The Buddy System
A CoffeeBuddy guide

Buy the coffee you'll actually like.

Most disappointing bags aren't bad coffee. They're the wrong coffee for you. Decide what you want it to taste like, then read the label in the right order.

Find my style Decode a bag

Built on the method in Stop Buying the Wrong Coffee by Daddy Got Coffee. Our summary, in our own words.

Read the clues in this order. The first two do most of the work.

Step 1

Pick your destination

Coffee roughly falls into four styles. None of them is the "advanced" one, so pick the one you'd enjoy drinking tomorrow morning.

Mostly drink lattes or flat whites? Classic and Balanced usually shine through milk. Bright and Wild show off best black.

Step 2

Read the bag in this order

Every label is a pile of clues. Weigh them in this order: the first two set your expectation, the rest fine-tune it.

  1. 1Roast levelThe loudest clue

    Darker roasts taste more of the roast itself: chocolate, nuts, a little smoke. Lighter roasts leave room for acidity and for the farm and process to come through. Dark roasting can flatten differences you'd taste easily in a light roast.

    Roast names aren't standardised. A specialty bag that doesn't say often means light to medium, and "espresso roast" often runs darker. Neither is a rule, so read the tasting notes too.

  2. 2ProcessAlmost as loud

    How the coffee cherry became a green bean. It can outweigh the country on the bag.

    WashedClean and clear. Less fermented character.
    HoneyIn between: sweet, round, some fruit. The darker the honey colour named, the fruitier.
    NaturalDried in the fruit: jammy, full, fruit-forward, sometimes boozy.
    ExperimentalAnaerobic, carbonic maceration, extended fermentation, thermal shock: expect the unexpected.

    Exceptions happen: some naturals taste clean, and fermentation isn't only for experimental lots. Washed means "probably cleaner", not "low acidity".

  3. 3OriginContext
    BrazilOften chocolate and nuts. Familiar.
    SumatraHeavy, earthy, sometimes herbal.
    Colombia & Central AmericaAll over the map, from classic to bright.
    EthiopiaFlorals and berries.
    KenyaJuicy, lively, bright fruit.

    Useful, not reliable on its own: Brazil makes some startlingly fruity lots, and Ethiopia makes chocolatey ones. That's why it comes after roast and process.

  4. 4AltitudeA nudge

    Higher farms are cooler, so the cherries ripen slowly and the beans grow denser, with brighter, more delicate potential. Lower-grown coffee tends to be rounder. Latitude and local climate muddy this, so it's a nudge, not a ranking.

    Dense, light-roasted beans are harder to brew well. If you want an easy daily cup, Classic or Balanced is kinder.

  5. 5VarietyWeigh it least

    It shows most in very light roasts. A few you'll see often:

    Geisha / GeshaFloral, delicate, tea-like.
    SL28 & SL34Juicy.
    PacamaraDistinctive: fruity, sometimes savoury.

    Don't buy a bag just because a famous variety is printed on it. Its usual flavour still has to be one you like.

The wildcard: co-fermented and infused

Some coffees are fermented alongside other ingredients, often fruit, and the result can taste loudly of it (strawberry is a common one). That can drown out everything above. Buy them on purpose, and favour roasters who explain exactly what they did.

Step 3

Decode a bag

Tap what's printed on the bag in front of you, or try an example. We'll show where it probably lands and how close that is to what you want.

Three shortcuts

Want easy? Try a blend

For a Classic or Balanced everyday coffee, a specialty roaster's house blend is a great bet. Roasters tune blends to taste the same harvest after harvest, and they're forgiving to brew and good with milk. Single origins are more seasonal and great for learning what you like. Neither is better.

Decaf can be great

Look for how it was decaffeinated: Swiss Water, Mountain Water, sugarcane (ethyl acetate) or CO₂. A roaster who tells you is a good sign.

Price isn't flavour

An expensive bag might be rare, in demand or unusual. That doesn't mean you'll enjoy it more. Buy for the taste you picked in step 1.

Your shopping checklist

If a coffee doesn't taste like its description, the brew may be the culprit rather than the bag.

Then let your cups do the talking

Log each bag and brew in CoffeeBuddy. After a few weeks its Insights tell you which roasts, processes and origins you actually rate highest, so the next bag is an easier pick.

Meet CoffeeBuddy Use it free in your browser

The method comes from Stop Buying the Wrong Coffee by Daddy Got Coffee; watch it for the full explanation and the tasting. These are tendencies, not promises about any particular bag, and the decoder is our own rough model of them, not a lab test.