How to Pair Coffee with Food
The right type of coffee - from the bean variety to how it’s processed and prepared - is what you pair with a meal. In exactly the way a sommelier would choose the best wine to pair, you need to have the right coffee to start pairing dishes.
Choose The Perfect Pairing Brew
Pairing coffee with food comes down to the quality and variety of coffee beans. Different characteristics evoke different experiences. Normal coffee beans can be flat and uninspiring, but when it comes to premium microlot Arabicas, exotic varieties, and fermented flavors, that’s when the pairings get interesting.
Production
The Colombian coffee triangle (Eje Cafetero) is renowned for exceptional coffee. Historically, this region has been responsible for producing the majority of Colombia’s coffee. Like many other parts of the world where specialty coffees are produced, this region, with the Andean rainforest, boasts the ideal climate for coffee (with temperatures between 47°F to 80°F) and perfect typography, which attributes to the high-quality crops harvested twice a year.
The local regional techniques of growing, processing, and harvesting coffee make for a truly exceptional product. The picking is still done by hand, one bean at a time. This ensures that only the best beans are harvested. Coffee produced in this region is considered by some to be the best in the world.
Single-origin
To bring out the best in a specific coffee, you need to know where it comes from. Our coffees are all grown locally, either on our family farms or from the local farming community.
This transparency means we can highlight the best qualities of each variety and mix varieties to create blends that are smooth and perfect for pairing. Our coffee is also processed and packaged on site, giving us the ability to ensure only the highest quality product. reaches your cup.
Microlots
Microlots aren’t just small-scale farms, they are specific groups of existing plants that have been found to produce exceptional coffee.
When we identify a microlot, we give it special attention, and everything harvested from that lot goes into the same processing batch.
By controlling the environment of these microlots and maintaining the quality, we can ensure a premium product.
Variety
Every variety has something unique to add to the coffee/ food experience. There are some varieties where you almost won’t believe you’re drinking coffee.
The variety of coffee, the processing, and the understanding of the final product is what makes successful pairings possible.
Processing
With single-origin coffee, you also want to look for brands that process locally, ideally on their own premises. This avoids any incorrect processing methods being applied to these delicate varieties.
At Lina Premium, we are a vertically integrated coffee producer. That means we can grow, process, dry, and roast our coffee right here on the farm. Having all the elements in one place, we can innovate, create award-winning blends, and produce the highest quality final product.
Innovation is one of our strengths, and what we are passionate about. We can play around with natural flavor infusion methods to create inspiring coffees. We have been able to add a variety of accent notes to our flavored coffees by adding natural infusion steps to our process before roasting. Highlighted flavors such as Tangerine, spice (ginger, cinnamon, anise), cardamon, eucalyptus, and pineapple to name a few, have been perfected. This type of innovation adds something new to the pairing possibilities.
When you harvest and process your own beans, you know exactly what you’re offering your clients.
Profiling
Profiling is the final and most important step in the process of creating the best possible coffee. Describing the taste profile of a coffee is one thing, but understanding it from a grassroots level is something else.
Every coffee tree that is planted is treated with respect, and everyone from our pickers to our coffee experts understands that. This close relationship to the coffee means that we can accurately profile our coffees and help you to have the best possible experience.
On each bag of our coffee, you will find The Lina Premium Coffee taste profile graph which is created by our own in-house professional coffee tasters. This useful tool will help you to identify the experience that can be expected.
As with any good wine, and now coffee, accurate profiling of the notes and tones helps you to accurately pair it with the best meal.