THe Ethics of Being an Artisan

[John P]

I've written about this issue before, but this article that I have written for LinkedIn poses a specific question and raises many others.

The Ethics of Being an Artisan

I posed the following in an Instagram post, but I will explore it further here.

Fact: Ground coffee begins losing flavors and aromatics immediately after grinding and with every passing second.

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  So... what's the value of pre-ground coffee? Tick. Tick. Tick.
  
  
  Let's think about this. If you are an artisan (craft, small-batch, third wave, progressive, high-end, etc.) coffee shop and you sell your coffee for $30 lb, you certainly can't charge the same for pre-ground coffee. [Now, of course this is hypothetical because we all know there aren't any high-end coffee shops that sell pre-ground coffee.]
  
  
  The value of the pre-ground coffee would decline by the hour, by the minute, by the second. What are we looking at? Thirty hours? Thirty minutes? Thirty seconds until the relative value of that coffee is zero? Remember, the baseline is the whole bean, so you are not comparing it to other coffees, you are comparing it to itself. If you are selling single origin, small farm coffee for the reasons a coffee shop or roaster sells that quality of product, then by all measures, isn't the value approaching zero as soon as the bag lands on the shelf? Even if it were ground on the spot, the relative value would essentially be zero when it reached the customer's home.
  
  
  It's your job as a seller of artisan goods to educate your customers, it's not on the customer to come to you already educated. Selling high-end ingredients assumes that you are not trying to sell to everyone, but rather you welcome everyone who is looking for something better.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The science is clear. It comes down to words many are afraid to use, and fewer actually embody. Ethics. Principles. Do you have them or not? Once you ask to be recognized as being at a higher standard, you have to operate at - and be held to - a higher standard. And as a practical matter, since everything you are brewing is by the cup, why would you have bulk grinders anyway?

 

[lbeery]

I am in the business of selling coffee and would never push an agenda like this on my customer, I believe it would be ill received and sounds rather snobby. As a small batch, independent roaster it is my job to roast quality coffee and offer this to my customer base. As an artisan roaster, I have unique and "my brand specific" methods and processes that capture specifics to each batch/profile that I want to share as well. Sure, I like to educate and talk coffee with my customers but I am not going to force whole bean only if they are not willing to grind it at home. I will sell ground coffee all day long if that is what they want and still call myself an Artisan roaster.

 

[John P]

Thanks for your response.

Part of the problem with our industry is that people call themselves a lot of things. Respecting ingredients, craft, and having principles - these are not things you say, but actions you do. When I spoke at the SCAA in 2011, I addressed your specific comments back then - customers want to be led. They come for your expertise. It's your job to lead, and your customers will follow. Now if your customers don't respect your expertise, it would probably be awkward.

Agenda is a loaded word. "goal" or "purpose" would be much more accurate. The science is clear. The most aromatic and flavorful compounds are gone within minutes -- minutes of grinding (faster for espresso due to surface area differential). No matter how one tries to equivocate, the vast majority of those claiming some level of quality and expertise are knowingly and intentionally selling a already deteriorated product to their customers. I doubt these same people are educating their customers on the difference between A and B.

This is what should happen if coffee industry folk were honest about educating customers: "That bag there, yes... that one that's already ground -- It's rapidly staling by the minute so it already doesn't have the flavor notes listed on the bag. It's going to keep losing flavors quickly, but, I'm going to charge you the same for it. Now when you open the bag, it may smell wonderful because I have installed a one way valve. All those aromatics will be captured inside the bag, but you know where they're not going to be? In your coffee... Enjoy!"

As I wrote in my article, "Once you ask to be recognized as being at a higher standard, you have to operate at - and be held to - a higher standard. "

 

[Musicphan]

I tend to find myself in lberry's camp when it comes to selling beans for at-home consumption.

While I agree it's always best to have customers grind on demand.. for a lot of people that is impractical/impossible. Should we deny these customers the opportunity for great coffee simply because the don't have a grinder? Isn't it a better situation to sell them fresh roasted and ground coffee vs. the alternative of pre-ground grocery store coffee? And if we are going to be demanding of what our customers do at home... why not pre-qualify them, why stop at simply the requirement not to be pre-ground? Do they have a EK43 at home - No - None For You! Do they know how to properly bloom and dial in a pour over - NO - None For You! Can you taste the difference between a natural and washed coffee - No? - None For You!

 

[John P]

Let's not ignore the original question:What's the value of pre-ground coffee?

As 60% of all aromatics are gone in less than 15 minutes, and the most flavorful and nuanced ones going sooner than that, and 80% of all Co2 is gone in less than 1 minute...

I would surmise there is no justification for charging anywhere remotely close to the price of whole bean? So given the facts, what should the discount be? How much less are YOU charging?

 

[Musicphan]

The value proposition is simple ... product = value to the customer = price. Justification is simply up to the consumer.

 

[John P]

I wrote: (Regarding the ethics of selling pre-ground coffee for the same price as whole bean)

As 60% of all aromatics are gone in less than 15 minutes,
and the most flavorful and nuanced ones going sooner than that,
and 80% of all Co2 is gone in less than 1 minute...
I would surmise there is no justification for charging anywhere remotely close to the price of whole bean?

Musicphan replied:

Justification is simply up to the consumer.

And that is a perfect illustration of some of my final thoughts in my original post:

The science is clear. It comes down to words many are afraid to use, and fewer actually embody.
Ethics. Principles. Do you have them or not?
Once you ask to be recognized as being at a higher standard, you have to operate at - and be held to - a higher standard.

:coffee-bean: :coffee1:

 

[Musicphan]

John -

Are you implying any roaster lacks ethics or principles simply because they will grind coffee for customers. Is that what you are stating?

If that is what you are implying - where do you stop? In my earlier post I was being a bit tongue in cheek - but why not qualify your customers to see if they have the skill to brew coffee to SCAA Gold Cup standards? Are they really getting the most out of the $30/lb coffee?

 

[topher]

Grinding coffee for my customers is unethical? My last company I sold 48,000 lbs a month ground. I sold around 52,000 lbs whole bean a month. Am I supposed to walk away from over $700,000 of revenue? I am passionate about what I do. I have dedicated my life to this craft but at the end of the day I have to support my family. Sadly we also sold close to 50,000 lbs a month of flavored coffee. I know you look down on people who sell flavored coffee. I give customers what they want. When I introduce a new "creation" be it a blend or S.O. I tell them to drink it as they usually do. I learned in the past that you can not force people to drink coffee as I do..black. Some people do not like it. At the end of the day this is supposed to be enjoyable...so I tell them to enjoy it their way. I am not knocking your way of doing business...it works for you. What I do works for me.

 

[ensoluna]

Stubborn people never forgive or forget.

Ignorant people forgive and forget.

Wise people forgive but never forget.

To me, coffee is business, like 99% of people around the world (except consumers, of course). When I KNOW for sure that a coffee from some farm in Acatenango is 86 point, some customers are willing to pay as if it is 89 point. and for some, they do not even want to give score over 80 and tell me that they would not take it even if I just give it away.

for some people, they have the luxury to demand whatever they want from customers and still stays in business, perhaps because they are already rich, or not enough competition, or just so good in some specialties they do that they can surpass anyone else in that area.

there are so many cases that I would say "I AM NOT STUBBORN. MY WAY IS JUST BETTER", but unfortunately, as a starving & striving coffee business man, I have to be humble and listen to each customer's needs and requirements and try to give them what they need and what they want.

However, someday, I might want to say to them that "do it my way, because it is just better", but I know that I am not good enough, know enough nor understand enough about "COFFEE" to be that rigid and opinionated.

 

[John P]

Topher,

Thanks for your comments.

If you actually read the article, it would be clear that I am not talking about your type of operation. We do very different things. I have no expectation about a LARGE volume roaster having or professing to have these kinds of standards.
I've managed large numbers of people early in my working life, and handling the logistics for your type of operation is not a skill I possess.

 

[John P]

Musicphan,

Buzzwords like "specialty coffee" and "artisan" are great at getting the consumer to believe A is better than B, but all the small-farm talk, all the care one claims to have about their coffee AND customer education totally collapses once they sell ground coffee. The resulting product that's now in the bag is no longer the artisan product. It's not. Within short minutes it's devoid of all those properties that made it a great product. Claiming that it is the same would make one's ethics highly questionable.

 

[John P]

Ensoluna,

Thanks for your input.

Even with 90+ Cup of Excellence coffees, and a skilled roaster, the coffee still loses the most flavorful aromatics within less than a minute and 80% of all CO2, and 60% of ALL aromatics are gone within 15 minutes. So whatever the coffee was, it is not that product any longer. Communicating that it is in any way, shape or form the same or a similar product should give pause for concern. If you treat an "artisan" product as a product of convenience, then you never had an artisan product to begin with. It's not just about a quantifiable rating or number in regards to taste, it's about demonstrable standards, ethics, and principles.

And if your customer is unwilling to spend $30 on a hand mill or $100 on a grinder, then what does that say about what you are doing?

We care about our customers and have educated them honestly for 12+ years, and (as a notable example) David Schomer at Espresso Vivace has done it (sell whole bean only) for 25 years. It works. Not every customer has a grinder, but if you are honest, and explain the importance of fresh grinding, they see, taste, and trust, and hundreds of grinders will be ( have been) sold on the spot.

 

[ensoluna]

hi John.
I absolutely agree with you on the "ground coffee" matter. There is no doubt that selling ground coffee to customers is NOT IDEAL!
And if you can do your business in your own ethical way and still brings in enough customers (apparently, in your case), all kudos to you.

What i was talking about was that in most of coffee business (of course, exception to your business), we have to give what customers want in order to make the business and in some case, in order to make our business afloat. If not, there might be a chance that our family will suffer or may even lose your business.

John, I am 100% sure that you have never have or wanted to or needed to drink "instant coffee" in past 10 years or more, even there are no other "good enough coffees" around you (let's assume that). But when I travel in the mountains of Guatemala, "trying" to sell some decent green coffees to my customers, a lot of time, I have to rely on my instant coffee to get my coffee fix because I rather drink my instant coffee than "rechazo been coffee" that means coffee made out of "defective bean coffee". All the good beans are sold to overseas and the real bad ones stay in Guatemala for retail sales. Also if George Howell, the Godfather of coffee, is willing to drink his instant coffee while traveling, I guess it is okay to adopt and bend some of the ethics and rules when instant coffee is considered as "worse than old ground coffee".

And sometimes, I know that some green coffee that I am selling is not as good as the customer think or willing to pay for, Do I discourage him to buy? of course, not. Maybe he and his customers like that kind of coffee. who knows. And I feel that I am not "qualified enough" or "arrogant enough" to tell him that he is wrong and I am right.
So, I sell the coffee and whatever profit we make, some goes to my family and some goes to the Guatemala school that I sponsor to help out the unfortunate kids. And next year, the same customer comes back asking for same coffee. Everyone wins.

I guess what I am trying to say is that "everyone is different. Everyone has their own ethics and beliefs". And whatever ethics that person has, if it works for him. I congratulate him of doing great business with his ethics. However, Most of people do not have the luxury to enforce their own ethics to others, specially to customers.

 

[coffeeroastersclub]

I am sure everyone on this board knows that freshly ground is better than preground. To educate your buyer you need to have them experience the reason why without preaching to them. Thats when their defenses go up. Seems to me that the easiest way to do that is by the sense of smell. At your place of business have some pregound and wholebean. Have them smell the preground. Then freshly grind whole bean for them right on the spot and have them smell that. You should get instant converts with that process without preaching. And you can take that to the bank.8)

Len