Smooth coffee beans that are not bitter: what to buy

No. 6 Hegemony is the smoothest bag of ours by label: a Brazilian coffee from Parana and Sao Paulo, pulped natural and sun dried, with cocoa and smooth notes. It suits anyone who wants a low-acid, heavy-bodied cup that is hard to ruin, and it ships free in the US as a 12 oz bag, whole bean or ground, for $28.

Why does coffee taste bitter in the first place?

Bitterness is mostly a brewing problem, and a fixable one. The usual causes are below, most common first.

• Over-extraction. Water pulls too much from the grounds when the grind is too fine, the brew runs too long, or the water is too hot. The late-extracting compounds taste harsh.
• Dark roasting. Darker roasts tend toward bitter, roasty flavors. Of the eight bags where our roaster declares a roast level, all are medium or medium-light.
• Stale coffee. Old coffee tastes flat and papery, which people often read as bitter. Buy a bag you will finish in a few weeks and keep it sealed.
• A dirty brewer. Old oils taste rancid. See how to descale a drip coffee maker.

If your coffee is bitter, grind a little coarser or shorten the brew before you change the bag. If you want to know why a coffee feels heavy rather than harsh, what body means in coffee explains it.

How does Hegemony compare with two other smooth bags?

If you are weighing Hegemony against other mild bags, here are two. All three are medium roast by the roaster's label, and all three are $28 for 12 oz.

Pick Hegemony for the lowest acidity and the heaviest body. Pick Common Sense if you want a touch of red apple and something that takes milk. Pick Folklore for a rounder, caramel-sweet cup with a little citrus. Our post on Brazilian coffee beans covers the Hegemony bag in more detail.

How do you brew Hegemony so it stays smooth?

The roaster recommends drip, or cold brew at 1:8 overnight. The label notes say low acidity and heavy body, which makes it very hard to ruin.

1. Grind medium for drip. For cold brew, grind coarse.
2. For drip, use the standard ratio of 1:16, which is about 14.8 g per 8 oz cup. The amounts for every pot size are in how much coffee per cup.
3. Use water just off the boil, around 195 to 205 °F (90 to 96 °C), and do not let the pot sit on a hot plate for hours.
4. For cold brew, mix 1 part coffee to 8 parts water by weight, steep overnight in the fridge and strain. Dilute to taste.

If it still tastes bitter, grind coarser. If it is thin, use a little more coffee, not hotter water.

Does smooth mean weak?

No. Smooth describes how the cup feels, not how strong it is. A pot of Hegemony at the standard 1:16 ratio is full-strength coffee, and the label notes say heavy body. What it lacks is sharpness. If you add more coffee, it gets thicker and sweeter rather than harsher, which is why the roaster calls it hard to ruin. That quality makes it a good pot for guests who say they do not like strong coffee but still want a real cup.

Who should pick something else?

If you want fruit and a bright finish, Hegemony is not the bag. The label lists cocoa and smooth, so expect a chocolate cup and not a citrus one. For fruit, see fruity coffee beans: which of our ten taste most like fruit. For a cup that is smooth in a different way, with silky caramel and a little citrus, take Folklore from the table above.

Is a subscription worth it for a smooth everyday bag?

If Hegemony becomes your daily pot, the subscription is 11% off, with skip or cancel in one click. A 12 oz bag makes about 23 eight ounce cups at 1:16, so a household that drinks two cups a day uses a bag in about 12 days. See how long a 12 oz bag of coffee lasts for other rates. You can browse all ten coffees and switch bags whenever you want.

Start with one bag of Hegemony, grind it a little coarser than you think, and taste the difference.