Why some Coffee brands are synonymous of quality and others are not.
Why some Coffee brands are synonymous with quality and others are not.
Today I just had a coffee that was simply not right. But have you ever thought why some brands are seen as better than others? Illy > Nescafe, Lavazza > Kenco, Taylors > Aldi coffee.
Brands such as Illy, Lavazza, are a traditional offer as synonymous of quality of coffee in the European continent and compared to instant coffee. That in some cases add flavours in an attempt to improve flavours. Yet the quality benchmark established from Illy is being passed by current medium and large independent roasters such as Caravan, Squire Mile or Unio Hand Roast.
What some brands do that enable them to captive the public attention? Most important is their understanding over the complexity in coffee. From the seed to the raw coffee (green bean). The same coffee with same flavour and characteristics can be distributed and traded in different ways. Most Brazilian farmers have at least the first set of dry mills machinery (Beneficio in Brazilain Portuguese) that simply remove the husks and skins.
But with the full set of dry mills machinery at the origin warehouse we can separate the same batch of coffee in 7-9 different sizes that can be traded for different markets. In the Middle East most coffee sold to consumers are roasted and grind very fine so the smaller beans size 12&13 from Brazilian producers is sold to that market. Illy in Italy often buys 14&15 sizes as it is relatively consistent to roast, you can buy quality at accessible price and Illy than grinds for consumer or buys larger sizes to supply roasted cafes.
The 4th Wave orientated by Australians and New Zealanders seek the bigger beans and flavour and is the root Independent roasters in the UK are doing. Bigger beans are more appealing, more expensive and easier to roast as it is more consistent. But most Brazilian coffee is sold 16 up which is about 40% of the Brazilian crop, we bring 17& 18 sizes which is only 20 % of the crop produced by farmers.
We must see that the good thing in coffee is that all coffee can be used and there is little waste when each different bean is used to different things.
We only work with the best farms in Brazil, from award winning coffee to humble farmers who are new to the scene. We try and bring great coffee to the masses and put a little bit if extra income in the farmers pocket.
If you would like to some of our wholesale prices for our Brazilian speciality coffee, get in touch here.