anyone ever order beans on ebay?

[lovethatcoffee]

I have seen a handful of sellers on ebay. the prices are pretty good and the shipping is free for a lot of them. Anyone know much about how they source their beans and the overall quality? For example, you can get guatemala antigua beans for $4.50 per pound with free 2 day shipping. Do you get what you pay for from this standpoint?

 

[peterjschmidt]

There are other online sources for green coffee, as well as one or two here - buzzroasters? - that are at the price you mention, or lower, and the coffees are vetted/cupped by reliable palates.

I'm sure not all the ebay beans are dogs, but I wouldn't trust them. If the seller is including free shipping and is making some sort of profit, that means he paid a very low price for the beans. They are most likely past crop and baggy.

greencoffeebuyingclub.com is a great source, but you'd have to register to snoop around.

I don't mind paying a bit higher per lb. at sweetmarias.com either. You know exactly what you're getting; they are an excellent resource for all things home-roaster; they are good people. Depending on how much coffee you go through in a week or a month, saving a couple bucks on a lb. translates into pennies per cup. If you're going to the bother of roasting coffee, getting cheap on the cost of the greens isn't smart in my book.

 

[paypalboutique]

I bought robusta Vietnamese Blue Cloud Green coffee from eBay and when I roasted it, it had a chocolaty earthy flavor and a ton of caffeine. Then I bought some Mexican Agatha Chiapas, Soconusco green bean. After roasting it, it tasted grassy even down to a dark roast and no caffeine rush. It said it was from Jan 2012 harvest and organic. I think eBay is a hit or miss buy a couple pounds, it you have luck stick with the seller until you are displeased, then go to sweetmaries or amazon has a seller with Rhodes in the name.

 

[Coffeenuts]

I have purchased beans from ebay before. That's actually how I found my new favorite roaster.

 

[peterjschmidt]

Personally (and I am biased) I think you would improve your chances of getting great beans by using someone that frequents this forum, and you'd be helping someone here who is helping make this a better place. It's like this; if you had a brother who was a great real estate agent and you wanted to sell your house- would you look through the yellow pages to find a realtor you know nothing about?