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Permalink Reply by Alun Evans on February 9, 2010 at 10:49pm

I personally like this idea too. You know, if you go into a quality restaurant they offer wines from a number of top vineyards, not just one. Conversely a boutique bar will offer a range of beers from brewers- not just from one big, bad beer company! I guess(as already mentioned by a couple of posters) the issue is going to be support and machines. If a rental machine is involved, obviously this torpedos the idea of carrying a range of coffees....then again, I am not sur how big the machine supply/coffee contract deal is in the US? In NZ/Australia most coffee companies went with machines supplied on 2-3 year coffee contracts because they could see this exact issue playing a part in the future of the markets. The way around this was ultimatley to roast your own: which may explain the shape of the antipodean markets as they stand today.

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Permalink Reply by Patrick A. Payne on February 12, 2010 at 5:31am

This is a great thread because I am a new business and had pretty much the same idea. I want to chose the best coffees for each application- regardless of the roaster. If I believe one has the best beans for espresso, then I want to use it even if I prefer another roaster for my specialty drinks. Then there is pour over and press coffee that may be from different roasters too. At the moment, I have two roasters that I intend to use, CoffeeAM and Counter Culture. I've been sampling their coffees and doing some marketing with them by taking airpots full of their coffees to work with me to get comments. I work on a Navy base, so there are lots of coffee drinkers with opinions here! I've been doing this for a week now, bringing 2 airpots with different coffees each day. The comments have all been positive, but there are some clear winners. It has allowed me to figure out which coffee I want to have available every day and which ones I want to put into some kind of rotation that I haven't quite worked out yet. I want to keep it simple, but interesting.

I haven't started doing business yet and have time to think on all of this, but offering different coffees from different roasters makes some sense to me. Does anyone have any advice as to why this approach should not be used?

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Permalink Reply by Jared Browers on February 12, 2010 at 5:48am

We do this at our shop. We use Intelligentsia and Small World Coffee (Princeton NJ)

I was using just Small World Exclusively for a few years but switched over to Black Cat for our espresso after a ridiculous weeks worth of no sleep due to extreme taste testing between the two coffees.

I just really like the extraction overall from the Black Cat compared to Small Worlds mainly South American espresso blend. We still love Small World Coffee and it is always fresh roasted and shipped to us that day. We still brew up some of their blends such as Grumpy Monkey, Rocket Blend, and Organic Love Blend. These are all heavily doused with Papua New Guinea beans witch our customers seem to love.

Since the addition of the Intelligentsia Line we have seen an uptick in the bulk bean sales for BOTH brands. WE offer them at two different price points which gives them a distinct difference on the shelf. It also gives our baristas the chance to talk up the coffees and compare, contrast, etc. The less expensive coffee from Small World (about 2.50 less/pound) seems more approachable to newbies that are just getting into more complex coffees..(Not just a cup of joe).

We also own and run a wine shop and I think that compares well with the whole pricing idea. People will pick up a $10 - $12 bottle of wine but need to be sold the $40 bottle

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Permalink Reply by Stefan Hersh on February 12, 2010 at 6:18am

The whole notion of airpots at all is something we let go of in favor of brew-to-order quality, but, like offering multiple roasters coffee, this is philosophical decision not a business one. Also for quality reasons we don't offer larger drinks than 12 oz. We know that we lose a lot of business because people must pay more for less liquid, for which they must wait longer. I don't recommend these measures to others: running a business is hard enough.


Patrick A. Payne said:

This is a great thread because I am a new business and had pretty much the same idea. I want to chose the best coffees for each application- regardless of the roaster. If I believe one has the best beans for espresso, then I want to use it even if I prefer another roaster for my specialty drinks. Then there is pour over and press coffee that may be from different roasters too. At the moment, I have two roasters that I intend to use, CoffeeAM and Counter Culture. I've been sampling their coffees and doing some marketing with them by taking airpots full of their coffees to work with me to get comments. I work on a Navy base, so there are lots of coffee drinkers with opinions here! I've been doing this for a week now, bringing 2 airpots with different coffees each day. The comments have all been positive, but there are some clear winners. It has allowed me to figure out which coffee I want to have available every day and which ones I want to put into some kind of rotation that I haven't quite worked out yet. I want to keep it simple, but interesting.

I haven't started doing business yet and have time to think on all of this, but offering different coffees from different roasters makes some sense to me. Does anyone have any advice as to why this approach should not be used?

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