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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.  In our opinion, one option is not better than the other.  It’s entirely down to what you are looking for in a coffee. 

A journey through Spiller & Tait's different types of coffee 

Something that sets Spiller & Tait apart from other UK coffee roasters is that we only offer a small range of freshly roasted coffee beans.  The reason relates to our dedication to offering coffees which are balanced and rich in flavour, but lacking in bitterness.  These are qualities we know are valued by most UK coffee drinkers and it means we have committed ourselves to only roasting coffees with these traits. 

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.  In fact, espresso can be made using virtually any type of coffee bean from any country – Sumatra, Kona, Kenya, or a blend of beans from different countries like our own Classic Italian Blend, which is composed of Arabica beans from Brazil and Ethiopia.  Coffee beans can be roasted in a variety of ways to create different tastes, so beans from any country can be roasted to suit the strong and intense espresso style. 

We are delighted to be among the Great Taste winners of 2017 with not one, but two awards!  1 star for our Signature Blend Coffee and a prestigious 3 star rating for our Matcha Tea, the highest award given by the Guild of Fine Food.

The Great Taste awards are the Oscars of the food world so we couldn’t be happier that the two products we entered in 2017 both received awards.  This recognition confirms what our customers tell us every day, which is that our best-selling coffee and tea really does taste great.  According to the eminent panel of Great Taste judges, our 1-star Signature Blend Coffee was dubbed as “simply delicious” and 3-star Organic Matcha tea was described as “exquisite and wow!” 

For many households a super-automatic bean to cup coffee machine is used to produce a consistent, great tasting espresso shot for that caffeine filled jolt to start the day. However just like a traditional semi -automatic and volumetric espresso machines, they require tweaking and dialling-in to ensure you get the most from your machine. By experimenting with the various settings you can learn about the variables that affect coffee taste and ensure you achieve the taste you enjoy the most. All of our coffee is great for bean to cup machines

How to Check Your Coffee Beans are Fresh infographic

So you’ve spent hundreds, or thousands, of pounds on a home espresso coffee maker, but how confident are you in your home barista skills?  Our co-founder David has been wholesaling fresh coffee for almost 20 years and in this capacity he has trained hundreds of Baristas to make a perfect espresso shot.  Here he shares his top tips for making the perfect espresso at home.

How coffee is roasted

Roasting the coffee beans is one of the biggest influences on the flavour of your coffee.  Roasting takes the green coffee seed, which has almost no flavour beyond a quite unpleasant vegetable taste, and transforms it into an incredibly aromatic and complex coffee bean.