Where do you buy your coffee beans from?

[Wildfire]

Been getting my coffee from Rave coffee for years now. Columbia El Carmen 1kg and then x2 bags of 250g "guest coffees"
every 6 weeks or so.

[MrJuice]

BIRMA said:

They trade as lalicocoffee.co.uk The beans I have bought from them are Brazil Santos Stockler NY2/3 Screen17/18 SS FC Sweet Cup and Peru Organic Fairtrade Green/Raw Arabica Coffee Beans For Home Roasting SCA 86.
Just to add I have only bought green beans that I roast on a slow medium setting which I believe is exactly what the grower recommends. Remember green beans are a lot cheaper than roasted.
This company also sell roasters (quite pricey and not for the home roaster really) I have not bought ready roasted beans from them but assume as they sell roasters they know what they are doing.
For the record I have bought green beans from all over the world the Blue Mountain green beans I bought were £100 per kilo and were okay. But I always go back to Santos region beans and the fair trade organic Peru beans which I've been buying for well over two years with no fluctuation in quality

Intriguing!!

Would you post something about your roasting set up please. Do you roast for personal consumption only or do you sell?

I'd love to roast my own beans but feel a bit intimidated by it all

[P1Fanatic]

Wildfire said:

Been getting my coffee from Rave coffee for years now. Columbia El Carmen 1kg and then x2 bags of 250g "guest coffees"
every 6 weeks or so.

Yep also use Rave as fairly local. Found even closer - Bought a https://www.wbroast.co.uk/ and have used a few kg since december and enjoyed. Like the fact the price is delivered so none of this I need to order xyz to get free shipping. Not as much variety though.

[BIRMA]

MrJuice said:

BIRMA said:

They trade as lalicocoffee.co.uk The beans I have bought from them are Brazil Santos Stockler NY2/3 Screen17/18 SS FC Sweet Cup and Peru Organic Fairtrade Green/Raw Arabica Coffee Beans For Home Roasting SCA 86.
Just to add I have only bought green beans that I roast on a slow medium setting which I believe is exactly what the grower recommends. Remember green beans are a lot cheaper than roasted.
This company also sell roasters (quite pricey and not for the home roaster really) I have not bought ready roasted beans from them but assume as they sell roasters they know what they are doing.
For the record I have bought green beans from all over the world the Blue Mountain green beans I bought were £100 per kilo and were okay. But I always go back to Santos region beans and the fair trade organic Peru beans which I've been buying for well over two years with no fluctuation in quality

Intriguing!!

Would you post something about your roasting set up please. Do you roast for personal consumption only or do you sell?

I'd love to roast my own beans but feel a bit intimidated by it all

I bought this a couple of years ago from Bella Barista, unfortunately they no longer sell them.

https://youtu.be/KiJRYNfw5U0

It is, as per the video a brilliant small batch roaster, I paid about £1000 for it and the cooler unit.
If you can get one secondhand buy it because after two years use roasting once a week it is still like new. It is really only designed for personal use due to the small batch roasting size. I roast two lots of 150 grms every week so my coffee is really fresh. As green beans don't really go off you can buy as and when you like.
My experience so far has been one of great delight with it, I have learnt from experience that you have to pay attention to the roasting process because there is a thing called 'first crack' in the roasting process and if like me on one occasion you're not paying attention and don't press the first crack on the app even 15 seconds too long after first crack can completely alter the flavour of the beans.
In the two years of ownership I get no noticeable variation in the finished roasted beans so it must be all down to attention to detail in roasting but the Sandbox Smart is so easy to use it is without doubt idiot proof. You need to take note of the growers roasting notes but the unit has 1000's of roasting profiles, having said that I only use the medium slow roast programme.
The rest of my set up is a Niche Zero grinder and a La Pavoni Espertto Abile hand lever machine, although this year I plan to buy a Marzocco Micra or new Mini

[NordicCrankShaft]

I've gone through brand after brand and whilst some are terrible and some are good, I always go back to buying "Japanese" brand Ueshima from the supermarket, usually on offer in sainsbury at £3.50 for 250g bags, so I buy 4 a time.
I just really like it and never seem to have any bother with it as it's always consistent.

[Takemeaway]

Currently getting through about 200g beans per week.

I've got a grinder and enjoy a mokka or cafetiere coffee

Having tried a few, I've been buying Caffe Nero classico beans from the supermarket and they're actually quite nice for £4 ish per bag

Is the extra uplift in spend to £7-£9 per bag plus delivery really worth it?

I'm enjoying what i drink but always have that nagging feeling that the grass may be greener elsewhere

Looking for recommendations as willing to try a pricey bag as a one off to see if the difference is noticeable

[MrJuice]

I'd suggest you try pour over filter. maybe with the beans you already use and see if you prefer the taste. if you do, you may wish to spend more per kg for the beans.

to me, there's a world of improvement in pour over compared to cafetiere. ymmv

[RizzoTheRat]

An aeropress is a cheap step up from a cafetiere too.

[MrJuice]

yep

in the days when you could get a swan neck jug delievred from China for £5, there was not much in it in terms of cost of aeropress vs pour over

I think they are £20 now

if you want a cheap set up to experiment, might I suggest the ceramic cone from monmouth, the corresponding paper which they sell and any swan neck jug. would be helpful to have a weighing scale to get consistency. you already have a grinder.

job done

[Deckert]

Buy our coffee from Monsoon Estates absolutely brilliant stuff
https://monsoonestates.co.uk/

[C G]

Takemeaway said:

Currently getting through about 200g beans per week.

I've got a grinder and enjoy a mokka or cafetiere coffee

Having tried a few, I've been buying Caffe Nero classico beans from the supermarket and they're actually quite nice for £4 ish per bag

Is the extra uplift in spend to £7-£9 per bag plus delivery really worth it?

I'm enjoying what i drink but always have that nagging feeling that the grass may be greener elsewhere

Looking for recommendations as willing to try a pricey bag as a one off to see if the difference is noticeable

I think it's nicer to buy fresh but diminishing returns.

I've compared freshly roasted beans bought at my local coffee shop/roastery (£8 per 250g) to those from Tesco (Lofberg beans at £12 a kilo). The local roasted beans were nicer but not almost three times as nice like the price implies. The Lofberg beans have a fairly recent production date on them anyway.

[RustyMX5]

I have a guilty liking for a Vietnamese drip coffee with the obligatory condensed milk and typically get Trung Nguyen from whichever shop looks legit. If I'm in London I'll sometime pop into the Algerian Coffee Store (https://algeriancoffeestores.com/) to pick up some beans.

Edited by RustyMX5 on Thursday 18th April 15:16

[Takemeaway]

RizzoTheRat said:

An aeropress is a cheap step up from a cafetiere too.

I have an aeropress but prefer the cafetière, especially using James Hoffman’s suggestion

Like I said I’m happy with the quality of the drink, but was wondering about upgrading the beans i use.

I remember the quote from Hoffman who said the grind is more important than the bean. Jeez I sound like a superfan!

[S6PNJ]

Takemeaway said:

... I've got a grinder

MrJuice said:

.... you already have a grinder.

But no-one's asked the question - what grinder do you have? Is it a grinder or a slicer, handheld or electric? Flat burr or conical burr?

You might find your beans are OK but your grinder needs an upgrade to get more from your beans.

[leef44]

Takemeaway said:

RizzoTheRat said:

An aeropress is a cheap step up from a cafetiere too.

I have an aeropress but prefer the cafetière, especially using James Hoffman’s suggestion

Like I said I’m happy with the quality of the drink, but was wondering about upgrading the beans i use.

I remember the quote from Hoffman who said the grind is more important than the bean. Jeez I sound like a superfan!

I totally agree with this. I started with cafetiere then went up to aeropress. Taste was richer.

Then found with better beans ground at the shop, cafetiere was better than the previous bean with aeropress.

Then got fresh roasted beans and ground it myself rather than ready ground beans and found this taste so much better.

[Takemeaway]

S6PNJ said:

But no-one's asked the question - what grinder do you have? Is it a grinder or a slicer, handheld or electric? Flat burr or conical burr?

You might find your beans are OK but your grinder needs an upgrade to get more from your beans.

Got the sage grinder pro. Everything started out too bitter until I sussed out I needed to go coarser !

[Takemeaway]

leef44 said:

I totally agree with this. I started with cafetiere then went up to aeropress. Taste was richer.

Then found with better beans ground at the shop, cafetiere was better than the previous bean with aeropress.

Then got fresh roasted beans and ground it myself rather than ready ground beans and found this taste so much better.

Great journey of discovery!!

[leef44]

Takemeaway said:

Great journey of discovery!!

[S6PNJ]

Takemeaway said:

Got the sage grinder pro. Everything started out too bitter until I sussed out I needed to go coarser !

Great!
Here's a leftffield suggestion - try the Sainsburys Columbian decaff beans - I quite like them and drink them in the evening (espresso made into a ..... FFS what do I call it? Americano with milk? - a 'normal' white coffee.) - https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsb... They seem to have very recently changed their packaging as it's not the design I have on my current packet.

[Takemeaway]

S6PNJ said:

Great!
Here's a leftffield suggestion - try the Sainsburys Columbian decaff beans - I quite like them and drink them in the evening (espresso made into a ..... FFS what do I call it? Americano with milk? - a 'normal' white coffee.) - https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsb... They seem to have very recently changed their packaging as it's not the design I have on my current packet.

Thanks. Bean looking for a decent decaf recommendation