Online coffee beans retailer

[Raymond Lin]

The other thing is that these days I don't go for blends, a blend is anything they can get their hands on, roast to a profile named "breakfast". Whilst there is nothing wrong with that and I too do it myself when I buy pre-ground to drink at work (pre-ground, from Lidi no less and then now and again I would drink instant), but when I am buying beans at home, I buy single origin beans. It is a bit like drinking concentrated vs unpasteurised orange juice. Or drinking Tropicana vs freshly squeezed. One always has the same taste profile no matter the year, whereas a freshly squeeze one can vary, good or bad, according to the season, the country of origin and many other things.

I enjoy both, but at home, I like to go deeper into the rabbit hole.

 

[robj20]

Raymond put it well. After scrolling through ‘every weird and wonderful flavour’ I got the impression they very much favour quantity over quality.

If as you suggest they are trying to use up old beans then they must have a lot of old beans to use up. A huge red flag for me anyway.

Yeah red flags everywhere, I'll stop using them.

I think some of you are forgetting we aren't all coffee elites in here some of us are just after a step up from Costa and want a nice coffee to go with our breakfast.
You'll probably look down on me because I don't have a £2000 grinder but I'm happy with my bean to cup machine as well. I'm pretty happy with Lavazza beans but Hormozi are perfect for me.

 

[BUDFORCE]

Yeah red flags everywhere, I'll stop using them.

I think some of you are forgetting we aren't all coffee elites in here some of us are just after a step up from Costa and want a nice coffee to go with our breakfast.
You'll probably look down on me because I don't have a £2000 grinder but I'm happy with my bean to cup machine as well. I'm pretty happy with Lavazza beans but Hormozi are perfect for me.

There is a lot of snobbery here.

I think the attitude of, if it's only £15 a kg, then it can't possibly be good.

 

[thewanted]

There is a lot of snobbery here.

I think the attitude of, if it's only £15 a kg, then it can't possibly be good.

Agreed. My company uses beans from Rocket at £44/kg and even with their fancy equipment it tastes really bitter.

 

[Haggisman]

There is a lot of snobbery here.

I think the attitude of, if it's only £15 a kg, then it can't possibly be good.

No complaints about Hormozi here, been using them since I found them recommended in this thread a couple of years ago.

Buying their 1kg bags is no more expensive (and in some cases cheaper) than mass produced supermarket beans, and the quality is significantly better (also it seems to be impossible to find a light roast anywhere), so sure, they might not be the absolute best quality, but for everyday drinking it's ideal for me.

 

[Brazo]

Yeah red flags everywhere, I'll stop using them.

I think some of you are forgetting we aren't all coffee elites in here some of us are just after a step up from Costa and want a nice coffee to go with our breakfast.
You'll probably look down on me because I don't have a £2000 grinder but I'm happy with my bean to cup machine as well. I'm pretty happy with Lavazza beans but Hormozi are perfect for me.

And that’s all I was trying to ascertain whether it was worth me buying from there and your comment regarding a step up from Costa was perfect for my decision making so thank you! It’s not snobbery just couldn’t work out why so cheap. And no people I’m not a snob either if I want to buy decent coffee any more than you are for wanting the latest 5090.

 

[Junglist]

Thanks for this, it has been a while since I got any coffee (been on a tea kick) and this lot are in walking distance.

Great roastery and the staff are really nice. It's like sweets pick and mix but for coffee beans!

Helps that the little caffe at the back sells their coffee for £2 a cup. Insane value in the city, really.

 

[nst68]

I've been using Coffee Works (Coffee Kev on Youtube) Chocolate Brownie Blend in my Ninja 601.

https://www.cworks.co.uk/collections/blends

Nice coffee but not had anything else to really compare it against as I was using Nespresso pods before, will try their Italian Blend next.

I've used Black Cat Coffee before and liked their Signature and Chocolate blends.

https://www.blackcatcoffee.co.uk/collections/coffee-blends

 

[Brazo]

There is a lot of snobbery here.

I think the attitude of, if it's only £15 a kg, then it can't possibly be good.

It certainly asks a question and no where did I say it couldn’t be good but there has to be a reason for it being half price, cheaper beans. Wholesale/industrial quality, older beans who knows but ffs let me ask the question!

 

[Haggisman]

It certainly asks a question and no where did I say it couldn’t be good but there has to be a reason for it being half price, cheaper beans. Wholesale/industrial quality, older beans who knows but ffs let me ask the question!

If nothing else, they're probably saving a fortune on marketing vs the more "mainstream" places like Rave and Pact who are always advertising on TV/leaflet drops etc.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Can someone take a photo of their beans for me and let me know what roast level they are too?

I am trying to see whether their version of medium is what I would call medium when I roast for comparison.

Left is my own roast, right is what i get from Method for their "Medium".

 

[Cadder]

@Raymond Lin I have a few different beans from Rave but they may all be dark roast... I'll check and take a photo if there are any medium.

On the subject of blends - I have at times thought they're an excuse to mix poor-tasting beans with others to make drinkable coffee, but I'd still not totally write them off. There will be roasters out there who take blending beans seriously to make a delightful coffee. Drawing a parallel with whisky, I once would only drink single malt, but there are blends that have been carefully crafted to make a great tasting dram.

I am really enjoying Rave's Mocha Java, 'Tusk' African and Italian Job beans - all blends. Some of the single origin beans have been fantastic, others have been disappointing. The best for me have been their Brazil Fazenda Campestre or India Monsoon Malabar AA. The latter is a bit of a chew on with grinder retention even with a bit of water.

 

[Cadder]

Can someone take a photo of their beans for me and let me know what roast level they are too?

I am trying to see whether their version of medium is what I would call medium when I roast for comparison.

These are the only medium roast beans I have. Ordered them last month.

Spoiler: RAVE Honduras El Chollo Nº 251

Medium roast

 

[Raymond Lin]

@Raymond Lin I have a few different beans from Rave but they may all be dark roast... I'll check and take a photo if there are any medium.

On the subject of blends - I have at times thought they're an excuse to mix poor-tasting beans with others to make drinkable coffee, but I'd still not totally write them off. There will be roasters out there who take blending beans seriously to make a delightful coffee. Drawing a parallel with whisky, I once would only drink single malt, but there are blends that have been carefully crafted to make a great tasting dram.

I am really enjoying Rave's Mocha Java, 'Tusk' African and Italian Job beans - all blends. Some of the single origin beans have been fantastic, others have been disappointing. The best for me have been their Brazil Fazenda Campestre or India Monsoon Malabar AA. The latter is a bit of a chew on with grinder retention even with a bit of water.

We all have different tastes and preferences so it is hard to say "its good" or "that's bad" coffee. I am currently drinking a Morrison's The Best Range of Kenyan Pre-ground, No.3. They call it medium on the packet but I would rate it more on the dark side of things but still nowhere near Starbucks or any of the chains. This Morrison stuff is pretty nice actually, the bag says single origin (don't really care), and it is £3.50 for a 227g bag which is cheap these days.

We all know the saying that "the more you roast, the less you taste of the farmer and more of the cook." Or something to that degree, and how the major chains or large commerical roasters roasts their beans on the darker side in order to hide the characterristics of the bean, which is because they are generally lesser quality to begin with. Now this isn't always the case and lots of factors at play here (alongside with the skill of the roaster and his skill to blend).

What I am trying to ascertain is where do Hormozi lies in terms of this "farmer to roaster" scale. I personally do not like Lavazza, robj20 likes it, so we are all different. I was given a bag of beans (not Lavazza) a few months ago, a kilo of it, dark looking, oily bean, and I made a few cup over a week and each time I struggled to finish it, even adding milk and sugar to mask the taste, burnt bad taste. I ended up putting it into the freezer and only get it out to make cold brew, the only method where i find it is passable...it tastes worse than Instant, worse than Nescafe Original. This bag of free beans is dark, oily on the surface and to me it tastes nothing of the farmer.

Anyway, if someone can take a photo of some Hormozi beans that would be great.

 

[Cadder]

Fair enough. I agree on your comments regarding Hormozi.

Interestingly enough, those Honduras beans from Rave are probably my least favourite. That's because I genuinely thought I'd burned them somehow when brewing in a moka pot - the smell was sickly and I truly thought they were burnt and so threw it out without even trying it. Later on I tried making espresso - same smell. Tasted burnt too. Couldn't stomach it. I keep meaning to get in touch with them to see if they've had any other feedback on them.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Fair enough. I agree on your comments regarding Hormozi.

Interestingly enough, those Honduras beans from Rave are probably my least favourite. That's because I genuinely thought I'd burned them somehow when brewing in a moka pot - the smell was sickly and I truly thought they were burnt and so threw it out without even trying it. Later on I tried making espresso - same smell. Tasted burnt too. Couldn't stomach it. I keep meaning to get in touch with them to see if they've had any other feedback on them.

My preference has changed a lot over the years, when I was younger, or say, 10 years ago, I would be perfectly happy with a bag of Pike Place from Starbucks. In fact, it was where I was getting my beans when I first got into coffee. It wasn't until I got my Niche about 5 years ago when I started getting into medium roasts, stuff from Rave/Origin/Method etc, my preference are going from the more chocolate profile to the more citrus profile flavour.

I would even say that since I started roasting my own beans a month ago, and to be able to see the process of roasting, made me even more aware of the smaller nuances. And I am nowhere near good, I can see my first batch is a little uneven using my roaster. But I think my eyes have been opened even more by doing this, and it MAY also be because the quality of beans is higher (which I hope so!), I am tasting even more of those fruity notes that you see on the cover of the packets, which, for the longest time, I thought it was all fancy words for coffee snobs. I have spent as much on green beans as I have on roasted, from £12 for 500g to £16 for 500g. If we take the usual proportions of material + labour + profit (1/3rd in each), these would be super expensive beans after labour and roasting. So when I am spending £8 for 216g after roasting, I want more of the taste of the farmer as that is what i am paying for.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Fair enough. I agree on your comments regarding Hormozi.

Interestingly enough, those Honduras beans from Rave are probably my least favourite. That's because I genuinely thought I'd burned them somehow when brewing in a moka pot - the smell was sickly and I truly thought they were burnt and so threw it out without even trying it. Later on I tried making espresso - same smell. Tasted burnt too. Couldn't stomach it. I keep meaning to get in touch with them to see if they've had any other feedback on them.

I forgot to ask, those beans, are they washed or natural?

I am guessing it is a natural one and the burnt taste is the remnant of the goop/membrance of the berry stuck onto the seed in the drying process vs a washed one where all that membrane is removed. So when it is roasted, they can "burnt" to the surface of the bean.

If it's washed then I have no idea why! lol

 

[Grimley]

/\/\/\ Looking at @Cadder 's pic I would say they are Natural Processed, you can tell by the 'line' in the bean. It matches the colour of the Roast. With washed Coffee the line is whiter.
I've just checked my used coffee bag collection for this year (I keep 'em throughout the year, on NYE I take a Pic of them and post it on my IG, I'm sad like that ) I did buy a bag of that & its a Natural processed coffee.

 

[JonRGV250]

Can someone take a photo of their beans for me and let me know what roast level they are too?

If it's of any use..

Ethiopian Yirgacheffe

Forth Coffee Roasters Ethiopian Yirgacheffe is freshly roasted to order in our roastery in Uphall near Edinburgh, Scotland.

www.forthcoffee.com

I've got medium roast coming from Red brick tomorrow and will post a pic then.

 

[the-evaluator]

I'm mostly buying my coffee from North Star Coffee Roasters these days. At the moment I've got a bag of Astro blend on the go at home and at work which they describe as an espresso blend. I don't think roasters should be so prescriptive - if the flavours sound good then it'll work irrespective of the brew method.

One of the reasons I like them is that their bags seal well and they're wide rather than tall which makes it easy to get the scoop into the coffee. Very useful at work where I have a bag of pre-ground coffee and a clever brewer in my desk.