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The key to buying good coffee is experimentation. There are so many varieties of coffee out there that you will never find what works best for you unless you actually sample them. It also pays to remember who is in charge here and that's you. While a coffee professional may be useful in guiding you to a particular type of coffee, even a coffee with a super pedigree will be of little use to you if you don't care for the way it tastes.

Even if you're happy drinking canned coffee, it's still a good idea to seek out a coffee specialty store. You may find something you'll like even better. African and Asian coffees, in particular, have unusual flavors that will likely be new to you. If it's your first trip to a coffee store, you may find the selection bewildering; not only are coffees of the world available, some countries produce many different varieties of coffee. You may find Ethiopian Harrar, Sidamo and Yrgachaffe all available. Each of these coffees has a completely different taste. That's okay; you don't have to buy out the entire store on your first trip. A reasonable approach might be to buy four different half pounds of coffee: an African coffee, an Asian coffee, a South or Central American coffee and either a flavored coffee or a blend. While you may not like all four types, at least one should appeal to you and help you focus your future buying habits. Your second time in the shop, buy more of what you liked best, maybe splurge on a pricey coffee such as Hawaiian Kona or Jamaica Blue Mountain (to see if they really live up to all the hype) and try another new variety. You have now sampled enough to have a good idea about which types of coffee intrigue you and which types are better left for others.

Some people swear by French roasted coffee, while others swear at it. You'll probably have some idea if the darker, French roasted coffees or lighter American roasts are right for you through your previous coffee drinking experience. If most of the coffee you've been drinking tastes stronger than you'd like, you're a good candidate for an American roast. If the opposite is true, you're probably a French roast drinker. Don't be misled into thinking that French roasted coffee will give you a stronger caffeine jolt, it won't. On a per volume basis, the lighter roasts actually contain more caffeine.

While African coffees do have unique flavors, some people don't care for them. Their high acidity may pucker the mouth for quite a while after drinking them. One way around this problem is to blend an African coffee with one or more less acidic coffees. The idea behind blended coffee is to produce a whole that's better than the sum of its parts. Some coffee drinkers feel this works, while others find that blends tend to bland out the flavors of the component coffees. You'll have to decide for yourself. Flavored coffees generally use a mild, low acid coffee like Brazilian Santos as a base and add flavoring to the beans. Some common examples are vanilla, hazelnut and chocolate. You can get a similar effect at home by adding vanilla extract or cinnamon to ground coffee, prior to brewing. You may find this makes a nice change of pace.

Learn more about this author, Neil Wagner.
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