Coffee Drinkers Anonymous

Calvin27

Eats Squid
It may well be, but jumping from $4 / $4.50 to $5.85 already felt quite a bit, even though I am all for paying a little more for coffee given where it is grown and export costs.
Where I am we have 8 coffee shops servicing 2 x 60,000 sqm offices. And they all seem to not only stay in business but do well. Coffee had a bit of a scare at one point heading north of the $4 mark and looking like it was going to burst past $5 but then some of the folks decided to break even on the stuff and make money on the food. Now the average cup is $3.70 down to $3.50 if you are hip and want to save the world and byo cup. Quality is good too and they have their own nice little quirks and tastes.

On the weekend most place I frequent charge $4.50 and it's not as good. The rent should be cheaper (i.e. not CBD) and the barristas seem lower paid but the costs are still higher go figure.
 

cameron_15

Eats Squid
Any suggestions on a good supplier of beans?

I've recently purchased a SunBeam Espresso machine and have been trying to improve my home coffee's. I finally got around to buying freshly roasted beans instead of supermarket ones and had to adjust the grind setting way down for the fresh beans to pour espresso at the right pressure.

The beans I recently bought came from a Merlo coffee shop and at $23 for 500g they're not cheap and it seems there are many other online suppliers who may offer better/more affordable pricing.
 

Oddjob

Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
Any suggestions on a good supplier of beans?

I've recently purchased a SunBeam Espresso machine and have been trying to improve my home coffee's. I finally got around to buying freshly roasted beans instead of supermarket ones and had to adjust the grind setting way down for the fresh beans to pour espresso at the right pressure.

The beans I recently bought came from a Merlo coffee shop and at $23 for 500g they're not cheap and it seems there are many other online suppliers who may offer better/more affordable pricing.
I like mycuppa.com.au and Jaques.com.au

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hifiandmtb

Sphincter beanie
No one has said if the expensive coffee was worth it?

I seem to regularly find a 6 out of 10 coffee for $4.

I’d pay more for a 8 or 9 out of 10.
 

fatboyonabike

Captain oblivious
Is this because being covered in tattoo's is somewhat limiting your employment opportunities so why not work in a cafe?
and being a barista isn't really a job, but rather a very limited skill set used to shelter from the elements in exchange for muffin crumbs
 

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
I've recently purchased a SunBeam Espresso machine and have been trying to improve my home coffee's
Sorry to hear that. I've owned quite a few different home machines (never broke the $600 mark thoug) and the one machine I wasn't happy with was a sunbeam. Fortunately David Jones had great customer service at the time.

All you coffee drinkers worried about the price of coffee consider a few things...

How much do you pay for a beer or a glass of wine? A cafe/bar/pub is generally paying roughly the same amount for a worker pouring a drink whether it be coffee or something else. I am able to churn out beer, wine, spirits, mixed drinks, and so on at a pretty rapid rate working in the bar on my own (* see funny ego boosting story below). By comparison taking orders and preparing coffee without another staff member or 2 is really challenging, this can really pump up your staffing costs. Preparing a coffee takes a bit more time than opening a beer or pouring a wine, incurs a higher % of waste in preparation (though a friend of mine would say differently with a few of his current staff!), requires a massive capital investment (eg espresso machines $20-30k are fairly common and a matching grinder can be $3-5k). Sure a big tap system isn't cheap either but the sale volume between the 2 is usually pretty different. Over the last 10 or so years the cost per cup of coffee has gone up. Milk has been reasonably stable, but utilities like power, insurance, delivery/fuel, foods, and the cost per shot of coffee as well (coffee per kg and the amount used per shot). When I was a student in 1736 most cafes ran around 10 grams of coffee per shot. This has grown over the years 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 grams...at 18 grams per shot you need be pretty tidy with your grinder to yield 20 cups of coffee per kilo and a kilo will probably cost a minimum of $30 and probably more. When someone buys a coffee they don't normally come back and buy a second one in 15-20 minutes, or a third fourth fifth sixth...but they often sit down and enjoy the brew for about 20-30 minutes. Depending on the nature of your business this can really eat into sales. I was working in an espresso bar with take away focus a while back. We would have a social group drop in once a week, 20-25 people, who would all order 1 coffee and fill up the spaxefor about 45-60 minutes. Because they were a big group it was noisey as a herd of elephants, they'd leave a massive mess, deter other customers because of wait times + noise, and of course they believed they were the savours of the business because there was so many of them... 25 x 4 isn't very much. Lastly fuck me commercial rent is expensive! This expense has soared in a lot of places while the return for business has been pretty stable for a while...$4-5 per cup.

And fuck me if you alternative milk types don't make life hard!!! It seems once whatever version is trendy reaches a solid market penetration you're off googling a jew alternative to be pissy people aren't stocking! Do you have paw paw milk here? How about some man milk arsehole?

Anyway I don't want coffee to be more expensive either! I love the stuff and it's taken a lot of money from me over the years. But it must be tricky for some small business operators to stay buoyant at the moment.








* ego boost story here: last year I got stuck working in a bar on my own. There was over 1000 people in and the dinning room crew were having trouble getting food + coffee out so my off sidereal got called away to help out. I got told to "make it work..." so I encouraged my ragged crowd of thirst merchants to form up 2 neat lines, 1 for each til. So I was working 2 tils like a hooked with a room full of sailors! Bottle tops flying everywhere, corks popping, serve one customer their drinks + fire up the eftpos + start next customer at other til, back and forwards. It's funny to note that I obviously wasn't as fast as 2 people doing the job, but when a crowd can see your busting a nut they are surprisingly supportive. If there had been 2 of me working at that speed there would've been a riot! Anyway relief comes! I'm saved!!! Off sider is a touch flustered switching from the dinning room to the bar and is a little slow off the mark...a few customers in and one of the crowd fires up "fuck off mate! He was faster without you!" A few days later the boss has heard about it and thinks it's pretty funny "you probably were mate..." where's my gold star then?
 

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
Is this because being covered in tattoo's is somewhat limiting your employment opportunities so why not work in a cafe?
and being a barista isn't really a job, but rather a very limited skill set used to shelter from the elements in exchange for muffin crumbs
You need to be able to push 3 buttons, use a stop watch, thermometer, and scales...it's science man!

Patience is the bigger skill...patience to deal with fuckwitted moron after fuckwitted moron for hours on end. Coffee seems to turn people into arseholes and morons at the same time.
 

born-again-biker

Is looking for a 16" bar
I usually pay between $38 and $40 p/kg delivered from a small list of my favourite local & interstate roasters.

I weigh all my shots at around 20.5 grams.

I drink 2-3 a day, wife 1-2.

I have always liked the taste of soy milk in my coffee (flame away bigots!)... not because it's trendy or healthy (it's not)... I just like the sweetness. Soy milk can really complement the flavours of many roasts. Most people's issue with it is mental/social/irrational etc.
But if someone makes me a good whole milk coffee or an espresso, I like them too.

Sadly there are still too many cafes around with a $30k equipment set-up and very poorly trained staff (literally no idea how to dial-in a grinder).
I get very annoyed when I occasionally pay for a coffee and it's bitter/weak/boiled etc.

There's so much info/training out there these days about how to make good coffee... No excuse anymore.

Poodle's comments re input costs vs pouring a beer are very true.
Really, really good coffee (that you remember) takes real skill & dedication.
Good baristas have proper skills that take years to hone.
But, like anything, the shit ones give the rest a bad name.


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pink poodle

気が狂っている男
I have always liked the taste of soy milk in my coffee (flame away bigots!)... not because it's trendy or healthy (it's not)... I just like the sweetness. Soy milk can really complement the flavours of many roasts. Most people's issue with it is mental/social/irrational etc.
I love the chunks that form up as the soy curdles with the coffee.

A lot of people simply don't care or refuse to learn, possibly from arrogance. Coffee is also quite subjective as well. People may like coffee that tastes like a pig's arsehole, sometimes the flavour of the coffee isn't even part of what makes it good coffee! Fools.

And let's not forget that even McDonald's has baristas.
 

silentbutdeadly

has some good things to say
Any suggestions on a good supplier of beans?

I've recently purchased a SunBeam Espresso machine and have been trying to improve my home coffee's. I finally got around to buying freshly roasted beans instead of supermarket ones and had to adjust the grind setting way down for the fresh beans to pour espresso at the right pressure.

The beans I recently bought came from a Merlo coffee shop and at $23 for 500g they're not cheap and it seems there are many other online suppliers who may offer better/more affordable pricing.
We get our beans from Fish River Roasters in Bathurst. Decent price, fair postage and a couple of the blends (Hub blend and Avenue blend) are really good.

We use a basic $230 Sunbeam machine but a much more pricey grinder - the results are very satisfactory.
 

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
Well I've just proven that coffee can still be bad, even when you are being served a series of attractive people. I'm not sure what makes it hard to get right...
 

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
Screw the taste, as long as it's "instaworthy" right?


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I think I worked for you a while ago...I've spent most of my time making high volume take away where taste + service are essential. I did 6 months in a place where the look was all that mattered, "I want people to be inspired to take photos of it and post them on instagram" was pretty much what he said. Absolutely zero fucks for how it tasted! I worked there for a few weeks before either of the owners tried my coffee. They closed up a few weeks after I left which was a shame as they were both nice people and had an interesting concept.

That said; if it doesn't have a lid on it you should be putting something there...it doesn't need to be elaborate or fancy as fuck and a simple heart is easy to do and really takes no extra time.
 

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Petero

Likes Dirt
Sorry to hear that. I've owned quite a few different home machines (never broke the $600 mark thoug) and the one machine I wasn't happy with was a sunbeam. Fortunately David Jones had great customer service at the time.
I own a ~$600 Breville, mate owns a ~$700 Sunbeam - I wish I had his machine. Night and day between the two.

For coffee supplies, if I'm poorly prepared my local supermarket stocks Braziliano coffee for about $16/500g, they are more than passable and better than some others you will buy in shops. My current favourite roaster is Leftfield Coffee (former owners of Fiore if Fiore ever made it East to the majority of you..). Free shipping @ $40 for a kg is very very decent for what I think, is very very decent coffee.

I'm Perth based so some influence there on the suggestions!
 

Kerplunk

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I own a ~$600 Breville, mate owns a ~$700 Sunbeam - I wish I had his machine. Night and day between the two.

For coffee supplies, if I'm poorly prepared my local supermarket stocks Braziliano coffee for about $16/500g, they are more than passable and better than some others you will buy in shops. My current favourite roaster is Leftfield Coffee (former owners of Fiore if Fiore ever made it East to the majority of you..). Free shipping @ $40 for a kg is very very decent for what I think, is very very decent coffee.

I'm Perth based so some influence there on the suggestions!
For coffee beans, 5 senses coffee in Perth is excellent. I really like their Dark Horse blend, https://www.fivesenses.com.au/product/coffee/blends/dark-horse-blend/
Works well for milk based coffees and espresso.

As Creaky said, the Rancilio Silvia is a solid machine and can pour an espresso as good as a $$$ machine but does require practice to get it bang on. You need a decent grinder as well, Nemox Lux is cheapish and grinds well enough for home use.
The silvia shits all over the sunbeam tbh. You really need a machine the uses a boiler rather than a “thermo block” to heat the water.
 
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