Deciding How To Shop for Green Coffee - Page 3

Discuss roast levels and profiles for espresso, equipment for roasting coffee.
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CarefreeBuzzBuzz
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#21: Post by CarefreeBuzzBuzz »

mpdeem wrote:
I do feel guilty about tossing otherwise perfectly good coffee simply because of personal dislike. My solution is to re home the coffees that I don't like. I do the same when I end up buying more coffee than I can possibly roast -which given my caffeine limits-happens more often than I'd care to admit ;)

......Some of the greatest roasting lessons have come from the coffees that I did not love. In trying to coax better flavors, I am forced to experiment rather than just do my standard roast profiles. Even though in most cases, the coffees continued to disappoint despite my best efforts, I always come away having learned more about roasting. Yes it is frustrating to keep trying and still getting mediocre results -but if you approach it as a learning experience, you will have far less buyer's remorse.
.
Mary great post, excellent addition to the thoughts here.
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Trjelenc
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#22: Post by Trjelenc »

I've given somewhere around a couple grand to Happy Mug over the last 3 years or so, but decided to take my business elsewhere from what I read recently on the owner's horrible attitude towards people who complain, including publicly doxxing some people. I don't know if there's any guidelines on our forum around criticizing vendors, but I think it's reasonable to inform people what could potentially happen with your information if you do business with them

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CarefreeBuzzBuzz
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#23: Post by CarefreeBuzzBuzz replying to Trjelenc »

Interesting; hadn't been aware. Thanks for posting.
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HB
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#24: Post by HB »

Trjelenc wrote:I don't know if there's any guidelines on our forum around criticizing vendors...
See the six steps of the Public complaints about customer service in the site's Guidelines for productive online discussion.

Generally speaking, it's discouraged because too often such "warnings" degenerate into the same predictable back-and-forth arguing. There's also the risk that online complaints can be abused. For example, a trusted vendor once warned me in advance that a new member might join to "slag" their company after threatening they'd do so if the vendor didn't concede to their request (in this case, an out-of-policy return).

In another case years ago, we discovered that a vendor was posing as a consumer to post complaints about a competitor. Sigh! And what of the vendor, should they be allowed to post their side of the story? Or only the wronged consumer? You can see how quickly it can get messy. This can be especially concerning if the commentary treads into the realm of libel, both from the viewpoint of the posting member and this site's legal exposure.

That said, we treat public service complaints on a case-by-case basis (e.g., a long-time member would be afforded more credibility than a day-1 member); it's not an all-or-nothing policy.

UPDATE: I have received PMs from several members providing additional background. I appreciate the concerns expressed in these PMs, but based on my years of experience as a moderator, I fully expect that trying to navigate this specific customer service incident would end with the thread being locked in a repeat of the six steps mentioned above.

This thread will remain on cooldown a bit longer. When it's reopened, I ask that contributors steer towards recommendations they can offer, ideally based on first-hand experience, rather than warnings about ones they can't recommend. Thanks.
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Ron
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#25: Post by Ron »

Whenever I wind up with coffee that I don't like so much at first, I try the following:
1. I blend 1/3 of the new coffee with 2/3 of coffee I like a lot. Sometimes I really like the result.

2. I vary the roast of the new coffee. I had some coffees that lacked flavor when I took them into second crack, but were much better when I stopped roasting before second crack started. I could easily tell by the smoke. If I poured the beans out of the roaster and there was lots of smoke, the flavor lacked nuance. But with no smoke or negligible smoke, there was a nice degree of "acid" that I like. This happened with a Colombian Excelso I got from Vilar.

3. Vilar had some nice choices. You find them on Ebay. Shipping is included and most greens cost around $6/lb. including shipping, with $7 for origins like Kenya. At least that's what it was when I last bought. Maybe inflation pushed some prices higher.

4. I always get great results from Bali, both natural Kintamani and washed Blue Moon. I think Happy Mug had the best prices for Bali, but they sometimes run out of it.

mpdeem
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#26: Post by mpdeem »

Ron wrote:Whenever I wind up with coffee that I don't like so much at first, I try the following:
1. I blend 1/3 of the new coffee with 2/3 of coffee I like a lot. Sometimes I really like the result.
......
4. I always get great results from Bali, both natural Kintamani and washed Blue Moon. I think Happy Mug had the best prices for Bali, but they sometimes run out of it.
Great idea regarding blending. I will keep that in mind the next time I find myself underwhelmed by a particular coffee.

Bali Blue Moon washed. I have only had the wet hulled version so was curious to hear of a washed version. Might be a good option since I tend to be ambivelant when it comes to wet hulled coffees...especially something as fruit forward as Bali Blue Moon.

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CarefreeBuzzBuzz
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#27: Post by CarefreeBuzzBuzz »

mpdeem wrote:Great idea regarding blending.

Very standard over here. 1/3 fruity 2/3 chocolate/nutty - for caps for my loving adventuring wife.

I have even started making mostly decaf blends so I can have more espressos. Decaf variety and quality has consistently improved. Guessing the processors are making smaller lots more affordable. I haven't yet decided 2/3 and 1/3, or 75/25, or 80/20. I guess I can vary that but leaning towards 75/25.
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mkane
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#28: Post by mkane »

We like coffee so much we should explore decaf a bit. Might take the place of booze 5 days a week.

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LBIespresso
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#29: Post by LBIespresso replying to mkane »

Speaking of decaf, Athletic Brewing hazy ipa in the orange can is shockingly good. :wink:

And to stay on topic...just listening to Mary, Michael, and Mike you will do well with your green buying.
LMWDP #580

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