Why the Best Before Date (BBD) for coffee is actually not necessary. Time and again, the Best Before Date/expiration date is debated and the amount of food, which gets thrown away because of this imprint on the packaging, is criticised. Food labeling is mandatory in the EU and therefore also in the United Kingdom. While this is logical for some perishable foods such as dairy and meat products, consideration is now being given to eliminating the shelf life for long-term sustainable foods. This would also affect coffee.

The coffee bean is in fact a fully grown seed of the cherry of the coffee plant. The coffee plant grows in different parts of the world. After harvesting the coffee berries they are stripped of its outer layer. After the beans have dried, they are roasted. The sugars in the bean are caramelized to create the coffee oil that ensures the aroma and taste of the bean. There are different degrees of roasting, from lightly roasted to very dark roasted. The beans are ground after roasting. You can choose to buy pre-ground coffee, but you can also grind your own coffee. For the perfect cup of coffee it is recommended to grind the beans yourself. Also during grinding again there are different varieties in the grind, from very fine (for espresso or filter coffee) to semi-coarse.

Arabica beans and robusta beans are two different types of coffee that are commercially grown for consumption as coffee. The general differences are those of taste, the conditions under which the two species grow and economic differences. Arabica coffee beans have a slightly larger / elliptical shape than the smaller, more rounded robusta beans. There are also structural differences between the beans, which may explain why both beans roast differently under identical conditions. Arabica coffee beans are considerably higher in price and are therefore used for most premium coffee bean blends, while robusta coffee beans are typically found in instant coffee used as fillers in blends (a 70:30 blend consists of 70 percent arabica coffee beans and 30 percent robusta coffee beans) . The...