"We have the best coffee in the world....and we are che

[Alun_evans]

I was reading through several other coffee boards the other day and was amazed at the number of posters who were advertising supposedly premium roasted product made from "100% mountain grown arabica" at...cheap, cheap prices. This is one of the things that irks me most about the coffee business. Instead of owners and retailers focusing on the attributes that make their coffee stand apart from all others- many focus on the "P" word in their closing statement. OK- granted it is competitive out there, but discounted prices send a very wrong message to consumers. It also means that at the end of the day the roaster/retailer has to work so much harder to keep his or her margins decent. In my market things are much the same- especially when local saleman (who get a big commission based on sales, not profit) are active.

To me I would rather see coffee sitting in its deserved place as a unique, crafted beverage- a thing of beauty....rather than being treated like a tube of toothpaste.[/b]

 

[MikeTheBike]

Cheap beans?

Alun,

you get what you pay for. Bargains are not always cheap....I'd sooner have less of a good coffee than more of a "cheap" one any day (same with my beer :grin: )

Great if you want a coffee in a polystyrene cup, but I'll stick with trusted brands.

Oh, I forgot.....I do buy cheap beans.....but they are for putting on my toast.

 

[Coffee Guy]

Here, here A.E. I agree with you. Sometimes its very difficult to educate the world in our industry, especially when there are those that watch the bottom line instead of the quality line. Us as roasters, especially good roasters have a more difficult time when putting out high quality product. Case in point, when the BIG boys out there purchase huge amounts of coffee to roast and sell for volume generally don't get the higher quality beans, whereas smaller roasters like ourselves concentrate on getting the higher quality beans at lesser amounts. Seems weird, but as I tell people all of the time my quality stands above my larger competitors because they probably waste more beans than I roast every year. But most people think that just because a company is huge with big name recognition that this company has to be the best. With that being said, I generally ask, "In your opinion what's more important, what goes on the inside of the cup, or what goes on the outside of the cup?" :lol: