Smooth coffee

• "Not bitter." The most common. The problem is usually a very dark roast or torrefacto, not the coffee itself.
• "Not strong." This usually means concentration: a long filter coffee is perceived as smoother than an espresso, even carrying the same caffeine.
• "Doesn't wire me." That's caffeine, and decaf solves it.
• "Doesn't repeat on me." Usually acidity, which we cover in low acidity coffee.

Worth identifying before buying, because the solutions differ and are sometimes opposites.

If the coffee you normally drink is from a supermarket, there's a fair chance it contains torrefacto: a roast with added sugar, up to 15% of the weight of the green coffee, which caramelises and coats the bean.

It brings very dark colour, bitterness and a burnt aftertaste. It was invented as a preservation method when vacuum packing didn't exist and stuck around out of habit.

When a Spanish pack says "mezcla", it almost always means a blend of natural and torrefacto coffee, not a blend of origins. It's the most useful thing you can learn to read on a Spanish label, and changing just that already softens the cup a great deal.

Lower the temperature. 88-91 °C instead of freshly boiled water. This shows most.

Grind coarser. If it comes out bitter and drying, you're over-extracting.

Clean the machine. Accumulated oils go rancid and turn every cup bitter. It happens so gradually almost nobody notices.

Try properly textured hot milk, which at 60-65 °C brings natural sweetness without sugar.

The full list is in the 7 most common mistakes.

Essenza is the roundest we make: 100% arabica roasted on a medium curve seeking sweetness, smoothness and a creamy texture. If you're coming from supermarket coffee and want to make the jump without a shock, start here.

Natural Decaf if caffeine is what you want less of. It's decaffeinated by a water process, without chemical solvents, so it keeps body and aromatics — nothing like the decaf of twenty years ago.

And if your machine takes capsules, the decaf comes in that format too.