Too Much Coffee

Hi all,

A quick question here - I'm looking to send my brother (in the USA) some coffee. He doesn't have a roaster of his own so it needs to be pre-roasted beans. I took a look at SM and found they do a very limited selection of pre-roasted. A google search turned out dozens of possibilities.

I know this is a European site, but can anyone recommend a good US-based coffee supplier that sells a wide range of freshly roasted coffees?

Cheers
John

It might not pay off... but you could try an email to Steve Ackman at http://www.twoloonscoffee.com/. I was very happy with a 17 x 1lb "Mega-Sampler" of green from him last year and roasted beans are a larger part of his business than Sweet Marias'. He may be doing retail roasted beans by now, it's trailed on his site. (He posts on alt.coffee occasionally.) The main reason I tend to buy US beans from SM rather than Two Loons is the much fuller descriptions on the SM site but both sets of people are extremely helpful. If anything I was happier with similar Two Loons green beans than SM green bought later, probably because I roasted the TL beans lighter; by the time I did the SM beans I was roasting everything to second crack, not just beans for espresso. (I'm really enjoying getting back to lighter roasts for cafetiere/vac pot these days - sorry tisri!)

Cheers,

Hugh

John, wrong site Which region is your brother in?

I think I'd be tempted to order something from intelligentsia, but, as you say, there are dozens of possibilities.

He's in Connecticut - if I can get a specific recommendation that's always worth a lot more than dredging the hundreds of entries Google invariably throws up. Still, at least it didn't throw up any porn sites this time

Barry Jarret at Rileys is a an a.c stalwart and a nice man, worth an e-mail anyway?
www.rileys-coffee.com

Matt

Thanks Matt - I'll take a look. I also checked out twoloons and they seem pretty good. I called them up and they do roasted beans as well as greens now. I'll give your man a look and see which is best - twoloons is based in Arizona so it's about as far away from Connecticut as you can get without falling in the Pacific.

tisri wrote:Thanks Matt - I'll take a look. I also checked out twoloons and they seem pretty good. I called them up and they do roasted beans as well as greens now. I'll give your man a look and see which is best - twoloons is based in Arizona so it's about as far away from Connecticut as you can get without falling in the Pacific.

'Merica a biiig place... I think Barry is Illinois which is at least the right side of the continent. Let us know what you decide and how it works out.

Matt

I could consult a CT geek if you like?

If you know someone in CT who can recommend a good supplier that would be a start. If nothing else it means it's not being shipped diagonally across the continent.

It turns out the answer is:

The New CT Espresso LLC div. of
The Omar Coffee Company
41 Commerce Court
Newington, Connecticut 06111
860-667-8889

The company is in the Hartford area of the state but Connecticut is quite small anyway so pick up or delivery is easy. They are a commercial roaster doing about 3.5 million pounds a year but have a micro roast division handling single origin coffees.

Thanks Kevin!

Ian