Gentlemen as far as I am concerned the coffee brand which is the subject of this topic is just another competitor and there is no reaosn why there should be any love lost between us however I wonder if you are not being a little unfair in the scheme of things... Please consider that everything is relative and that there are "degrees" of evil. Jacobs is (or was a short few years ago) the largest coffee company in the world, is (or was) owned by Kraft Foods and is imported into this country (Australia). It is therefore the worst kind of "evil" as it is not a "local" product produced by a "local" company, just like any other imported product. The coffee company which is the subject of this post is based in Melbourne so in Melbourne it is good as it is local. Everywhere else in Australia it is "evil" as it is not a locally roasted product, but it is not as evil as the coffee brand imported from overseas! Changing therefore from Jacobs to Grinders is a "good" thing especially if your cafe is in Melbourne, however if it is anywhere else in Australia your cafe could / should have been a little more patriotic and parochial and changed instead to a local roaster in your area. Ergo, degrees of evil! Whilst I have said there is no love lost between any of these coffee companies and my own in the area of competition I also question this odd notion of "consistency" and may I respectfully note that all coffee roasters except for the very big ones with the latest whiz bang equipment have as much chance at "consistency" as eachother. Coffee roasting by its very nature is like cooking, you cannot roast coffee by following a set pattern as though you were cooking from a recipe. You are dealing with ingredients that vary, and roasting conditions that vary. Except with the very large companies, each separate roast is "hand" delivered out of the roasting machine and simply cannot have the degree of "consistency" we seem to hear about in these columns or when we listen to coffee "heads" having a conversation about their favourite, or their most despised coffee roasters. Most seem to use the words "consistency" or INconsisteny" as an insult directed towards whichever roaster is considered not to be the flavour of the month, where from my point of view as long as it ( the "consistency") is within reasonable tolerance it simply exemplifies the dynamic nature of the business we happen to be in. Roasters try their best to make each batch roasted as consistent (relative to other batches) as possible. This is a skill born of experience, practiced by those who can "keep their cool under pressure" however it is impossible to make every batch the same. Some might care to reflect that this is what sets a smaller roaster apart from the run of the mill national and international companies with all their computerised optical sensing equipment that ensures the look of the roast is as "consistent" as it can possibly be. Smaller roasters are also more likely to have used the highest possible grades of raw coffee to begin, but yes, the batches cannot be as "consistent" as the larger roasters. This would appear to introduce conflict into the "consistency" discussion.... A) smaller roasters / higher quality / FRESH product / more likelyhood of inconsistency between batches VS b) large roasters / lower quality / STALE product (due to economies of scale) / less likelyhood of inconsistency between batches........ Which is it to be? I therefore feel that far too much uninformed comment is made about so called "consistency" or lack of it, and that in many instances the term is used by some to unfairly slander many small coffee roasting companies that may actually be doing a relatively sterling job. If an espresso machine operator is doing his or her job as it should be being done, then he or she should easily be able to work around the beans being used to produce a relatively CONSISTENT BREW and at the same time use an ethically higher quality and fresher product. One of the greatest problems with consistency of brew is that many operators are not drinking or tasting the brew they are producing. If they know what they are producing, they can adjust their techniques accordingly to make sure it always tastes good. This is their job. If it tastes good, what does one's opinion of the so called "consistency" of a particular brand of roasted coffee matter? Is it relevant? "Consistency" is just another variable in the long list of variables that make up the dynamics of freshly roasted, delivered and brewed coffee. If we wish to "knock" a particular coffee supplier then, why not look at any of the miriad of other perhaps more legitimate reasons why we might not be happy with their "performance". It may be we do not like their rep or he never calls around. In most instances there is usually a problem in the relationship between the supplier / client that starts the client looking around for another supplier, AFTER WHICH one of the first excuses brought out of the bag when the change is imminent is that something was wrong with the product ("inconsistent")! That's human nature, not coffee beans. By the way, what constitutes a "better brand"? FC. Support your local roaster, build a relationship, its just another form of business.
