What is Whole Bean Coffee?

Whole Bean Coffee
At Café Altura, we offer a wide range of products designed to please any coffee lover’s palate. In fact, we offer so many different coffees that navigating our offerings can sometimes be a bit of a challenge. This page is designed to help make the process of finding a coffee to enjoy easier; here you’ll find overviews of our main whole bean product lines, which will give you an idea of what to expect from the specific items contained therein. Our hope is that these descriptions will give you an idea of where to start on your coffee journey, or maybe even help longtime customers find something new. As always, drop us an email at info@nullcafealtura.com or call us at (800) 526-8328 if you have questions or want to explore our offerings further. Thanks for stopping by!

Single Origin: Our single-origin offerings are designed to highlight the unique qualities of coffee from a specific country or growing region, and the coffees we use vary depending on the time of year. In order to highlight their distinctiveness, our single-origin coffees are roasted lighter than our blends; gentle roasting allows for the origin-specific characteristics of each unique bean to shine through. Expect high-toned, bright coffee with a wide array of tasting notes. We also offer dark roast versions of some of our single-origin coffees for those who enjoy the distinctiveness of single-origin coffee but prefer a heavier bodied cup with a more roast-driven flavor profile.

Blends: While our single-origin coffees offer extremely unique and variable flavor profiles, our blends are designed with a differing, but complementary goal in mind; approachability and consistency. In blending multiple coffees together, our goal is to create flavor profiles which are not only familiar and inviting, but also consistent year after year. To this end, our blends are always composed of two or more complementary coffees, and are roasted slightly darker than our single-origin coffees. The use of multiple coffees allows for the construction of a stable flavor profile across different coffees and crop cycles, and intense, elongated roasting rounds off any hard edges a coffee might have and allows our blend components to coalesce into a flavorful whole. Expect low-toned, well rounded coffees whose flavor profiles center around satisfying notes of chocolate, caramel, and nuts.

Fair Trade: As the first organic coffee company in the United States, Café Altura cares a great deal about supply chain transparency and accountability, and for that reason, we have always been supporters of Fair Trade certification. Our Fair Trade products, which include both blends and single origin coffees, help support sustainable agriculture in the coffeelands. Expect coffees which are incredibly varied and delicious, and sip with the knowledge that your purchase helps support efforts to build a more just and equitable coffee supply chain.
Decaf: For those of our customers who love the taste of coffee, but for cannot consume caffeine, we offer a range of decaffeinated coffees. Sourced by our import partner, Royal Coffee of Emeryville, CA, and decaffeinated via a natural, water-based process, our decaf coffees retain all the delicious flavors and aromas of coffee without the caffeine kick. Expect the same robust coffee flavor of our caffeinated products in a decaffeinated package.