The Best Visual Coffee Brands

Because we don't just taste coffee, we see it too

Look, taste is everything to coffee fans but I can’t help but notice that the visual brand of the coffee company impacts everyone’s perception of value and flavour.

A great example of this was when I did a blind cupping in Madrid with Jorge and Ruman (@dontchannelmebaby and @dabov.spain on Instagram) in Madrid, and on of the coffees we had in the list of six was

La Cabra Cerro Azul

The brand is super clean, beautiful abstract design and consistently gets great coffees.

But in our test without looking at the brand, it came second to last.

Why?

The flavour notes lacked complexity, it was like a fruit that was just slightly underripe, with an astringency and an aftertaste that wasn’t as pleasant as the others. It had a nice acidity but a sharpness that was just off-putting to me. But it was by far the most expensive coffee we had on the test, I think about €25 for 100g.

I think having a visual brand that is high quality actually improves your perception of taste, which is the same thing as improving the taste for a lot of people. If you’re happy with a coffee and you believe it to be good, you will taste it as being better. Objectivity isn’t everything in the subjective feeling of enjoying your coffee.

No shade on La Cabra by they way, an excellent coffee but that test was blind for a reason and I think it was Ruman teaching me to trust my taste buds. We weren’t even allowed to react to the coffees because everything influences your taste buds, even a subtle “mmm” from another person tasting the coffee you’re about to taste.

So I thought I would share my favourite coffee brands visuals, lots of them really worth trying, especially if you know you paid a little extra for it 😉

Ninety Plus

I’ve only tried this once but Ninety Plus has, as the name would suggest, only coffees that are above 90 on a grading scale. Very clean visual brand, their website has a nice amount of information and they sell their coffees via their email list, you can’t just buy on demand, enhancing the feeling that the brand is exclusive.

“Oh I’m on the list, you have to be on the list to get this coffee.”

Very cool and when I am not totally broke I’ll buy some.

Fuglen Coffee Roasters

One of my old favourite haunts back in Tokyo, I have always loved Fuglen’s character, the funky long beak bird in a suit and hat. The vibe of their store in Shibuya also gives this feeling, and back when I was first getting into coffee I used to go and sit in the squishy chair at the back of the store and just read a book or something. Loved the vibe, but I can’t say as much for their newer store in Asakusa - that was a pretty disappointing coffee experience, rushed miserable staff and below average coffee.

But the brand is on point, and whoever designed it needs a bonus.

Gentlemen Baristas

Call me an old English bloke, but I love buying a coffee called Top Hat. I’ve had their coffee many times and some of them are really excellent, including the Top Hat (thankfully).

In a world where everyone is calling their coffee by the origin or the name of the farmer to signal how much they care about looking after their suppliers, it’s nice to have a brand that is a bit more playful with it.

September

Those of you who are into the YouTube scene will instantly recognise this as Kyle Rowsell’s coffee brand, and I think his attention to detail and visual branding skills have helped make this a very pleasant looking brand. There’s something very cosy about it, from the name to the umbrella logo.

So I have to admit that I haven’t tried this coffee yet. I tried to order some but at the time they didn’t ship to the UK, and now it’s £14 to ship one bag, which is more than most bags of coffee cost.

And don’t get me wrong, I understand shipping costs - it costs me £13.80 to ship one book to Canada, which is why I discount the shipping heavily so people don’t get put off.

But hopefully I’ll be able to try some someday soon.

Redemption Roasters

This is a brand that not only looks great in terms of its design and nice little cafes in London, but they have a mission boldly proclaimed: Reducing Reoffending Through Coffee.

I have a friend at my Muay Thai group was in prison and he told me that the hardest thing after getting out was getting a job, and you need to get a job. A lot of people see that you went to prison and that’s the first and last thing they need to know about you to say “no chance”.

It’s an amazing thing to offer a place where you are needed and support to people who need a second chance. And funnily enough from what I’ve heard ex-offenders are the hardest working and the most loyal people if you give them a chance.

It helps that the coffee is great too!

Brew Ledger Changes

I’ve just received the first draft copies of the second edition of my book The Brew Ledger and I’m going to offer a discount for the last few copies of the First Edition just for people who follow me on Substack.

If you go over to My Home Cafe by Charlie Store and use the code HOMECAFECLUB you’ll get 20% off First Edition Brew Ledgers. There are only a few dozen left so once they are gone, they are gone.

Now I’m sure some of you might be thinking it’s better to wait for the new books to be available, right? Well it depends on whether the new edition changes are ones you need.

I’ve removed the check box for Paper Filters as this was the least used feature, and have made more space between boxes so it’s easier to write settings with 1 or even 2 decimal places.

Then I added RPM for grinder speed and Infusion for the amount of pre-infusion time. Grinders with adjustable RPM are ubiquitous these days and I think a lot of people will like this addition, and while I usually keep my pre-infusions to similar timings, it is useful to have this as a discrete number on the page for people who adjust this depending on their coffee.

And there’s a new line at the top for the name of the roaster separately from the name of the coffee so it’s easier to differentiate.

I also switched the cover material to a more premium looking faux leather. I think it looks great, and the cover now says “Coffee Journal” instead of “First Edition”.

The functionality is largely the same but these are some small improvements I hope I’ll be able to do with each new printing. The books aren’t available to buy yet but they will be on Amazon in the US and UK hopefully before the end of summer.

Get your Brew Ledger here and don’t forget HOMECAFECLUB for 20% off.

What videos am I working on?

I have to admit with all the book stuff and my trip to Australia my attention has been split. I’m hoping to release my Odyssey Argos review in the next week or so, and then my video about the science of coffee and health which has ballooned to a much bigger video than I expected, but I’m excited to share it with you all when it’s good enough.

Thanks for reading you wonderfully overcaffeinated people and I’ll see you on the next one.