Our Coffee Beans

In order to get the perfect taste for espresso coffee, we use a blend of beans from Central America, Brazil and Ethiopia. Mediterranean Mocha, as our blend is called, is blended and roasted by Coffee Compass who individually select the beans each year directly from local farmers.

The beans used in our blend are 100% Arabica, with a small faint trace of Robusta, which gives a very distinctive taste, rich and smooth with a hint of chocolate and a great crema! This particular blend won an acclaimed review in The Times newspaper’s independent survey of the coffee industry in November 2006 when The Armadillo Café, who supply it to Carpuccino, was selected as one of the top six places to have coffee in London.

Depending on the quality of harvest each year, the blend can produce a coffee with four to five origins – for us the key factor is that the taste and quality of the Mediterranean Mocha is maintained and is consistent. The beans are shipped to the UK ‘green’ and are roasted in small batches to order, packed immediately after roasting and delivered overnight.

There is much debate in the coffee industry about Fairtrade coffee in regards to its quality and the benefits it brings. Suffice to say, Carpuccino has chosen to go the Relationship route rather than Fairtrade. Our beans are chosen from a select group of farms in Central America, Brazil and Ethiopia – farms which have been visited and where the whole working practises of the farm are reviewed. The beans that are harvested each year are tasted before any contracts are drawn up – this ensures that the working practises on the farm are maintained; they are well managed and staff are well trained and well paid, as it is in the interest of the farm to produce high quality coffee beans. As a result, farmers are paid a premium price for their top grade beans.

Three geographical regions are chosen as coffee is very sensitive and quality can be greatly affected by changes in the weather. By working with farms in these three regions, it ensures high quality beans are always available from which to achieve the delicious taste of Mediterranean Mocha.

If you’re interested to know more about our coffee and the process it goes through to get to your cup, please do come and chat to Heather!