B
BlackCatCoffee

  •  
  • 15 days ago
  • Joined Dec 8, 2021
  • Hi all,

    I wanted to ask to try and get a bit of an insight in to your coffee buying for the next year ahead. As you have probably seen as it is not just being reported in industry press but the wider press, coffee prices are at historic highs at the moment. They are up 86% year on year and have gone particularly crazy in the last few days thought mostly to be down to the threat of tariffs.

    Since we started, green coffee has gone up just shy of 300%. For some context, commodity grade Robusta that is used for instant and those ‘worlds strongest coffee’ type blends is now about the same price as we were paying for a good quality Brazil that would be the base of an espresso blend.

    During the time we have been roasting we have managed to suck most of that added cost up. Our Signature Bend for example has gone from £20 a kg to £24 a kg. We had a price rise at the start of the year of under 10% but I do not anticipate this being the only one this year if trends continue.

    We have zero intention of switching coffee to lower grade beans although from discussing the rises with a trader yesterday he said he is seeing this some very large roasters doing this to stay competitive but in his words ’there isn’t going to be enough crap to go around’.

    How do you think the price rises will affect your buying habits? Do you think you will switch your single origin purchases to historically cheaper origins? Will you switch from single origins to cheaper blended coffee? Will you just stick with it regardless? Will you (gasp) cut down your consumption?

    Cheers, David

    • Hi folks.

      We have closed for Christmas (boy do we need a break!…..)

      But we still have a small amount of coffee left as I like to roast in consistent batch size. I have opened the site today with what we have left at 50% off. Usually I do an email but I do not have a great deal left this year and people on here been very kind in their support for what is a small family business so I just thought I would do this post.

      It will be live until tomorrow at 9ish or when it has gone. It is 250g bags only and was roasted on the 16th so will have a few extra days age on it.

      IT WILL NOT ARRIVE BEFORE CHRISTMAS SO PLEASE FACTOR THAT INTO YOUR COFFEE STOCKS FOR THE BIG DAY

      Many thanks

      hope this is not breaking any rules @DavecUK

      • Hi folks, haven’t visited for a while (3 kids in tow now so coffee chit chat took a bit of a back seat) nice to see people have enjoyed this one. I always look forward to it. Roasted the last today as it happens.

        As others have pointed out I would concur it does taste different to when we first had it but for me this is part of the joy and excitement of drinking single origin coffee. It is awesome to see how crops change year on year. This is particularly the case when it is literally a single farm. The likes of Datterra et al produce pretty consistent coffee year in year out, that is great too but for me there is always some magic when samples come in from place like Las Palomas.

        Anyway, so glad to see this forum thriving and some familiar faces enjoying their coffee still.

        Every time I pack coffee I wonder if people find (and enjoy) the little treat we pop in the packaging or if we are throwing a few pence away on each order- if anyone wants to let me know I would be curious??

        Oh and we today profiled another regular, popular coffee for release in the next week or two - Nicaragua Pineapple Candy.

        Cheers all!

        • Very pleased to see this thread. I have always enjoyed a beer but mostly stuck to the basics and my old local favourite brewery (Batemans).

          I am just starting to work my way through some of the ‘craft’ type beers in my local supermarkets. So far I have enjoyed Brewdog Jack Hammer, Thornbridge Jaipur and Siren Broken Dream.

          I appreciate that the supermarket is by no means the best place to buy beer and it is unlikely to have been stored in ideal conditions but nevertheless it is a place to start. I don’t have a good independent bottle shop near by.

          We do however have a local brewer called Duration that I am going to pop over to shortly and I am very keen on trying Verdant. I hear Beak are rather good too. Hopefully others can make some suggestions, much like coffee, I feel I have a whole world of beer to explore now!

        • Nice write up. I have to say it looks very nice indeed in black.

        • LMSC

          I am not sure it is that simple. I do not think it is just a case of other manufacturers recycling designs out of laziness and Niche nailing it off the bat.

          I am no engineer but I suspect that making a good zero retention conical burr grinder at a competitive price point is inherently easier than building a flat burr grinder with the same characteristics. Due to the way that coffee channels through conical burrs you have gravity on your side and I suspect less surface area for coffee to hide in the grind chamber, not to mention you can use a significantly lower wattage (and cheaper) motor that also means (all things being equal) less noise and less vibrations to control.

          I would be very surprised if Niche is not working on something exciting but are they going to solve all the difficulties that come with a flat burrs set when the might of companies like Eureka and Ceado are yet to totally nail it? Tough to say.

          • I have used the Ceado grinders extensively at large coffee shops and echo what Dave says, superb for their original intended use with a hopper. As hopper fed on demand grinders go they are up there with the best. As a single dose it has been adapted and was clearly not originally designed with very low retention in mind let alone being zero from the ground up like the Niche.

            If you are content to use the bellows and it does actually dislodge the coffee then no problem. The quality of the grind is hard to beat.

          • I believe WLL and Quickmill worked together on the Arnos and it is not available outside the US market so if you are in the UK then I don’t think you’ll be able to get hold of one. I believe the most similar machine would be the Andreja PID.

            I think Quickmill has some sort of relation ship with Ferrari although I don’t think they hold a lot of physical stocks.

            All Quickmill’s machines are traditional HX implementations.

          • Hi all,

            I had a client message me not long ago asking about our best before date. We give a roast date on the bag and say ‘best within 3 months’. They asked why we say 3 months as it is significantly longer than other roasters say. Some being 4 weeks. A fair question to ask but -

            Whilst at 3 months coffee will not be at its absolute peak it will still be more than enjoyable if it has been stored correctly in my experience. I frequently drink coffee a couple of months post roast.

            I often have lots of other roasters coffee about the place so took a look at some bags and whilst some had the same best before as us, one of them did say 4 weeks. To me this seems bordering on profligate.

            Do people really ditch coffee sealed in a bag at 4 weeks post roast?

            • MediumRoastSteam

              I will see if I can get a change log and serial numbers from the distributor so we can tell but had a check on some email updates I got on the production delays and they stated the second run was delayed to mid to end Jan. We literally got stock from that run on Tuesday so he is almost certainly on a first run machine. I think he says in the video something about a first model although he could be referring to it being a Mk1 as opposed to a launch model as such.

            • HVL87

              Niche will obviously be aware of what is going on in the market and what people think (rightly or wrongly) about conical vs flat burrs. I would be very surprised indeed if we do not see a flat burr Niche in the not too distant.

              David

              • LMSC replied to this.
              • Ahh I am forgetting it has a different name in different markets.

                I would point out a couple of things though, given when the video was made he has one of the first run and things have been tweaked a touch since then and secondly the poor folks in the US seem to get diddled a bit when it comes to price of Eureka grinders. The Mignon SD retails at pretty much double the price of the Solo and as such I think it is a very different proposition indeed.

                • I’ve only used a Solo for a few shots and I suspect there would be relatively little to choose between the SD and Solo in terms of in cup performance. That said, although the design of SD is not perfect, some of the decisions the manufacturer has made with the Solo would make it a total non starter for me. Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder though.

                  I haven’t seen an actual hands on for the Solo vs SD yet, do you have any links?

                  David

                  • Just some quick thoughts on the Mignon SD now we have production models in stock.

                    If you are deciding between the Niche and the SD the answer could well be a very simple one - if you want one grinder to do it all then you should still buy the Niche.

                    If on the other hand you are happy with a multi grinder set up or you only ever drink espresso then the choice is probably a little more tricky. My experience with Niche is not extensive and there is already so much info out there I do not think I can add anything useful to it so I am just going to give you some pro and cons of the SD.

                    Pros

                    • Excellent clarity in cup
                    • Large flat burrs
                    • Speedy grinding
                    • Very robust
                    • Italian made
                    • Opportunity to use third party burrs
                    • Widely available

                    Cons

                    • Ease of changing between brew methods
                    • Slightly louder than other grinders in Mignon range
                    • Portafilter holder and button holes left over from other Mignon grinders
                    • Bellows design less than ideal

                    All in all if you can live with its little quirks and you want the best possible in cup for espresso at this price point I would say that the Mignon SD is worthy of very serious consideration. For me the quality of shots produced is on par with the likes of the Mythos and Helios grinders I had on the bench at the time of testing.

                    I have read some reports of motor vibration and slightly shonky finish on some parts from people that had the very first production run (these have all been sold through now I believe and we have the ‘tweaked’ models in stock) but personally the only gripe I have found on models I unboxed have been feet stuck on wonky. Annoying but not the end of the world.

                    I am very happy to have these in stock and I am sure they will become very popular indeed.

                    It has displaced the grinder in my kitchen and at the end of the day that is the best recommendation I can give.

                    Any questions please fire away.

                    David

                  • What is going on is madness. And as others have pointed out it is crazy given we have relatively large reserves of oil and gas. Whilst we do not rely on Russia a great deal, 2% I believe, it is still 2% too much.

                    We should be investing in natural gas and nuclear with urgency. Not only would this bring prices down it is also the only realistic way of bringing down carbon emissions quickly. Whilst I am for renewables, the technology still needs to mature and for boring tech reasons it is never going to be 100% of our energy mix. It is also indisputable that the use of natural gas has done many times more to bring down emissions than solar and wind so far.

                    Sadly the green movement are opposed to natural gas and nuclear expansion which is pure ideology.

                    • I have some genuine ones. The pack is looking a little past it’s best as they have been knocking around a parts draw though. Drop me an email or a message through the site if you want them.

                      David

                      • Sham replied to this.