Barista Box – Coffee in your Post | Review

[Ad- gifted product] I recently wrote that I’m definitely not a coffee snob, but that I’m finding myself drinking more and more of the stuff as a result of a combination of working from home and the general feeling of listlessness that lockdown has imparted on most people. Thanks to boxes like Barista Box, and a few of the other ones out there, coffee can become a bit more than a means to an end, though. Rather than hoovering up instant coffee to push back tiredness, it invites you to dabble in Americanos, Espressos, ‘Lattuccino’s, and, simply, to take a bit more care in the crafting of a cup o’ coffee.

Most people reading this are already buying coffee, although I’d imagine that the vast majority of you are still – as I was not too long ago – using instant coffee. There are reasons for this, it’s quick, it’s cheap, and over the years people have managed to get it to deliver enough flavour variety that people feel like when they’ve found one they don’t mind, they can stick with it comfortably. But, a lot of these same people are quite happy to spend £4-5 on a coffee when they’re out and about. Kits like the Barista Box can massively undercut that rate, and you also get some equipment which help you further bump up your drinks at home.

We grabbed the Little Taster Coffee Box, which is £18.97. This included an espresso shot/measure glass, a coffee scoop, a milk frother, a very nice gift card, and two 120g bags of coffee (Blend & Brew and Libertine). It also had an instructions sheet that gave instructions on how to put together a double espresso, americano, cafetiere coffee and their signature lattuccino. We’ve actually held onto the instructions, although they are also available on their website they’re helpful for getting the measures right.

Both of the coffee varieties were very tasty, and with the help of the instructions, they were tastier. People often talk about burning coffee and it ruining the taste, I’ll admit, I’m now aware that I’ve done that more than a few times in the past. It’s just not something you think about until it’s pointed out in black and white.

Previously we only had one of the (fantastic, to be honest) Trung Nguyen drip coffee makers. This doesn’t really scale up beyond a single, half-cup measure. So, we went out and grabbed a cafetiere, and got started. Making the coffee was as easy as making coffee – so I guess we don’t really need to go into all of that. The main thing that stood out was the value for money from the box: Each of the bags made about 6 cups of coffee each, so the entire kit had not only about 12 cups of really good coffee in it, but also the equipment.

It definitely seems that the Little Taster Coffee Box is designed as a gift box, but it’s also a pretty solid introduction to the company, and once you’re set up with the kit you can get more of the coffee at a really good price from their website. They’re 250g bag monthly subscriptions actually start.

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