I just went to order a 1 kg bag of RAVE Italian Job beans but stopped when I saw the price has gone up by almost a fiver in a month. That’s a 30% hike.

https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/coffee

https://ico.org/prices/p1-April2021.pdf
https://ico.org/prices/p1-May2021.pdf

<Binners mode>

</etc>

Still pretty cheap though really.

Crown and Canvas First Light can be had for not much over £15 a kilo with code CFUK (free delivery over £25 so you need to get something else or pay £3.99 delivery). It’s not as in your face as Italian Job but it’s a fairly dark roast.

Bad harvest, demand, shipping problems. This isn’t overly surprising.

Were they knocking it out at £12/kg? That must be some over-roasted garbage.

Were they knocking it out at £12/kg? That must be some over-roasted garbage

Get you kiddo!

<insert goods here> price increase

Because:

demand, shipping problems.

and Covid, Brexit

The big gold brick from Lidl still seems the same price

<Binners mode>

For all of his fondness for all that is mucky in the world of foodstuffs, I would bet good money that there is no way on god’s green earth that Binners would be drinking Mellow Bird’s.

The big gold brick from Lidl still seems the same price

Same stock as pre-Brexit no doubt 😉

I have found the sweet spot for coffee beans is a 50/50 mix of Aldi ‘Espresso’ and ‘Columbian’ beans. I urge everyone to try it.

Happy Donkey’s Italian is £12 a kilo plus postage or £52 for 6kg. I prefer the Brazilian and Mrs BigJohn the Costa Rican. But they’re all great.

I’ll own up to having a Lavazza 1kg bag of beans on repeat order with Amazon at a tenner a go, it’s just basic Arabica/Robusta Med roast beans you can grind to suit whatever brewing method you like…
And then I buy smaller bags of kenyan, Ethiopian, Costa Rican stuff from Aldi/Lidl/Hasbean as they take my fancy…

I reckon it works out about the same as that £17/month with RAVE would be, I’m only half funding more of the evil/tax avoiding bastards of the world and the rest of my coffee spend is ethical(ish)…

I doubt Aldi and Lidl is very ethical, Hasbean probably is. Lavazza isn’t terrible though tbh.

There not the cheapest, but all is ethically grown and brought in and roasted in-house.
plemty of different roasts to try to. Sussex barn is a fav smooth and quit a mellow flavour to start with with ones like dark side and riverside being up there on the stronger roast front.
https://edgcumbes.co.uk

I prefer the Brazilian

Wax on, wax off!

I bought some Lavazza to see if my coffee would taste better, well it is shite. 5 big table spoons full for about half a litre of water still taste weak.

I now only buy the cheapest Italian or French roast beans from M&S. The other so called Arabica beans … shite. Tried several versions of Arabica beans. Shite, Not worth twice the money.

 I prefer the Brazilian and Mrs BigJohn the Costa Rican.

Well, everyone needs a little holiday romance.

I now only buy the cheapest Italian or French roast beans from M&S. The other so called Arabica beans … shite. Tried several versions of Arabica beans. Shite, Not worth twice the money.

Wow, what destroyed your pallate?

Happy Donkey’s Italian is £12 a kilo plus postage or £52 for 6kg. I prefer the Brazilian and Mrs BigJohn the Costa Rican. But they’re all great.

+1

Wow, what destroyed your pallate?

I really don’t know as I really cannot get the nice coffee taste I wanted.

There is a region in Borneo where we brew coffee rather differently and it taste really good, not the so called burned taste but very aromatic. They are famous for it hot or cold. I think they use a mixture of coffee beans and it is very difficult to get that taste (top secret). Only in one region I can drink that coffee. The rest of the coffee from there are shite. i.e. Normal coffee shop avoid by all means as they are shite. Don’t drink it regardless as they are Not coffee. (imagine drinking something creamy with coffee colour but not coffee …)

p/s: if you want to know if you have a good coffee. Drink it cold. If it is sour then it is bad coffee. Good coffee does not taste sour even drinking it cold. I normally drink about half a litre everyday and no effect whatsoever on my sleep. But they taste sour after cold … bad coffee, bad coffee.

I have found the sweet spot for coffee beans is a 50/50 mix of Aldi ‘Espresso’ and ‘Columbian’ beans. I urge everyone to try it.

Need to try that, I’ve been on the Aldi Sumatran beans for a while, not a bad drop.

It’s inflation.

Real life proper bona fide inflation.

Get used to it because you are going to see a whole lot more.

I doubt Aldi and Lidl is very ethical,

No idea about Lidl but Aldi beans are all Fairtrade certified.

For all of his fondness for all that is mucky in the world of foodstuffs, I would bet good money that there is no way on god’s green earth that Binners would be drinking Mellow Bird’s.

He doesn’t drink it, more rolls up a tenner and…you know

Coles have started doing an excellent own brand bag of beans, and they get them artisan roasted by a Melbourne hipster with a beard.

16 bucks/kg

hope this is useful.

To answer the question…yes, they are; temperature variations/climate change.

As for differentiating between different growths/countries/blends…most people don’t have the palate to differentiate; then add in the nuances resulting from variations in temperature and steam pressure.

I’m always asked about blend/temperature/ steam pressure when I order; are you?

Pretentious – moi??

I have been purchasing my coffee from ‘Coffee Plant’ recently. It’s excellent and I don’t think too bad value for money. (sure, it’s not cheap, but it is very fresh and they offer an excellent variety of beans and roasts.)

They also do a trial kilo with free shipping which is worth a go (you can also add other beans to the order whilst the shipping is free if you wanted to stock up) https://coffee.uk.com/shop/special-offers/new-customers-carriage-free-sample-offer-2

You can read up on the beans and roasts here: https://coffee.uk.com/product-category/coffee

I find that the beans do come out quite a dark roast and usually go for the medium or even medium-mild.

Personal favourites are the Mexican and Brazilian.

I doubt Aldi and Lidl is very ethical

I don’t think you can buy coffee in any supermarket without a Fairtrade mark these days can you? As in it’s not illegal, just they know there would be a backlash.

Fairtrade normally means the beans were bought through a regional co-operative these days doesn’t it? Pricing is thus kept consistent for all growers in an area and big-meanie-corps cant just rock up and start a race to the bottom.

I can’t see why Aldi or Lidl would be any less ethical than Tesco, Waitrose or M&S… Is it a German thing?

I can’t see why Aldi or Lidl would be any less ethical than Tesco, Waitrose or M&S… Is it a German thing?

I have read (not regarding coffee specifically) that because Aldi and Lidl have such low prices they squeeze their suppliers pretty hard. I wouldn’t imagine other supermarkets would be much better though.

Fair trade is better than not but specialty coffee importers/roasters usually pay significantly above Fair Trade rates I believe.

I don’t think you can buy coffee in any supermarket without a Fairtrade mark these days can you? As in it’s not illegal, just they know there would be a backlash.

Yes. Fairtrade certified coffee still seems to be a small minority in the supermarkets last time I checked. Didn’t notice anyone protesting in the aisles.

I can’t see why Aldi or Lidl would be any less ethical than Tesco, Waitrose or M&S… Is it a German thing?

Because their business model is to be as cheap as possible. Having ethics isn’t cheap. Last time I tried to buy some pre-ground for my girlfriend who’s less fussy than me from Aldi, I don’t think any were Fairtrade.

Fair trade is better than not but specialty coffee importers/roasters usually pay significantly above Fair Trade rates I believe.

This is a good point. Seems rare for speciality coffee (which has a legal definition) to be certified Fairtrade, but is usually small businesses dealing directly. Fairtrade certification is probably expensive to get.

Fair trade is better than not but specialty coffee importers/roasters usually pay significantly above Fair Trade rates I believe.

One of my PhD peers who (I kid you not) wrote her thesis on the quality of coffee in the specialist coffee industry always stressed this exact point.

Hasbean wrote a piece on this a few years back. https://www.hasbean.co.uk/blogs/articles/5952501-fair-trade-for-who-a-counter-view-to-the-fair-trade-debate

I just went on Rave’s website and it says £17 a kilo for Italian Job – it was never £12 a kilo previously and still isn’t expensive really. Not sure what the OP is on about

Prices don’t seem to have gone up here:

https://hormozi.co.uk/product-category/origin-

Aldi and Lidl have had chequered pasts regarding ethical sourcing in the past but think they’ve responded and are up there now with the rest of the high street outlets. Probably not leading the bunch but in the mix. But their business model is not about squeezing their suppliers…just the opposite anyway according to a mate of mine who used to work in the trade. He seemed to think their quality was way up there and front and centre of their sourcing. Of course price is always ‘squeezed’. Nobody wants to pay more than they need to right from the customer and all the way down the supply chain. Their business model and low pricing is around simplicity of their product range..you wont see 27 different brands of baked beans on their shelves…just one. Simple economies of scale.

No coffee price increases for me. I use a local chap who roasts coffee for a retirement hobby and to earn a bit of pocket money. Not sure where he sources his beans from but so far no price change. Cant imagine he has much of a margin or appetite to absorb supply chain price increases on behalf of his handful of local customers.

If you have seen a price increase from your coffee supplier then Winston is right…..

It’s inflation.

Real life proper bona fide inflation.

Get used to it because you are going to see a whole lot more.

This….across the board on everything.

But their business model is not about squeezing their suppliers…just the opposite anyway according to a mate of mine who used to work in the trade.

According to my father in law, who supplied mushrooms to UK supermarkets, Aldi, Lidl, Waitrose are the best to work with. They are also the strictest, with Aldi being ridiculous for 5 mins late on delivery times leading to the veg or fruit being rejected and repackaged for other supermarkets to take delivery of.