One of the great things about our job is that we never tire of watching the perfect espresso extraction – rich and caramel brown, flowing like warm honey and finishing in the cup with a thick crema that is slow to dissipate. There are a number of equally important elements that go into perfecting that extraction, two of which are bean selection and the freshness of the roast.

A well constructed blend will manage to showcase the natural sweetness of the beans whilst delivering warm savoury overtones. It should have good body with a silky mouth-feel and a pleasant lingering aftertaste. As far as freshness goes, oxygen is arguably the biggest single factor in the degradation of a roasted bean. Whole roasted beans will start to go stale within 3 hours of exposure to oxygen while ground coffee will take as little as five minutes. At Bang we grind on demand for each and every individual coffee.