I had the best flat white I've ever had a few weeks ago at the Extract roastery. It tasted like vanilla fudge, absolutely wonderful. I had the same beans as an espresso prepared by the same person and I couldn't drink it. If I had made it at home it would have gone straight down the sink. In some ways it is counter-intuitive to think that you can take two components, one of which is very horrid on its own, combine them and end up with something amazing. It took me a while to realize that coffees touted as espresso that were to my taste revolting, could still have their uses. In some ways it is a pity that roasters can't market blends as 'milk only' for fear that it would prejudice people against buying them.

As for BB beans, they are actually very expensive for what they are. They are massively Robusta heavy and if you start to notice that Robusta flavour in the espresso, you'll start to notice it in the milk. You can get 100% Arabica blends for not much more if you are buying by the kilo. I pay £12 a kilo for my stock blend, although that doesnt include postage. When I popped into Extract I was also charged £12 a kilo.


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## ronsil (Mar 8, 2012)

Expobarista said:


> As for BB beans, they are actually very expensive for what they are.


Don't agree. Their green bean bulk buy at around £8 p/kilo are the cheapest Arabica beans i can find around.

Ron:coffee:


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## Spazbarista (Dec 6, 2011)

If you read the posts, Ron, you'll see we aren't talking about their green beans.

(p.s. try these guys for green beans, maybe, not quite as cheap as BB but you can order in smaller quantities and these beans are of known provenance and of excellent quality... http://www.greencoffeeltd.co.uk/asp/ourcoffees.asp )


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## dwalsh1 (Mar 3, 2010)

Expo, What beans are we talking about @ £12 a kilo? link please. Any comments MikeHag, what do you use in your bar?

cheers

dennis


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## Spazbarista (Dec 6, 2011)

Usual recourse is Signature blend from Rave coffee, but as I mentioned I pick them up and so avoid postage. I think he does post free over £25. Main point being though that decent quality can be had for not much more than that BB blend if you are prepared to buy a kilo. Do you have a roaster nearby? They may be willing to do a good deal.


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## Tomatin (Jan 9, 2021)

Spazbarista said:


> Usual recourse is Signature blend from Rave coffee, but as I mentioned I pick them up and so avoid postage. I think he does post free over £25. Main point being though that decent quality can be had for not much more than that BB blend if you are prepared to buy a kilo. Do you have a roaster nearby? They may be willing to do a good deal.


 Good advice, thank you


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