Their website is disturbing close to the excellent North America premium coffee service I use, Craft Coffee (@craftcoffee ; https://www.craftcoffee.com/). Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's just the red logo and brown vac bags, but this kind of smacks of that crappy "just different enough to not be infringement" move.
Besides that (and Germans need coffee too!), getting premium coffee delivered is such an amazing thing. I now live in a smaller Canadian city and my fresh roasted, premium coffee options have declined. I've been enjoying Craft Coffee for several months now and not only is the product excellent (I do regular reviews on Twitter, @quinndupont), they are a really great group of people who are always willing to reach out and help or just take suggestions. A start up that actually listens and cares; it's the main reason why I like to support new businesses.
[Edit: one of the best things about Craft Coffee is that they source their fresh-roasted beans from all over North America, so you get the cream of the crop from roasters you'd never be able to enjoy otherwise; you get three different roasters each month.]
And, if you happen to sign up for Craft Coffee (I totally recommend it!), they offer a 15% off coupon code. Look around for a friend's code (they get a free month if you sign up), or (trying not to spam here...) use mine: quinn1922.
I fail to see any sort of a similarities. If you are referring to them both selling coffee, and having brown bags and the same sort of colour scheme. Then well every single company in the world is a copy of another one.
A) I actually thought they ARE the german sibling of craftcoffee, but thanks for the clarification. They indeed look like a copy, but I don't mind that as long it doesn't lack in the execution and quality.
B) Since you seem to be a coffee expert: What sort of coffee has a very low acidic profile, whilst having being strong and aromatic?
C) To use the service you need to own a EUR 1000+ coffee machine, which only rich people have, or am I wrong?
a) I don't believe they are associated with Craft Coffee, but I'm just a pleased customer, with no inside information. They looks very, very similar, but with just enough difference to suggest that they are separate. Craft Coffee only supplies NA, so, I guess I'm happy to see similar companies for the Germans, and the Brits, etc.
b) I wouldn't call myself an expert, but I'd suggest you look at more of the "newer" West coast style of roasts. Look for "medium" roast beans; the old "full city" (or darker) will give you the strength, but little else. Growing location will not have as much of an impact on those qualities as the roast (different regions tend to have different aromatics, but if you aren't picky about berries versus vegetal versus leather, then ignore the growing source). As for the combination of all of those qualities, it might be tricky: "strong" usually comes at the expense of "aromatic", and "acidity" may be present no matter (although, for my palette, "bitterness" is MUCH more important than acidity--some acidity can be quite nice). The basic tips to get quality coffee are: (medium roast) beans between 3 days and 2 weeks old, use more coffee than you would think is correct (best is to weigh your beans & water), have your water temp at about 95c (not boiling), and make the amount of time between grind and brew as short as possible (ideally <10seconds).
c) Certainly not! My daily brew method is an Aeropress (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AeroPress) available on Amazon or better cafes for <$40 (including all the filters and everything). It only makes a cup at a time, but if you are drinking solo this works (and it takes <2 min start-to-finish to brew). Alternatively, try a "pour over", which is really just a holder for a coffee filter, which you can pick up for $5 practically anywhere (most people think of it as "camping style" but they are totally wrong!). Or, French press (<$40), which won't have the aromatics of the other two methods, but will make a nice strong cup. Also, consider splurging on a good (burr) grinder (~$100), it is WAY more important than your "machine".
B.) Try Indian coffees. They are very low acidic profile. Specifically Monsoon Medley or Mysore Mystic from Josuma Coffee Company. Josuma's espresso is very good too.
You might find a place that ships it online but if you can't, email me and I can pick it up for you at a local coffee shop. If you're in the Bay Area, the coffee shop is in Oakland.
See also the UK service Pact: https://www.pactcoffee.com/ This is just another "me too" business, scoop a few beans into a brown paper bag and post it out with a huge margin.
FWIW: Craft Coffee is pricey, but not ridiculously so (considering the price that premium coffee fetches anyway). And, I'm actually pretty amazed at the whole process, not at all a "scoop a few beans into a brown paper bag and post" situation. Each month they ship different coffee sourced from all over North America, and tailored (to some extent) on your preferred brewing method and your ratings history. They only ship super-fresh coffee, so you they must coordinate with the roaster to day-of fedex the coffee to them, where they must scramble to 1-2 day fulfill orders and then get them in the mail. You can get your coffee delivered to your doorstep within 7-10 days of the ROAST date. Crazy fast.
(again: just happy customer, not trying to astro-turf here)
Comments
Their website is disturbing close to the excellent North America premium coffee service I use, Craft Coffee (@craftcoffee ; https://www.craftcoffee.com/). Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's just the red logo and brown vac bags, but this kind of smacks of that crappy "just different enough to not be infringement" move.
Besides that (and Germans need coffee too!), getting premium coffee delivered is such an amazing thing. I now live in a smaller Canadian city and my fresh roasted, premium coffee options have declined. I've been enjoying Craft Coffee for several months now and not only is the product excellent (I do regular reviews on Twitter, @quinndupont), they are a really great group of people who are always willing to reach out and help or just take suggestions. A start up that actually listens and cares; it's the main reason why I like to support new businesses.
[Edit: one of the best things about Craft Coffee is that they source their fresh-roasted beans from all over North America, so you get the cream of the crop from roasters you'd never be able to enjoy otherwise; you get three different roasters each month.]
And, if you happen to sign up for Craft Coffee (I totally recommend it!), they offer a 15% off coupon code. Look around for a friend's code (they get a free month if you sign up), or (trying not to spam here...) use mine: quinn1922.
I fail to see any sort of a similarities. If you are referring to them both selling coffee, and having brown bags and the same sort of colour scheme. Then well every single company in the world is a copy of another one.
A) I actually thought they ARE the german sibling of craftcoffee, but thanks for the clarification. They indeed look like a copy, but I don't mind that as long it doesn't lack in the execution and quality.
B) Since you seem to be a coffee expert: What sort of coffee has a very low acidic profile, whilst having being strong and aromatic?
C) To use the service you need to own a EUR 1000+ coffee machine, which only rich people have, or am I wrong?
a) I don't believe they are associated with Craft Coffee, but I'm just a pleased customer, with no inside information. They looks very, very similar, but with just enough difference to suggest that they are separate. Craft Coffee only supplies NA, so, I guess I'm happy to see similar companies for the Germans, and the Brits, etc.
b) I wouldn't call myself an expert, but I'd suggest you look at more of the "newer" West coast style of roasts. Look for "medium" roast beans; the old "full city" (or darker) will give you the strength, but little else. Growing location will not have as much of an impact on those qualities as the roast (different regions tend to have different aromatics, but if you aren't picky about berries versus vegetal versus leather, then ignore the growing source). As for the combination of all of those qualities, it might be tricky: "strong" usually comes at the expense of "aromatic", and "acidity" may be present no matter (although, for my palette, "bitterness" is MUCH more important than acidity--some acidity can be quite nice). The basic tips to get quality coffee are: (medium roast) beans between 3 days and 2 weeks old, use more coffee than you would think is correct (best is to weigh your beans & water), have your water temp at about 95c (not boiling), and make the amount of time between grind and brew as short as possible (ideally <10seconds).
c) Certainly not! My daily brew method is an Aeropress (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AeroPress) available on Amazon or better cafes for <$40 (including all the filters and everything). It only makes a cup at a time, but if you are drinking solo this works (and it takes <2 min start-to-finish to brew). Alternatively, try a "pour over", which is really just a holder for a coffee filter, which you can pick up for $5 practically anywhere (most people think of it as "camping style" but they are totally wrong!). Or, French press (<$40), which won't have the aromatics of the other two methods, but will make a nice strong cup. Also, consider splurging on a good (burr) grinder (~$100), it is WAY more important than your "machine".
Awesome!
Thanks for the detailed answer, sir :)
B.) Try Indian coffees. They are very low acidic profile. Specifically Monsoon Medley or Mysore Mystic from Josuma Coffee Company. Josuma's espresso is very good too.
Learn more here: http://www.josuma.com/monsoon-medley/ http://www.josuma.com/mysore-mystic/
You might find a place that ships it online but if you can't, email me and I can pick it up for you at a local coffee shop. If you're in the Bay Area, the coffee shop is in Oakland.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/black-spring-coffee-company-oakland
See also the UK service Pact: https://www.pactcoffee.com/ This is just another "me too" business, scoop a few beans into a brown paper bag and post it out with a huge margin.
FWIW: Craft Coffee is pricey, but not ridiculously so (considering the price that premium coffee fetches anyway). And, I'm actually pretty amazed at the whole process, not at all a "scoop a few beans into a brown paper bag and post" situation. Each month they ship different coffee sourced from all over North America, and tailored (to some extent) on your preferred brewing method and your ratings history. They only ship super-fresh coffee, so you they must coordinate with the roaster to day-of fedex the coffee to them, where they must scramble to 1-2 day fulfill orders and then get them in the mail. You can get your coffee delivered to your doorstep within 7-10 days of the ROAST date. Crazy fast. (again: just happy customer, not trying to astro-turf here)
You should really get a job with them as a sales/marketing guy.
I actually think Kaffee Bitte's site is distinctive and frankly, looks much better.