Recently, Klatch told us that Bob-O-Link is simply not the coffee it has been in previous years. But some green suppliers are promoting the new crop with the same language they have used in the past - as if there has been no change. Do you think this is a simple disagreement - that is, some sellers of Bob thinks it's still just as good? Or, do you reckon, as I do, that some intermediaries simply don't taste their wares and don't know what's going on with the source.
I generally trust the usual suspects when buying green beans. I've only been roasting my own for a little over a year now - still I have roasted about 200 pounds in that time. So I'm getting to know better what I like and what I don't. And......... this issue has caused me to lose trust in at least one of my suppliers.

Roasters generally select beans only on quality, since their customers mostly have no particular loyalty to a specific grower. If there's another coffee that fills the role of Brazil blender better than the Bob-O-Link, Klatch is perfectly right to drop it, and go with the better suited coffee.

Sweet Maria's generally follows the same course, trying to find the best coffees from each region; rather than invariably repeating.

Other greens suppliers have growers they stick with year in and year out. This can often be a warning sign, of someone not bothering to cup the coffees; but it doesn't need to be that. Wine lovers, for instance, will follow a grower year in and year out, even on years when the bottling are less then stellar. For instance, I have a soft spot for Bolivian Cenoproc, which in its best years has a honey glazed nut, cola, and cherry flavors, intermediate between good Brasils and Colombias. I try a pound or two every year. This year is more miss than hit; but I still roasted a few batches, since the memory of past and promise for the future is still there. I guess there are enough roasters like me to make Cenaproc a perennial offering at some of the good greenies.

But if a supplier is recycling their descriptions as well as their coffees; it is likelier to be incompetence than loyalty.