Whole bean. Always.

Ground coffee starts going stale the moment it's ground. Not weeks later — minutes. The aromatics that took weeks of careful drying on bamboo beds in Lâm Đồng to develop start escaping into the air the second the bean is broken open. A pre-ground bag, by the time it reaches you, is a faint photocopy of what it could have been.

So we ship whole bean. Every order, every blend, whole bean.

Not because grinding is difficult. Because the difference between coffee ground this morning and coffee ground three weeks ago in a factory is the difference between the coffee and the memory of coffee. Whole bean shipped to you means you grind it fresh, to your method, and you get the thing itself.

What to set your grinder to

Here's the practical part. Each brewing method needs a different grind size — and the wrong grind quietly ruins good coffee regardless of what's in the bag. Set yours as close to this as your grinder allows.

Method	Grind setting	Feels like	Notes
Espresso	Fine	Caster sugar	For machines and moka pots — built for pressure
Filter	Medium-fine	Table salt	Pour-over and drip — clean, bright, patient
Cafetière	Coarse	Sea salt	The four-minute steep — never grind this one fine
Phin	Medium	Coarse sand	The Vietnamese slow drip — five unhurried minutes
General / unsure	Medium	Table salt	A safe starting point for most methods

A few things the table doesn't say out loud.

Cafetière is the one most people get wrong. It needs coarse because the grounds steep for four full minutes. Grind it fine and you don't get stronger coffee — you get bitter coffee and sludge through the mesh. Coarse, four minutes, plunge. That's all there is to it.

Phin is the one you might not have tried: a small Vietnamese metal filter that sits on your glass and drips slowly, on its own time. No pressure, no rush. It's how coffee is drunk where ours is grown — and poured over ice with condensed milk, it becomes cà phê đá. That one gets its own piece.

"The difference between coffee ground this morning and coffee ground last month isn't subtle. One is the thing. The other is the memory of it."

Don't have a grinder?

An entry-level burr grinder — not blade, burr grinds consistently — costs £20–30 and makes a more significant difference to your cup than almost any other upgrade. If you're going to invest in one thing beyond the beans, it's this.

If you're not ready for a grinder yet, a local café or deli will often grind a bag for you. Tell them your method and they'll set it right. It's worth asking.

Why whole bean, not pre-ground

Whole bean, airtight bag, shipped the day it's packed. Open it when you're ready. Grind what you need. The rest waits in the bag, holding its character until you want it.

An intact bean holds its aromatics inside its cell structure. Ground coffee has nowhere to hide — the surface area multiplies, the volatiles escape, and the freshness window collapses from weeks to days.

That's the only argument for whole bean. It's also sufficient.