How much would/should you pay for good coffee?

[Gouezeri]

TMC... too much commercialism?
I know from producers who have had first hand experience of selling to supermarkets and their bully boy techniques... you rarely see the same products from year to year (from small producers) as essentially the supermarkets continually change suppliers as a means of driving down prices... all that matters is the bottom line. These may be standard business practices, but they rarely result in quality. The only way small producers can compete is to form cooperatives, but this introduces a whole range of other problems, and again quality and choice suffer.
The sad thing is lots of people are forgetting what real fresh produce actually tastes like. The difference we experience in buying our beans from someone like Steve can be translated accross the board into other produce. I know this probably sounds somewhat evangelical, but even if you don't care about the ethics, go buy a bag of supermarket coffee for a couple of quid and then go and buy the house blend of your local micro-roaster. The difference in cost is minimal, but the difference in the cup as we all know is enormous...
(I could go on about how much steve pays his share holders, his annual bonus and company cars, but I might be needing some yirg sometime soon! )
D

[Steve]

Dom Said

go buy a bag of supermarket coffee for a couple of quid and then go and buy the house blend of your local micro-roaster.

I did this yesterday with some cuppers (you know who you are) and its was really scary the bag said coffee, but it didn’t taste like it at all. But that’s the perception of the public of what it does taste like because of the supermarkets. It amazes me how many people say to me they don’t like coffee, but they try something fresh that’s been chosen on quality and all of a sudden they do. I have family members who I've converted from being haters of coffee to not able to do without. Its great being a dealer

Steve

[Gouezeri]

Steve,
Know just what you mean. I've seen my dad do the same after overhearing somebody in a restaurant (that was a client) saying they couldn't drink a particular type of wine, having a decent bottle sent over to them of whatever they supposedly didn't like, just to prove a point (what's even worse is that he was right most of the time ). Dealers eh!

[CakeBoy]

Yesterday, during the wasting of many beans messing about with this blasted Tranquilo, a shot was pulled through Audrey using Steve's Premium Espresso Blend, and having no more left we were then forced to grind some Tesco's Colombian beans (same grind settings) for the next shot. Now this was at a time when the grinder was dialled in (lasting a few minutes before it went wrong again) so the difference in the coffee was apparent.

Steve's was rich and textured with a lovely deep golden crema at least centimetre thick (after settling through the Guiness effect stage). The Tesco shot was slightly thinner in body, with a blonder crema about half the thickness with less "Guinnessing". Now don't get me wrong, the Tesco beans are the best supermarket ones I have found and we always have some in for emergencies (we don't roast) and for the Spidem (milk drinks) where the difference is less personified because of the equipment limitations. Both cups were nice, neither had nasty overtones, but there was so much more in the cup with Steve's roast. The Tesco coffee, though miles better than any local cafe around here, just did not have the range of flavours in its profile.

It is a shame that many people who like coffee very much have no idea of the difference between micro-roasters' efforts and what they perceive to be the best available beans because all they know is what is on offer at the local supermarket. It's a huge market with little or no educating going on in the general populus.

[KateM]

Anything labelled coffee from a supermarket is a matter for trading standards.

[simonp]

Anything labelled coffee from a supermarket is a matter for trading standards.

Especially after that truly revolting Sainsburys blend yesterday

[Gouezeri]

wot no red label?
Thing is with Sainsburys... that's not actually "their" blend... they've presumably gone to a "professional" set up who have produced this for them.... dread to think how that conversation went!

[Paul L]

Hard to disagree with anything said here. On topic but off at a slight tangent, if we could persuade a supermarket to stock what we wanted to see what would it be (in other words what would be the buying guide to follow which addresses the points raised by BAB)?

(... bearing in mind of course folk like Steve will then suffer so we don't actually want the supermarkets to address anything do we?)

[phil]

Not unless we can get Sainsburys, Tescos and the like to buy from Steve!

[KateM]

If it ain't Steve's it ain't coffee.

[simonp]

If it ain't Steve's it ain't coffee.

Apart from (trying to keep things impartial) any of the other reputable quality roasters around.

[Steve]

Agred I'm blushing here , there are lots of good roasters out there (I'm just not going to tell you who they are ) .

steve

[simonp]

there are lots of good roasters out there.steve

Not so sure about lots, there are only 3 or 4 that I know about.

[Gouezeri]

I wonder what the practical implications are... whether beans could be roasted on site? If it's not done on site, then we're down to distribution again, these are supermarkets after all... so, after a few months roasting in stafford and the costs that involves (think profits, christmas bonus, investors, again), the whole shebang would be shipped off to India or somewhere else where costs are cheap (little point sticking to country of origin, as this would be limiting our choice of origin again)... and by the time the beans arrive, they'll probably already be a good 3-4 days old at least.
So, a roastery in every supermarket then...? Press a button and the beans are roasted automatically to profile... irrelevant of crop variation? Regular chaff fires, dodgy profiles and kids on work experience...
Hmm, maybe not. Personally, I like to know where my beans come from (beyond stafford that is )

Everybody rages about how supermarkets in the UK now "bake" (though they don't prepare) their own bread... However, they've been doing this in France (supermarkets) for years and the argument has always been (Raffarin made it law) unless the bread is actually prepared and baked on site, then it's not a "boulangerie" but a "point chaud" and I'd agree (I'd still never buy a doughnut in France though! )

Now if steve could just do points that I could use for me petrol
D

[Gouezeri]

there are lots of good roasters out there.steve

Not so sure about lots, there are only 3 or 4 that I know about.

I only know a couple, other than our own man in the football shirts. And you'd kinda think they would at least pass by here (or via A.C) and share their enthusiasm. And if they aren't enthusiastic, then I doubt I will be about their beans!