In reply to Malt_Loaf:
It's better to buy beans and grind them as needed. The flavour of coffee comes from the oil in the beans, so as soon as you grind them the coffee starts to go stale as the oils are exposed to the air. Bottom line: beans keep longer than ground, and taste fresher.
When you buy beans, they should look dull. Glossy ones look nicer, but that gloss is the oil that's worked its way to the surface and is currently going stale. A dull colour means the oil is still trapped inside the beans, where you want it.
As for types of coffee, Kenya Blue Mountain is famous, and one of my favourites. I buy from these bods:
http://www.northern-tea.com/
they're very good, although there's plenty of other good suppliers, e.g Pumphreys.
There's a surprising variety of taste in coffee. I recently tried a Sumatra Lintong, which I found too acidic, but there's plenty of people who like that acidity.
As for making coffee, you might want to try the Aeropress. It's a little bit of a faff compared to a cafetiere, but the taste is significantly better, IMHO. You get a much smoother and more flavourful brew.
Have fun