Coffee The Way You Like It
From a smooth first cup to a decaf after dinner, four familiar preferences explain the thinking behind Better Life Elevate’s RISE, CALM, FLOW and BRIO.
Ask a few people how they like their coffee and the answers soon become more useful than a shelf full of strength ratings. Someone dislikes a sharp, sour taste. Someone else loves the smell and flavour but finds caffeine uncomfortable. Another would happily keep the cafetière going, while the person beside them wants a cup with plenty of character and a smooth finish. Our four Elevate coffees give those preferences somewhere to start.
Choosing coffee can become unnecessarily complicated. You read about origins, processing methods and tasting scores, then bring home a bag that someone clearly loves, even though you struggle to finish the first cup. By the following morning, you are back to buying the familiar one.
Personal preference is a perfectly respectable place to begin. The coffee you enjoy black at breakfast may differ from the one you want with milk after lunch, and your appetite for another cup may continue long after you have had enough caffeine. A little choice makes it easier to enjoy the parts of coffee you like.
10 top tips for finding your kind of coffee
- Start with the cup you enjoy. Describe it in ordinary language: smooth, chocolatey, fruity, rich or gently sweet. Those words give you a useful starting point when choosing beans.
- Choose your caffeine level deliberately. Fully caffeinated, half-caff and decaf coffees give you different options. Your preferred level can change with the time of day.
- Treat sharp flavour and digestive discomfort separately. Disliking sourness tells you something about your taste preferences. Stomach symptoms need their own consideration.
- Give decaf a fair tasting. Brew it with the same care you give your regular coffee, using an amount and method you already enjoy.
- Use half-caff as a substitution. Replacing a regular coffee with a comparable half-caff serving can help reduce caffeine intake. Extra cups can offset that reduction.
- Pay attention to serving size. A large mug, an extra espresso shot and repeated refills can change how much caffeine you consume.
- Keep the first comparison simple. Taste two coffees using the same brewing method and similar proportions, so you can notice their different characteristics.
- Adjust one thing at a time. If you want a fuller cup, make a small change to the coffee-to-water ratio and taste the result before altering everything else.
- Consider the whole day. Tea, energy drinks and some supplements also contribute caffeine, alongside the coffee in your cup.
- Keep a second option if it suits you. A regular favourite and a decaf, or a half-caff for certain occasions, can make your coffee routine more flexible.
RISE: “We don’t like acidic coffee either”
You take a sip expecting something comforting and find a sharpness that makes you pull a face. The bag may describe citrus or bright fruit, and another person might love exactly what you dislike. You would happily trade that experience for chocolate, nuts and a rounded texture.
RISE is where we would begin. Our house single-origin coffee comes from La Bastilla Estate in Jinotega, Nicaragua, with dark chocolate, buttery sweetness and hazelnut among its tasting notes. Its rich, smooth character makes it a natural starting point for someone drawn to that flavour profile.
Coffee language can cause confusion here. In tasting, acidity often describes qualities such as brightness and fruitiness, and the acids within coffee contribute to a complex sensory experience. Someone saying “I don’t like acidic coffee” may simply mean that they dislike a sharp or sour cup.
Digestive comfort is a separate consideration. A smooth taste cannot establish that a coffee will be gentler on your stomach, and coffee can trigger reflux symptoms in some people, including when it is decaffeinated. If coffee repeatedly causes discomfort, take that response seriously and seek advice where needed.
For choosing by flavour, RISE offers a clear starting point: chocolatey, nutty and smooth, with the regular caffeine content of a fully caffeinated coffee.
CALM: “I can’t drink caffeine-filled coffee”
There are people who adore coffee and approach the caffeine with considerably less enthusiasm. Perhaps a regular cup leaves them feeling jittery, or they have noticed that coffee later in the day sits badly with their sleep. They still want to join the conversation when someone puts the kettle on.
CALM is our Colombian decaf, with orange zest, muscovado and marzipan among its tasting notes. The coffee uses a sugar-cane decaffeination process and has a smooth texture, giving you a flavour-led reason to choose it.
It can be your first coffee of the morning, the cup you make for a visitor or the one you consider after dinner. Decaf deserves the same attention to brewing and personal preference as any other coffee; choosing it need not depend on reaching a particular hour.
A small amount of caffeine remains in decaffeinated coffee. If you need to avoid caffeine entirely, follow the advice you have been given about suitable drinks. For people aiming to reduce their intake, CALM provides an option with much less caffeine while keeping coffee itself on the menu.
It is also worth keeping some in a shared kitchen. Asking someone how they take their coffee can include whether they would prefer decaf, along with the usual discussion about milk.
FLOW: “Do you want to drink coffee all day?”
For some of us, the desire for coffee returns with remarkably little encouragement. There is the first cup, the one offered during a conversation, and the thought of making another when the afternoon stretches ahead. The taste and the occasion can be appealing even when another full-caffeine serving feels unnecessary.
FLOW gives you a half-caff option. It combines our Nicaraguan coffee with Colombian sugar-cane decaf in a 50/50 blend, with muscovado, cocoa and orange zest among its tasting notes. The aim is a smooth, satisfying cup with approximately half the caffeine of a comparable fully caffeinated coffee.
That gives you several ways to use it. You might choose FLOW as your everyday coffee, replace one of your regular cups or use it while gradually reducing your caffeine intake. The same bag can suit different routines without requiring everyone to drink coffee at the same times.
Half-caff still contributes caffeine, and the amount in a cup varies with the coffee dose, serving size and brewing method. Doubling the number of comparable half-caff servings can bring you back towards your previous caffeine intake. Timing also remains relevant, particularly if you notice an effect on sleep.
FLOW therefore suits the person who wants more choice over their caffeine intake while continuing to enjoy coffee. Later in the day, CALM may be the option you prefer.
BRIO: “I like stronger coffee, but smooth and not like drinking an ashtray”
The word “strong” covers a surprising amount of ground. You might mean a concentrated espresso, a flavour that remains noticeable through milk or a coffee with a distinctive character. Sometimes it becomes shorthand for a dark, bitter taste simply because that is what previous bags labelled “strong” have delivered.
With BRIO, the appeal is its character and balance. This fully caffeinated single-origin coffee comes from Costa Rica’s Tarrazú region, with cherry, cane sugar and orange among its tasting notes. Fruit and sweetness sit alongside a smooth, clean finish.
Those details help set expectations. BRIO has a bright, fruit-led profile, making it a different proposition from RISE’s chocolate-and-hazelnut character. If “stronger” means that you want more flavour to notice and enjoy, it is a coffee to explore.
The way you brew it will also shape the result. Roast, concentration and extraction can all influence bitterness, so a disappointing cup is worth investigating before assuming you need an even darker coffee. Start with a familiar method, follow a suitable brewing recipe and make small adjustments as you taste.
You may find that the cup you wanted all along has plenty of flavour, a pleasant finish and enough balance that you enjoy the final sip as much as the first.
Which Elevate would you reach for?
RISE – Fully caffeinated – Dark chocolate, buttery sweetness, hazelnut – A rich, smooth, chocolatey profile
CALM – Decaf – Orange zest, muscovado, marzipan – Coffee with much less caffeine
FLOW – Half-caff – Muscovado, cocoa, orange zest – Reducing caffeine in comparable servings
BRIO – Fully caffeinated – Cherry, cane sugar, orange – A distinctive, fruity cup with a smooth finish
You may recognise yourself in more than one of those descriptions. There is room for a chocolatey breakfast coffee and a decaf you enjoy just as much later, or for FLOW to become the bag you reach for most often.
Explore RISE, CALM, FLOW and BRIO in the Better Life Elevate collection.