Löfbergs Espresso Whole Coffee Beans, 1kg
Nothing hides in this cup, including whatever is wrong with your machine. The Nordic reading of a dark roast is dry and bitter-edged rather than syrupy, with almost no caramel to paper over stale grinder oils, old group seals or a kettle furred with limescale. Clean everything first, then judge it. For people who drink their coffee black and want a spine to it, this is the bag; for anyone who wants espresso round and chocolatey, it will simply read as severe.
Löfbergs Espresso Whole Coffee Beans, in brief.
Löfbergs Espresso is the machine bean from the Swedish family roaster founded in Karlstad in 1906, sold here as whole beans in a one kilogram bag for espresso machines and bean to cup machines. It is a Nordic take on an espresso roast, drier and more cutting than the Italian bags beside it, picked into the Teas.co.uk curator selection for people who drink their coffee short and black.
Löfbergs Espresso is the machine bean from a Swedish family roaster, sold as whole beans in a one kilogram bag. Where the same roaster's Brazil single origin is built around filter and plunger brewing, this one is built around pressure: a coffee taken to an espresso brief, meant to be ground fine, dosed heavily and pushed through in half a minute. If you own an espresso machine or a bean to cup machine and you want something a bit less Italian than the usual shelf, this is the alternative.
The kilogram is the format that makes daily espresso cheap. A 250g bag lasts a fortnight and costs meaningfully more per 100g; a kilogram covers roughly two months at two coffees a day. For anyone who bought a machine and then winced at the price of beans, buying in bulk is the fix, and it removes the Sunday morning problem of an empty hopper.
Curator notes: the tasting profile is our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the blend's stated brief, and the brewing figures are our recommended starting points rather than pack instructions. We run same-day UK dispatch on every order placed before 2pm Monday to Friday. Grind settings, storage windows and extraction ranges are set out in full in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind Löfbergs
Löfbergs is a Swedish family coffee roaster founded in Karlstad in 1906 by three brothers, and it is still family owned. It comes from a part of the world where coffee is a daily institution rather than an occasional pleasure: the Nordic countries drink more coffee per head than almost anywhere else, and fika, the Swedish coffee break taken properly and with something to eat, is a national habit.
Roast level, bean composition and any certification marks are printed on the current pack and can change between production runs. Read the bag in front of you rather than a figure quoted online, ours included.
What An Espresso Roast Is For
Espresso is a short, high pressure extraction. The machine has roughly 25 seconds and nine bars of pressure to pull sweetness, body and crema out of a puck of grounds, which changes what the roaster is aiming for. A roast taken further breaks down more of the sharp organic acids and builds more of the heavy bittersweet compounds, so the coffee reads rounder and darker under pressure instead of sour. A coffee sold under the name Espresso has been built to that brief, which is why it will also taste noticeably more severe than a filter coffee if you put it through a cafetiere.
Packaging: one kilogram bean bags are sealed foil with a one way degassing valve, letting carbon dioxide out of freshly roasted beans without letting oxygen in. Follow the current UK pack and your local authority guidance for disposal; foil, valve and label can require different routes.
Ideal Extraction Conditions
Whole beans hand you the controls. Grind size, dose and water temperature decide the shot, in that order, and a darker roast punishes carelessness faster than a lighter one.
The Espresso Serve
- Dose: 18g into a standard double basket, levelled and tamped flat.
- Water: 92 degrees Celsius to start. A dark roast reaches its bitterness limit early, so heat is the first thing to bring down if a shot tastes harsh.
- Yield: 36g in the cup, a 1:2 ratio. Try 40g if the finish is too severe; a slightly longer shot softens it.
- Time: 25 to 30 seconds from the pump starting.
- Read the shot: ashy and drying means go coarser or drop the temperature. Sharp and thin means go finer.
The Bean To Cup, Milk And Cold Serve
- Bean to cup: middle grind, medium strength. If the cup reads thin, raise the dose before you touch the grind; automatic machines run short and hot.
- Flat white: the firm bitterness is an advantage here. It cuts through 130ml of steamed milk instead of disappearing into it.
- Americano: pull the shot into the cup first, then add 120ml of hot water on top. This blend lengthens well because the finish is long to begin with.
- Cold brew: coarse grind, 70g per litre, 14 to 18 hours in the fridge. Cold water leaves most of the bitter compounds behind, which turns the severity into strength.
Grinding, Dosing And Storage
- Grind to order: a dark roast sheds its aromatics faster than a light one once ground. This is the whole argument for buying beans.
- Watch the oils: darker beans carry more surface oil, which builds up on burrs and in the chute. Brush the grinder out every few weeks.
- Storage: sealed, cool, dark, never the fridge. Condensation does more harm than air. Decant into an airtight jar if the bag does not reseal.
- Open bag window: aim to finish an opened kilogram inside about a month for the aroma, and keep the bulk sealed rather than standing in a warm hopper.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Löfbergs Espresso Whole Coffee Beans, 1kg, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Löfbergs
Packaging: follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; foil, valve and label can require different disposal routes.
Our commitment to the planet
Sourcing and packaging details are printed on the current UK pack; the brand page carries the fuller story.
The taste profile
How does it compare
Löfbergs Espresso Whole Coffee Beans, 1kg is built for pressure, so the methods that use it come first and the ones that do not are here because a kilogram lasts a while. Six builds below cover the reference shot, two milk drinks, an americano, a cold brew and a Swedish coffee break.
Made with this tea
The Reference Double Shot
How to pull a balanced double of Löfbergs Espresso.
- 18g Löfbergs Espresso beans
- Filtered water at 92°C
- Scales that read to 0.1g
- A warmed cup
- Grind 18g fresh into a dry double basket, level and tamp flat.
- Pull to 36g in the cup over 25 to 30 seconds.
- Too severe on the finish, extend to 40g before you touch the grinder.
- Still harsh, drop the water to 91°C. Heat is the usual culprit with a dark roast.
What you'll end up with: A dry, dark, clean-finishing shot. Judge every other setting on the machine against this one.
Flat White
How to make a flat white with Löfbergs Espresso.
- 18g Löfbergs Espresso beans
- 130ml whole or oat milk, fridge cold
- A milk thermometer if you have one
- A 160 to 180ml cup
- Pull a double straight into the cup.
- Steam with two seconds of air at the surface, then bury the wand to spin the jug smooth.
- Stop at 60 to 65°C; past that the milk sugars scald.
- Pour from height to combine, then close in to finish.
What you'll end up with: A milk drink with a clean, bitter edge running through it. This is where the firm finish of the roast earns its place.
A Proper Americano
How to lengthen Löfbergs Espresso without flattening it.
- 18g Löfbergs Espresso beans
- 120ml hot water
- A warmed mug
- A splash of milk, optional
- Pull the double into the warmed mug first.
- Add 120ml of hot water gently down the side of the mug.
- Never pour the shot into a mug of water; that breaks the crema and the drink reads flat.
- Taste before adding more. This roast lengthens well because the finish is long to start with.
What you'll end up with: A long black coffee that still tastes structured rather than watery. The order of pouring is the whole trick.
Cortado
How to cut Löfbergs Espresso with just enough milk.
- 18g Löfbergs Espresso beans
- 40ml milk
- A 90ml glass
- A milk thermometer if you have one
- Pull a double into the glass.
- Steam a very small amount of milk with almost no air; you want texture, not foam.
- Pour in equal volume to the coffee and stop.
- Drink it straight away. A small drink loses heat fast.
What you'll end up with: The best compromise between a straight shot and a milk drink for a roast this dry. Enough milk to round the edge, not enough to bury it.
Fridge Cold Brew
How to make cold brew with Löfbergs Espresso for the week ahead.
- 70g Löfbergs Espresso beans
- 1 litre cold water
- Ice
- A large jar and a fine filter
- Grind coarse and stir into the cold water.
- Refrigerate 14 to 18 hours, stirring once partway through.
- Strain through paper or a fine cloth and keep sealed in the fridge.
- Serve over plenty of ice, neat or half and half with milk.
What you'll end up with: A different coffee to the hot version. Cold water leaves the bitter compounds behind, so the severity turns into plain strength. Keeps three or four days.
Fika: Coffee and Cinnamon Buns
How to serve Löfbergs Espresso the Swedish way.
- 72g Löfbergs Espresso beans
- Cinnamon or cardamom buns
- Hot milk in a jug
- Half an hour with the phone down
- Pull four doubles back to back into warmed cups rather than brewing a jug.
- Warm the buns for three minutes so the spice lifts.
- Put hot milk on the table so people can cut their own to taste.
- Sit down properly. Fika is the break, not the drink.
What you'll end up with: The way this coffee is drunk where it comes from. A dark, dry roast is the right match for a sweet, spiced bun; neither one has to give way.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Roasted coffee beans | 100% | The whole of the product, roasted to an espresso brief: darker development to break down the sharp acids and build the heavy bittersweet compounds a 25-second pressure extraction needs. |
| Bean composition and roast level | Printed on the pack | Löfbergs states these on the bag and they can change between production runs. This product is not sold as a single origin, unlike the Brazil bag in the same range. Read the bag rather than a figure quoted online. |
| Additives, flavourings, sugar | None | Nothing is added to roasted coffee beans. The dark cocoa and toast notes are roast development, not flavouring. |
Pack: Löfbergs Espresso Whole Coffee Beans, 1kg; whole roasted beans, caffeinated. Best before date printed on the bag; aroma is at its best within about a month of opening.
Roast level, bean composition and any certification marks are printed on the current pack.
Sourcing & roast. Löfbergs Espresso Whole Coffee Beans, 1kg comes from Löfbergs, the Swedish family coffee roaster founded in Karlstad in 1906 by three brothers and still family owned. It comes from a part of the world where coffee is a daily institution: the Nordic countries drink more per head than almost anywhere else, and fika, the Swedish coffee break taken properly and with something to eat, is a national habit rather than a marketing line. The Nordic approach to an espresso roast tends to run drier and cleaner than the Italian one, which is what makes this a genuine alternative to the Italian bags beside it on the shelf rather than a copy of them. The beans arrive in a sealed foil bag with a one-way valve that lets roasting gas escape without letting oxygen in.
What's in Löfbergs Espresso Whole Coffee Beans, 1kg, and what isn't:
- In: roasted coffee beans, and nothing else in the bag.
- No artificial colours, preservatives, flavourings or added sugar: any sweetness is developed during roasting.
- No dairy, cereals, egg, soya or nuts as ingredients: black coffee brewed without milk or sugar carries effectively no calories.
- Caffeine: caffeinated. A darker roast is not automatically higher in caffeine; dose and method decide the figure, so none is published here.
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Löfbergs Espresso Whole Coffee Beans, 1kg, please cite teas.co.uk.
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