Can anyone direct me to a good source for some less expensive beans? We go through 5-6 lbs/month and it can get very expensive.

My favorite is Black Cat, but it's way out of our budget for everyday use.

Cheers.

To go a lot lower than Black Cat would involve buying non-specialty beans, "office coffee," for a large drop in quality. Home roasting may be a better option, although the initial quality is not likely to be as good as Black Cat. With some learning on your part, it would improve. Green coffees of the quality found in Black cat can be had for around 5 to 10 dollars a pound, and cheaper in bulk (20 pounds or more). Since green keeps at least six months, and many for a year, you could buy in those amounts.

This will be a saving if you have the time to do the roasting and enjoy it. If time is tight and you find the job distasteful, there are no real savings there.

The cheapest roaster for the quantities you have in mind are the Behmor or a drum that fits a backyard BBQ. These will do OK for heavy bodied, low acid coffees. If you want something with more fruit, like the current Black Cat, you will need a device that roasts more quickly. The best inexpensive solution here is a combination of bread machine (its kneading paddle stirs the beans) with a heat gun mounted on top (to roast them).

There is more info on all these options in the home roast section here and on other home roasting sites.

I don't know what imported Italian beans cost in the US, but I get one called Caffe Mussetti for around $10/pound in Sweden. Amazon used to sell it for around that price in the US, but seems like it's not available right now.

http://www.musetti.it/home.php?id_lang=3

PC

How about 5 pounds of Red Bird Espresso from Montana for $49.95 including shipping? Is that in your range? Great coffee.

Red Bird is hard to beat for price vs. quality. Coffee Klatch House Espresso or Belle Espresso is also very reasonably priced.

another_jim wrote:To go a lot lower than Black Cat would involve buying non-specialty beans, "office coffee," for a large drop in quality.

Black Cat is $75 for 5lb before shipping. Red Bird is $50 for 5lb, shipped. 33% lower crosses my personal threshold for "a lot lower." Others may differ, naturally. Do you consider Red Bird to be "office coffee?" I'm mainly asking as a way to calibrate my taste here... I actually prefer Red Bird to the last iteration of Black Cat I tasted.

If you're interested in 5 lbs, Paradise Roasters has a couple - I haven't had in a while but they're site sponsors, the espresso has gotten some good reviews and I bet it's good. With $3 shipping, the two main blends come in around $50 for 5 lbs.

Red Bird definitely flies circles around Black Cat.

another_jim wrote:To go a lot lower than Black Cat would involve buying non-specialty beans, "office coffee," for a large drop in quality.

Jim, as a Chicago resident you may not have realized that Intelligentsia is now charging $10 to ship a single pound of coffee out.

So while $17/lb is indeed about what I expect to pay for good specialty espresso coffee, the effective $27/lb is what many users of this forum are up against. Black Cat is good, but there are better options out there for less than $27.

That's too much to pay for shipping a pound of coffee. The 5 lbs of coffee Red Bird sent me cost them $8 USPS Priority and arrived in two days. Reasonable shipping charges are a big part of the equation when I buy anything online.