Pact House Coffee review: a milk-chocolate kilo sold for filter

House Coffee is the safe choice in Pact's range and makes no claim to be anything else. Milk chocolate and toffee on the label, Brazil and Colombia in the bag, and a roast Pact call medium-dark on its retail pack and dark on Amazon. At 53p a cup it sits about 10p under the whole bean median. For a cafetière, a filter machine or a pour-over, it is a likeable chocolatey kilo that nobody in the house will complain about. For an espresso machine, read the section on House Espresso first, because Pact sell a separate blend for that at exactly the same price.

Live prices, sizes and retailers for this coffee sit on its product page. This review is the analysis alongside it. See prices →

Who House Coffee suits

Buy it for a cafetière or a filter machine. Pact's own 500g Amazon listing calls it a 'speciality dark roasted filter coffee', and the flavour words Pact use, toffee and milk chocolate, describe the kind of cup that works in a mug with or without milk. For espresso the answer is less clear-cut. A dark-roasted Brazil and Colombia blend will make espresso. But Pact sell another house blend for exactly that purpose, and nobody independent has written about pulling this one as a shot.

What Pact say is in the bag

Pact's descriptions of this coffee are brief, and they do not all say the same thing. The kilo on Amazon gives no origin, roast level or tasting note at all, only that it is whole bean, direct trade and roasted in the UK. The 500g listing adds the flavour: a toffee-like sweetness and 'rich, creamy notes of milk chocolate' from a dark-roasted filter coffee. Pact's supermarket version, sold as House Blend in 200g bags through Ocado, fills in the rest, naming Brazil and Colombia, a medium-dark roast and 'smooth, silky flavours of milk chocolate', with a brew ratio of 60g of coffee per litre for drip and cafetière.

Where the wording differs, the gap is small. Medium-dark and dark are neighbours, and every Pact source agrees on the chocolate. The 500g listing also says Pact pay farmers 25 to 125% more than Fairtrade rates. That is Pact's own figure, and the listing does not show the workings.

The House Espresso question

Pact sell two house blends on Amazon at the same £29.50 a kilo: House Coffee, this one, and House Espresso. Pact's own guide to espresso beans names House Espresso among its picks for espresso machines and does not mention House Coffee. The listings do not say how the two blends differ beyond the name, so take the plain reading. If the coffee is going through an espresso machine or a bean-to-cup, Pact's own guidance points you at the espresso blend, and it costs you nothing extra.

The only detailed write-up of a Pact house blend in an espresso machine is of House Espresso, not this bag. Balance Coffee's founder, James Bellis, pulled it on a Sage Barista Pro at 18g, a 1:2 ratio and 93°C, liked the toffee note in milk and in oat lattes, and called it a reliable cup that 'might be a bit boring' for anyone chasing speciality flavour. Balance is his own coffee brand and the review says so, so read it as a competitor's view.

In a cafetière or a filter machine

This is the use Pact wrote the label for, and the one where a chocolate-led Brazil and Colombia blend is least likely to disappoint. Use Pact's ratio of 60g per litre, which comes to about 18g for a 300ml mug and happens to match the dose every price on this site is worked out on. Grind coarse for a cafetière and medium for a filter machine.

Pact also sell House Coffee ready ground, at a medium grind, in a kilo bag at the same £29.50. If you own a grinder there is no reason to buy the ground bag, since the beans cost no more and keep better. If you do not, the ground kilo is cut for cafetière, moka pot and pour-over, which covers most of what this coffee is for.

What people who brewed it say

Very little, and you should know that before you trust any review of it, this one included. The home-brewing forums that cover Union and Rave in detail have next to nothing on this bag, and most of what is published about Pact reviews the company's subscription rather than this blend. The nearest thing to a user report is the Balance write-up of House Espresso above, and it lines up with the label: chocolate, toffee, easy to drink, nothing to surprise you. The flavour description of House Coffee on this page is Pact's, because nobody else has written one.

Will a kilo stay fresh?

Pact's own advice for espresso beans is to use them within two to four weeks of the roast date, and to look for a roast date rather than a best-before. At two cups a day on 18g, a kilo lasts about four weeks, so it just fits if the bag arrives soon after roasting. The 500g listing promises beans at your door within seven days of roasting. The kilo listing makes no such promise, so check the date on the bag when it lands.

If a kilo will take you longer than a month, split it on day one: half into an airtight container for now, half sealed away for later. Or buy the 500g bag at 59p a cup and pay 6p a cup to skip the chore.

What it costs

53p a cup is about 10p under the 63p median for whole bean coffee on this site, on the same 18g dose. That is a modest saving. It is what a mainstream speciality blend costs, not a bargain.

The pack ladder on Amazon runs 86p a cup for the 250g bag, 59p for 500g and 53p for the kilo, so the big bag earns its keep if you will finish it in a month. The ground kilo and House Espresso both cost the same £29.50, which means choosing between them is about how you brew, not what you pay. If the listing offers Subscribe & Save, that is the one lever left.

Who should skip it, and what to buy instead

If it is going into an espresso machine, buy House Espresso instead for the same money. If you want brightness or fruit, look elsewhere; this is a comfort blend and Pact sell it as one. The kilo is also the wrong size if it will sit open for six weeks.

• For espresso and milk drinks on a budget: Union Revelation Espresso is darker, built to cut through milk, and cheaper at 48p a cup.
• For an all-rounder home baristas have written about for years: Rave Signature Blend Nº 1, medium-dark with caramel, almond and chocolate notes, at 61p a cup.
• To stay with Pact for an espresso machine: House Espresso, 53p a cup, the house blend Pact recommend for espresso.