Are all beans created equal?

[House Blend]

Hello - I am a Home Roaster and I am wondering do green coffee beans vary in quality/taste from one online source to another? The reason I ask is that so far out of the beans I have recently ordered I have yet to have a descent cup of coffee!

 

[javahill]

Green beans vary by region, species, growing altitude, soil conditions, climate, weather, processing method, quality control, and on and on.

One of the more reputable online sources is sweet marias.

If you're not getting good coffee from beans you buy there, then check your roaster and roasting process.

 

[cawi]

bean quality

If you aren't getting a good cup out of your green beans then I would revisit the way you are roasting them. Start with a Costa Rica bean if you have it, it is well rounded and will give you a good starting off place. Roast to different profiles and see the differences. Maybe you are roasting them too dark and need to lighten up the cup. You will need to experiment to see what profile you like the most with each bean. Most online suppliers will give you a profile guide so you have an idea as to how dark to roast each bean. Keep trying!

 

[Jeff_Roaster_in_Training]

Coffee varies greatly as for quality, even sometimes from bag to bag in the same lot. We have gotten batches where the first bag was fine and the next bag had gotten a bit damp or something and the flavor was completely off. Let me tell ya, suppliers are sometimes a bit crabby when you tell them that your returning half a ton of Kenya AA at thier cost for replacement because the quality wasn't consistant. But you have to look at the beans before you roast them. How green are they? Insect damage? Immature beans? Diseases, fungus? In the case of Sumatras, piles of beans that got ran over by a truck when they dried it on the highway.
But watch your beans, if you find a good supllier stick with them, but never get complacent about quality.