Poor roasted bean storage

Kelsey

I saw this posted on Reddit and would have been stunned if a local 'specialty' deli didn't do nearly the same thing:

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I'm fairly limited in local options for quickly grabbing quality beans if I run out, so I was excited when I walked into a local Italian deli to find a display with about a dozen different beans available for purchase.... all in plexiglass boxes open at the rear to the air.

Then again, I'm not sure why I was disappointed. I'd been in there before to look for a nice cheese, something a little different from that available at Coles and found that their definition of a boutique, unusual cheese was Mersey Valley Tasty.

Lacehim

Wow, look at all those buckets of stale beans in bins. Compost material. It seems to be the trend among boutique places to have coffee out in buckets. Then when you place an order they put the beans in a oneway valve bag? WTF? I don't get it, roast and put it in a bag. Is it that hard? OK now I can understand if there is a high turnover of beans it probably wouldn't make them go completely stale, but how can you tell how old they are in a bucket? If a muppet keeps filling the bucket and doesn't rotate stock, the beans at the bottom could be as old as your granny!!!!! And you wonder why I took up homeroasting! FYI I recently got gifted some beans from this place in Maroochydore http://www.buderimcoffee.com.au/ Seems to have an identity crisis right there, it's not in Buderim!!!! It's in a dodgy run down shopping centre that had better days 20 years ago (not joking). Anyway, beans get pulled out of bit 5kgish plastic bags and placed in the open air in buckets for all to cough over, and touch, and for the air to do it's work. Idiots! They have about 20 varieties too, so turn over is SLLLLLOOOWWW. The coffee I got was crap, 1 bag was semi useable (Mocha Kenya - it must have just come out the fresh plastic bags!), the others stale old rubbish. I torchered myself by having a coffee from here and it was average at best. If they use their own beans it was always going to be! I need to go have a coffee and calm down. Places like that annoy the hell out of me. I can see the potential, but it's a half arsed approach at running a business.

Kelsey

I guess it's mostly because the reality of the situation dictates that most of their customers are using crappy double-wall baskets anyway so won't notice the difference. It's the same issue AM notes in the Sunbeam EM7000 review: shipping a domestic appliance matched with a substandard grinder and single-wall baskets is going to cause some problems with less knowledgeable consumers. Particularly if those consumers then go and buy beans like these, which they assume are fresh, only to have substandard results.

lemoo

I've seen a few places that do that too in perth they sell right out of open buckets

GaryatGala

Ditto here lemoo. You only have to go to places like Freo markets (together with their vanilla bean, irish coffee, mint flavoured C11 et al, where's the throw up emoticon??) and certain places in Northbridge to find that kind of thing. I had a chuckle when i saw moto of the sign saying "we roast daily and we are passionate etc" If you go there and ask them are the beans fresh, and they will nod yes yes, very fresh, roasted today, fresh in buckets... It's a similar situation when i go to a fishmonger and ask them is that fish with the murky looking eyes and dry looking skin without much color fresh today, and they will say yes. There are certain things in life that are uncertain, and we all need to educate ourselves in order to protect ourselves, or ask advice from those that we are sure who will give a honest answer.

Brett_H

GaryatGala wrote:

There are certain things in life that are uncertain, and we all need to educate ourselves in order to protect ourselves, or ask advice from those that we are sure who will give a honest answer.

Here is a quote worth remembering from a clearly very astute and clever man! In relation to the topic at hand I ask to have a bean to chew if I'm unsure. I even offer to pay for it. Then say a polite no thanks if they are not up to par. Heaven help them if they enquire as to why. I just don't waste time or money on these guys any more. BeanGreen can get you roasted and green the next day. Cosmorex was a next day delivery for kilo of Yirg I'll be talking about for years AND, a quality of bean/roast/detail that I've never experienced in my own state! The Cosmorex order cost 3 minutes and about $50 including express post and drank beautifully (I'm talking head-shakingly good) for the subsequent four, yes 4 weeks. There is just no need to patronise these so called delicatessens who don't care as much as you do; YET, they have so much more to loose!!! You are all already brilliant at shopping on line or over the phone, embrace the new retail model where second best is just as attainable as the BEST. Let the uninformed be, I never liked queuing!

Brett_H

Sorry... moreover, how much did you spend at that Deli Lacheim. I don't want to make you feel bad and I certainly respect your right to not answer but I really want us all to drive this point home to the bystanders. We are being cheated by local businesses that retail a product they clearly don't understand! P.s I'm in hospital on drugs currently to rebalance my body functions (suspected Addisons)... Can you tell!!! 😉

Kelsey

I spent nothing at mine. Living in Melbourne and (to a lesser degree) Sydney gave me an appreciation for quality produce and products. The Vic markets is a foodie dream. I'm not going to pay through the nose for Mersey Bloody Valley when I know there's an incredible deli in Kawana that has a good range and great products. And you're on the money about shopping online Brett. When these bricks and mortar guys complain about unfair competition, is it really unfair when the only difference is that the online guys are supplying a better product?

Lacehim

Brett H wrote:

Sorry... moreover, how much did you spend at that Deli Lacheim.

This place wasn't a deli, just a nick nack shop with bad coffee. It's at the Big Top in Maroochydore. You ever been there Kelsey? It's a dive! It's so run down I hope the people with businesses in there are getting free rent.

Kelsey

Yeah, it was pretty special when it opened, back when I was but a whippersnapper. Not so much these days. Wouldn't ever think to venture in there for a coffee. The whole thing is in dire need of redevelopment.