Cafés Lugat: Discovering freshly roasted coffee beans

Cafés Lugat is a team of artisan coffee roasters based in the South of France that only works with carefully selected green coffee beans from exceptional terroirs. Freshness and quality are top of their list. So why should you try coffee from Cafés Lugat if you’ve never heard of them before? We are here for a little presentation.

Searching the world for the best coffee beans

Like real explorers, The Cafés Lugat team travels the world to find specialty coffees: exceptional, flawless grand cru coffees. Beyond the pleasure of finding the best coffees and immersing themselves in a new culture, each trip is a unique and essential opportunity to meet those who work for Cafés Lugat on the other side of the world. Putting a face to the name of a coffee producer, an appellation, a terroir… It is a story that gives a whole new flavour to the coffee beans! It is not just about finding quality coffee but also a social commitment to the local producers in each country: their working conditions, equity, remuneration … Long term relationships are built with handpicked farmers. Through all the harvests, the tests, the mutual help and collaborations, Cafés Lugat and the coffee farmers work together to improve the coffee-growing conditions and achieve the best possible finished product: the perfect cup of coffee! Once the coffee beans have been selected, they are ‘cooked’ according to a profile defined by the roasting team in the South of France. Cafés Lugat is a member of the SCA (the Specialty Coffee Association).

Freshly roasted coffee beans

Cafés Lugat’s trademark is the extreme freshness of their coffee beans. Each coffee has been roasted just a few days before it leaves the warehouse. This obsession for coffee freshness only has one goal: to respect and reveal all that is great in the world of Specialty Coffee. Indeed, freshly roasted coffee beans reveal their full potential between 5 to 15 days after roasting for consumption in drip filter methods / between 10 to 30 days for espresso. Therefore, coffee beans by Cafés Lugat with more than 10 days past their roasting date will not be sold.

Coffee roasting know-how & quality

French and proud of it, the Cafés Lugat team uses world-renowned know-how and wants to prove every day that they know how to make good coffee! It is a ‘savoir faire’ with a touch of modernity: all the new techniques are used to obtain quality coffee beans, without ever sacrificing the old coffee-roasting traditions. The human senses remain the working tools of choice at Cafés Lugat! As such, the team observes the colorimetric evolution and the physical transformation of the coffee bean, listens to the famous “crack” of the bean when it reacts to the heat, smells the aromas throughout the roasting process, tastes its nectar to feel all the flavours and textures. Technology is simply used to anticipate, adjust, analyse. Sweetness, acidity, bitterness, length in the mouth … nothing is left to chance. And just like the greatest chefs, the Cafés Lugat team seeks the best recipe, the best profile, to get the best end-result. Because they are perfectionists, they have set up an airtight room between the warehouse and the coffee roasting area: a cellar controlled for humidity and temperature where the green coffee beans are stored for several days before being roasted. A touch of madness? Not at all. Pioneers in the field, Cafés Lugat found a solution to have constant parameters to refer to before the start of their roasting sessions. Thus, they meet all the conditions to offer a coffee of consistent quality.    

Cafés Lugat coffee beans: the packaging

Cafés Lugat is a French company but all the information on the packaging about their coffee beans or their ground coffees is provided in English too! What details will you be able to see on each pack?

The freshness valve

Every pack has a one-way valve so the gases (naturally released by freshly roasted coffee) can escape without letting the air in. Therefore, the valve is a true mark of freshness! It also better preserves all the aromas.

Know where the coffee beans come from

Discover the countries of origin of your coffees, the region and even the altitude the coffee was grown at. Important information for lovers of pure origin or Specialty coffee!

Know about the Coffee variety

Coffee is divided into 2 families, Arabica and Robusta. They themselves consist of different varieties of coffee. Today, there are over 70 of them!

Discover the aromatic notes

The tasting notes are listed so you can pick your coffee beans based on your preferences.

Pick the roast of your coffee

Do you prefer fruity aromas? Pick a light roast (sky blue label). For more gourmet notes, choose a medium roast (dark blue label).

The process

Most coffees by Cafés Lugat are either washed or natural. The methods used to treat the green coffee beans before roasting is always clearly written. You will also see a label for certified organic coffees.

When were the coffee beans roasted?

The date of roasting is clearly written at the back of each packet with a Best Before Date (after that date, your coffee will still be good and safe to use but it will gradually start to lose some of its qualities).

Cafés Lugat remains a beautiful team, like a family, and it is one of their greatest strengths! Their identity has been built around everlasting values: those of transmission, passion, high standards and sharing. They can still offer freshly roasted coffee beans today because it is a small team, eager to preserve its unique know-how. They prefer doing small roasting batches to better master the result and deliver the freshest coffee possible… Discover their freshly roasted coffee beans, ground coffee and  pods! All that remains is for me to wish you a ‘bonne dégustation’ – Happy coffee tasting!