Who has the best coffee?
Posted by Jenni Rowell | Filed under General Chatter
I think we all know who does not have the best coffee even if they are the most popular, but I’ve beat on them quite enough for the past few weeks so I will leave it at that.
When I decided to do this whole business thing, I had no idea what I was in for when it came to shopping for the coffee that would make or break my presence in the cafe world. I was clueless about where to start, who to ask; it was incredibly daunting and frankly mildly intimidating. Do I go with a local roaster? A national roaster? A small roaster? A large roaster? A well known company or a lesser known? I just kept doubting if I really knew what I was doing and whether or not I would truly ever know if I had made the right choice.
As we all know, I went with Counter Culture Coffee and I feel as though I have made a great choice and I have no regrets. But what interest me now is wondering how everyone else in the industry chose the coffee that carries their stamp of approval.
I realize that some shops out there are roasting their own beans, which is something I would LOOOOOOVE to do someday, but most of us are trusting enough to let professionals do that for us. Especially seeing as how there are so many variables, I can see how roasting your own beans would be both cost effective and convenient in the long run the larger you get. But for those of us that don’t like to get our hands quite as dirty, we are faced with so many equally important factors when making that choice and not only that, but a lot of the more high-end, reputable roasters require that your equipment meets certain standards of theirs so the choice is not 100% up to yout! Some will even come out to check the water quality (seriously…I was there when they did it). For me personally a huge deciding factor was that I needed a company that was going to be flexible with me making smaller orders throughout the month as opposed to $1,500 orders every week. I was also very concerned with finding a company that had healthy relationships with the coffee farmers and also offered organic products. Luckily, Counter Culture has outstanding relationships with all of their farmers so I never have to worry about whether or not the farmers are being treated fairly and equally.
In the end, the top 3 came down to Counter Culture, Intelligentsia and Batdorf & Bronson.
Even now after I’ve made my decision I’ve tasted some pretty swell coffees from up and coming roasters and even more, they are attached to a great cause. One of the most recent discoveries I’ve made is Land of a Thousand Hills whose slogan is “Drink Coffee. Do Good” and who doesn’t like the sound of that? I am pretty sure that even when I do decide to roast my own beans I will still place personal orders with Counter Culture. They really are that good!
I hope there are some coffee snobs out there that are willing to participate in this one post, because I really am curious to know how we all made our decisions. I realize for some that they either pick the most expensive coffee out there or the cheapest, but for those that tasted as many coffee’s as I did, how did you decide?
Also… anyone ever had Stumptown Coffee? I’m just now hearing about it, but I have it in mind to call them up for some samples!
And what is up with Chemex?
