Siemens is always curious to find ways to elevate the customer experience from introducing innovative features to working with like-minded brands. For the launch of our new EQ900 coffee machine, we have been working alongside Future Self Coffee to experiment with how to use the machine to get the best out of their coffee. We want to unleash the inner barista in everyone. We spoke to Future Self’s founder, Alfie Deyes, to find out the backstory behind the brand, what coffee means to him and he shares a few insights into how he creates his favourite drinks.

My growing passion for great-tasting coffee was the starting platform for Future Self Coffee. Personally for me, coffee enhances different aspects of my day and it felt like the perfect extension of the growing Future Self community, which provides a space for self-empowerment & improvement.

Similar to Future Self Clothing, which I started back in 2019, our coffee has been designed to accompany people each step of the way throughout the journey to become their best future self. Working closely with expert coffee roasters, I’ve combined my favourite flavours to create the best-tasting coffee, with four curated blends suitable for whichever stage you’re at in that self-development journey.

As with Future Self Clothing, providing high-quality products and being involved in the process has always been a top priority for me. I wanted to ensure that we were curating the most delicious-tasting, barista-quality coffee that the Future Self Community can make at home and share with their friends and family, as well as help with the different activities/tasks on their journey of bettering themselves.

What makes Future Self blends unique?

It was important for me to integrate and take into account the different journeys that members of our community can be on. This led to the idea behind the journey lines on each blend bag and being able to connect them next to each other, in whichever order. No matter what order you go, you’ll get there.

This enabled us to align the different blends being curated for different parts of the day, Focus, for example being the perfect strong coffee that you need first thing in the morning to Self-Care, a sweeter blend that’s meant to be savoured for those ‘me-time’ moments. Coffee has different purposes and meanings for everyone depending on what they’re drinking it for and I love how our blends can cater for those different things.

We pride ourselves on quality and ensure our blends are roasted to perfection and always from sustainable coffee farms from around the world. We source our coffee from BRC accredited, Fair Trade, Soil Association and Rainforest Alliance certified farms.

Why is the roasting process so important?

Our roasting process is led by innovation using convection roasting techniques, this allows the beans to be gently roasted to the core with warm air, ensuring an even roast each and every time. You can trust us that every detail has been curated with you and the perfect brew in mind.

You only have four blends, why did you include a decaf blend?

I am always surprised by the stigma still associated with decaffeinated coffee. Reset, which is our single-origin Colombian decaf, uses the Swiss Water process to remove 99% of caffeine. Through water, temperature and time, the process is able to preserve all of the beans’ original characteristics and flavour!

For the Siemens EQ900, I’d suggest saving your favourite drinks settings, as well as your friends and families, so that it’s even easier to make. For me for example, I love a Focus Flat White first thing in the morning, so I’ve saved that blend and drink setting under ‘Alfie AM’. Obviously, I have to make sure that I have the Focus beans on at least one of the dual containers but it’s incredibly convenient and just makes life easier!

What are the most common misconceptions about coffee/myths about coffee that are true?

One misconception I learnt about, through the process of creating Future Self Coffee, is that espresso is usually bitter - it’s not supposed to be! If brewed correctly, espresso is more like a fine wine with a complex range of flavours from chocolatey to sweet, fruity, nutty, earthy, salty and more.

The Siemens bean ident system enables the best brew settings based on your blend and roast profile to give you great tasting espresso. Another reason why the Barista Mode on the EQ900 is also so great because it allows you to change these settings and make it happen!

As for my favourite Future Self blend, it’s got to be Share, which is a medium roast profile full of sweet caramel and toffee flavours, balanced with delicate nutty aromas and a subtle sweet acidity.

I use this blend when I make coffee for my friends and family. Personally, I like to use baristaMode with my EQ900, as it allows me to adjust the strength, amount, brewing temperature, coffee-to-milk ratio (and more) to taste so everyone can get their perfect, bespoke coffee every time.

One of my favourite things about coffee is that it’s a great opportunity to catch up with friends and family. Personally, for me, I love to bring people together and share those moments, so this blend is a favourite.

It’s great to work with a brand that’s just as passionate about bringing high-quality products to people’s homes. Future Self Coffee and the Siemens EQ900 coffee machine are a great match as they both aim to make it easier to enjoy barista-quality coffee at home.