CoF Barista | Coffee On Fleek

June 2, 2026 By CoF Barista

How to choose the best coffee beans?

A great cup of coffee starts with using the best beans. You may think that only professional baristas can make a really good brew with all their fancy equipment, but the essence of a great cup of coffee is found in the beans themselves – are they richly flavored, roasted for peak flavor, and freshly ground?

The fresher the grind, the more flavorful the cup of coffee. Some baristas use the rule of thumb that coffee should be used within 3 minutes of grinding to maximize taste and subtle flavors.

So, if you can get your hands on a good coffee grinder or your super automatic espresso machine (with a built in grinder), recreating your favorite coffee beverage without having to leave home is only a few grinds away.

For the best-tasting drink, you should buy your beans whole and grind them yourself right before brewing. If you like to grind only the exact amount of coffee you need for each shot of espresso, check out the best single-dose coffee grinders to give you more control over freshness and flavor.

Choosing the best coffee beans for you

Baristas and most espresso drinkers are familiar with the more common Arabica and Robusta coffee beans, but there are actually are four different types of coffee beans: Arabica, Robusta, Liberica, and Excelsa. The most popular and common coffee beans are Arabica and Robusta; you should try the other two if you find them. It is likely that you will encounter specialty or single-origin beans by geographic region — such as Kona Coffee or grown organically or following free-trade guidelines. Learn about all these bean varieties and and tips to choose the best coffee beans in this article.

Arabica vs. Robusta coffee beans

Most coffee drinkers prefer Arabica to Robusta. Although Arabica coffees can have a wide range of taste profiles depending on exactly how and where the beans were grown, Arabica coffees tend to be less bitter than Robusta coffees and to have subtler flavors with hints of fruit or chocolate.

You might also like to read: Ethiopian coffee regions which include Arabica coffee beans grown in the Sidamo region.

That being said, the more bitter taste of Robusta beans often has a place when brewing espresso. Often a blend of Arabica and Robusta beans are used for the best flavor in espresso.

Because of its more subtle and nuanced flavor, most coffee drinkers prefer Arabica. So, Arabica is the most produced and exported coffee worldwide (estimated to be about 60% of coffee traded), but Robusta coffee trees are easier to grow and are less subject to disease for the grower. You will find both beans at your favorite roaster (or for roasting).

If you would like to try coffee made from pure Arabica beans, we would suggest Kauai Whole Bean Coffee, Koloa Estate Medium Roast (view on Amazon) – 100% Arabica Whole Bean Coffee as a wonderful starting point.

Does Robusta produce better Crema?

Many espresso drinkers prefer the smooth, creamy texture from their crema. Using at least some Robusta when making espresso makes it easier to achieve that smooth, creamy texture that many espresso drinkers desire.

Robusta tends to have more caffeine

In fact, it appears to be the higher caffeine that makes the Robusta plant more disease resistant.

If you would like to try the unadulterated flavor of Robusta coffee beans, we suggest that you purchase the following Robusta Whole Bean Coffee from Vietnam (view on Amazon).

Also, make sure you try Liberica and Excelsa Coffee Beans to broaden your coffee experience.

Liberica Coffee Beans

It would be difficult to guess now that more than 100 years ago, Liberica coffee used to be a very popular coffee bean. Now they are considered an unusual treat.

Liberica coffee grows on “trees” 20-30 feet tall and typically in jungle environment. The height of those trees and the typical jungle environment in which they grow make the harvest more difficult than other coffee varieties.

The climates in which they are grown are not conducive to very large-scale production. But at the height of Liberica’s popularity a plant disease called “coffee rust” had wiped out much of the Arabica coffee production worldwide.

The Philippines were first to really commercialize the growth of Liberica coffee, having a climate and geography well suited to the plant.

Liberica Coffee is known for its fruity, floral, and slightly wood flavor, and it was well received in the marketplace. Unfortunately (for the Liberica coffee market), the Philippines which, at that time, belonged to the United States, declared its independence.

In retaliation, the U.S. imposed trade sanctions on the Philippines which dealt a fatal blow to the new coffee industry and to the Liberica coffee bean industry. Now Liberica beans are grown in other, similar tropical locations such as Malaysia.

To try the pure flavor of coffee brewed from library Beans, you might try Aik Cheong Kopi-O Liberica Beans (view on Amazon).

Excelsa Coffee Beans

Excelsa coffee beans are typically from Vietnam where it is often used as a blending coffee that can add complexity to other coffees. Excelsa beans are typically processed using traditional methods including sun-drying.

If you’d like to try the taste of pure Excelsa beans, we suggest ordering this Vietnamese Excelsa Whole Bean Coffee (view on Amazon)

Which Beans Are Best?

All of the coffee bean varieties are “best” for some specific purposes. Why don’t you try a virtual coffee tour and try all four major varieties of coffee beans so you can learn what each brings to the table.

Often coffee aficionados who prefer their coffee “straight up”, unadulterated with creamers, sweeteners, and other flavors, will prefer a light or medium roast Arabica coffee. Those who appreciate a good crema and more caffeine may well chose a hearty Robusta.

Make yourself more knowledgeable and appreciative of coffee varieties!

Check out our suggested choices for coffee beans.

Which coffee beans should I buy?

The best coffee is a very personal decision. Do you value crema? Do you want a mild coffee with floral bouquet? Do you want enough caffeine to knock your socks off?

We’ve tried a wide variety of beans, and we find that many combinations of bean types and roasts are “just right” for particular situations. We suggest that you sample a variety of coffees made the ways you prefer (espresso, pour-over, etc.) and form your own opinion through that experience.

FAQ’s

What are the best beans for espresso brewing?

As always, the ultimate judge of which are the best beans for brewing espresso is you. You should always prefer to use the freshest beans you can find. Especially check out the roast date. Many people find a blend of Arabica beans beans for smooth taste and subtle flavors and Robusta beans to add bold flavor and excellent Crema. You might find it beneficial to start with beings from a big roaster (like Peet’s), and then you can try other beans and have a baseline for comparison.

What are the best coffee beans to use in a French Press?

A French Press can be used to brew great coffee from almost any good beans. With a French press you can brew great coffee from dark roasts, blends, or single origin, either caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee. So pick your preferred coffee style, put it in your French press, and go for it!

What are the best coffee beans cold brew coffee?

Cold brewing tends to bring out the subtle flavors in coffee beans. You should start your search with beans that emphasize these subtle flavors. For example, you might start with Stonestreet cold brew coffee (view on Amazon) which is both smooth (low acid) and strong. It’s a Colombian single origin Arabica coffee. Use that coffee as your baseline, and feel free to explore from there.

How does Starbucks make cold brew coffee?

Don’t confuse cold brew coffee with iced coffee. Iced coffee is conventional hot coffee poured over ice, whereas cold brew coffee is ground coffee added to cold filtered water and allowed to steep for about 20 hours. If you want to make it easy on yourself, you can buy pouches at Starbucks of cold brew coffee concentrate that you can mix up at home. Otherwise, take your favorite coffee beans, grind them, put them in a picture of cold water and let steep for 20 hours…

Is there such a thing as GOOD decaffeinated coffee?

While the very terms good and decaffeinated coffee seem to be an oxymoron and sacrilegious to some of us, decaffeinated coffees have made huge improvements over earlier chemical tasting decaffeinated coffee. You might start by trying Decaf Dark Roast by Black Ink Coffee (view on Amazon) which is a medium roast decaffeinated by the Swiss water process.

You might also like to read: What is decaf espresso?

What are the best coffee beans in the world?

Some might argue (especially based on price) that kopi luwak, made from coffee beans plucked from the feces of civets, are the best to beans in the world.

Assuming we don’t have any civets handy, many would suggest that Hawaiian coffee from Kona or Kauai beans are among the best in the world.

What is the best whole bean coffee?

While you should always start with whole bean coffee, there is no single best whole bean coffee. The answer, of course, is it depends on your personal tastes and mood. A good start would be to ask your local roaster to give you a quick tour of the coffees they have available–then you can branch out from there.

Is it cheaper to buy green coffee beans?

While it is cheaper to buy green coffee beans, the cost difference is a lot less than you might expect. Green coffee beans contain excess water and oil which is partially lost during the roasting process. Thus, by weight, you will end up with a smaller amount (by weight) of beans than you started with. Additionally, the roasting process itself is energy intensive and certainly will cost you something. The final risk to consider is that you need to buy significant quantities of green beans to save much money, and you may not want to do that because of the beans aging out before you use them. However, there would be a real benefit to buying green beans and roasting them yourself if you have some secret roasting process that produces just the taste you want.

You might also like to read: Composting coffee grounds to turn them into nutrient-rich compost for your plants.

June 1, 2026 By CoF Barista

Iced Coffee Perfection: Beat the Heat with This Refreshing Summer Drink

There’s nothing quite like a cold coffee drink on a sweltering summer day. Whether you’re lounging by the pool, relaxing on your porch, or looking for an afternoon pick-me-up, a homemade iced coffee is the perfect solution.

Not only is it refreshing and energizing, but it’s also far more cost-effective than hitting up your local coffee shop daily.

Why Make Iced Coffee at Home?

Store-bought iced coffees often contain excessive sugar, artificial flavors, and unnecessary additives. By making your own, you control every ingredient, from the coffee strength to the sweetness level. Plus, it takes just minutes to prepare and tastes infinitely better than most commercial versions.

Your might like to read: Tips for brewing a perfect cup of espresso at home.

Simple Iced Coffee Recipe

Simple-Iced-Coffee-swirl-clouds-inside-the-coffee

Serves: 1 | Prep Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

2-3 tablespoons cold brew concentrate (or strongly brewed cooled coffee)
1 cup cold milk of choice (dairy, almond, oat, or coconut)
2-3 teaspoons honey, simple syrup, or sugar (optional)
1/2 cup ice cubes
Pinch of vanilla extract (optional)
Splash of cream for topping (optional)

Instructions:

Fill your glass with ice. Use a tall glass (12-16 oz) and fill it about halfway with ice cubes for the perfect chill.
Add your coffee base. Pour the cold brew concentrate or chilled strong coffee over the ice. If using cold brew concentrate, it’s already potent and won’t become watered down.
Sweeten to taste. Add your preferred sweetener if desired. Cold liquids require slightly more sweetener than hot beverages, so don’t be shy.
Pour in the milk. Slowly add your cold milk, stirring gently as you go. The contrast of dark coffee and white milk creates a beautiful aesthetic (and tastes great too).
Add vanilla and finishing touches. A splash of vanilla extract elevates the flavor, and a float of cream on top adds a luxurious touch.
Stir and enjoy immediately. Give it one final stir and drink right away while it’s perfectly cold.

Pro Tips for the Best Results

Make Cold Brew at Home: Cold brew is less acidic and smoother than regular iced coffee. Make a batch at home by steeping coarse coffee grounds in cold water for 12-24 hours, then straining. Your might like to read: Cold Brew and Iced Coffee: What’s the difference?.

Use Leftover Brewed Coffee: Brew your morning coffee, let it cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. Use this for iced coffee later in the day.

Don’t Dilute with Hot Coffee: Always chill your brewed coffee first. Pouring hot coffee over ice dilutes it as the ice melts.

Experiment with Flavors: Try adding a splash of caramel syrup, chocolate syrup, hazelnut creamer, or a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Make Ahead: Prepare the coffee component in advance and store in the fridge for grab-and-go mornings.

Flavor Variations to Try

Vanilla Cream: Add 1 tablespoon of vanilla syrup and top with whipped cream.

Mocha: Mix 1 tablespoon of chocolate syrup into the coffee before adding milk.

Caramel Delight: Swirl caramel sauce around the inside of the glass, then add ice and coffee.

Coconut Refresher: Use coconut milk and add 1/2 teaspoon of coconut extract.

Iced Latte: Use more milk (up to 1.5 cups) for a creamier drink with less coffee intensity.

Affogato-Style Iced Coffee: Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream to the glass before pouring in the coffee.

Conclusion

Making your own iced coffee is a game-changer for summer. With minimal effort and just a handful of ingredients, you can create a café-quality drink right at home. Whether you prefer it simple and strong or creamy and sweet, our ice-coffee recipe is endlessly customizable to your taste preferences. Cheers to staying cool all summer long!

March 17, 2026 By CoF Barista

Your Daily Coffee Could Be Your Brain’s Best Friend

Harvard researchers find moderate coffee consumption linked to 18% lower dementia risk

If you need another reason to savor your morning brew, new research from Harvard and Mass General Brigham has some good news: your daily coffee habit may be quietly protecting your brain.

A landmark 43-year study published in JAMA examined data from over 131,000 nurses and health professionals, tracking their coffee consumption and cognitive health over decades. The results? Moderate coffee drinkers showed an 18% lower risk of developing dementia compared to those who rarely or never drank coffee.

The Sweet Spot: 2-3 Cups Daily

The research identified an optimal range for maximum benefits:

2-3 cups of caffeinated coffee per day, or
1-2 cups of tea daily

“When searching for possible dementia prevention tools, we thought something as prevalent as coffee may be a promising dietary intervention,” explained Dr. Daniel Wang, the study’s senior author. “Our unique access to high quality data through studies spanning more than 40 years allowed us to follow through on that idea.”

You might also like to read: Health benefits of coffee.

More Than Just a Wake-Up Call

Beyond dementia prevention, regular caffeine consumers showed:

Lower rates of subjective cognitive decline
Better performance on objective cognitive tests
Protection against cognitive decline over time

Notably, these benefits held true regardless of genetic predisposition to dementia, meaning coffee’s brain-boosting potential appears universal.

What Makes Coffee Special?

The key player? Caffeine. When researchers compared caffeinated coffee to decaffeinated varieties, only the caffeinated versions showed protective effects. Coffee and tea’s polyphenols, powerful antioxidants, work alongside caffeine to reduce inflammation and limit cellular damage linked to cognitive decline.

“We also compared people with different genetic predispositions to developing dementia and saw the same results,” noted lead researcher Yu Zhang, “meaning coffee or caffeine is likely equally beneficial for people with high and low genetic risk.”

You might also like to read: Coffee Intake May Slow Cellular Aging.

Part of a Bigger Picture

While the findings are encouraging, researchers emphasize this isn’t a silver bullet. “The effect size is small and there are lots of important ways to protect cognitive function as we age,” Dr. Wang cautioned. “Our study suggests that caffeinated coffee or tea consumption can be one piece of that puzzle.”

With current dementia treatments offering only modest benefits after symptoms appear, the focus on prevention through lifestyle factors like diet has never been more important.

The Bottom Line

Your morning coffee ritual just gained another benefit. While moderate caffeine consumption alone won’t prevent dementia. This groundbreaking long-term research suggests it’s a simple, enjoyable way to support your brain health as you age, one cup at a time.

The study analyzed data from the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, with participants tracked for up to 43 years and 11,033 dementia cases documented during the research period.

March 6, 2026 By CoF Barista

Cold Brew and Iced Coffee: What’s the difference?

The warmer months whet the appetite for cold coffee beverages. Iced coffee and cold brew both can provide a refreshing caffeinated drink. There is sometimes confusion between iced coffee and cold brew coffee. There is a difference between iced coffee and cold brew coffee.

Iced coffee is coffee that is brewed in the “normal” way, using hot water and then subsequently cooled with ice. It is typically served sweetened and possibly with other flavorings.

Cold brew coffee is made by steeping ground coffee beans in room temperature or colder water. As you might imagine, this requires a longer brew time (perhaps over-night or even longer) and results in a smoother taste.

Is cold brew healthier than ice coffee?

There is increasing evidence that coffee in general is good for your health as it includes beneficial antioxidants. Since cold brew coffee typically tastes smoother, it is more often consumed black—without potentially harmful sugar, etc.

However, there is some concern that cold brewing is less efficient at extracting antioxidants from coffee beans, which might provide a marginal health benefit to hot brewed coffees. But the differences are likely small.

Is cold brew stronger than regular coffee?

Does cold-brew coffee have more caffeine? Typically, cold brewed coffee is brewed with more coffee (vs. water) than hot brewed coffee, so you start with a stronger coffee drink. However, caffeine is water soluble, and hot water will generally be more efficient at extracting the caffeine. The amount of caffeine in your drink is dependent on how you brewed it, the amount of coffee used, and any dilution before consumption.

How long does cold-brew coffee last in the refrigerator?

Since typically cold brew coffee is concentrated, it may be readily stored for later use. Unlike hot brew coffee, cold brew coffee can last 10 to 15 days in the refrigerator.

Can I make cold brew using a French Press?

Here’s an easy recipe for great cold brew coffee made with a French Press:

Put ground coffee into a French press and add room-temperature water.
Place plunger lid on top and press the plunger down only 1-2 inches to fully submerge the coffee.
Do not press the plunger all the way down.
Let coffee steep at room temperature for 16 to 18 hours.
Pour the coffee through a coffee filter and transfer to an airtight container in your refrigerator.
Serve in a glass over ice with equal parts of milk or water.

Want to make coffeehouse cold brew at home?

Do you want the convenience of cold brew that tastes like it came from your favorite coffee house but only takes minutes to make rather than hours or days? You might consider:

Cuisinart DCB-10 Automatic Cold Brew Coffeemaker

View Product on Amazon.com

This Cuisinart machine can produce delicious, smooth, and less acidic cold brew coffee in 25-45 minutes (depending on desired strength). A push of a button can cold-brew up to 7 cups of triple-filtered coffee with your choice of 3 strengths.

Traditional cold brewing methods take 12-48 hours to make delicious cold brew coffee. Now you can enjoy your triple-filtered, sediment-free coffeehouse cold brew in minutes.

The carafe can be used to store your cold brew coffee up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Clean-up is a breeze, as all removable parts are dishwasher safe.

Includes Limited 3-year warranty.

Note that this fine machine produces cold brew that is ready to drink but does not produce concentrate.

How to make bulk cold brew coffee?

Start with the coffee-1 pound coarse grind.
Place ground coffee in a 3-4-quart open container.
Add 1 quart of water and stir enough to wet all the grounds. Then add another quart of water.
Let steep for 24 hours.
Strain into another container with a wire mesh filter and then filter again using a paper coffee filter.

Now you have about ½ gallon of cold brew concentrate.

You can adjust quantities to fit your needs.

Types of cold-brew coffee

Once you have your cold brew concentrate, what do you do with it? There are many options. Most commonly, the concentrate is either mixed with cold water or with milk in equal quantities. Mixing with milk makes for a richer drink, but it is enjoyable both ways.

Some drinkers use the concentrate mixed with hot water to make a warm drink.
Cold brew concentrate also can serve as the base for many other beverages.
For example, New Orleans Style cold brew coffee calls for mixing ground chicory with the ground coffee for steeping. This beverage is finished by combining the coffee-chicory brew with generous quantities of milk and sweetener.
You can also try a cold brew martini for a little extra kick.

Nitro cold brew?

Infusing cold brew coffee with nitrogen is a relatively recent invention. The nitrogen gas (“nitro”) introduces many very small bubbles into the coffee, which give it a smoother, less bitter taste and a smooth mouthfeel. The nitro gives the drink a foamy top.

Nitro cold brew has been around for about 10 years and really gained notoriety when Starbucks began offering it in 1500 stores in 2016.

There are now pre-made canned nitro beverages and home machine that allow infusion of nitrogen by the home cold-brew maker.

What do you need to make cold brew coffee?

Cold brew coffee is made with only three ingredients: coarsely ground coffee beans, cold or room temperature water, and time. You can make a better tasting cup of cold brew coffee at home quite easily following one of our recipes above. Of course, you will need to plan ahead because of the need to steep the coffee for at least 25 minutes with an automatic Cold Brew Coffeemaker, and 12-24 hours without one, to extract the flavors.

Your might like to read: Perfect Iced Coffee Drink for Hot Days.