Union Revelation Espresso Wholebean, 500g: Dialling It In

Revelation is built for the short, high-pressure extraction of an espresso machine, where roughly 25 seconds decides whether a shot turns out sweet or sour. It comes from Union Hand-Roasted Coffee, the East London roaster founded in 2001 by the scientists Steven Macatonia and Jeremy Torz.

A speciality take on a dark roast

Union files Revelation as its dark roast, against the medium House Roast and the light Bobolink Brazil, and blends it from Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Rwanda and Burundi. It is a speciality roaster's idea of dark, though: taken far enough to carry sweetness under pressure, but stopped before everything tastes of roast. That leaves cocoa and brown sugar in the middle of the shot, with a red-fruit brightness behind.

That fruit edge is what separates it from an Italian bar blend, which is taken darker so the sharp acids burn away and the coffee ends up heavy, forgiving and consistent. Revelation asks a little more of whoever is at the machine. In return its body is full and syrupy, with enough weight to hold its own under milk in a flat white or a latte.

A starting recipe and how to adjust it

Begin with 18g of ground coffee in the basket and aim for 36g of espresso in the cup over 25 to 30 seconds, with the machine's water at about 93 degrees. Weigh both ends if you can. Treat those numbers as a starting point rather than a rule, because every grinder and machine behaves a little differently, and the first few shots from a new bag are for learning.

If the shot tastes sour and thin, grind finer or raise the temperature by a degree. If it tastes dry and hollow, coarsen the grind or cut the shot short. Of the two faults, sourness is the likelier with this blend, usually because people arrive with settings meant for a darker Italian roast. It also works away from a machine: a cafetière is good, and a moka pot is better still.

Why the 500g bag

We stock Revelation in 200g and 500g bags. The 200g suits anyone trying it for the first time or making the odd weekend shot. For a household that runs a machine every day the 500g bag makes more sense: at two coffees a day it lasts roughly a month, which is about the window in which freshly roasted beans are at their best, whereas a kilo would risk going stale before the end.

Keep the bag sealed, cool and out of the light, and grind only what each shot needs, because the brighter top notes form late in the roast and are the first to go once the bean is broken open. Coffee ground in advance will still make a drink a week later, but it no longer tastes like this coffee. Whole beans mean you need a grinder first, or a machine that grinds for you.

The packs we stock

• Union Coffee Revelation Espresso Wholebean, 500g (barcode 5060035750252)

What to eat with it

• Thomas Fudge's 6 Dark Chocolate Florentines: Dark chocolate meets the cocoa in the shot, a good after-dinner match.
• Royal Dansk Danish Butter Cookies, 340g: Plain butter biscuits suit a short espresso much as a plain shortbread does.
• McVitie's Milk Chocolate Digestives Biscuits, 266g: A sweet, sturdy partner for a flat white made with Revelation.

Elsewhere in the Union range

• Union Hand-Roasted Coffee Bobolink Brazil Cafetière Grind, 200g
• Union Hand-Roasted Coffee House Roast Cafetière Grind, 200g
• Union Revelation Espresso Wholebean Coffee, 200g
• Union Yayu Forest Ethiopia Wild Coffee Wholebean, 200g

The full range is on the Union brand page.

FAQ

Is Union Revelation a dark roast? Union lists it as its dark roast, but it is roasted as speciality coffee, so it keeps a fruit brightness that a traditional Italian roast lacks.

What recipe should I start with? About 18g in and 36g out over 25 to 30 seconds at around 93 degrees, then go finer if it is sour and coarser if it is dry and hollow.

Can I use Revelation without an espresso machine? Yes. It makes a good cafetière and an even better moka pot, as long as you grind it to suit the method.

Should I buy the 200g or the 500g bag? The 200g to try it or for occasional shots; the 500g if you make espresso most days, as it lasts about a month at two a day.

Who is Union Hand-Roasted Coffee? An East London speciality roaster founded in 2001, working with more than 42 producer partners in 14 countries through its own direct trade programme. It is a Certified B Corporation and won a Queen's Award in 2017 for that sourcing model.

Curator's note: Give the first few shots from a new bag to the sink while you find the grind; after that it rewards you every morning. It is lovely with milk, but taste it straight at least once. Lee, Teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.

In short: Union Revelation Espresso Wholebean, 500g: Dialling It In

More from the tea wiki

• Tea vs Coffee: Taste, Caffeine and Switching
• Caffeine in Tea
• Tea vs Coffee
• Tea for Coffee Drinkers: Where to Start
• Chai vs Coffee

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