News

Why Are Coffee Beans Still Sold in Plastic Bags?

With increasing public concern about plastic waste, we’ve been on a journey to reduce our reliance on plastic at Spiller & Tait. We’ve had some limited successes and we do plan to persevere. Bu...

Where do coffee beans come from?

The coffee tree is a tropical evergreen shrub (genus Coffea) that grows in a sunny equatorial belt around the world. This belt is 1000 miles wide and runs between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricor...

Why Blend Coffee Beans?

Coffee blends are making a comeback.  Once criticised as a vehicle for large commercial coffee roasters to use up leftover coffee beans and combine cheap coffee with more expensive beans to reduce ...

Decaf Versus Regular Coffee

Decaffeinated coffee has long been considered an inferior drink in the coffee world, denounced for being full of chemicals and ridiculed for tasting awful. But, decaffeinated coffee is now having a...

Survey Demonstrates Rising Sophistication of In-home Coffee Habits

Devon-based coffee roaster, Spiller & Tait, has released the results of its first annual survey of coffee drinking habits in UK households, which shows an increasing sophistication in the way p...

Supermarket coffee beans versus freshly roasted coffee beans

We are often asked to explain the difference between supermarket coffee beans and the freshly roasted coffee, now widely available from small independent roasters across the UK.  What’s often behin...

Our Celebration of the Home Coffee Culture – tell us how you take yours!

For many caffeine lovers, coffee drinking is less of a habit and more of a sacred ritual. This is certainly true for Spiller & Tait customers, who tell us they savour the daily ritual of makin...

The Top Eight Influences on Coffee Flavour

We recently conducted a survey with some of our regular customers to find out why they keep returning to our coffee.  The message back was loud and clear - the primary reason is flavour!   There we...

Single Origin Beans vs Coffee Bean Blends

The rise in availability of high quality single origin coffees in coffee shops and on-line retailers has prompted coffee fans to examine the relative virtues of single origin coffees verses blends....

What is the best type of coffee for Espresso?

There are several misconceptions when it comes to the coffee beans used to create an espresso. The first misconception is that espresso is a particular type of bean grown in a particular country.  ...