fruitfly wrote:
I am currently enjoying very reasonably priced coffee from Oughtred Coffee ($20 cdn/lb, shipping is $5 under $45, free above that, gets to me in lower mainland 2 days after ordering, and is roasted just before sending). VST 15gm basket, 15gm coffee, no pre-infusion, 25-30sec pulls. To me it compares very favourably with Parallel 49 , or Seth Taylor.

I like Oughtred very much. Am currently into a newer small local called The Kop located on Annacis Island of all places (it's a heavy industry area). The owner, Mann, is the nicest guy you'd ever meet and everything is beautifully roasted on their Giesen roaster. My other local favorites are Moja, Mogiana (which is a few minutes down the road from me) and Milano when I'm feeling spendy. I really like the Kop for now though.

Thanks for the recommendation of The Kop on Annacis Island. Always looking for the perfect place to get coffee.

I'm now a few months into a cycle of the Tim Wendelboe subscription alternating with Hatch. This is an interesting mix which covers a lot of bases and keeps things interesting. To be honest the Hatch coffees continue to impress me as much and often more than the Tim Wendelboe bags.

I really can't overstate how important it is to find a roaster who is consistent. In my experience they are few and far between and these two qualify.

Interesting story, my last bag of Gamma from Hatch tasted different, and better. It also measured slightly lighter on my Roast Vision than all the bags from the past few months which had been basically indentical. As happy as I was with the Gamma there was no doubt that this bag was better. I sent them an email telling them what I had experienced and they wrote back saying yes, the head roaster had changed the blend and adjusted the roast slightly as the current batch of the Guatemalan coffee they use was impressing him so they upped the percentage to highlight that. Colour me impressed. These guys really seem to be dialed in. Highly recommend.

Whether it's a great restaurant, great wine, or great coffee time and time again it shows that there needs to be someone with a great pallet making the choices and providing QC. When the chef leaves, the food is never quite the same.

Hi friends, amateur here located in St. Jacobs, ON, just trying to learn here at home! I just read the entire thread. I've visited all of these roasters you guys mention and look at their websites and am just blown away! I've never tried any fancy stuff like this before. I am looking to purchase some beans since it's Black Friday week but am unsure who or what to try. I have a Niche Zero and Lelit Mara and I only drink espresso with small milk drinks

My local roaster is located less than 10 minutes from my house, called Eco Coffee and their cafe is Eco Cafe.. i love them personally but I tried googling them to hear if anyone liked them, and I cannot find a single review.. I'm guessing they aren't considered interesting enough by aficionados as their website is very generic and has little information on the bean descriptions. The owner is an older fellow from Colombia and seems to favour old school flavours if that makes sense.. but they roast constantly, super easy to get fresh beans, and I love the short travel from roastery to my cup!

Any current suggestions for an amateur hobbyist who drinks espresso, I'd love them! Thanks guys

In my experience there's a pretty big gap in quality between Hatch and everyone else in Canada. If you have a roaster you're use to maybe try something from them and see how they benchmark against what you're use to.

No kidding? I'll head to their website right NOW then, thank you!

I forgot to mention two things

#1 - I've tried Monogram on several occasions and was not super wowed - a cafe in Waterloo uses their beans a lot! Wasn't like bad coffee or anything but I just thought I would mention it since they were brought up a lot in here

#2 - a cannabis growing buddy of mine who's big into coffee keeps telling me he thinks the best roaster in Ontario is Seth Taylor. I didn't see them mentioned yet shockingly in here, any input on those? No Black Friday deals of course on his site though it's also the core bean served at Found Coffee, the Th3rdWave award winners

Cheers man!!

Just to update my current favourite supplier because I haven't seen it mentioned yet:
Drumroaster in Cobble Hill, Vancouver Island. Everything I have tried has been excellent. Just got some Hatch and will report back.

For the first time in probably a year I ordered from somewhere other than Hatch or Tim Wendelboe. Nektar is a roaster in Quebec. I just opened a bag of their COSTA RICA - FINCA EL CHILAMATE YELLOW HONEY
https://nektar.ca/en/collections/tous-l ... 5124985931

It was fine as a cocoa based espresso shot but there was not a hint of blueberry anywhere to be found.

I also ordered a bag of their "Grand Cru" COLOMBIA - FRANCO GOMEZ GEISHA NATURAL
https://nektar.ca/en/collections/tous-l ... 1320837404

I'll start that as a pour over tomorrow and then as an espresso. So far I don't see myself moving away from Hatch.

I remember trying the Lavazza blends with Robusta a few years ago and don't remember having an issue with gushers with my Sette 270. I might try borrowing a different high-quality grinder and see what you find. I bought a cheap off-shore flat grinder for about $300, aligned the burrs, made it stepless and it can grind pretty fine. The Robusta doesn't go stale near as fast as the arabica.. and Illy do 100% arabica but package in nitrogen, I think so it keeps better. SuperStore had some Illy whole beans last year, but I don't see them listed now.

Might sound weird, but I liked some of the Lavazza for making Flat Whites which is my main beverage. I sometimes use Daterra Yellow from iDrinkCoffee often,.. .. which is a medium roast but with chocolate notes.. I find there is a fine line between roasting levels that turn the beans to an ash taste.. I also like a traditional "dark" coffee taste, but I've changed from using dark roasts to medium.

Bluenoser wrote: I also like a traditional "dark" coffee taste, but I've changed from using dark roasts to medium.

You should really try Hatch Gamma, Supernova and Blackout.
Far superior to anything else mentioned.