First taste: Best Coffee Beans

We've been beating off the wet winter blues today with several cups of hot ethical coffee from new kid on the block, Best Coffee Beans. As you'll have guessed from the name, there's no hiding of lights under bushels here.

For our taste test, we sampled the House Proud bean, which is one of nine brews on offer from the coffee outfit. First impressions are good. We're big fans of the brew and its slightly bitter yet creamy flavour -- exactly how we like it -- and the beans certainly do seem to be up there with the best coffee beans, ethical or not. Plus it comes with triple certification, so your conscience can rest easy: it's Organic, Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance-approved (meaning a coffee farm with a local eco outlook, get the full lowdown here).

At £3.85 for a 227g pack, this quality doesn't come cheap, but directors Paul Siddall and Joanna Aleksic have convinced us they really mean ethical business. Siddall told SmartPlanet: "House Proud is one of our two new house coffees, a medium roast. We wanted our house coffees to define us, our brand and just simply speak for themselves. We know they are great-tasting coffees and it seemed obvious to make them triple certified, giving consumers the confidence that this certification brings. They are our benchmark and we aim to produce even better."

Siddall and Aleksic work directly with the coffee co-ops to make sure the farmers' conditions are good and they take as much care of the environment as possible. And they expect good quality, too. Siddall added: "Our aim was to develop a roasted coffee brand that consumers would have confidence in, both in terms of taste and ethics."

We haven't tried Best Coffee Beans' gourmet coffees, but with an all-rounder like House Proud, we reckon its single origin coffees are sure to impress.

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