Coffee Beans and Loose leaf Tea
Roasted Coffee Beans
Here at Golden Brown Coffee we like to consider ourselves as an artisan coffee roasting company bringing you excellent blended and single origin freshly (from green raw bean) roasted coffee beans. Our retail roaster is sourced from one of the worlds leading roasting equipment manufacturers to ensure each range of fresh coffee beans are hand-roasted perfectly.
Share our passion & excitement for truly invigorating coffees. Not only does Golden Brown Coffee offer a wonderful range of freshly hand-roasted coffees we believe in, but an excellent delivery service to ensure our coffee beans will reach you hand packed and fresh, sealing in its exquisite flavour and that unmistakable freshly roasted taste. If you prefer your beans to be ground prior to delivery - not a problem; just indicate this by emailing us from the Contact Page upon completion of your purchase. Tell us the type of grind you require for your preferred brewing method.
Shop 'Hand-Roasted' Rare Speciality Coffee Beans
Within our own retail shop in Darlington, we also roast a regular batch of sought after and rare coffee beans from around the globe from our own leading retail coffee roasting machine. As with our other coffees the fresh, shop roasted coffee beans are added to our offer on a regular basis. The aroma in and around the shop when roasting is wonderfully enticing.
It’s our aim to provide a range of quality coffees, from around the globe popular with all coffee fans who share our passion.
Whatever your choice of coffee, buy the best quality you can - it's worth it just for the taste.
Golden Brown intends to expand its range over a period of time, so keep a watchful eye on the site for new coffees and beans and brewing accessories.
All our coffee beans are vacuum packed for freshness in 125g bags. Through feedback we have found that customers prefer this size rather than the normal 227g bags sold elsewhere. The 125g bags are just large enough to use within two weeks for average consumption to retain freshness and prevent waste. If you prefer a larger volume, we suggest buying multiples of the 125g bag, that will then ensure your coffee beans are always at their freshest when opened.
Our coffees are not 'super' or 'turbo' roasted like some of the well known supermarkets or large chains do to ensure they can have them on their shelves quickly or store them with 'extended' shelf-life techniques; our beans are roasted to the correct profiles and timings to allow all of each bean's natural flavours and notes to remain present. Nor do we add additives to retain 'freshness' for longer shelf life, our beans are roasted in small batches for the shop or once an order is placed on our website, immediately. By the time our roasted beans reach you, they have had time to 'de-gas' and be ready for grinding with optimum flavour.
Blending
Whilst we love our single origins, we also love our blended coffees and a good blend should not be a compromise but give you the best of each bean; that is, it should provide body, flavours, acidity, after-taste and aromas that ultimately make up the sum of all its best parts. Blending is not simple and requires a range of things to be taken account of before finally being ready to be released onto market, such as the type of brewing method or methods to suit it best.
Coffee - choosing the right grind
At Golden Brown Coffee we can grind your coffee to order and our some of coffee is roasted daily and can be sent to you in a number of ways. The information below will help you select the right grind for you and the coffee making equipment you use:
Beans
If you have your own grinding facilities or equipment at home, this is the best way to buy coffee. The bean will lock in the freshness and the full flavour will be released once you have ground the coffee. Your beans are either already vacuum packed or will be vacuum packed as soon as those roasted on site are ready.
Cafetiere Grind
Cafetiere ground coffee is made to a coarse grind; anything other than this would just seep through the cafetiere and into the coffee. Cafetieres are also known as French Press, Coffee Press, Press Pot or Coffee Plungers. The cafetiere is a very popular device, which produces stronger coffee than other coffee brewing products. The equipment is usually made of glass and has a plunger which fits tightly with a wire mesh acting as a filter. Coffee is made by adding ground beans and water (just off the boil so as not to burn the grounds) together and leaving them to brew for between two and four minutes (depending on preference), then pressing down the plunger to separate the coffee and your brew is ready.
Espresso Grind
The Espresso is roasted coffee beans ground to a consistency between extremely fine and powder. The consistency needs to be perfect when using with Espresso machines or equipment. The coffee is produced by forcing hot (not boiling) water under high pressure through the coffee. This gives you a wonderful espresso brew, which can be drunk on its own, or as a base for a cappuccino or mocha. You would use the espresso grind with an Italian coffee pot (Mokka) or espresso maker.
Filter Coffee Grind
Also known as Filter Ground Coffee, the coffee is ground to a fine level, just below cafetiere course ground, but not as fine as Espresso or Turkish. This coffee is usually used with a paper filter using a drip brew method. Filter coffee makers are easy, and clean to use, leaving a nice aroma of coffee lingering around your home or office all day.
Percolator Grind
Percolator grind will be a fairly coarse grind of coffee, ensuring the flavour is locked in until the last minute. The traditional percolators make a great spurting and steaming sound, so you know when you coffee is ready! The percolator was very popular in the late 80’s around the world; bringing great tasting coffee into the home.
Turkish Grind
Turkish (or Greek) grind is roasted coffee beans ground to a very fine powder, which is then used in a special Turkish coffee pot. Turkish coffee is thick and has a foam top; the coffee is usually served with a glass of water to help freshen the mouth so you can enjoy the fuller taste before sipping your coffee. Turkish coffee is also traditionally served with Turkish delights.
Whichever grind you prefer, we hope you enjoy your coffee.
Storing your coffee
Please don't follow the myths that coffee should be stored in your refrigerator; oxygen and moisture are the enemies of freshly roasted coffee - once you expose the coffee to storage in your fridge and open the bag or container, the difference in temperature ensures the inside of your bag or container condenses - argh! Bad coffee soon ensues. If you want to retain your coffee at its optimum - freeze the 'beans' only and then grind just the amount of beans you need at the time of brewing (even from frozen) - replacing the remainder back in the freezer fully sealed.
If you drink coffee regularly, then use your beans within the maximum of two weeks stored in a cool cupboard away from heat sources and always well sealed (air-tight). If you buy pre-ground coffee, try to buy in smaller quantities and use within a week.
Coffee doesn't survive well once the bag is opened, so the more you can do to mitigate flavour loss the better coffee you'll be able to enjoy and for longer.
Teas
If you are cold, tea will warm you.
If you are too heated, it will cool you.
If you are depressed, it will cheer you.
If you are excited, it will calm you.
WILLIAM GLADSTONE
It’s our aim to share our passion and provide a range of quality loose leaf teas at very fair prices, whether they are large loose leaf, flowering (blooming) teas, tisanes or in the ubiquitous, but still popular, tea bag.
Though we at Golden Brown prefer large loose leaf tea, which we believe provides more variety and the best quality, whatever your choice of tea, buy the best quality tea you can - it's worth it just for the taste.
Golden Brown intends to expand its range of loose leaf and blooming teas over a period of time, so keep a watchful eye on the site for new teas and brewing accessories.
Like our coffee beans, our large loose leaf teas are packed in 125g bags. However, to avoid damage to some teas we may reduce the net amount in each bag, but will ensure the correct weight in multiples are always shipped.
Growth and production
What’s the difference between black, green, white and oolong (or blue) teas people often ask? Well, there is no real difference, they are all come from the flowering evergreen Camellia sinensis , a native to China, and its cousin Camellia assamica, native to India.
It is the differing processing of the leaf that produces the differing colour and taste, though certainly the region and the soil in which it is grown does impact on the quality and taste. The best quality and flavoured teas are obtained from the bud and first two leaves when plucked.
Tea Producing Countries
The three main tea producing countries are:-
India - This is the main producing country overtaking China – mainly Darjeeling and Assam. Indian teas are usually the main bases for British tea bags.
Sri Lanka – Producing Ceylon teas, once the number one tea producer in the world.
China – Most of China’s teas are blended – mainly Keemun and Green Gunpowder. Also grown in Japan, Green tea is becoming more popular due to its reputation for containing healing properties. It is also reputed to give a feeling of well being as well as increasing the metabolic rate.
Other tea producing countries (notably, in Africa) will also form part of our aim to provide customers with a wider choice over time; including the increasing popular tisanes, a range of drinks that are more herbal from Africa, Europe and South America.