SOs and prices...

[Bon]

I am keen to try as many different SOs as I can to broaden my pallette and increase my awareness, but it seems many places sell SOs between $30-$40/kg which seems like a bit of a rort when the upper end green beans around here seem to fetch $12/kg.

I will be starting home roasting shortly, but I doubt Ill be able to get the best profile out of the beans straight away so will have to rely on botique roasters until I become more proficient.

So where is the best place to order SOs from online? (please feel free to PM if you know of a place that is not a site sponsor).

regards
Bon

[CoffeeChaser]

Re: SOs and prices...

Where do you live Bon may help people guide you a little more. Many of the site sponsors sell roasted beans so I am sure they will be able to help you out. But if you say what state you are in will help you to be pointed in the best direction so that you can avoid freight if at all possible.

[Bon]

Re: SOs and prices...

Sorry, Im in Newcastle, NSW.

[CoffeeChaser]

Re: SOs and prices...

You could always buy a popper and some greens and test out a few SOs if you want to save a few bucks and have fun in the process

[Bon]

Re: SOs and prices...

Yep, I will definitely do that.. But, considering Ive never roasted before I dont hold a great deal of faith in my ability to get the best profile out of the beans!

[lucinda]

Re: SOs and prices...

You can always purchase the beginners pack from the bean bay on this site.

[rice]

Re: SOs and prices...

http://www.coffeealchemy.com.au/
Ive had SOs from Hazel (contract roasts for a site sponsor, Di Bartoli). A rocking Limmu and a good Costa Rican Pastora.

*****************
************************************
StAli is not a sponsor, but they are THE place to shop at if you want to enjoy a variety of single origins, all supplied with roasted on dates. Marks transparency makes ones journey through SOs much easier (thats what I think when one doesnt have to contend with stale roasts and then try and figure out when the hell it was roasted on). Better to email or call first order, as the variety of beans on offer is more than what is listed on their site.

Commercial NON site-sponsor links removed...... Mal.

[Fresh_Coffee]

Re: SOs and prices...

Gday Bon, and others.

I have gotten myself in plenty of hot water in the past over this one but that doesnt maean I shouldnt set the record each time I see this popping up.

Bon, you said "....it seems many places sell SOs between $30-$40/kg which seems like a bit of a rort when the upper end green beans around here seem to fetch $12/kg...."

The CS bean bay is a non profit organisation and only need to cover the cost of what it sets out to do, and no more.

But selling coffee is business and a means for some people of deriving a livelihood!. This means they have to make a profit and this means they have to charge accordingly to cover all costs incurred in running the total business....this means wages, rent, telephone, electricity, vehicles, the cost of the roasting plant, the cost of having sizeable borrowings etc etc etc, and still be able to draw a fair and equitable wage to live on and get a return on the money they have invested.

Its no small investment, and the smaller the turnover (of business or coffee beans or whatever), the higher the end price to the consumer has to be! Take a look at the wine industry...boutique wine makers with small holdings and production have to sell at a high price....whether the wine is good 0r not, because they dont have the economies of scale.

Under the scenario you presented above which is simply to say that it is a rort to buy coffee beans for x, and sell them for say 3x, you have not factored in all the variables described, and by default you are also saying that anyone that sells their ###expertise### should not charge anything for their services because they didnt actually pay anything for that expertise in the first place in the way that you might buy a tangible kilo of beans to on sell. This of course is a flawed argument.

Hope this makes sense.

Regardz,
FC.

[Thundergod]

Re: SOs and prices...

Well said FC.

I have watched Hazel do a roast and its not a matter of popping some beans in the roaster, turning it on and coming back 15 minutes later to pop them in bags for sale.

She is like a hummingbird.
Flitting about, wings flapping furiously (figuratively), checking the beans, adjusting the flames, adjusting the fan, recording times etc, over and over until the batch is done to perfection.

I know what my time is worth as an office worker in my comfy chair and airconditioned workstation.
I dont for one moment think Hazels prices are a rort.

(And she will sell me green beans if I want.)

[niallpedlow]

Re: SOs and prices...

I think FCs comments would be an extremely good starting point for an answer in a FAQs section.  Why is roasted coffee "so expensive" : or something like that.

The $12 a kilo for the "upper end" is an unusually cheap price for green, which Ive only seen on beanbay.  My "local" roaster used to sell me green for about $15 a kilo upwards.  I saw some Yauco Selecto on a site this week for $35 a kilo green.

[marcstolk]

Re: SOs and prices...

FC said it perfectly!!

Dont like it, find somewhere else to buy coffee.... geezzzz

Come on, even supermarket coffee is expensive... and its stale!!

The cost of the green bean isnt where the costs end...

[niallpedlow]

Re: SOs and prices...

Oh yeah, remember those perspex bins the supermarket coffee aisle that had "fresh" beans in them ?? Was it Brothers Coffee?? I only ever tried that once. Stale as a hundred year old loaf of bread.

[TC]

Re: SOs and prices...

Oh yeah, remember those perspex bins the supermarket coffee aisle that had "fresh" beans in them ?? Was it Brothers Coffee??  I only ever tried that once.  Stale as a hundred year old loaf of bread.

Yeah- its amazing what can happen with prices and freshness....

Just last week I visited a rather famous Brunswick St place to pick up some beans for a class. I was faced by many buckets of the stuff....all nice and glossy and stale.....So I crossed the road to another place which roasts on-site and used to date their beans...but no longer. Purchased some there as they were not quite as stale

The thing that amazed me though was the pricing of the Fairtrade Timor at the first place. Now why, when Fairtrade costs very little more than the regular stuff, do we see a premium of over $10 per kilo placed on FT?? The one served in our place went up 80 cents a kilo and decaf came down 50 cents when we went Fairtrade....

Now if 10 bucks was getting back to the grower, all good and well...but we all know its mere cents....I suspect that I know where the extra cash is going....

2mcm

[dailybean]

Re: SOs and prices...

on fairtrade, its sad that people are cashing in and making profits from what was supposed to be given back to the growers. heard of a story where a coffee shop offered a cup of fairtrade coffee for $0.50 extra on normal prices. thats a biiig mark-up.

i really do wonder about fairtrade.

bon, i do agree that there is a price difference between buying green beans and roasted looking at the bottom line alone. but agree with FC, you do pay for the labour in roasting the beans and service you get (or should be getting).

having recently discovered the joys of home-roasting, it is definitely cheaper but requires a bit of time and effort. some people dont mind paying for service and convenience. in any case, buying roasted beans is still definitely cheaper than buying a coffee from a cafe $2.50+ a shot (but requires your time and effort in making it... same thing again). comes down to you...

2mcm, yeah, learning that price is not a reliable indicator of goodness and freshness. thats life i suppose

[varanid99]

Re: SOs and prices...

Just last week I visited a rather famous Brunswick St place to pick up some beans for a class. I was faced by many buckets of the stuff....all nice and glossy and stale.....

I have to agree with fc on the you pay for the expertise bit, but if 2mcm is talking about the place Im thinking of, they also have a "dealership" in Glenhuntly Rd - not quite so many buckets there, but their whole beans dont exactly seem to be high turnover. So yes, in that case, Id say $40 a kilo is a rort. While they may be experts, Id rather pay someone for their expertise AND for fresh product...

And to Bon - hey, just give the home roasting a go. Im by no means good at it yet, Ive only been doing it a couple of weeks, but the learning curve is half the fun. At least you know theyre fresh, and even a dud batch is going to taste better than some of the product out there. And its so cheap that if you buy 5kgs, even if you stuff up the first 4, youll still come out in front, and youll have learned a lot on the way.

Besides, statistics prove that the fact that you roasted the beans yourself is guaranteed to make them taste 42% better than a non-home roasted alternative, at least in your own mind...