Frequently asked questions

Specialty coffee refers typically to the highest grade of coffee. The word ‘specialty’ draws a contrast with the nature of any commoditised product that can easily be replicated. Within the coffee industry specialty coffee is defined as any coffee scoring above 80 points on a 100-point scale. Our coffees typically score 84 and above.

All our coffees come from Ethiopia which is known for its floral and fruity flavours. Ethiopia is considered by many to be the birthplace of coffee and the origin of some of the world’s best coffees.

Traditionally coffee in Ethiopia is grown organically, meaning that no artificial substances are used in its production We know that this is the case at Haile’s farm in south-western Ethiopia from where we are sourcing some of our coffee. We do also source coffee from other regions of Ethiopia where farms have not met the internationally-recognised standards to classify their coffee as ‘organic’ even though no pesticides may have been used in the production process. 

Haile has a roasting operation in Addis Ababa which works particularly well for coffee sold on the local market in Ethiopia. In order to maintain freshness by selling and distributing our coffee soon after it has been roasted, we are roasting our coffee at a local roastery in Sussex.

Since whole bean coffee retains its freshness better than ground coffee, we recommend beans over ground coffee. It is best to grind your coffee when you are ready to make a brew.

Drinking coffee before running can produce performance benefits for runners. The caffeine in coffee can reduce feelings of effort, tiredness and pain, and at the same time boost alertness and vigilance. Please read some of the articles on our site which give more detailed explanations about this. We should also point out that there can be downsides of drinking an excess amount of coffee.

3mg-6mg of caffeine per kg of body weight is considered to be the optimum caffeine intake to aid performance. For a 60kg runner this equates to around 180-360mg, the equivalent to drinking 2-3 cups of coffee. But what is best for you as an individual will depend on how long you have been drinking coffee and how much you drink on a daily basis.

Currently, we have a set mix in our bundle pack. As we introduce more coffees into our product range, we hope to be able to vary the mix. 

Yes, we do. Please email info@pace.coffee for more details.

We use Royal Mail Tracked 48 delivery as standard on all our UK orders.

If you have a wide letterbox, our single pack orders might fit through your letterbox. But for any multi-pack order you will have to take delivery in person from Royal Mail.

Yes, we ship all over the world. Please email info@haile.coffee and we will give you our international shipping costs.

Please email info@haile.coffee and we will look into it immediately.

Yes, please! We would love to hear your feedback, whether good, bad or otherwise. It will help us to do our job better!