Since it came up in a thread on the quasi-demise of a competitor, ROASTe, I figured there might be some interest among members here in a closer look at MistoBox.

Like Craft Coffee, MistoBox offers a monthly variety box of small samples from U.S.-based micro-roasters. Both companies receive their beans freshly roasted and then repack them in little heat-sealed, valveless, stand-up zip pouches before reshipping them to customers; as a result, it's pretty much impossible to get coffee less than a week post-roast through either service. There are important differences, however. MistoBox is newer, cheaper, has smaller but more numerous samples (~50 g./2 oz. each, 4 per box vs. Craft Coffee's ~4 oz. each, 3 per box), and offers an online marketplace through which you can buy full-size bags of the samples you like in addition to other coffees and gear. Discounts are available in the form of reward points for repeat customers and coupon codes for subscribers.

After posting a few unsolicited gear and bean reviews on the MistoBox site, I was offered a free box, and it arrived today. Here's a look inside:





I have to say I'm fairly pleased with the August sample selection (on paper at least). In particular, the Water Ave. coffee is one that was previously only available in their retail shop in Portland. MistoBox apparently negotiated a deal whereby they alone are able to offer that one and another online. Brown Coffee's Guatemala is a nice coffee that had lost a step last I checked but should still satisfy. The other two roasters, Just Love and Conscious Coffees, are new to me, but their offerings and reputations seem good. Conscious Coffees was voted 2011 Micro-Roaster of the Year by Roast Magazine.

Little niggles:

1. No roast dates on the bags. Connor Riley at MistoBox was quick to provide them though when I asked (7/31 for Conscious and Brown and 8/1 for the other two). By the time I break into the samples tomorrow they'll be 9-10 days post-roast. Connor tells me that their goal is to get boxes into customers' hands a little faster in the future, more like 7 days post-roast.

2. Not as much info. about the particular coffees as I'd normally like to see.

3. USPS First Class shipping instead of Priority. Relatively speedy delivery though, all the same. Took two days to me from Scottsdale, AZ.

Assuming I find a keeper in this variety box, it's a pretty safe bet I'll order a 12-oz. bag through the site because they offer a coupon code good for free shipping on your favorite coffee.

So, there you go. I'll report back with a few thoughts on the coffees once I've brewed them up. If anyone else cares to chime in, please feel free, of course!

I think if you love coffee and roaster you should buy only direct so your money supports the roaster not the middle man. The middle man takes likely between 30%-50% of purchase price for no add-on value to you. If I were roaster there would be no selling through resellers, there is no good long term reason to do so.

Buy direct, support your roaster.

My barista-fu is not yet strong enough to dial in a new coffee to my satisfaction in 4 shots (3 if you updose, 2 if you have any sort of wastage in your grinder), which is what 2 oz of coffee amounts to. Since most of my new coffee adventures go for espresso rather than other brewing methods, their sample packs would be a compete waste of my money. The Craft deal would be better for espresso makers who need 3-4 shots just to dial it in. Perhaps MistoBox should consider offering an espresso oriented membership with larger amounts of a smaller range of coffees every month.

$15 a month for 8 oz of coffee seems a bit much, as well.

^^^ I agree the bean quantity makes this more of a non-espresso sampler.

Re: price, check MistoBox's Facebook page for a $5-off coupon (just noticed that).

tekomino wrote:...The middle man takes likely between 30%-50% of purchase price for no add-on value to you...

As to Dennis's point, I don't know what MistoBox's cut is. The exposure that smaller roasters stand to get from this sort of thing might be worth the cost to them. From a purely selfish, consumer-oriented perspective, I like being able to sample widely without necessarily committing to a full bag. How is the opportunity to do so not an added value?

jbviau wrote:The exposure that smaller roasters stand to get from this sort of thing might be worth the cost to them.

Not really, when you are slotted with 50-100 other roasters in a bunch you ain't gonna be standing out

jbviau wrote:From a purely selfish, consumer-oriented perspective, I like being able to sample widely without necessarily committing to a full bag. How is the opportunity to do so not an added value?

I would say you have "commitment issues" if you have problems committing to 12oz bag of coffee

But on serious side, if you contact the roaster I am sure they can arrange sample pack....

Well, I suppose we could ask Jasonian of AJ Coffee why he's doing it. So far there are only 12 roasters featured on the site.

Dude, I have no problem committing to one woman, but why limit myself with coffee? Only drinker in the house + moderate consumption + raging curiosity = sampler-friendly guy! I'm not inclined to go begging for special treatment from various roasters. I buy *many* 12-oz. bags--trust me. This is just one potential way to increase my coverage as I explore what's out there.

To me, the problem is that the internet is a serial killer of intermediaries. I'm not sure that the business case for the middleman is sustainable (witness the demise of ROASTe). If the small roaster has any web presence at all, if they do good work, it makes zero sense to not buy directly from the roaster once you discover the beans, blends, and roasts you like, cutting out the middleman.

The trick, of course, is in finding the good new stuff. One can get leads through online sources like CG and HB as to what's good from regional microroasters, but the signal to noise ratio can be overwhelming at times. I think that MistoBox provides a useful service - I'm just not sure that it's one that's more than evanescent from a business standpoint.

Looks like Mistobox is adding some more roasters, I will have to check it out.

The thing that keeps going to places like gocoffeego or mistobox, is that they give you deals on shipping. If they are taking such a large cut of the retail price, why don't retailers do like Verve or Social? Offer free shipping on any order or have it be something far more easily attainable like 30 dollars. A flat rate padded priority package is $5.30, let the shipping cut into the profit a little bit if you want to have an online store.

Otherwise, I am going to go to a third party to buy the coffee shipped directly from the roaster for less. Just like they are not in the business to go broke, neither am I especially when it's still shipped directly from them. There is no added value for me to order directly from them, I am actually losing money. It just makes no sense even when cutting into the shipping the roaster could stand to make more money by offering better deals on their sites as oppose to selling through third parties.

^^^ I hear you, Nick. Just took advantage of Verve's free shipping last week, in fact.

For round #1 I'm using the LIDO to grind so as not to waste any beanage. 16 g. of coffee per 8-oz. Trifecta cup (setting B-0:50). Here are a few quick impressions of the Brown and Water Ave. samples.

Brown's Finca Vista Hermosa Edlina (Guatemala): Not what it was in Feb., but still quite good. Salted caramel does, indeed, come across more strongly as the coffee cools. This will be a crowd-pleaser, I'll bet. See here for a comparison with Barefoot's version of the same micro-lot.

Water Ave.'s Finca El Manzano (El Salvador): I got rye bread in the dry aroma. In the cup, nice cherry acidity (reminded me of Verve's recent Haile in that respect). Decent body and sweetness, but neither was as amped up as I'd expected given that this is a pulped natural. Savory flavor notes mixed in; I'll need another cup to sort them out.

We're two for two so far, MistoBox. No freshness issues. I'll try to squeeze in the two Ethiopians tonight (tomorrow at the latest).