Where to get beans in Europe? Alternatives to Has Bean?

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Where to get beans in Europe? Alternatives to Has Bean?

Postby olavni » Mon Sep 14, 2009 12:18 pm

Hi

I wonder wether there are som other serious suppliers of green beans for the home market other than Has Bean in Europe?

I have found a lot of suppliers of green beans (bellabarista.co.uk, ongebrand.nl etc), but no one with such a combination of knowledge (wich is shared on the web site), good customer service and lots of different coffees to choose from.

The reason for asking is that all though I still possibly will do a lot of my purchases from Has Bean, the shipping prices for smaller packages (and 18Kg+) are just outrageous - at least to Norway. So I'm looking for alternatives.

Kind regards
Olav
Last edited by olavni on Fri Sep 18, 2009 3:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby daveyb » Mon Sep 14, 2009 2:39 pm

Hi Olav,

Postage costs can be annoyng, especially overseas. Bellabarista often have bulk specials available. Currently this is just 9 kilos for less than £50, but you would need to email Clausette and ask about shipping. They often have an 18 kilo deal as well but not right now I think.
http://www.bellabarista.co.uk/coffeebea ... 009_BULK10
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Postby olavni » Mon Sep 14, 2009 3:05 pm

daveyb wrote:Hi Olav,

Postage costs can be annoyng, especially overseas. Bellabarista often have bulk specials available. Currently this is just 9 kilos for less than £50, but you would need to email Clausette and ask about shipping. They often have an 18 kilo deal as well but not right now I think.
http://www.bellabarista.co.uk/coffeebea ... 009_BULK10


Hi!

Yes I have seen the bellabarista bulk buys, and the shipping is also very reasonable compared to Has Bean. However there is virtually no information on the different coffees and I wonder if they have even tasted the coffees they are selling. Not to mention roasted them at different levels and cupped them. What I really like about Has Bean is that Steve truly LIVES coffee and chooses every single coffee that goes into his Inventory based on extensive cupping. And when he on top of that even shares his experiences both on video and text it just makes the whole package very good. However, sometimes i feel very limited in my purchases due to the shipping rates. They are fine up to 2Kg though.

Best wishes
Olav
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Postby daveyb » Mon Sep 14, 2009 5:29 pm

All the points you make are accurate and I am not here to support any one particular vendor. I buy beans from Steve and also the bulk buys from BB.
I personally know how BB source their stuff and lets say I am quite happy to buy 9 x 2 kilos of beans from all over the world at the price they charge. But, if I want something in particular, then I also know which vendor is most likely to have a decent choice!
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Postby eivindt » Tue Sep 15, 2009 9:14 pm

Hei Olav!

I too have had issues with expensive shipping from UK to Norway. As you say, everything over 2kg means UPS, which is insanely expensive from UK to Norway. The problem with this is that the normal 2kg bags of green coffee you tend to buy from HasBean weighs _over_ 2kg including packaging. Fortunately Steve is very service-minded and has previously allowed me to order slightly less than 2kg, so I can still use Royal Mail as shipping agent. I don't think the costs are too bad then.

Another option that I can recommend is to buy a Behmor from Steve, and then add as much green coffee as you can until the shipping rate goes up! This means quite low shipping costs for your beans, but still quite an expensive package!

I haven't seen anyone else offer as much information about their coffees as Steve, but I have used both http://www.ongebrand.nl and http://www.kaffeagenterne.dk when ordering from Norway, and have found both shipping costs and shipping times very acceptable.


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Postby daveyb » Tue Sep 15, 2009 9:50 pm

If you Norweigan guys come over on a booze cruise to North Shields (Newcastle), you can have your bulk coffee orders sent from Steve to me as I live 3 km from the docks.
Have a good night out, and get soem beans to take home at the same time!
I would be only too happy to help you.
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Postby bruceb » Tue Sep 15, 2009 10:07 pm

daveyb wrote:If you Norweigan guys come over on a booze cruise to North Shields (Newcastle), you can have your bulk coffee orders sent from Steve to me as I live 3 km from the docks.
Have a good night out, and get soem beans to take home at the same time!
I would be only too happy to help you.


Did I hear "PARTY?" :P
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I decided I needed a bit of a change so I roasted some Monsooned Malabar. That was a change!
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Postby Jaanus » Wed Sep 16, 2009 8:01 am

im surprised anyone is yet to mention Solberg & Hansen and Tim W`s
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Postby olavni » Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:49 pm

Thanks for all the replies!

Eivind: Nice to see a fellow Norwegian here! Yes Steve is very service minded so I will drop him a line next time around (a little bird PM'ed me and told me to) - and we'll see how it goes. But I'm sure that there has to be cheaper options than FedEx around.

I have actually already ordered a Behmor form HasBean and added 10kg of beans, which was kind of a sweet spot with regards to the shipping rates. After that I ordered an additional 16kg - a lot of beans here now!! :D Too bad that I in the process discovered that i really enjoy Kenyan and Ethiopian more than any other type of coffee and most of my beans are South American. Still very good though.

I think kaffeagenterne.dk looks promising and I will consider them in the future. I don't quite know about ongebrand.nl ... we'll see...

daveyb: I'll make sure to PM you if I happen to "accidently" fall into a booze cruise :)

Jaanus: I don't think that either S&B or Tim Wendelboe sells green beans but it could be worth investigating. Thanks for the tip.

Olav
Last edited by olavni on Fri Sep 18, 2009 3:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Jaanus » Fri Sep 18, 2009 6:38 am

I have to apologize for not reading the opening post as attentively as i should have.

I will now go and feel the shame.
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Postby bruceb » Fri Sep 18, 2009 8:43 am

Jaanus wrote:I will now go and feel the shame.


Congratulations! You are now a full-fledged advanced member of TMC. :twisted:
Three Francesconi (CMA) espresso machines - Rossi, San Marco, LaCimbali, Faema and 2 Mazzer Major grinders- CoffeeTech Maggionlino, Hottop, Alpenröst and HW Precision roasters.
I decided I needed a bit of a change so I roasted some Monsooned Malabar. That was a change!
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Postby darrensandford » Fri Sep 18, 2009 9:30 am

TMC: full of fail for all the family! :D
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Postby DrTom » Fri Sep 18, 2009 11:56 am

yyyyaaaaayyyy!!
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Postby CakeBoy » Fri Sep 18, 2009 9:15 pm

Welcome to the bemused club Jaanus :P. I stopped reading threads properly ages ago as doing so was seriously hampering my confusion at the risk of ruining my hard earned reputation! Dom on the other hand is just confusing ;) :D
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Postby Gouezeri » Sat Sep 19, 2009 8:48 am

Eh?
I'm confused.

Back on topic, must give my new neighbour a shout to see when he'll be open for business and if he'll be doing greens... Hein?
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