Noonievut Senior Member Joined: 9 Sep 2006 Posts: 457 Location: Toronto. Canada Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Brasilia Club Grinder: Rocky DL Vac Pot: Other - Aeropress Roaster: Behmor
Posted Wed Apr 30, 2008, 9:58am Subject: Re: The greenbeanery - how good are their green beans?
buzzmccowan Said:
United States postal service has a special "Flat Box" rate for international. SM's can put up to 12lbs green only in this box, this is the best option. For my last order it was 26.50 USD shipping that way. The cheapest option is to buy bigger volumes of a single bean to get a better price from SM's, like 10lb bag of a brazil and a 2 lb bag of a whatever, as opposed to a bunch of single lb bags of different coffees. If you order, get in on some of the Harrar they have right now. It's awesome. Cheers, Kaelin
Thanks for the info. I just ordered 12 pounds, including their donkey blend, Harrar (horse?), brazil daterra, etc. Cost with shipping worked out to $7/pound. This order along with whatever I already have should last me a while.
Posted Wed Apr 30, 2008, 4:28pm Subject: Re: The greenbeanery - how good are their green beans?
Good advice! Thanks.
I've got just about all the varietals Greenbeanery carries and, while they're not bad, I don't have much to compare them to. I got some odds and end lots for Espresso Planet who were selling off their greens, some beans gifted to me and I've tried Birds and Beans. I like the quality of the Birds and Beans greens. For Greenbeanry, the Harrar has been hit and miss with them. Lots of blueberry on some lots and flat with others. I agree that while Greenbeanery's stock is pretty extensive their coffee knowledge and subsequent product quality might be questionable. Not nearly as committed or passionate as a vendor like Sweet Maria's.
I've known about Sweet Maria's for a while but thought their shipping would be too much. Good to know they're shipping costs are reasonable. I'll definitely give them a try.
That's because of the "at source" quality relationship greens that B&B buys from (the broker OPTCO) selling only top quality certified Organic & Fair Trade coffee, US based but have two wharehouses in Canada., Vancouver & Toronto.
For Greenbeanry, the Harrar has been hit and miss with them. Lots of blueberry on some lots and flat with others. I agree that while Greenbeanery's stock is pretty extensive their coffee knowledge and subsequent product quality might be questionable. Not nearly as committed or passionate as a vendor like Sweet Maria's.
That is because of our extremely limited number of green bean brokers here, & the MAJOR supplier to the trade is one that I haven't named until now is Kencaf & the majority of the green is "C" market quality.
The quality of the green coffee offerings would go up exponentially if any of the green bean retail vendors in Canada ordered their green from the likes of Royal Coffee Oakland CA or Royal Coffee NY.Sweetmaria's buys from Oakland & they're right next door to them.
birdsandbeans Senior Member Joined: 24 Aug 2003 Posts: 39 Location: Toronto Expertise: Pro Roaster
Roaster: Ambex YM15
Posted Thu May 1, 2008, 2:06am Subject: Re: The greenbeanery - how good are their green beans?
CraigA Said:
That's because of the "at source" quality relationship greens that B&B buys from (the broker OPTCO) selling only top quality certified Organic & Fair Trade coffee, US based but have two wharehouses in Canada., Vancouver & Toronto.
Ahhh, if only it were that easy. We have very specific requirements for the coffee we buy in terms of the quality of the coffee and the environmental and social conditions and it is not possible to just get those from one source. We buy from a number of different importers and some direct from the farms. Of the coffee we buy from importers, all but a very tiny portion of it we purchase in the US and import into Canada as what is available here generally does not meet our requirements. I don't think it is possible to compete amongst the top roasters by purchasing green beans that happen to be available locally.
We don't buy any "commodity" coffee - we know exactly where the coffees come from and try, where possible, to purchase from the same farms/co-ops year after year to, in our small way, help provide a decent predictable income for the people who farm the coffee and to help preserve the environment in which it is grown. We share those beans with our customers who want great coffee and share our values
tommy99 Senior Member Joined: 27 Jan 2008 Posts: 22 Location: toronto Expertise: Just starting
Posted Thu May 1, 2008, 6:25am Subject: Re: The greenbeanery - how good are their green beans?
Interesting discussion, especially seeing it from the roaster side.
I know B&B has great product, and although I haven't ordered from SM, they are no doubt providing high quality product so what does it come down to for purchasing?
B&B offers 12.5 pounds of Colombia Mesa de los Santos for $75 plus shipping (say $10 average in Toronto and area) = $85 while SM offers Colombia Antioquia, 12lbs (10+2), 88 cup rating for $56.10 plus $27 shipping = $83.10US. The dollar is pretty close still so not much of a factor.
They really are the same price factoring all things.
I'm tempted to order SM because the write-ups are outstanding as the guidance they provide for roasting is phenomenal and am curious but B&B is local and I'm for supporting the local economy. Both are very environmentally and socially conscience. I'm quite convinced Green Beanery is out of the picture for me.
Posted Thu May 1, 2008, 7:28am Subject: Re: The greenbeanery - how good are their green beans?
birdsandbeans Said:
Ahhh, if only it were that easy. We have very specific requirements for the coffee we buy in terms of the quality of the coffee and the environmental and social conditions and it is not possible to just get those from one source. We buy from a number of different importers and some direct from the farms.
Noonievut Senior Member Joined: 9 Sep 2006 Posts: 457 Location: Toronto. Canada Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Brasilia Club Grinder: Rocky DL Vac Pot: Other - Aeropress Roaster: Behmor
Posted Thu May 1, 2008, 8:48am Subject: Re: The greenbeanery - how good are their green beans?
tommy99 Said:
Interesting discussion, especially seeing it from the roaster side.
I know B&B has great product, and although I haven't ordered from SM, they are no doubt providing high quality product so what does it come down to for purchasing?
B&B offers 12.5 pounds of Colombia Mesa de los Santos for $75 plus shipping (say $10 average in Toronto and area) = $85 while SM offers Colombia Antioquia, 12lbs (10+2), 88 cup rating for $56.10 plus $27 shipping = $83.10US. The dollar is pretty close still so not much of a factor.
They really are the same price factoring all things.
I'm tempted to order SM because the write-ups are outstanding as the guidance they provide for roasting is phenomenal and am curious but B&B is local and I'm for supporting the local economy. Both are very environmentally and socially conscience. I'm quite convinced Green Beanery is out of the picture for me.
As mentioned, I've tried GB and B&B. I mainly home-roast for use in a french press and aeropress (I still buy my espresso roasted). I've found both to be good, though I would give the edge in taste to B&B and price to GB (also I can easily pick up from GB, harder with B&B). As SM is so popular, I thought I should give it a shot to see if I'm missing anything.
Posted Thu May 1, 2008, 9:24am Subject: Re: The greenbeanery - how good are their green beans?
Great discussion
I'm looking at B & B's green offerings right now, and what I'm noticing is a whole lot of "Fair Trade" offerings.
In my albeit limited experience, most certified Fair Trade(tm) coffees tend to be pretty poor, and I imagine it has something to do with farmers selling off their top quality beans for a higher price and not having to give TransFair a chunk of that money for the privilege, and then selling the bottom of the barrel crop as certified via TransFair dealers.
Am I mistaken in this assumption, have I just had bad experiences thus far?
tommy99 Senior Member Joined: 27 Jan 2008 Posts: 22 Location: toronto Expertise: Just starting
Posted Fri May 2, 2008, 4:41am Subject: Re: The greenbeanery - how good are their green beans?
BrainInAJar Said:
Great discussion
I'm looking at B & B's green offerings right now, and what I'm noticing is a whole lot of "Fair Trade" offerings.
In my albeit limited experience, most certified Fair Trade(tm) coffees tend to be pretty poor, and I imagine it has something to do with farmers selling off their top quality beans for a higher price and not having to give TransFair a chunk of that money for the privilege, and then selling the bottom of the barrel crop as certified via TransFair dealers.
Am I mistaken in this assumption, have I just had bad experiences thus far?
This is an interesting question. while I would think that respectable roasters like B&B and such would not be selling sub-par beans to their customers, and roast themself, but I can't say I've ever seen a cup of excellence bean being Fair Trade, or Organic for that matter but I really haven't looked into it that much. (Nor do I want to drop that much money into buying them - I need to work on my roasting more).
Perhaps David might be able to provide more insight into this based on his experience.
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