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Choosing by Intensity

Every Delta pack carries a number beside the triangle. That's Delta's own intensity rating, and it's the fastest way to choose without tasting: the higher the number, the darker the roast and the heavier the body. Most of this range sits at 12, with the Origins Angola a step above at 13.

Intensity isn't caffeine. A darker roast tastes stronger and sits heavier on the palate, but roasting burns caffeine off rather than adding it. What the number really tells you is how much roast character you'll taste against the bean's own origin flavour.

If you're crossing over from an American medium roast, start lower and work up. If you grew up on coffee from a Portuguese café and everything here tastes thin, go higher.

Beans or pre-ground?

Ground packs come at a universal grind, cut to work in a stovetop cafeteira, a filter coffee machine or a domestic espresso machine without adjustment. For most kitchens that's the practical choice.

Whole bean earns its place if you own a grinder and drink more than two cups a day. Coffee stales from the moment it's ground (surface area is the enemy), so a kilo of beans ground fresh each morning still tastes sharp in week six, where pre-ground will have flattened by week three.

How Portugal actually orders it

Useful if you're trying to recreate a particular cup:

Bica in Lisbon, cimbalino in Porto — a short black espresso, and the default order.

Abatanado — the same shot lengthened with hot water, closest to an americano.

Garoto or pingo — an espresso cut with a little warm milk, served small.

Meia de leite — half coffee, half milk, in a cup.

Galão — one part coffee to three parts milk, in a tall glass. The closest thing to a Portuguese breakfast.

Carioca — deliberately weaker, pulled long.

Every one of those starts from the same short, dark shot. Get the coffee right and the rest is milk.

Keeping a kilo fresh

Portuguese packs are sized for cafés, which is what makes them good value and also what catches people out. Keep the bag sealed, cool and out of the light, and decant only what you'll use in a fortnight. Don't refrigerate — coffee takes on the smell of everything around it, and the condensation each time you open the bag does more damage than the shelf ever would.

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