Distinctive coffees
What do we mean by distinctive coffee?
We love to source the very best coffees from some of the very finest farms and cooperatives, where putting the care and effort into producing a high quality coffee is of paramount importance. Here, the character of the farm combined with the influence of micro-climate, terrain and soil in the region where the coffee grows, all have an impact on the taste of the coffee.
The blending of coffees is without doubt a fine art and craft, particularly for espresso, but it can also be a useful way of hiding below-standard coffee or finding an excuse to come up with a fancy blend name. Taking coffee to its simplest form, and right down to root level, is not only endlessly fascinating but provides amazing taste potential.
So, what isn’t a distinctive coffee?
At Grumpy Mule we do not sell “commercial” coffees (like Brasil Santos or Colombian Excelso, which says very little about the coffee’s actual heritage) and we don’t use Robusta or novelty coffees that sound more exotic than they taste.
Importantly, our products are also fresh coffees, not instant. Admittedly, real freshly roasted coffee takes longer to prepare but it is well worth the extra time and effort. Your friends and family will thank you for it too.
Our single origin coffees
Whole bean or pre-ground, these are freshly roasted coffees that are sourced from a wide geographical spectrum and from specific farms, cooperatives, estates and regions of unique character and distinct tastes. We’ll tell you who grew the coffee and how, what was done to achieve the quality and why it tastes like it does, whilst offering tips for the perfect brew.
Please note that our range and selection will change along with the coffee seasons and availability, but hopefully this will make enjoying coffees a more exhilarating experience.
We’ve split these coffees into the key coffee growing regions: Central and South America, Africa, and the Far East and Pacific.
View our single origin coffees
Our single origin certified coffees
These coffees taste just as fantastic as our single origin distinctive coffees but each farm, cooperative or estate has been assessed and approved against a range of social, environmental or sustainable criteria. We will not offer any certified coffees that are not worthy of the distinctive label, so they must meet our taste criteria.
- Organic
- Rainforest Alliance-certified
- Fairtrade
- Swiss Water Process Decaffeinated
View our Organic & Fairtrade Coffees
Our espresso & blended coffees
The idea behind creating a few Grumpy Mule blends is to provide a small selection of coffees that will suit various moods and occasions, and really combine the great characteristics of some of our favourite single origin coffees. These will be as changeable as our other coffee ranges, but as always they will be the very best that we can develop at that particular time of the year. At this moment in time, most of our blends are for espresso.
Our espresso coffees have been blended from a wide range of our distinctive coffees in order to coax out each of their best characteristics and features, and roasted uniquely to develop as much sweetness, body and complexity as possible. The espresso blends may alter slightly throughout the year, which will reflect the availability and seasonality of the coffees that we use. However, the sweetness-body-complexity principle will always apply.
