My Year in Coffee (2024)

The list below contains a summary of all the coffee beans that I had throughout the year. For more detailed information on the individual coffees check the coffee page.

Most beans were espresso roasts, which I ground using my manual grinder and prepared using the 9Barista. The others I prepared as pour-over coffees or sometimes using the Aeropress.

My top favorite beans in 2024 were the Winy Berry from Compile. The coffee had a subtle but complex smell and flavor that for some reason reminded me of Ferrero’s Mon Chéri chocolate – the European one, not the American version – and I was able to get some of the smoothest cups I ever had out of those beans.

Compile is a coffee shop in Seoul that is part café, part work of art. Especially in the evenings, the experience resembles a visit to a retrofuturistic cyber-theater, with the senses being immersed in the smells of roasted and beautifully brewed coffee, as well as an interesting audio backdrop that drowns out clinks of dishes and chatter.

In general the coffee shop culture in Seoul is next level and far beyond any other country, with places like Compile, Anthracite, and das ist PROBAT which happened to be number two and three of my favorite beans in 2024.

“What about the Kona Peaberry?!”, you might be wondering. Indeed, those beans were interesting as well, especially considering that I got batch number 3451, which happened to be one of the last batches of this specific coffee, making it an exclusive – and expensive! – experience. However, being the simple man that I am, I found that while the Kona might reach 9.5/10 on a flavor scale, instead of the 9/10 that I got out of the Compile, Anthracite, and das ist PROBAT batches, the significant differences in prices make the latter three the overall better experiences.

Lastly, Spain deserves an honorable mention. The country managed to flip their coffee scene from the intensely bitter dark roasts that were everywhere, to a nuanced environment with lots of medium and light roasts to choose from. In addition, Spain appears to have by far the most vibrant decaf scene, with plenty of great roasts available. One particular roast that I loved was the Caldas from Bluebell Coffee Roasters in Valencia.

For 2025 I’m looking forward to the interesting coffees that I have collected so far from the cities I visited in Japan, as well as hopefully other places later this year.