November 2022 - Secret Label special just for subscribers

Date Posted:3 November 2022 

 

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot.". Michael Altshuler

 

 

November 2022

Welcome to our subscriber newsletter.

It's almost the end of the year and we have also reached the end for some of our beloved store favorites.

With quite a few coffees cycling, some of the notable changes include Sumatra Blue Bianca, perhaps the finest example of wet hulled coffee available globally, is almost gone. It could be another week or a few weeks, but I doubt we will see our dearly loved SBB this time next month. Cue tears.

In place of the mighty SBB, we have a lovely coffee from a nearby origin, the not so well known Sulawesi. It's been over 6 years since we had a Bukit Marante and we can't wait to get the covers off this recently landed lot as Sulawesi offers a distinctive and interesting cup. It's also a lot of fun playing with coffees that nobody else has got.

Our Colombia filter roast lot (#4) will be changing in the next fortnight to a beautifully sweet Ethiopia natural. Also changing are quite a few of our African lots cycling over the new season.

Shipping Update

I suppose it might have been wishful thinking- a golden run on shipping performance almost incident free for months and months.

During September and October AusPost experienced annoying patches of incidents in Western Australia with slow transit times. For fear of upsetting our cherished sandgropers, WA shipping has never, ever been an easy destination for freight. Even long before the pandemic, west-bound segments always experienced congestion and delays.

But this time round it's not the usual suspect of line haul woes and the reasons apparently had something to do with internal programs of major work inside of AusPost Perth parcel facilities, changes to site operations which were probably done to improve capacity. But whilst those works were active it resulted in holding up parcels by reducing capacity/throughput. We say apparently, because just like the secret "cabinet-in-confidence" classification, that sort of information is, well, not stuff AusPost shares openly or transparently.

No wonder the tracking was not making any sense. Parcels arriving to WA in really good time only to sit and wait more than a week before being processed at the main Perth hub - it was also affecting routing to other areas within WA as everything needs to pass through those damn central hubs.

It's probably safe to assume WA deliveries are back to normal.

So this peak freight season we keep talking about folks is with us now.

Without any type of scientific explanation, performance slows as congestion builds - just like queuing up to fill the tank of your motor vehicle at the only petrol station in the area that hasn't put it's prices up by 40+ cents a litre. You get the drill.

Of particular concerns are the last week in November and the first 2 weeks in December - when everything hits the proverbial wall. This is not new folks, it's been the same every year since 2010 and we have stocked up on the headache tables, alcohol and anything else that will numb the pain as we prepare for impatience, late parcel rage and coffee out crisis.

Please plan carefully to avoid frustration, regardless of the retailer or shipper, it's a broad-based problem.

Something special just for you

Anyone else sick of ongoing price rises, cost increases, adverse trading conditions, supply shortages, new surcharges, ridiculous ways to "gouge" and lame excuses for why everything is so much more expensive.

We hear ya......it's hard to find decent value these days.

As an early Xmas present and to reward our subscribers, we are offering a special on our November Secret Label.

But, you need to be a subscriber.

November's Secret Label is a delicious array of toffee, caramel and chocolate......smooth, silky and bang in the middle of the flavour universe.

One time I was drinking this lovely coffee and it reminded me of Tiramisu, then the very next day I thought it was sticky date pudding. Regardless, it's just delicious.

We think everyone will love this one and cue drum roll, "it's going straight to the Trophy Room".