Beans we’re talking about, not pre-ground coffee, and beans will last for years without going off, especially in the airtight foil 1K bags. Unless you’re looking for Fair Trade beans there are only two things to look for:
A statement that the beans are 100% Arabica, and
A price at around $15 to $16 per kilo.
All the hype about place of origin, etc., is nonsense, promulgated by the coffee companies and their retailers to justify an inflated, snob price.
Go to Woolworths or Coles and check the one kilo bags of coffee beans on their shelves. I guarantee you will find what you’re looking for, at the right price. Currently at Woolies it’s laVazza for $15.00.
Only Lav at that price this week was the Rossa I asked about initially though, which in fact is a blend of Arabica and African Robusta, … which I ended up not punting on in favour of another nice one I’ve gotten many times, in the Vittoria Organic at $18 a Kg at 1/2 price.
Can be hit & miss with it though, as I guess they have a little trouble sourcing full Organic of quality all the time, … but 90% plus hit so far, and this one is bluddy delicious.
Got this stuff off Amazon for $20, which is reasonable for almost a kilo or Organic.
I can’t find a roast date on the packaging, so it’s probably months old already.
The ones you just posted. The pic above.
Death Wish is good, but those are good for upset tummies.
Not that I’d know.
I’m very happy with my Nespresso at home, but that’s what I’ve been told.
No, you’re wrong. Green beans rot. Roasted beans maintain their condition — as long as they are kept whole, preferably in their airtight foil packaging, and not ground.
Must be 100% Arabica. Robusta is for instant coffee addicts, with taste bud in their erse.
The low-price 100% Arabica varies between LaVazza and Vittoria; both Coles and Woolies used to have their own brands of 100% Arabica, but those days are gone, it seems.
Of course, if you’re looking for Fair Trade or guaranteed Organic you will pay more.
Even in nitrogen flushed, well sealed bags stored in a freezer the beans fall off a cliff after 4 weeks. Arabica is by far the better of the widely available options. $15-16 p kg is about a quarter of what it costs to buy the really good stuff, but $40 a kg is about the best bang for buck price point.
Having worked with buyers, importers, exporters, growers, co-ops/mills, roasters, cafes I can absolutely hand on heart say that none of this stuff is marketing wank. Woolworths and Coles are buying cheap low grade commodity coffee (the same as lavazza and the vast majority of the italian brands). They also lean towards Fair Trade because it’s a sham system that ends up ripping growers and their communities off to justify it’s own existence. I’m not gonna tell you what to like or begrudge you buying coffee at $15 a kg, everyone has to do what’s right for them. For me, knowing the work that goes on, I could never go back to buying untraceable, commodity coffee.
This is wrong. Green beans are less likely to degrade quickly that roasted. Roasted beans are very dry and very porous, so they begin to suck moisture out of the air from the moment they cool after roasting. They expel large amounts of C02 and absorb oxygen and moisture, which send the rapidly stale. Green beans can only rot if they’re allowed to get very damp. In order for them to be shipped they taken down to a moisture content of less than 13%. They’re also very dense. So dense that it’s very hard for them to absorb more moisture, which is part of the reason, along with high acid contents and the presence of caffeine, that prevents them going rotten.
Look. In an absolute pinch I’d probably drink it. That said, I’d feel pretty bad about the amount of money I just paid for marketing and BS, dodgy lock in contracts for cafes etc that they use most of the money for, rather than buying good green coffee.
Joe regularly delivers to Melbourne on Fridays (at least that’s when I get mine anyway), great beans, freshly roasted and I like supporting small businesses as well.
As for age, IMO the first month is great, second month is defintely noticeable and the 3rd is not good at all. Good quality beans cost around $15-16/kg to the wholesalers, so I can imagine how cheap the beans for the bulk supermarket supplies must be. Each to their own, I like a good coffee!
Just to put some of this to bed. I’m going to post part of an old spot list for one of the Green brokers here in Melbourne. It’s well out of date, but I really like these guys and I know that they’re all above board. They actively go to the places they buy coffee from and they only work with a small number of producers.
Have a look at the green P/Kg prices. That’s the cost to buy them here in Aus 2 years ago, less freight. then you have to pay someone to evaluate, develop a roast profile, roast the commercial batches, maybe blend if that’s what the beans are intended for and then pack them. then they need to be sold. Often this happens prior to roasting in the best place to ensure that no customer wholesale or otherwise takes delivery of roasted coffee that is more than 7 days old. That requires a salesperson at least, then you have accounts people, you have drivers or pay a freight company. Let’s say from my experience with my roasting company that I know that for even most meager coffee operations this requires 2 roasters, 1 who will be paid higher like the person making the decisions about the quality and how the coffee needs to be roasted. 1 salesperson, if you’re lucky they can manage payments, but it’s often better to have that managed by a separate person if you’re large enough to have multiple wholesale accounts. So that’s also 2 people in an office and 2 people on the roasting floor. Then you have the driver or the freight company. Plus you’re not a charity and you’d like to go home to your significant other without having to explain why you’re going broke. Let’s be generous to the idea that $15 is reasonable per Kg. $10 of that bag is the beans alone if it’s done with a quality product, but it’s often more. From the remaining $5 you have to pay for the 5 staff, the bag, the equipment, the power, the gas for the roaster, the water in the sinks, the landlord or the council, the ATO, if you’re selling with a Fair Trade label, they require you to kick back 11% of the sale price, and then somewhere after all that you take your little piece.
If you’re paying $40 a Kg or more it’s likely that 2 things are happening. The farmers are getting better prices for their beans particularly if they’re not part of Fair Trade. And the staff here are being invested in, trained, and entrusted to help build the business. Yes, obviously the business owners are more likely to have healthy businesses that earn a profit as well.
As far as cheap supermarket beans go, I’ve found that Aldi’s offerings are head and shoulders above anything at Coles/Woolies and usually under $15/Kg.
They still don’t compare to most of the $40+/kg options from many reputable local roasters here in Melbourne.
These are roasted in Aus unlike the vast majority of stuff in the supermarket. They’re also roasted by a company that mainly does high quality coffee of their own. The coffee that goes into the Aldi stuff probably isn’t amazing, but the standard of the work that goes into roasting it is high.
