One of the most noticeable features of Timely Coffees is our coffee colours. Whether you're looking through the catalogue on our website or a shelf at one of our cafe partners, you'll see an array of coloured labels. But, you may not know that these colours do more than look good. All our colour relate to a specific flavour or characteristic.
We know that when all your options sound good, sometimes it can be hard to know which coffee to choose. If you bought a Guatemalan coffee and loved it, should you buy another one from the same country? Or should you stick to process or altitude? To help, we’ve created the Timely Colour System.
Here’s how it works: whenever a new coffee comes through the door, we taste that coffee without knowing where the coffee came from or how it was processed. This process gives us a chance to taste without being biased by any specific details. From here, we assign each coffee a colour that we feel best represents the flavour profile. So if you enjoyed a coffee with a particular colour, you're more likely to enjoy another coffee of that same colour next time. It may not have anything specific in common with the last coffee you had, but sometimes coffee can be like that. Here’s what each colour means:
Micro-lots:
- Green: crisp and clean. Common flavour note: apple.
- Pink: approachable and balanced. Common flavour note: chocolate.
- Blue: funky and fruity, with a strong ferment flavour. Common flavour note: mango.
- Purple: sticky, syrupy body and mouthfeel. Common flavour note: caramel.
- Yellow: prominent and complex sweetness. Common flavour note: honey.
- Teal: round, with a satisfying sweetness/body balance. Common flavour note: stone-fruit.
- Mint: delicate body and sweetness. Common flavour note: jasmine.
- Maroon: fancy, refined profiles. Common flavour note: shiraz.
House Coffees:
- Blue / Timely One: sweet and balanced. The ultimate "all-rounder". Great with or without milk.
- Purple / Timely Two: creamy, full-body. Heavy, rich, and moreish. Best served with milk, but also presents well as a traditional "big" espresso.
- Lavender / Timely Three: delicate and bright. Fruit forward coffees which are predictable, consistent, and best served black.
- Grey / decaf: our house decaf, which you can serve with or without milk. Sweet, clean, and so good you won't believe it's decaf.
The Timely Colour System is there to help you find coffees which taste similarly, regardless of any technical details. Suppose you enjoyed our coffee from Edwin Cruz for example (which had a pink label). In that case, there's a good chance that you'll enjoy this coffee from the Juan Geurra. Or maybe you tried our coffee from Idido Village (which had a blue label) but didn't enjoy it. You know not to try another coffee of the same colour, as the flavour profile will be similar. If you ever forget, we've got this page to help guide you in the right direction!
Our goal is to make your coffee buying experience as easy as possible. So next time you're looking through the catalogue, remember your last coffee and think about your experience with it. The more coffees you drink, the better you'll become and choosing your next one.
Seb Prosser