How it all started

[BazBean]

While trying to do a little research I started reviewing my own history/journey concerning coffee and what influenced it and wondered about the rest of the posse!

as a youngster I drank instant because it was the only thing I had experienced, and was quite happy with the effect rather than the taste which I always thought was just the sacrifice for the effects of the caffeine and always had milk and lots of sugar to kill the taste ...... looking back its ridiculous but understandable. I remember reading here that we are predisposed to dislike certain bitter/strong flavours especially in our developing years as natures way to prevent us poisoning ourselves when our ancestors jumped around on trees.. See I do listen and absorb something: wink:

my introduction to real ground coffee was via another person, a mentor if you like who drank mostly fresh ground and occasionally the more elaborate instants with fancy names for which I still don’t try to have her lashed with cat an nine tales for. when ever we went out we would explore the countryside for small retailers but we did not know about such things as micro roasters and the like and it was only a few years ago when I decided to get into coffee as a business, that with research I found places that supplied coffee (large companies)...... it was however only via TMC that I even knew about the likes of HB and OTHERS and had been happy to sell rather average stuff, all be it extracted to perfection and infused with passion up till this time. Again I was giving the best of my experience at that time.

if I have told the story before I apologise in advance, but why I started in the business in coffee is simple... a Costa opened to which I thought "at last" here in Scarborough and as it was one of the better ones I had experienced I was happy ???... Then on the second day it was open I stood in the que for twenty minutes got served with an espresso...blah blah £1.80 Blah Blah, and sitting there being disgusted I started to fume!!!! It was at that point the idea hit me , do something about it, not take on the world or Costa or anything, but offer better ... the rest is history so they say,
ANYHOW!

My questions are these-
Did you start with instant and progress and was this by accident?
Did you have a passionate individual who introduced you to coffee?
Did you find your first real good stuff at home or by accident in one of the few good places out and wanted to replicate it.
Did you buy beans from high street first or was it the internet immediately

[espressomattic]

My questions are these-
Did you start with instant and progress and was this by accident?
Did you have a passionate individual who introduced you to coffee?
Did you find your first real good stuff at home or by accident in one of the few good places out and wanted to replicate it.
Did you buy beans from high street first or was it the internet immediately

1. Yes I did start with instant and most things were an accident...a trait I have come to accept!

2. A friend introduced me to Moka Pots and real coffee, but I still drank instant as I was penniless...again a trait I have come to accept!

3. My first good coffee was in Isreal in the Arab Souk.

4. Spent many a day in Sainsburys before aforementioned friend introduced me to HB.

5. HB then introduced me to this plcae and the accidents continued

[Aadje]

1) I never liked any coffee until someone introduced me to espresso.

2) The guy who introduced me wasn't all that passionate, at a local shop, TMC member koffiekunsten pointed me to TMC

3) The first good stuff was at Joris' place. If only I was able to replicate . . . still trying.

4) First from special coffee stores in town (and even supermarktets), but their coffee wasn't all that great. Pretty soon I started to buy from ongebrand.nl

[CakeBoy]

Did you start with instant and progress and was this by accident?

Yes with instant and generally found 'real' (filter/French press) coffee to be "too strong", though of course now I realise it was the bitter/taint of bad brewing and over extraction that was unpleasant.

Did you have a passionate individual who introduced you to coffee?

No, beyond the very few baristi that made me realise there was something better, but it was clearly elusive (and I wondered at the time if it was also in some way random).

Did you find your first real good stuff at home or by accident in one of the few good places out and wanted to replicate it?

Having had a handful of superb coffees (all cappuccino style), usually abroad, I was under the misapprehension that there was one type/brand of coffee that I really liked and did not know the name of so could not actively seek out. It did not occur to me that it was the (relative) freshness of the beans, brewing style and importantly, the standard of the extraction that was the difference.

Did you buy beans from high street first or was it the internet immediately?

We got a DeLonghi BAR14 and some Tesco beans and the extractions were below the standard of those we were looking to replicate. So, I went online and found CG, then DannyMc's site. His site introduced me to really good coffee in a very virtual way and so he is probably as responsible as anyone for where I am today in terms of my coffee journey.

Randy Glass' site followed and although I aspired to a Silvia/Rocky combo, the Spidem Trevi arrived. Things improved and eventually Audrey arrived. Then Scott sorted out our grinder issues, and finally Anna arrived.

Meanwhile, we looked for online beans finding H&V, Red Monkey and a fairly early version of the HB site. We tried H&V then Red Monkey and then discouvered TMC late one night. We re-found HB and ordered ..... that was the epiphany and the rest is history

[Steve]

Did you start with instant and progress and was this by accident?

I cant remember the first coffee I had but it was at my nans house it wasn't instant but it had condensed milk in it, strange brew.

Did you have a passionate individual who introduced you to coffee?

I was the weirdest 11yr old in the world and for Christmas has a filter maker, it kind of went from there.

Did you find your first real good stuff at home or by accident in one of the few good places out and wanted to replicate it.


I Never found the good stuff really until the birth of the Internet. I guess I thought I had, maybe I haven't yet, but the journey never ends.


Did you buy beans from high street first or was it the internet immediately

I started with supermarket, then went to Whittards, then the net, then ended up well most of you know the rest of the story.

[chissit]

Baz,
Did you never see or try the Piaggio coffee cart which stood in the shopping area near Woolworths in Scarborough? He traded there for about a year before Costa opened and for about 2/3 months afterwards, he retired due to ill health... I bought his cart when one of mine was stolen. Surprised you never tried him as his shots were very good, although his coffee selection was quite limited

[lukas]

Hu? Chissit, if I'm not totally wrong, Barry once had a coffee van in Scarbourough before he opened Roaster's?

Anyway, I love this game:

Did you start with instant and progress and was this by accident?
Not instant coffee, but instant cappuccino. I was 14 and tried to do something for school when a friend introduced me to that strange but back then very tasty stuff. Then filter at school with as much milk as would go in and 2-3 spoons sugar

Did you have a passionate individual who introduced you to coffee?
Not one, but rather many. I did slowly climb the ladder of passion up - first, a coffeebar owner in Münster I knew talked me into his espresso (which I wouldn't consider up to standards from my point of view now, but still was a huge improvement over what I knew before), then another coffeebar owner talked me into his coffee (my infamous very first encounter with a Yirgacheffee that literally blew me away) which is still one of the best roasteries and coffeebars I know here. The rest is history and can be read in a few hundred posts on TMC

Did you find your first real good stuff at home or by accident in one of the few good places out and wanted to replicate it.
This is a difficult one, as the first really good Espresso I ever had was pulled by Stephen Hurst in Bern at Mercanta's stand, and it was IIRC Steve's Premium Espresso blend which I'm just drinking again. Before that I kindof knew what to look for in good espresso, but never experienced it myself!
Now when I think about it, most of the best Espressos I had were at different occasions in the last few years while meeting some of our very own members.


Did you buy beans from high street first or was it the internet immediately
Internet buying just came with TMC, before that it was supermarket stuff and than coffeebar stuff. Now it's a mix of homeroasted, internet and the occasional coffeebar stuff

[wvb]

interesting thread..

Did you start with instant and progress and was this by accident?
Did you have a passionate individual who introduced you to coffee?
Did you find your first real good stuff at home or by accident in one of the few good places out and wanted to replicate it.
Did you buy beans from high street first or was it the internet immediately

- I started somewhere at 15 with those cappucino instants, later switched to drip and sometimes filter
stayed with this until some 6 months ago

- looking after a bean to cup machine I got to borrow a Saeco Magic Combi, surfing the net for info I stumbled upon TMC
info here set me off bean to cup and into espresso

- my first real shot was one at the dutch meet & greet, a monsoon malabar (if I'm correct) provided by zapty (thanks for that )

- bought beans at some local roasters, when my Brewtus arrived I bought at brandmeesters
planning on ordering some at a well known place here when my RB arrives

[BazBean]

This all great stuff.

keep them coming this is excellent.
Off on Holiday tommorow ( very very last minute thing as in decided 9.30 this morning and booked by noon ..lol) so look forward to reading more when i get back..

Chizz....The guy with the paggio was called Martin and a nice guy to boot. I did have a few from him before he closed but with his health he was not guaranteed to be open? also around that time work took me away from Scarborough 5-6 days a week hence the life changeing direction into coffee.
much more content now !!

[chissit]

Looks to be going well too Baz, I'm chuffed to bits for you mate !!
I know Martin had not been trading for while when I bought his unit, he had a rough time of it I think and was feeling the pressure..(as we all do at times). Will have to have a trip to Scarborough and pay a visit, I haven't been for ages..

Anyway, on with the game:

Did you start with instant and progress and was this by accident?
I vividly remember drinking 'Camp' coffee at a very young age (3 or 4 yrs)whilst at my nan's house. She used to make it with hot milk, think that's why I'm partial to a latte now and then!!

Did you have a passionate individual who introduced you to coffee?
Not really, I've always liked good coffee. At a previous job, if I had to spend time in the office I'd take my french press so as not to suffer the lousy vending stuff.

Did you find your first real good stuff at home or by accident in one of the few good places out and wanted to replicate it.
An Italian friend of mine made me an espresso using some really fresh beans and a mocha pot, I couldn't get enough and that, I think was the start.

Did you buy beans from high street first or was it the internet immediately
I bought beans from my friend whenever he had returned from Rome, and having gotten hooked decided to leap off the merry go round and buy my first cart.. It's been a caffeine induced blur since then

[CakeBoy]

Have a lovely break Baz

[Aadje]

Happy hollidays

[technojock]

Did you start with instant and progress and was this by accident?
My parents bought a perculator and gave me a cuppa from it. I was about six, so I knew from an early age that brewed was better than instant. Despite this I lived with instant for many years.

Did you have a passionate individual who introduced you to coffee?
No, but I've become a passionate individual who introduces others to coffee.

Did you find your first real good stuff at home or by accident in one of the few good places out and wanted to replicate it.
At home, experimenting with home roasting & an FP. Some of my experiments were awful, a few were exquisite. I've almost never found anything good on the high street, with the exception of a place in Bracknell who had a barrista who really knew his stuff, his espresso was head and shoulders above anything else I've had.

Did you buy beans from high street first or was it the internet
From the high street first, but it was only when I ordered from the internet that I found the "good stuff". The internet also taught me the importance of grinding your own.

[grib]

Really interesting to see everyones stories. Here's mine:

Did you start with instant and progress and was this by accident?
I blame my parents, because we always had instant or ground illy for the cafetiere (which rarely got used) and until I reached about 18 figured it was all the same and couldn't stand any of it.

Did you have a passionate individual who introduced you to coffee?
Too my shame my real introduction to coffee was a Frappucinno from a drive through Starbucks in Maryland. I was working at a summer camp that year and the counsellor who collected me from the airport needed a hit and said he would get me something nice. I guess it was at that point I realised coffee could actually taste "nice"

Did you find your first real good stuff at home or by accident in one of the few good places out and wanted to replicate it.
Moved to Dublin for a year's uni placement and spent too much time hanging out at Gloria Jean's in Maynooth.

Did you buy beans from high street first or was it the internet immediately
I bought lots of beans, some from Gloria's or Illy from Tesco. When I opened my shop we tried about a dozen suppliers and really weren't happy with any of them so we went green and after a few different purchases came across HB and TMC

Andrew

[MKSwing]

Did you start with instant and progress and was this by accident?

If I drank more than 10 cups in my life (and I'm 33), it's a lot. There are some efforts, I am not able to make

Did you have a passionate individual who introduced you to coffee?

Not a passionate but someone, my brother to be precise, who cares a lot about the whole eat/drink experience.

Did you find your first real good stuff at home or by accident in one of the few good places out and wanted to replicate it.

Discovered real espresso in Italy and fought for years until I found all I needed on the internet.

Did you buy beans from high street first or was it the internet immediately

I first tried good roasteries but soon switched to green and own roasting, the only way to fly