When selecting your coffee, you’ll usually find that the weight options include 250g, 500g and 1kg.

This got us wondering: is it better to buy smaller or larger bags?

We asked our online community for some of their preferences and asked them to give us a reason as to why they prefer that weight. Here’s some of their thoughts:

Alisha

I prefer smaller bags. 125g is good enough for me most of the time. I’m buying 2 – 3 different coffees anyway. I love the flavoured ones especially Christmas time but again small amount so I get to sample each one and find a favourite.

Sam

We tend to buy the same stuff at the moment (awaiting my new basket) but we use two bags of pre ground coffee a week so it makes sense for us to buy larger quantities. The reason for this is because it’s cheaper and we store them in jars anyway so freshness isn’t really an issue.

Lee

I generally buy from the same roaster as they are consistently good. I buy 1kg of one and 1 225g of another which lasts about 14 days. The small bags are a pain as by the time the grinder is set up the bag is gone.

Eddie

I find 250-350g to be good. It’s enough to dial in the main grinder by the end of the bag and get a good feel for the coffee, and at my rate of drinking it (myself) will last me a week, maybe a few days more.

Two bags at a time means I’ll order every couple of weeks and have fresh beans, though I usually also have a can of Illy on hand that doesn’t seem to suffer with age so much (most likely as it’s already past it’s best, but still palatable with milk or the Moka Pot) as backup.

Morlene

I like the smaller bags so I can get a different coffee every week. For me this reduces the chances that I end up with 1kg of a coffee I’m not particularly fond of. Plus I like to change it up every now again – who wants to drink the same coffee every day?

Jess

I’ve been drinking Spiller and Tait for a long time now and I guess I’m stuck in my ways a little. I tend to get 1kg with each order so I don’t have to faff about with different bags. Their bags are self sealing and have the filter to keep it fresh so it’s not a worry for me.

I’ll probably get through 1kg in about 2 weeks (with help from by boyfriend) so my order tends to be 2 x 1kg. I think coffee any older than a month becomes less than ideal so we stock for about 4 weeks before making another order.

Summary

Whilst we’ve only highlighted 6 responses in this article, we found that our community had different preferences and for different reasons. Many enjoy tasting other coffees so it makes sense for them to buy smaller bags. On the other hand, if you’re committed to a particular coffee it makes sense to go for larger bags as typically you’ll get a discount.

Thanks to everyone who got back to us to make this article – it’s super interesting to see so many different opinions on coffee!