Cheap milk.

askthecoffeeguy

For me it has to be biodynamic or organic and unhomoginised otherwise it just ain't milk for both work and home! Having tried the good stuff I find any other product, including organic but homogenised, to be sour and bitter with a nasty lingering aftertaste on the back palate, and in no way gentle on the digestion Same applies when I go out to cafes: if it ain't unhomoginised 9 times out of 10 I just won't drink it This combined with triple sized baskets and speciality coffee makes the coffee at my work three times more expensive to produce than your average cup of joe - but do I charge three times as much for it? No because your average punter wouldn't pay for it! I just wear the margins and work on value added and volume of sales - that and differentiating myself in the market place Cheers ACG

Lovey

Dry bean. wrote:

I understand the arguments re dairy farmers and producers of other foodstuffs being pressured to sell at or below cost as well as those who suggest we should boycott loss leaders offered by the big stores in an effort to support primary producers.

I don't think that the farmers are having to sell their wares at a reduced price. I believe that the supermarkets are absorbing the price difference and passing it along somewhere else as higher prices (on other items) to the consumer.

The fact of the matter is (as far as I'm concerned) price talks, if I can buy a product for 50% less and the quality is up to par then I will take advantage every time, it's all very well adopting an altruistic attitude however your the captain of your own ship/finances, if your happy throwing money away in the belief you are helping the poor hard done by farmers fair enough but I believe the vast majority of us (myself included) are primarily interested in the bottom line.

I agree with the saving money part of this statement and I do make a conscious effort to make savings to the household budget where I can. However, I do genuinely believe that our farmers are struggling and need and deserve our support. If this support isn't forthcoming, don't complain when everything that we eat and drink is grown or made overseas.

blanyon

When talking about the prices not being passed on to Farmers. What happens is that the processors do a deal with the supermarkets to supply their store brand milks at very low margin and for that they get their product at a high margin into a better spot in the store, end of the day everyone wins. However, by cutting the price of the store brands then the higher margin product sells less and the processor margins drop dramatically. What happens then is that the processor has to pay the farmer less to maintain their profits. Consumer wins, Coles wins, farmer looses. This process has been going on for a long time and slowly the producing capacity of Australia to supply its own needs has been dropping as consumers don't care where it comes from as long as they pay less. I am not telling anyone to change their habits but there are always consequences for our actions. I for one use locally produced more expensive milk as I believe that it is superior in taste and there is also a social benefit from its use. Cheers Brett

Koffee_Kosmo

I always use branded milk Paul's or Pura I agree with Moto Coffee Supermarkets have been doing this for decades Many years ago a similar campaign forced home milk delivery out of business On another note and different war fronts They have almost wiped out fruit shops and delicateness If they could do it with pharmaceuticals they will Supermarkets recently tried the same tactic with beer but it backfired and they got froth in there face I remember drinking milk straight out of the cows udder when I was young on my grandfathers farm Those were the days KK

Dry_bean

Koffee Kosmo wrote:

I always use branded milk Paul's or Pura I agree with Moto Coffee Supermarkets have been doing this for decades Many years ago a similar campaign forced home milk delivery out of business On another note and different war fronts They have almost wiped out fruit shops and delicateness If they could do it with pharmaceuticals they will Supermarkets recently tried the same tactic with beer but it backfired and they got froth in there face I remember drinking milk straight out of the cows udder when I was young on my grandfathers farm Those were the days KK

Evening KK. Pauls are Italian owned "Parmalat" and Pura is owned by National Foods a subsidiary of Lion Nathan National Foods, wholly owned by Japanese Kirin Holdings Company Limited who are in turn owned by Mitsubishi Group, gets kinda convoluted don't it, no warm and fuzzies for buying Aussie with this lot. :-\ I don't have a problem buying from multi national companies provided they meet my buying criteria, the word is a small place now at the moment I'm buying oranges from the USA, I deliberately seek them out as the quality is way above the Aussie product, the crazy thing is during the US winter months they sell Aussie oranges over there and the quality is way above what we see here, obviously the good stuff is exported. :🙂 As for milk direct from the cow, yep been there done that, grandparents were also farmers, of course the SA govt put an end to small scale dairies along with regional slaughter houses. All in the name of progress. :🙂

Lacehim

I personally buy local milk. Yes it costs more but I like the taste better than own brand and the dates are always better because it only comes from up gympie way. No problem with microfoam on my pv lusso either. They have two types of full cream milk too.

Dry_bean

Lacehim wrote:

I personally buy local milk. Yes it costs more but I like the taste better than own brand and the dates are always better because it only comes from up gympie way. No problem with microfoam on my pv lusso either. They have two types of full cream milk too.

The only locally produced milk I'm aware of in SA is from http://www.fleurieumilkco.com.au/about.html I've only tried their homogenised milk, it's pretty expensive and I found it did not texture as well as Woolworth's home brand ???

WotB

Home brand milk is surprisingly consistent, not that I drink my coffee with milk. I don't buy fresh milk anymore. We just don't go through it fast enough, so we use milk powder instead.

Dry_bean

WotB wrote:

Home brand milk is surprisingly consistent, not that I drink my coffee with milk. I don't buy fresh milk anymore. We just don't go through it fast enough, so we use milk powder instead.

Believe it or not on the odd occasion I have run out I have had to raid the pantry and resort to Devondale longlife full cream, it always textures remarkably well. 😉

RichardM

I drink Pauls Zymil, and it doesn't texture wonderfully, however it is consistently average. When I have guests I buy A2 low fat. Best milk to work with I've ever used. It's beautiful.

Dry_bean

Dry bean. wrote:

WotB wrote:

Home brand milk is surprisingly consistent, not that I drink my coffee with milk. I don't buy fresh milk anymore. We just don't go through it fast enough, so we use milk powder instead.

Believe it or not on the odd occasion I have run out I have had to raid the pantry and resort to Devondale longlife full cream, it always textures remarkably well. 😉

Hah, ran out of milk a couple of nights back, SWMBO demanded a Cappa, so grabbed a pack of Devondale longlife full cream, the bosses verdict, absolute rubbish, so guess that shot my words of wisdom from my previous post down in flames. :-[