Coffee Appreciation

what's your shop again?

Giro, out in Esher. http://www.girocycles.com/pages/cafe

Had some very bad service from them so I won't be returning. 25 minutes for an espresso! There was no queue when I went in and everyone already seated had their orders. The mind boggles.

Haha you didn't go and check after sitting there for ten minutes? Any explanation when it finally arrived?

70p per serving is at the higher end of the scale. ... If people accept this as good value, we might see the end of the real good value beans that are available.

I'm happy to pay £3 for good filter in a cafe, so 70p at home sounds fucking great. I accept this as 'good value' but that is my notion of 'value', pretty meaningless from person to person.

For making your own coffee, that's expensive. Whether it's home espresso, aeropress, French Press or pour over, you'll be using 15-20 grams per serving; 70p per serving is at the higher end of the scale.

If people accept this as good value, we might see the end of the real good value beans that are available. I don't wish to jump on your balls, but what are you actually comparing that price to?
What are you basing your opinion(s) on? What do you consider to be good value beans?

£5 per 250g. I pay more tho

I'll happily pay £10.50 for a 350g bag of red brick (inc p&p) and more for a featured small batch coffee.

my experience with buying 'better value' beans from places like coffee plant is that they are simply nowhere near as good as something like Red Brick, or some of the Climpson's blends. Seeing as I would prefer to drink less, better coffee; rather than more, less good coffee —*buying beans which are more expensive is a bit of a no brainer for me.

In any case I try to buy in larger amounts than 250g as by the time you have dialed in the grid correctly you've wasted a fair bit of coffee. Especially since my mc2 is stepless, which means I can't even record what settings I've used for the next time I buy that blend.

Italian Job from Rave at £12.20 a kg delivered. Delicious espresso blend.

dst - that doesn't mean much without saying what beans you buy though :)

£5 for Square Mile = bargain
£5 for some fakenger value supermarket rocket fuel = rip-off

That's a ridiculous price. Monmouth are overpriced too. I'm trying to find somewhere nearer to my home for good beans at a sensible price; I'm in Crouch End. Previously I used the Wholefoods market in Kensington, and Markus Coffee and Coffee Plant. Monmouth were no better for quality, just nearly double the price and less knowledgeable than Markus.

That's the first time I've seen Monmouth mentioned here...I wondered if it was saying Voldemort or something? We have their beans at the moment and are enjoying the best espressos yet...even with a blade grinder! Can only get better....MC2 incoming.

Monmouth roast some excellent coffees. They sold the best Kenyan I've ever tasted a couple of years back.

I'll happily pay £10.50 for a 350g bag of red brick (inc p&p) and more for a featured small batch coffee.

+1

Monmouth roast some excellent coffees. They sold the best Kenyan I've ever tasted a couple of years back.

Always good quality. Don't think I've ever had a duff Monmouth coffee.

I don't wish to jump on your balls, but what are you actually comparing that price to?

To shit coffee at 3x the price brewed elsewhere by folks without a clue. I'll happily pay 3 or 4 times the price for a good coffee out n about but weekdays it's not a given that I'll have time or be in right place so it's just a treat when I do.

The origin was bought instead of Red Brick on Saturday as Caffeine & Co were out of Red Brick (£7.50ish per 250g?) and I was out of nice beans.

For convenience & quality of the brew I'm getting 70p per drink is still good value in my opinion.

Any further questions?

P.s. I know a few who'd pay good money to have their balls jumped upon. Just sayin'.

Thinking further, to get cheaper but ok to nice beans I could've ridden to Booths. It'd've added roughly an extra hour to my journey home. Assuming I value my time at minimum wage, I still wouldn't have got better value overall for this.

I will let folks know about your ball jumping offer, expect PM's.

Monmouth beans are very middle ground, they're never that terrible but never great either. If you have anything more than a tiny bit of milk with them you lose all the flavour.
I will happily pay £10 for a 350g of beans from Workshop or Square Mile.

For espresso, Hasbean's Jailbreak is excellent. For French Press or pour over there are plenty to choose from as a blend isn't necessary. There's a great Mexican light roast currently available at the Wholefoods market; £3.99/kg. I've tried Red Brick and think Hasbean offers better value. Markus Coffee also do some good single origins but also know how to put a blend together for Turkish and Ethiopian/Eritrean style coffee. Places like Monmouth just don't have the broad knowledge to help with that.

Mmmmm, Jailbreak.

For espresso, Hasbean's Jailbreak is excellent.

Just opened up a bag of this after slogging my way through anther of theirs which was pretty meh. Forgotten how good it was!

dst - that doesn't mean much without saying what beans you buy though :)

£5 for Square Mile = bargain
£5 for some fakenger value supermarket rocket fuel = rip-off

What I mean is that if its a good bean and £5 per 250g i'd go "POW, that IS good value', if its £7.50, I'd go 'Yeah, you know, thats like, you know, the price init'. If it's £10 I'd be saying something along the lines of 'WOWZA, that's a lolla dolla'.

I've been getting my beans from Pact as I think its good value considering its posted. Just ordered some Red Brick tho to see what its like.

For good value give Waitrose Kenyan AA beans a go

£3.29 for 227 grams. I use it daily at work, and make sure to open a fresh bag saturday morning for weekend perks. I can't justify paying double for anything else as it's simply not enough difference

https://www.waitrose.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductView-10317-10001-2253-Waitrose+Coffee+beans+Kenya+AA.html?storeId=10317#.Uw8SvfR_tk4

Really? The biggest single difference I have found is grinding my own beans, after that it was moving from supermarket (may have been roaster 3 months ago) to beans roasted in the last week or 2.

Yep, there's a secret squirrel code next to the barcode.

I must have had a bad bag of the Waitrose Kenyan AA as it was one of the foulest bags of coffee I've ever had (went in the bin).

Try one of their espressos - ridiculously bitter considering their reputation.

I have, many times. Not up to Square Mile level but still good.
However I'm not Lonodon based so things may have changed since I was there last.

Yep, there's a secret squirrel code next to the barcode

Read about this online a while ago but can't find it. Got a link?

http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-coffee-house-experiment-series-launch-tickets-10701415221

https://www.facebook.com/events/1423591711219755/?notif_t=plan_user_invited

Back in the mid-17th Century a major social phenomenon began to brew in the back streets of London: the coffee house.

Prior to the introduction of coffee, the urban British public survived on a liquid diet of booze and milk as the water was too polluted. The transition from consuming alcohol (a depressant) to caffeine (a stimulant) in the academic world facilitated the rise of an establishment that is broadly credited as the birthplace of the British Enlightenment.

The London coffee house was an electric hot-bed of clandestine, no-holds-barred, radical thinking that permeated the cultural, scientific and political landscapes.

Nowadays, coffee houses are a very different animal – gimmicky, commercial outlets adorned with hands-free professionals, plugged-in hipstermaniacs and the plastic brigade. It is exceedingly rare to encounter anything like the coffee house culture in this day and age.

Hence, CultureLabel presents the birth of The Coffee House Experiment in partnership with The Keepers House @ Royal Academy of Art.

Inspired by the etiquette, mechanics and aims of the original coffee houses, The Coffee House Experiment is a regular, immersive gathering of movers and shakers to discuss radical news and ideas in business & finance // philosophy & literature // science & tech // philanthropy & politicshosted by the finest specialists London has to offer.

The evening will be hosted by Dr Matthew Green (PhD History of Mass Media, Oxford University) who is a world renowned coffee shop fanatic and founder of the hugely successful, immersive historical tours company, Unreal City Audio.

Leave your title, stripes and ill-manner at the door. But please don’t forget your hat & jacket (preferably velvet or corduroy).
All genders are warmly invited to attend.

Be prepared for spontaneous outbursts of radical creative expression!

Entry includes a mug of sweet Turkish coffee or a baroque hot chocolate.