Instant Coffee

For some reason this has become the nation’s favourite way to make quick coffee. The familiar sound from kitchens across the UK is a metal tea spoon frantically rattling around a Sports Direct mug trying to dilute the congealed coffee grounds. After the frantic process of making an “instant coffee”, the drinker is enforced to endure a bitter or burnt murky brown liquid. All in the hope of a pleasant experience and a slight caffeine hit. The caffeine will be all but gone to the process of making freeze dried instant coffee. The punchy taste of strong instant coffee is confused for high caffeine. 'It’s just burnt mate.'

Quick Coffee is Contact Coffee’s mantra. Our customers will get fresh coffee with Battle bags, without the burnt or over processed taste of instant coffee. The fresher the coffee, the better the coffee.

Snobbery

Coffee is as complex as wine especially when you consider the region, soil, bean, process, blend, roast and farm elevation all contribute to different flavours. Compound all of that with the method you make coffee such as Espresso, pour over or Aeropress and there is a never ending taste profile options.

We get it, coffee is diverse but on the very rare occasion that I am without my coffee kit and I walk into a “trendy” coffee shop I just want an epic coffee. I don’t need some bloke with 20/20 vision but wears a set of empty frames croaking off to me about how “the coffee was picked by giraffes and roasted in his oven”. I also don’t want the coffee served on a chopping board with a glass of hot water and 2 espresso shots. Stop chopsing off and make me a decent wet.

Coffee based food

We love coffee. We love food. But. There is no requirement to add coffee to food. Coffee cake is as pointless as a chocolate tea pot. You wouldn’t have a cake flavoured coffee would you?

Coffee discipline

The worst thing about coffee is not being able to drink Red On! at all hours of the day. Despite our love for this strength 5 beast we must sometimes behave and ration ourselves. We know our coffee is high caffeine but sometimes we must be disciplined to not pour our last cup later than 2100hrs. We do however have a solution and it’s not drink tea instead. Decaf coffee has a bad rep but usually because it’s from a jar (see point 1). Our Decaf is Swiss water washed processed, which means the coffee keeps its flavour without the caffeine. Your late night coffee.

Wrong coffee for preparation method

This is different to being a coffee snob. Some coffees taste better as espresso. After Hours is very much a coffee for espresso with its dark roast and high Robusta bean count. A lighter roasted coffee such as Blue Light is perfect for pour overs because it will draw out the sweetness of the Arabica beans. If you don’t know how to judge your coffee then we post a roast profile change lever on all our bags. We’re good like that. Despite all this, coffee is subjective to the individual if you like a dark roasted coffee through a pour over then crack on, and don’t let your mate with the empty pair of frames tell you otherwise because he’s a melt.