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The short answer: the 25-day Pact Coffee Advent Calendar costs £39.95 and holds 25 different coffees in 18g sachets, enough for one cup a day. The 12-day version costs £24.95. Both come as wholebean or ground, and both ship between 21 and 23 October 2026. If you want a daily treat that teaches you what you like, it is good value. However, if you simply want cheap everyday coffee, a subscription works out cheaper per cup.

Check the 25-day calendar at Pact Coffee

How we chose what to include: we have not tasted the 2026 calendar, because it has not shipped yet. Instead, every detail below comes from Pact’s own product pages, checked on 25 September 2026. Where we describe flavours, we are quoting Pact’s descriptions and we say so.

Pact Coffee Advent Calendar 2026 at a glance

Pact says every order ships with free next-day delivery by Royal Mail Tracked 24. So you pay the box price and nothing more.

What is inside the 25-day calendar?

According to Pact, the 25-day box holds 25 unique coffees chosen by its coffee team from six countries. Each sachet is sealed straight after roasting. Each one also comes with a collectable card that explains the origin, the grower and the tasting notes.

• Three rare limited editions that Pact says you will not find elsewhere.
• Ten micro-lot coffees, grown on tiny plots in small volumes.
• Customer favourites, including Pact’s best-selling single origins.
• A Cup of Excellence winner, which Pact describes as a rich, chocolatey Brazilian dark roast with a treacle-sweet finish.
• A Best of Congo winner, with notes of juicy stone fruit and honey, in Pact’s words.

The calendar is really a tasting course. By Christmas Day you will have tried light, medium and dark roasts from several countries. As a result, you will know which styles you enjoy before you buy a full bag. Our guide to coffee roast levels explains what to look for as you taste.

The 12-day Pact advent calendar

The 12-day box contains the first 12 coffees from the 25-day calendar. Pact says that includes two rare micro-lots, one exclusive limited edition and its three most popular Brazilian coffees. It also comes in a festive gift box.

So which should you pick? The 12-day version suits a smaller budget, or someone who only drinks coffee at weekends. For a daily drinker, though, the 25-day box costs less per cup and lasts the whole of Advent.

Check the 12-day calendar at Pact Coffee

Wholebean or ground: which Pact Coffee Advent Calendar should you buy?

Choose wholebean if you own a grinder. Beans stay fresh for longer, and you can set the grind for your brewer. Choose ground if you do not, because the coffee is ready for most home brewers straight from the sachet.

If you are buying the Pact Coffee Advent Calendar as a gift, ground is the safer choice. That is because you cannot always be sure the person owns a grinder. For help matching grind to brewer, see our coffee grind size chart.

Check the ground calendar at Pact Coffee

How to brew an 18g advent sachet

Each sachet holds 18g, which Pact describes as the right amount for one balanced cup. Here is how to use it with common home brewers.

• Pour over (V60): use 18g with about 300ml of water just off the boil. Our pour over guide walks through each step.
• AeroPress: use 18g with 220 to 250ml of water. Try the standard method first, then the inverted one, from our AeroPress recipes.
• Cafetière: use 18g with about 300ml of water and steep for four minutes.
• Moka pot: a small two-cup pot takes roughly 12 to 15g, so save any leftover for the next day.

For the most consistent results, weigh your water as well as your coffee. Even a basic set of coffee scales makes a clear difference.

Is the Pact Coffee Advent Calendar worth it?

It depends on what you want from it. On one hand, you get 25 speciality coffees, including rare lots, for about £1.60 a cup. That is far less than a café flat white. On the other hand, a Pact subscription bag starts at £9.95 for 250g, which works out at roughly 70p per 18g cup.

The calendar makes the most sense as a gift or a December treat. Then, if you find a coffee you love, a Pact subscription is the cheaper way to keep drinking it.

When does the Pact advent calendar sell out?

Pact is selling the 2026 calendars as pre-orders, with dispatch from 21 to 23 October. In our research, Google searches for coffee advent calendars in the UK climb through November and peak on 1 December. After that, they drop to almost nothing. Therefore, ordering in October gives you the best chance of getting the version you want.

See all Pact advent calendars

Frequently asked questions

How much is the Pact Coffee Advent Calendar 2026?

The 25-day calendar is £39.95 and the 12-day calendar is £24.95. A twin pack of two 25-day calendars is £79.90.

When does the Pact advent calendar ship?

Pact says the 2026 calendars ship between 21 and 23 October 2026, with free next-day delivery by Royal Mail Tracked 24.

How many cups does it make?

Each door holds an 18g sachet for one cup. So the 25-day box makes 25 cups and the 12-day box makes 12.

Can I get it ground instead of wholebean?

Yes. Both the 12-day and 25-day calendars come in wholebean and ground versions.

Does Pact make a pod advent calendar?

Pact’s 2026 calendars are filter coffee sachets rather than pods. If you use a Nespresso-compatible machine, look at Pact’s pods instead.

The bottom line

The Pact Coffee Advent Calendar is a fun, well-priced way to taste 25 speciality coffees in December. It suits curious coffee drinkers and makes an easy gift. Just order early, pick ground if you are unsure about a grinder, and keep a subscription in mind for the new year.

Check the Pact Coffee Advent Calendar

The post Pact Coffee Advent Calendar 2026: What’s Inside, Price and Is It Worth It? appeared first on Coffee Home Brewing.

The short answer: coffee beans come from the seeds inside the red fruit of the coffee plant, known as coffee cherries. The plants grow in the “coffee belt”, a band of tropical countries between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Brazil grows the most by far, followed by Vietnam, Indonesia, Colombia and Ethiopia.

So the bag of beans in your kitchen started life as a fruit on a tropical shrub, often thousands of miles away. This guide explains which plant it is, where it grows, how the beans get from the farm to your grinder and why origin changes the taste in your cup.

What plant do coffee beans come from?

Coffee beans are the seeds of the Coffea plant, a shrub or small tree. Each cherry usually holds two seeds pressed together with their flat sides facing, which is why a roasted bean has that familiar flat face and groove. Around 10 to 15% of cherries hold a single rounder seed instead, called a peaberry, according to the coffee bean entry on Wikipedia.

Two species make up almost everything we drink. Arabica accounts for roughly 60% of world production and robusta for about 40%. Arabica tends to taste sweeter and more complex, while robusta is more bitter and carries roughly twice the caffeine.

Most speciality coffee sold in the UK is arabica. Robusta turns up more often in instant coffee and in some espresso blends, where it adds body and crema.

Which countries do coffee beans come from?

Coffee only grows well in warm, frost-free places with steady rain, so production sits inside the tropics. Arabica likes temperatures of about 15 to 24°C, which is why it is usually grown on hills and mountains. Robusta copes with hotter conditions of about 24 to 30°C at lower altitudes.

In 2023 the world produced around 11.1 million tonnes of green coffee, and Brazil alone grew about 30.8% of it. Here are the biggest producers, using figures from the list of countries by coffee production.

Plenty of smaller origins matter to home brewers too. Kenya, Rwanda, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Peru and Mexico all produce well-regarded speciality coffee, even if their volumes are lower.

Where did coffee come from originally?

Arabica is native to the forests of southwestern Ethiopia, with wild populations also recorded in South Sudan and Yemen. Robusta grows wild across Western and Central Africa, from Liberia to Tanzania and south to Angola.

Drinking coffee took off in Yemen, where the earliest reliable records come from Sufi monasteries in the 15th century, as the history of coffee on Wikipedia explains. For a long time, coffee reached Europe through the Yemeni port of Mocha. Growers then took plants to India, Indonesia and later the Americas, which is how Brazil and Colombia became the giants they are today.

How do coffee beans get from the farm to your cup?

A coffee plant usually flowers three to four years after planting, and the first useful harvest comes at around five years. After that, the journey from cherry to cup follows a few clear stages.

Harvesting the cherries

Farmers either pick every cherry from a branch in one go, called strip picking, or pick only the ripe red cherries by hand over several passes, called selective picking. Selective picking costs more but gives better coffee, so it is common on speciality farms.

Processing the beans

Next, the seeds must come out of the fruit and dry. Washed coffees have the fruit removed before drying, which tends to taste clean and bright. Natural coffees dry inside the whole cherry, which adds fruity sweetness, and honey process sits somewhere in between.

Milling, roasting and shipping

The dried beans are hulled, sorted and graded, then shipped as green coffee in sacks. Most coffee is roasted in the country where it is drunk, so UK roasters buy green beans and roast them here. Our guide to coffee roast levels covers what happens in the roaster.

Once roasted, beans are at their best for a few weeks. Our 15-15-15 coffee rule guide explains how long they stay fresh and how to store them.

Does it matter where coffee beans come from?

Yes, origin has a big effect on flavour, because climate, altitude, plant variety and processing all shape the bean. As a rough guide, Brazilian coffees are often nutty and chocolatey with low acidity. Ethiopian and Kenyan coffees lean fruity and floral, while Colombian coffees tend to sit in a balanced middle ground.

That is why packs list the country and often the farm, region, variety and process. A single origin coffee comes from one place, while a blend mixes beans from several to get a consistent taste. If you want to taste the difference, try two single origins side by side, brewed the same way.

200 Degrees, a roaster based in Nottingham, sells limited single origins alongside its blends. Its Mount Sunzu coffee comes from Zambia, which the roaster says sits on the very edge of the bean belt, and it lists notes of wild berries and dark chocolate.

Check Mount Sunzu Zambia at 200 Degrees

If you would rather explore lots of origins, its Discovery subscription sends a changing selection of seasonal single origins, according to 200 Degrees. That makes it an easy way to learn where your favourite coffee beans come from without buying a dozen bags at once.

Check the Discovery Subscription at 200 Degrees

FAQ: where coffee beans come from

Are coffee beans actually beans?

No, not in the botanical sense. They are seeds from a fruit, and people call them beans simply because of their shape. Our guide to eating coffee beans covers what they are like whole.

Can coffee be grown in the UK?

Not outdoors. The UK is far outside the coffee belt and too cold for the plant to fruit reliably. You can grow a coffee plant as a houseplant, but a commercial crop needs tropical conditions.

How many coffee cherries make a cup?

Each cherry gives two seeds, and a single cup uses a surprising number of beans. Our guide to coffee beans per cup works through the numbers.

Where do the cheapest coffee beans come from?

Low-cost supermarket coffee and most instant coffee lean heavily on robusta, much of it from Vietnam and Brazil. Robusta is easier to grow at scale, so it usually costs less than arabica.

Bottom line

Coffee beans come from the seeds of the coffee cherry, grown in tropical countries along the coffee belt. Brazil grows the most, Ethiopia is where arabica began, and every origin brings its own flavour. Brazilian Love Affair from 200 Degrees is our everyday coffee and our favourite from the roaster. 200 Degrees describes it as its signature espresso blend, a medium roast with plenty of body and a strong, bold finish.

Check Brazilian Love Affair at 200 Degrees

The post Where Do Coffee Beans Come From? appeared first on Coffee Home Brewing.

The short answer: the three main coffee roast levels are light, medium and dark, with medium-dark sitting between the last two. Roasters stop light roasts early, so they taste brighter and fruitier. Medium roasts are balanced and sweet, while roasters take dark roasts further for a heavy, bitter-sweet, smoky cup with little acidity. If you are not sure where to start, a medium roast is the easiest all-rounder for most home brewers.

Roast level is one of the most useful things printed on a bag of beans. However, coffee roast levels are not standardised. One roaster’s “medium” can look like another’s “medium-dark”. This guide explains what actually changes during roasting, how each level tastes, which suits your brewing method and what the labels on UK bags really mean.

How are coffee roast levels created?

Coffee starts life as a hard, green seed with a grassy smell. First, roasting heats it until sugars caramelise and hundreds of aroma compounds form. The beans turn from green to yellow, then through shades of brown, and lose water and weight as they go.

Two audible milestones help roasters judge the level. First crack is a popping sound, a bit like popcorn, as moisture and gas escape from the bean. Most coffee roasting references put it at roughly 196°C bean temperature. Crack is a quieter, faster crackle that starts at roughly 224°C, when the bean structure begins to break down and oils move to the surface. As a result, where the roaster stops relative to these two cracks largely decides the roast level.

The main coffee roast levels at a glance

What does a light roast taste like?

Light roasts keep more of the character of where the coffee was grown. Expect higher acidity, which in coffee means a juicy brightness rather than sourness, plus fruity, floral or citrus notes and a lighter body. For this reason, many speciality roasters use light roasts for single origin coffees, because they let the farm and variety show through.

However, light roasted beans are denser and harder, so they can be trickier to extract. If a light roast tastes sour or thin, try a slightly finer grind, water just off the boil, or a longer brew. Our coffee grind size chart shows where to start for each method.

What does a medium roast taste like?

Medium roasts trade some of that brightness for sweetness and body. Caramel, milk chocolate, nuts and toffee are typical notes, with enough acidity to stay lively. In fact, it is the most forgiving of the coffee roast levels: it tastes good black or with milk and works in almost any brewer, which is why so many house blends sit here.

Our own everyday coffee is a medium roast: 200 Degrees Brazilian Love Affair. It is the coffee we drink most at home and our favourite from 200 Degrees. The roaster describes it as its signature espresso blend, the one served in its shops, medium roasted with plenty of body, a great crema and a strong, bold finish.

Check Brazilian Love Affair at 200 Degrees

What does a dark roast taste like?

Roasters take dark roasts well past second crack. As a result, oils rise to the surface, acidity drops right down and the flavour comes mainly from the roasting itself: smoky, roasty, bitter-sweet, sometimes with a burnt edge. You taste less of the origin and more of the roast. Labels such as French, Italian or continental roast usually describe this end of the scale.

On the plus side, dark roasts stand up well to lots of milk and sugar, which is why they are popular for traditional Italian-style espresso. One practical note: very oily beans can clog the built-in grinder on some bean-to-cup machines, so check your manual before buying a very dark roast for one. Our bean-to-cup machine guide covers this in more detail.

Which of the coffee roast levels is strongest?

It depends what you mean by strong. Dark roasts taste stronger because of their bold, bitter flavour, but roasting changes caffeine very little. Weight for weight, light and dark roasts contain broadly similar caffeine. That said, dark beans lose more mass and are less dense, so if you measure by the scoop rather than by weight, a scoop of light roast holds slightly more coffee and slightly more caffeine.

If you want a stronger cup in the sense of more flavour, the brew ratio matters far more than the roast. Our guide on how to make strong coffee without making it bitter explains how to adjust it.

What do the strength numbers on UK coffee bags mean?

Many coffees sold in UK supermarkets carry a strength number on the pack, often on a scale of 1 to 5 or 1 to 6. In practice, this usually tells you about roast darkness and intensity of flavour rather than caffeine content. A higher number generally means a darker, stronger-tasting roast. By contrast, speciality roasters rarely use these numbers and instead describe the roast level and tasting notes.

Which of the coffee roast levels suits your brewing method?

• Pour over and AeroPress: light to medium roasts, which show clarity and sweetness in clean, paper-filtered cups.
• Cafetière: medium to medium-dark roasts suit its fuller, heavier body.
• Espresso: medium to medium-dark roasts are the easiest to dial in. Lighter espresso roasts can be delicious, but they are less forgiving.
• Moka pot: medium-dark roasts suit its intense, stovetop style.
• Bean-to-cup: medium roasts with a dry surface are the safest choice for built-in grinders.
• Cold brew: medium to dark roasts give the chocolatey, low-acid flavour most people want.

If you are new to brewing at home, our complete beginner’s guide to brewing coffee walks through each method step by step.

Frequently asked questions

Is espresso one of the coffee roast levels?

No. Espresso is a brewing method. Roasters usually design beans labelled “espresso roast” as medium to dark roasts that taste balanced when brewed under pressure, but you can pull espresso from any roast.

Does light roast have more caffeine than dark roast?

Only slightly, and mainly when you measure by volume. By weight the difference is small enough that most people will not notice it.

Why are some coffee beans shiny and oily?

Oil on the surface is a sign of a darker roast, because as the bean passes second crack its structure breaks down and oils migrate outwards. Lighter roasts usually look dry and matt.

How can I tell coffee roast levels apart if the bag does not say?

Look at the colour and surface. Light brown and dry suggests a light roast, mid brown and dry suggests medium, and dark brown with oily patches suggests medium-dark to dark. Tasting notes also help: fruit and florals point to lighter roasts, chocolate and caramel to medium, and smoky or roasty notes to dark.

The bottom line

Light roasts are bright and fruity, medium roasts are balanced and sweet, and dark roasts are bold, bitter-sweet and low in acidity. In short, choose between coffee roast levels by the flavour you enjoy and the way you brew, not by the idea of strength. If you want one bag that does everything, start with a medium roast such as Brazilian Love Affair, and if it becomes your daily coffee too, 200 Degrees also offers it as a Brazilian Love Affair subscription. Whatever you buy, grind it fresh with a decent burr grinder; our best burr grinders guide can help.

Check Brazilian Love Affair at 200 Degrees

The post What Are the Different Coffee Roast Levels? Light, Medium and Dark Explained appeared first on Coffee Home Brewing.