Chatting with our illustrious host this morning, and the topic of the price of beans in the future popped up. It may well be that some roasters are going to have to start selling more blends as the costs associated with single origins beans (profit margins for all those concerned in the process from the farmer to the wholesalers, transport, cost of roasting). Selling blends if done skilfully, may mean roasters can stabilise on price more than on SO beans. This maybe wide of the mark. What do you think? I was about to buy 2 kg of my favourite bean from a roaster i have always considered to be good value, but with postage it was north of £60.....too much for me! I am going to go back to a local roaster who charge around the £20 per kilo mark. They only sell blends but.........

@"dfk41"#p27897 I have been thinking in recent weeks if it is worth paying £40 - £50 for a KG when 2 can be had for the same amount or a little more than that for good coffee bags from a good roaster. When we add a standing discount for our forum members, the case is pretty compelling, is it not?

you ma see discounts go? luckily for now atleast, commercial energy being capped has helped, well it will when they decide what rates to charge, the pound turning to stone wont help

The way I see it… Everything is going up in price. Energy is at the base of the matrix. The Pound Sterling has just… errr…. plunged, so that's not going to make any imports cheaper, as most likely coffee is traded in USD. If roaster don't put their price up, they risk their business and the livelihood of everyone who depends on it. For me, it's more about drinking coffee for the taste of what I like than for the sake of drinking coffee (same goes for wine, beer, etc, etc). If the coffee I like gets prohibitively expensive, then I would simply not drink coffee, or at least try to find something I like and it's not so expensive. @"dfk41"#p27897 - Question: Do you enjoy the coffee from your local roaster?

@"MediumRoastSteam"#p27907 Yes, it is fine for my needs except knowing how it works, if they are selling for £20 per kg it is costing them £3 to £4. You know for that the beans are commodity level at best, but......blended in the hands of someone who knows his art, they can still be quite acceptable.......personally, I am finding it harder to justify spending £60 a pop on these beans. I will do it from time to time

@"dfk41"#p27910 Great post, btw. The devil mind will ask how many of us can tell a difference in blind tasting. We all understand why the prices of have gone up in recent times, perhaps not every where. But, some roasters’ are always priced at a high premium. There are a variety of reasons, which we all know of. Are they really worth the premium, except that we know they are good roasters selling some very good coffee. It doesn’t mean those roasters’ selling competitively priced coffee with a high cup score aren’t good. We have experiences of premium SO bags giving us meh cups and cheaper SO bags giving us a very nice coffee. I can understand @"MediumRoastSteam"#p27907’s logic. I can liken it to we skipping the high street coffee shops. In summary, the affordability, preference and taste are relative.

The point I'm trying to debate over is this: Would you keep drinking coffee using your expensive espresso coffee machine gear if what you normally like becomes too expensive? In other words, would you accept lowering your standards and accept that what you would drink is not really to your taste? I'll put it simply: I usually enjoy a well roasted light roast. I often buy from Foundry or Dark Arts, and they are not the cheapest. 1kg of the stuff I usually drink sets me back approx. £36-£40. Say inflation hit and that now cost £45-£60. Would I carry on drinking if I could afford it? Yes. Would I look elsewhere to see if I can source something that I like cheaper? Yes. Would I drink something that I don't really enjoy because it's cheaper, for the sake of drinking coffee? Probably not. If you like drinking something that is a lot cheaper and enjoy the taste of it, then all is good.

@"MediumRoastSteam"#p27929 I think your second paragraph answers the questions from first paragraph. Affordability, taste and compromise for a lot of folks are what would dictate our choices. I also liked the most of coffee beans from Foundry and North Star. The Dark Arts is a recent addition. All are expensive. * Having paid £40 for a KG for some, it was a mixed bag - very good and average. * Certain competitively priced coffee beans at £22-24 from one roaster was as excellent as £40+ a KG bag. Cheaper doesn’t mean it is not good. Edit : Some of us can stay away from coffee for reasons you mentioned; others may not.

@"MediumRoastSteam"#p27929 You sum me up nicely! Whilst I can enjoy the odd SO bean, I can equally as much enjoy a decent blended combo. It is not about lowering standards for me, but justifying the additional expense over drinking beans of lesser value, when I know my taste buds are not that discerning! If things were not as they currently are, with every item you look at rising in price on a weekly/monthly basis then I might not feel so bad. The problem with money, is that you can only spend it once! Now, what would be worrying is if the very cheap beans I bought this afternoon from a firm i have never heard of, prove to be acceptable!

> @"LMSC"#p27932 Certain competitively prices coffee beans at £22-24 from one roaster was as excellent as £40+ a KG bag. Cheaper doesn’t mean it is not good. > @"dfk41"#p27933 Now, what would be worrying is if the very cheap beans I bought this afternoon from a firm i have never heard of, prove to be acceptable! Thanks both. This is exactly where I'm heading. I think we all agree that cheap doesn't mean it's not good. But… Imagine the beans that are currently "cheap" and you enjoy become expensive and it's hard to justify. Would you then buy something that it is now within your price range, but you actually don't enjoy? Would you then keep trying new roasters and presumably drinking the coffee even if you don't like it? Or… Would you throw it away? Which then you might as well have bought the more expensive coffee in the first place?

Thanks MRS @"MediumRoastSteam"#p27936 Would you then buy something that it is now within your price range, but you actually don’t enjoy? I know where you are going with this! 😃 No, we wouldn’t! > @"MediumRoastSteam"#p27936 Would you then keep trying new roasters and presumably drinking the coffee even if you don’t like it? Or… Would you throw it away? We have a lot of choices with the roasters in the country. So, I like experimenting new roasters. It is risky as it can be a hit and miss, like Horsham (sounds familiar, is it not)? or some casuals 🤣 I used to buy a KG before. Having learnt the hard way, I prefer buying a small bag rather than getting stuck with a KG! 🤦♂️ No throwing away, under any circumstances! However, I know there are some roasters I keep going back! Examples - Blackcat, Foundry, Django (they are ok but am choosy). :-)

Price of beans

MWJB

dfk41 If an “expert” is somebody who needs a hundred attempts at the same thing before they get it right, you could well be correct! :-)

dfk41

MWJB Yep, when I need two hundred and still get no where!

CoyoteOldMan

MWJB That’s what expertise is, surely?

[Meant as a totally respectful and serious comment - I don’t think you take a hundred attempts at finding the right recipe for a new brew now, because you made the hundred (and hundreds) of attempts before. That’s why you are an expert.]

DavecUK

MWJB " As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb.

Inventions: Incandescent light bulb

P.S. I know about Joseph Swan, but I want to keep the Americans happy. Just like it was us who invented the electronic programmable computer and the Miles M.52, which was copied and became the Bell X1.

MediumRoastSteam

dfk41 To celebrate the UK leaving the EU I invited a forum member over for the night. To celebrate I bought a 250 gm packet of a bean called Wush Wush roasted by Rave. It was something like £25 per 250 gm

I locked myself into a room and cried to bits. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣👍👍👍👍

On a serious note, I remember that coffee. I remember seeing the price. Insane. I think Salt Marsh from BB is also really expensive. I never tried though, because it’s too expensive, and there are cheaper coffee (around the £35 mark, roasted) which I really enjoy.

But to your point, you obviously tried the coffee, and didn’t like it. Which is fine and helpful, because if more “standard” coffee is what you enjoy, and that’s cheaper, then that works.

PortafilterProcrastinator

Rob666 Are these SO or blends? Would you mind sharing?

I’ve bought exclusively from Django for about 6 months now due to quality vs price. Given all the other rising costs elsewhere I can’t justify spending more on coffee. If I focus on regions and notes (and altitude to an extent) I know I like I’m generally not disappointed.

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