The Best Coffee Beans for Espresso Machines in NZ

Most people buying espresso beans in NZ are reaching for the same thing: a medium roast Arabica blend from one of the big local roasters. Nothing wrong with that. But if you've never tried Vietnamese Robusta in your espresso machine, you're missing something.

Why Robusta works so well in espresso

Robusta gets a bad reputation in specialty coffee circles, mostly because cheap commodity Robusta is genuinely rough. But specialty-grade Vietnamese Robusta is a different product entirely, and it behaves beautifully under pressure.

Higher caffeine content means more crema. Robusta beans produce a thicker, more persistent crema than Arabica when pulled as espresso, which is why Italian espresso roasters have been blending Robusta into their shots for decades. The body is heavier, the flavour is bolder, and it holds its own against milk in ways that lighter Arabica blends sometimes don't.

What to look for in an espresso bean

A few things matter more than the bag design or the origin story. Grind fresh if you can. Espresso is unforgiving of stale coffee and the difference between beans ground that morning and beans ground two weeks ago is significant. Look for a roast date on the bag, not just a best before date.

For milk-based drinks, you want something with enough body and flavour to come through the milk. Delicate, light-roasted Arabica can disappear in a flat white. A bolder bean, or a Robusta blend, holds its ground.

Buffalo Robusta as an espresso bean

Our Buffalo (Robusta) is 100% single-origin Vietnamese Robusta, small-batch roasted in Auckland. It pulls well as espresso: thick crema, bold chocolate and earthy notes, and a caffeine hit that's noticeably stronger than standard Arabica shots. It's available in whole bean or pre-ground, and we offer a specific espresso grind if you want it ready to use.

If you want to explore before committing to a full bag, The Triplet Sampler includes Buffalo alongside our Honeymoon Blend and Sunshine Arabica so you can compare them in your machine and decide what you prefer.

A note on grind size

Robusta is denser than Arabica and grinds slightly differently. If you're dialling in Buffalo as an espresso, start with your usual setting and adjust finer if the shot runs too fast. Because the flavour is bolder, you may also find you prefer a slightly shorter extraction time than you'd use for Arabica.

Any questions about brewing, our brew guide covers the phin method in detail, and we're always happy to help with espresso questions via email.