FAQs
General
How do I choose a blend that suits me?
Coffee is enjoyed because of the flavour and characteristics it reveals when it is brewed. Ask yourself what you like in a coffee. It could be strong flavours or pleasant flavours, sweet, bright, fruity flavours or dark smooth, chocolate flavours. Ask whether it is preferred as a milk coffee or black coffee. Dipacci Coffee have a blend to suit all pallets. See more
What's the difference between Arabica and Robusta?
Despite Arabica containing less caffeine than Robusta, Arabica beans are often considered superior in taste. Arabica tends to have a smoother, sweeter taste, with flavour notes of chocolate and sugar. They often also have hints of fruits or berries. Robusta, on the other hand, has a stronger, harsher and more bitter taste, with grainy or rubbery overtones. All Dipacci Coffee is 100% Arabica.
Where are your coffee beans from?
We source coffee beans from all over the globe. For example: Colombia, Brazil, Ethiopia, Costa Rica, Papua New Guinea, Honduras, Kenya & India. The beans we source are rigorously sampled and tested before being incorporated into to our four seasonal blends.
What is single origin coffee?
The coffee industry internationally refers to coffee countries as origins. Well known coffee origins are Brazil, Colombia and Ethiopia. A single origin beans is one that has only one origin in it and may be from a specific part of that origin.
How do Dipacci decaffeinate coffee beans?
We use a natural Ethyl Acetate (EA) – Water method to decaffeinate green coffee. Green Coffee beans are first steamed with low pressure steam to remove silver skins. Then coffee is moistened with hot water to swell and soften the beans and start the hydrolysis of caffeine which is bonded to salts of chlorogenic acid inside the beans. This is what we call pretreatment step. The Extractors are filled with moistened coffee and caffeine removal is done by washing thoroughly the beans with recirculation of solvent (natural Ethyl Acetate - EA) in the extractors. This procedure has to be done several times in order to remove minimum 97% of the caffeine initially present in coffee beans. This is what we call extraction. Once the extraction of caffeine is finished, the coffee beans have to be stripped off residual EA and we use a flow of low pressure saturated steam across the bed of coffee in the extractor to remove all remaining traces of EA. Ultimately, there’s no more than 5 p.p.m. of EA left in the coffee. From the extractors, coffee is sent to vacuum drying drums to remove water previously applied in the moistening step in order to adjust the final humidity value between 10 % and 12 %. Coffee is then cooled quickly to ambient temperature using air fans. After cooling, coffee is polished with carnauba wax to enhance appearance and protection against environment humidity. We call this step post treatment. After polishing, coffee is ready to be packed in jute bags of 70 Kg net weight. Fun fact: A ripe Banana contains about 20 times more EA than our decaffeinated coffee.
What is Espresso?
An espresso, is the term used for a single shot of coffee. The espresso machine uses pressure to brew, this pressure forces the hot water through the coffee grounds. An espresso coffee should have full body, have a crisp brightness and a subtle sweetness with some bitterness. There are numerous factors at play when creating a great tasting espresso. Firstly, the beans have got to be of a high quality and a medium roast profile works well for espresso.
The perfect espresso should be between 25-30ml and can take around 25-30 seconds to extract, containing a thick crema on top. If it is poured too fast it is ‘under extracted’ and leaves a sour taste on the sides of your tongue; if it takes too long to pour it is ‘over extracted’ and burnt, leaving you with a bitter taste.
Ground vs Whole Beans
Grinding your own coffee is one of the best steps you can take towards a superior brew. Coffee turns stale very quickly after it is ground; buying fresh coffee from a local roaster and having them grind it in the store largely negates the benefits of purchasing recently roasted coffee.
Is Dipacci Coffee Fairtrade?
All Dipacci Coffee Blends are Fairtrade certified to source through the Fair Trade Coffee Certification Program from countries all round the world and is certified organic.