ST30B Yeah. Making/taking recommendations is always a risk… As this thread was more about bean’s being interesting/impressive, all I can say is that that was one of the few that I felt was undoubtedly interesting. Did your batch meet that criteria (regardless of whether it was your taste profile)?

MediumRoastSteam and I will both be getting the same batch of beans given the proximity in order date. I’ll report back if the beans are no longer as interesting/impressive. But the batch that I got back on 09-Nov was a fun weird impressive taste.

The beans also had the interesting property of having an unusual grind feel by hand. I could feel that some grind rotations were relatively easy (like a medium roast) and others were very difficult (like a light roast). Officially they describe Extrawelt as “omniroast”, and I wondered if their use of omniroast meant that they were blending roast profiles (probably not…).

      Jcheney - thanks. In all honesty I never really something I disliked from Django - so they are a safe roaster, for me at least. But I equally never really anything that impressed me that much. Worse case scenario I’ll happily drink the coffee. Best case I’ll enjoy so much that I’ll order more! 👍

        I picked up most of the available offerings in the new drop from The Picky Chemist. Needless to say, I’ll be pausing my Tim Wendleboe sub when these arrive, heh.

        These are an indulgence, so probably not what most would want to resort to.

        From this side of the pond, I’m enjoying small 36g batches from Taith, and some of the coffees from Sweven (have Cata project, El Divisio, and Los Rodriguez).

          6 days later

          Reviving this thread as I’ve been experiencing the enormous disparity of quality from UK roasters.

          I’ve been traveling a bit recently and didn’t have the chance to roast/rest coffee in time so bought a few bags of single origin.

          Two of them, one Welsh roaster and one Birmingham based one, were incredibly disappointing. Zero of the documented tasting notes present and overall just a mediocre taste vaguely resembling supermarket coffee. If someone had told me it was actually relabelled supermarket beans I’d not have been surprised. One of them I also tasted from about a week off-roast through to about 2 weeks and it didn’t improve.

          Then I picked up a bag while away from Origin, an El Salvador called Santa Elena. Using the exact same brewing parameters (Kalita Wave and Aergrind) it was absolutely night and day. Full of flavour and bang on the tasting notes of strawberry/apricot.

          I honestly think some roasters just don’t really know what they’re doing.

          La Marzocco Linea Mini - Mazzer Philos

          Ikawa Roaster

            HarveyMushman I honestly think some roasters just don’t really know what they’re doing.

            I wonder how many roasters have been “fast tracked” instead of good old fashioned time spent learning from the ground up and honing roasting skills from hard earned experience. I would be interested to know if all of the tech and programming of roasters is contributing to this and making roasters more complacent, after all if the graphs and numbers look good! Controversial I know!

                It’s interesting because I’d guess (and this is a total guess) that the bigger money for small-medium sized roasters is in stocking local or nationwide cafes with a regular wholesale deal. I know one roaster that started this way. Through friends and connections they agreed to stock a handful of shops exclusively which allowed a level of security in starting the business.

                However, as we’ve discussed at length, 99% of consumers probably don’t even know the coffee is good or bad, and likely to be an enormous improvement on the instant granules they drink at home.

                Retail customers pay a higher price, but I’d still estimate that it makes up quite a small percentage of profits compared to wholesale which means the demand is actually coming from people who probably don’t know what good coffee is, rather than the other way round. Hence the perpetuality of mediocre coffee.

                I guess what I’m saying is that in some ways, it’s more commercially viable to be mediocre than it is to be good.

                Obviously there are roasters that are good either way, but I think the above might partly explain why there are so many that aren’t.

                La Marzocco Linea Mini - Mazzer Philos

                Ikawa Roaster

                Tasting notes are a product of cupping. That said, roasters may tweak the roast specifically for cupping and this may not necessarily transfer to the bulk roasts. I always take the cupping notes with a pinch of salt and focus mainly on the processing method and roast level. Then we come on to price and the old saying, ‘you get what you pay for’ which while not always the case when it comes to coffee purchases, I have found myself increasingly disappointed with coffee sold with hypse which doesn’t transfer to the cup. That said, I’ve paid a lot for some coffees that have also not hot the mark either. Few beans I’ve bought over the last twelve months have been stellar. However, two offerings from Darkwoods - El Placer Yellow and El Placer Purple have been exceptional.

                Platypus I would be interested to know if all of the tech and programming of roasters is contributing to this and making roasters more complacent, after all if the graphs and numbers look good! Controversial I know!

                I am sure it hasn’t helped…as once the process is computerised, the skill of watching and modifying is left to the person pressing the button, who may not be an experienced roaster. This exact thing happened with Hasbean back in the day.

                Contact me

                  Raja123 I recently had some of the Colombia - Jairo López from The Picky Chemist. Although it’s labelled “Roast degree: Espresso”, it measured at the top of the Agtron Specialty Scale on my refractometer (i.e. as light as it gets). Nonetheless, it easily yielded very high extraction yields (>25%) and matched the elaborate taste notes.

                      dfk41 Taste will always be subjective and I personally don’t care what the self-entitled super tasters claim to taste, smell, etc. Not being satisfied with commercial roasted coffee is all the more reason to roast it yourself. Been at it 8 yrs now and never plan to buy roasted coffee again, especially for the garbage that is more about packaging, monthly subscription commitment, etc. Actually glad to see more coffee related businesses close shop as that gives more green to the rest of us that can really make it shine.

                          mathof2 yes, it’s usually very light but extracts well in a variety of ways. I’ve been ordering from TPC for some time now. Never lets me down.

                            HarveyMushman I honestly think some roasters just don’t really know what they’re doing.

                            I wouldn’t be surprised if roasters don’t cup after they roast. Maybe a sample roast tasted one way but six months later when the full shipment of greens have arrived, they just roast and bag them up for retail.

                            I read on HB someone saw roasters publishing tasting notes that were exactly the same as what the green importer provided for the same coffee.

                                Beware the elephant in the corner, i.e. hype.